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umbrellas.”
    “Last
night?  They were here last night?”
    The
bartender nodded.  “Sure, sure, every night.”
    Tim
felt disappointed.  If they had been here last night, while he was
fumbling around in Kanakht’s Tomb, then he was wasting his time because they
were safe.  He’d wasted twenty dollars on Hasa.  His little adventure
was over.
    “No,”
the bartender continued, laughing, “That’s not right.  They weren’t here
last night.  Last night we had the singing contest.  The
karaoke.  I was wanting to see him singing.  He is so funny. 
All the time funny.  But he didn’t sing.  I would have remembered.”
     
     
    T im waited until he was sure Hasa would
have left his post before he went back into the guesthouse.
    The
late shift clerk was an elderly man, his short, curly hair thinning and
gray.  He looked up and smiled as Tim approached the desk.
    Tim
saw that the oversized postcard he had given Hasa was sticking out of one of
the slots.
    “Oh,
great, I got mail,” he said, pointing to the postcard.
    The
clerk turned to look where Tim was pointing.  He retrieved the card and
gave it to Tim.  In precise block letters Hasa had printed on the card
“Mr. Brian Aldwin or Ms. Diane Maclaine, Room 324.”
    “Thanks,”
Tim said.  “Say, Diane has our keys.  Could you give me a key? 
It’s Room 324.”
    The
clerk looked puzzled.  Tim showed the clerk the postcard and pointed to
the room number.  Then he patted his pockets and shrugged.
    The
old man smiled and nodded.  He reached in the cubbyhole and picked up a
duplicate key for the room and gave it to Tim.
    “I’ll
bring it right back,” Tim said as he took the key.
    Tim
hurried up the stairwell heading for the third floor.
    He
knocked on the door of the room. When there was no answer he steadied his right
hand with his left and shakily he slid the key in the lock.
    He
pushed open the door and stepped inside.  Shaking with nervousness, he
stood listening for a minute before turning on the room lights.  He had no
idea what he would do if Brian and Diane were there taking a nap.  He
could try to explain why he was there, but he wasn’t sure what he would do if
they decided he was just trying to steal from their room.  Remembering Brian’s
size, Tim was sure he didn’t want to frighten them.
    The
room was empty.
    He
chained the door behind him and then walked over to a sliding door that opened
onto a small balcony.  It was too far to jump to the ground, but if
someone tried to open the room door, he might be able to swing over the side
and then drop onto the balcony below him.
    He
hoped he wouldn’t need to.
    There
were two single beds in the room.  Both were made, but Tim had no idea
when the maid would have straightened the room, so it was possible that they
could have been slept in last night and made this morning.  A wooden bench
with a back sat against the wall at the foot of the bed nearest the door. 
Tim lifted its hinged seat.  The compartment beneath it was empty.
    A
small table and two chairs were tucked into an alcove by the balcony
door.  A guidebook to Saqqara was on the table, along with computer
printouts listing all the casinos in Cairo.
    There
were no used towels in the bathroom.  In the closet, Tim found clothes in
a hotel dry cleaner bag.  The receipt on the bag showed it had been
returned two days ago.  The waste cans were empty.  There were no
signs that anyone had been in the room that day.
    A dark
green, paisley print suitcase lay on a metal stand by the closet.  Inside
he found a paper envelope tucked in the lid’s cloth pocket.  It held two
tickets for an Air Egypt flight from Cairo to Aswan.
    The
flight was for six p.m. today.  Tim looked at the digital clock by the
bed.  It was after four; the flight was scheduled to leave in less than
two hours.
    He put
the tickets back and closed the suitcase. 
    If
I was going to be on a flight in less than two hours I’d already be at the
airport, he