Run Around

“Um…no, ” I said to Boo. “No playing for me today. ”

“Not even one game of tag? ” Boo said, his dark eyes hopeful.

Tag? With a guard dog? I don’t think so.

“Sorry, ” I said. “I’m on duty. You know how it is. ”

Boo scratched his head in confusion. “Wait a minute. Pharaoh’s Cat has a job? ”

“He’s a Great Detective, ” Khepri piped up from between my ears. “And so am I. That’s why we were asking you all those questions earlier, remember? ”

“About the clues and the tombs and all? ” Boo nodded. “Sure, I remember that. I didn’t realize it was a full-time job. ”

“It is, ” I assured him. “A very full-time job. Not a minute to myself. No time to play. Ever. ”

“Aw, that’s too bad. ” Boo bobbed his head in sympathy. “When the Captain of the Guard brought me down here to Set Ma’at, I thought for sure that we’d have time for a game. ”

“What’s the Captain doing here? ” Khepri asked.

Boo scratched his head again. “I don’t know exactly. He doesn’t usually come into the village. But I think he wanted to see his brother Huya.

Actually, the Captain seems upset with him. I heard them arguing. ”

“What about? ” I said, suddenly alert. Huya was one of our suspects.

“Who knows? ” Boo said. “Though I think I heard the Captain say something about gold. ”

“Gold? ” Even Khepri was excited by that.

“But maybe he said cold, ” Boo mused. “I wasn’t listening closely. It was kind of boring, really. That’s why I came to find you instead. It made me so happy when you started that game this morning. Nobody wants to play with me anymore, ever since that little accident last year. ” He looked at me hopefully again. “You sure you can’t play? Just for a bit? ”

“Nope, ” I said swiftly. “I’m on a case. ”

“Oh, go on and play with your friend, Ra, ” a voice called. I looked up and saw Sabu sitting on the wall, a big cat grin on his face. How long had he been there?

“Hi, Sabu! ” Boo greeted him eagerly. “How are things? Want to play? ”

“I’m on a case, ” Sabu told him. “The same one as Ra. ”

Boo regarded him with respect. “So you’re a Great Detective, too? ” “The Greatest, ” Sabu assured him.

“Why, you haven’t solved a single mystery, you great big boaster, ” I spluttered.

But Sabu was still speaking to Boo. “And since I’m on the case, we can spare Ra. You two run along, and have a good time together. ”

“Really? ” Boo’s eyes shone. “That’s great. ” As Sabu disappeared over the wall, he turned to me, paws clicking. “Did you hear that, Ra? I’ll give you a head start, and then I’m coming after you! ”

“Yeooooooooowl! ” I shot forward like one of Pharaoh’s spears. “Sabu, I’ll get you for this! ”

I darted straight up the same wall where he’d disappeared, but I couldn’t see him anywhere.

“Hey! ” Boo scrabbled at the bottom of the wall. “No fair going up where I can’t reach you. ”

“Boo? ” The Captain of the Guard strode down the alley, brows twisted in a frown. I thought again how much he looked like Huya. “Here, boy! Let’s go. ”

Boo sighed but obeyed. “Sorry, ” he called back to me. “Guess I’ll catch you later. ”

“Not if I can help it, ” I murmured, flopping down on the top of the wall.

But it wasn’t really Boo I was mad at. He was just doing what dogs do. Sabu, on the other hand…

“Khepri, can you believe the nerve of that cat? Calling himself the Greatest Detective, and then siccing Boo on me? ”

“That wasn’t very nice, ” Khepri agreed, hopping down onto the wall beside me. “But frankly, you haven’t been nice to him, either. ”

“Why should I be? ” I scraped my claws against the stones. “He’s called me Fancypaws and fusspot—”

“And you insulted his village. Remember: we need his help. ”

“He started it, ” I grumbled. “That loudmouth alley cat. ”

Khepri gave me a long, hard look. (Perhaps you’ve never seen a beetle’s eyes close up. Trust me, they can bore right into you. ) “Ra, why are you quarreling with Sabu over everything? Why can’t you be more gracious?

You’re Pharaoh’s Cat, but you’re acting like a stray fighting over scraps. ” Ouch! Even my old buddy was starting to think of me as a stray.

Shaken, I looked down at myself, and what I saw wasn’t reassuring. I was dirtier than ever, as slovenly a cat as I’d ever seen. I didn’t look fit for the alleys of Set Ma’at, to say nothing of Pharaoh’s shining palace.

And if Khepri was right, the changes hadn’t stopped there. Was I losing my royal grace?

Well, that settled it. Forget the nap. I needed to prove I was truly a royal cat. But if Khepri thought I was going to do that by being nice to Sabu, he could think again.

I had another plan, a much better one: What I needed to do now was solve this case. Then I’d be a hero and the greatest Great Detective, and everyone would know I was Pharaoh’s Cat. Sabu would be put in his place, once and for all.

There was just one problem. I looked down at my unkempt paws.

Where did I start?

“I think I need a snack, ” I said faintly.

“Later, Ra. ” Balanced on the edge of the wall, Khepri was peering down the alley. “Look! Neferhotep’s coming this way. ”

So he was. He crossed paths with Huya, who turned to glare at him and then stomped off in the other direction.

“We need to investigate those rings, ” Khepri said as Neferhotep came closer.

“His rings…? ”

“You said he had too many, ” Khepri reminded me. “You thought one of them might come from Setnakht’s tomb. This is our chance to look. Who knows? He could be wearing Setnakht’s heart scarab under his tunic. ”

Neferhotep did have a lot of jewelry. You could hear him jingling as he came our way. He was singing, too—a ditty that sounded like “I’m a lucky, lucky man…”

Maybe it was the singing, but I started to feel woozy. “I can’t investigate on an empty stomach, Khepri. ”

“Then I’ll do it! ” With a valiant cry, Khepri launched himself onto Neferhotep’s bald head.

Slap!

The moment Khepri touched him, Neferhotep shrieked. His jewelry jangled, and his hands went stiff.

“Khepri, watch out! ” I shouted.

Slap! Neferhotep struck his head where Khepri had landed.

Luckily, he only hit himself. Khepri was already on his shoulder.

“Get off me, you creepy thing! ” Neferhotep screamed.

Slap! Slap! Neferhotep’s blows came fast and hard. But Khepri was even faster. He wriggled down to Neferhotep’s chest, then scrambled under his tunic.

Neferhotep yelped and grabbed a sharp stone from the ground.

“Jump, Khepri! ” I yelled. “He’ll smash you to bits. ”

“Not…done…yet…” Khepri popped out at Neferhotep’s wrist, clinging on for dear life.

As Neferhotep tried to scrape him off with the stone, I leaped into action —and I do mean leaped. I landed on Neferhotep’s shoulders and wrapped myself around him like a fur collar.

“Help! ” Neferhotep dropped the stone and clutched at his chest. “Get away from me, you vile beasts! ”

“I’ll vile you, ” I muttered, but Khepri had dropped to the ground, so I did, too. “Climb aboard, buddy. ”

Once Khepri had a good hold on my fur, I bounded back up the wall out of reach. Fearing Neferhotep might pick up another stone, I kept moving down the wall. But when I glanced back, he was being comforted by Bek, who had come running to his aid.

“A cat and a bug attacked you? ” Bek was saying. He sounded puzzled. “Are you sure? I have to say, it doesn’t sound like something a cat would do. They’re lovely creatures, cats—”

“Not this one. ” Neferhotep shuddered. “He’s a real beast, I tell you. And he smelled disgusting. Like something that had died. ” He scuttled away down the alley, looking thoroughly spooked. Bek followed, shaking his head.

Like something that had died?

I sniffed myself delicately. Okay, so I smelled a bit stronger than usual. But that was no reason to be rude.

“Tell me he’s guilty, ” I said to Khepri.

“I didn’t see the heart scarab, ” Khepri said, “or anything else that looked like it belonged to a pharaoh. But maybe I missed it. ” He sounded dazed. “Everything happened so fast. ”

Well, that was a setback. “Maybe he’s got the loot hidden at home. That would be a smarter place to put it. ”

“Or maybe he’s innocent, ” Khepri said. “We just don’t know, Ra. ” I stopped padding down the wall. “I do know one thing. ” “What’s that? ” Khepri asked.

“I need a snack now. ”

“Hey! ” Khepri surged up into my fur. “Let’s go investigate the house next door. ”

“But I’m hungry, ” I protested.

“You can’t be, Ra. You just had that snack from Kenamon. And you ate from Menwi’s trough, too. ”

“Don’t remind me. ” My ears flattened just thinking about it. “I’m never eating leftovers again—”

“Ra, if you don’t move soon, he’s going to get away. ”

“Who? ”

“Huya the carpenter. I saw him on the roof terrace next door. I think that’s his house. He’s just gone downstairs. ”

“You think he’s hiding something? Like treasure? ”

“It could be, ” Khepri said. “But we’ll never know if we don’t get moving. ”

“Right. ” It was hard to ignore that hungry feeling inside, but the life of a Great Detective requires some sacrifice. “Hold on, Khepri! ”

In three bounds, I was over the wall. I landed in the dusty patch of ground behind Huya’s house—only to find myself face-to-face with an angry goose and her goslings.

“Out! Out! OUT! ” the goose honked. “Out this minute, or I’ll report you to Sabu next door. He promised my goslings would be safe, and he’d better not go back on his word—”

“We won’t do you any harm. ” Khepri popped out from behind my right ear. “We just have a few questions. ”

At the sight of him, the goslings let out excited peeps.

“Mom, it’s a beetle! ”

“Yum! ”

“Can we eat him? ”

“He can be your afternoon snack, my dears, ” the goose honked, “if he and his friend don’t get going. ”

“Yikes! ” Khepri burrowed into my fur. “Ra, get me out of here. ”

⇐ Предыдущая 8 9 10 11 121314 15 16 17 Следующая ⇒