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"You're telling me that you know the girl killed your husband? You will go before the royal magistrates and give testimony?"
     Selket started to speak, then closed her mouth. Her  lips pinched together and she shook her head. Meren lifted a brow, but made no comment. She was unwilling to risk the punishment for bearing false witness, but her reticence might not signal an untruth. After all, she could be beaten and starved for three days, or even put to death, for perjury.
     "What was the course of your husband's last day?'  Meren asked.
     "It was like most days," Selket said. "He rose. From  her bed. And he ate his morning meal here. Then she came in while I was serving him, and demanded some trinket." Each time Selket referred to the concubine, she hissed out the word "she" as though it tasted of dung. "She is always complaining that she has no jewelry, not enough shifts or wigs or cosmetics."
     As he listened to Selket, Meren became aware of his  own vague uneasiness. At first he couldn't understand his discomfort, but then he realized that the woman talking to him shifted from fury to complacency and back again in half a heartbeat. When she spoke of Beltis, her eyes took on the look of a rabid hyena, yet moments before she'd mentioned Hormin with a sweet lilt in her voice.
     "And after he dined, your husband went to the office  of records and tithes," Meren said. "He spoke to no one else before he left?"
     Selket had been breathing rapidly from the force of  her ire. Suddenly she smiled. "Only to me, about the house, and about our sons. They were avoiding him because he was still a bit angry with them. Imsety, my oldest, wanted the old farm since Hormin dislikes husbandry. Djaper supported Imsety, but Hormin wouldn't give it up. It gives us a prosperous living with Hormin's wages. Imsety would have still handed over the proper share to his father, but Hormin was furious at the idea." Selket waved a hand. "Sons and fathers will contend, no matter a mother's wishes."
    Meren got up, motioning for Selket to remain where she was. He stooped and picked up a sheaf of papers, household accounts.
    "Go on, mistress."
     "My husband went to the office of records and tithes and returned at midday. He ate and went to her, but they fought again. I could hear her shouting at him even though they were in her room. She wanted Hormin to give her a set of bracelets, and he wouldn't."
    Selket laughed, and Meren winced at the loud, barking sound.
     "I heard him slap her, then he left and didn't return  until afternoon. After he was gone, Beltis ran away."
     Meren cocked his head to the side. The heavy strands  of his wig swung to his shoulder, and he nodded for her to continue.
     Selket sniffed. "She runs away all the time. To her  parents in the tomb-makers' village on the west bank. Hormin always fetches her back. He did yesterday, unfortunately. When they returned, we all dined." Selket paused and contemplated her brown hands. "My husband spent the rest of the evening with her, and I know nothing of what they did. When I rose this morning, I didn't know he was gone from the house until Djaper couldn't find him. It was while we were looking for my husband that we found his office wrecked and looted. Later, a priest came from the Place of Anubis and told  me that he was dead."
    Selket pressed her lips together, and Meren was surprised to see a tear creep out of the corner of one eye.
    He would never understand some women. She mourned Hormin; he would have been tempted to put the man in his house of eternity long ago.
    "And your sons," Meren said. "You say they quarreled with their father."
     The flow of tears dammed up at once, and Selket  shook her head. "Only a little. They are dutiful sons. Imsety takes care of the farm outside the city. He only came to ask about getting the deed put in his name, and he'll have to go back soon, to oversee the harvest. Djaper follows the path of his father, and I hope he'll take