The Lost Testament

23

News, especially bad news, travels quickly in Cairo, and rumours of the torture and killing of a local trader were already sweeping through the souk.

Mahmoud Kassim had a cleaner-cum-housekeeper who visited his property every day, and her echoing screams when she walked into his bedroom had alerted almost everybody in the street. The Egyptian police were already investigating the murder, and had several firm leads, according to the gossip in the coffee houses.

Abdul frankly doubted that, because he had been very careful to ensure he had left no physical traces of his presence anywhere in the property, apart from the dead body. But the uproar over the killing was unwelcome to him and to his employer.

‘You should have disposed of the body, you fool.’

Abdul was not used to being spoken to like that, and immediately his temper flared.

‘I couldn’t dispose of the body. Walking through the streets of Cairo carrying a corpse would have been far more dangerous than leaving him where he died. It’s just unfortunate that this cleaning woman went into the house and found him so quickly.’

‘The word “unfortunate” doesn’t even begin to cover it. You do realize it’s possible that this other dealer, this man Husani, will now be on his guard?’

Abdul shook his head and walked a little further down the deserted alley, holding his mobile phone to his ear.

‘Not necessarily. There is no obvious reason why he should assume that Mahmoud’s death was anything to do with the object he bought from him.’

The deep voice at the other end of the line gave a snort of disbelief.

‘You’d better be right,’ he snapped. ‘You have not fulfilled this contract in a satisfactory manner to date. If you do not resolve this matter, and quickly, we may be forced to take further steps.’

‘Are you threatening me?’ Abdul asked, his voice suddenly cold with barely suppressed anger.

‘Yes, of course I am,’ the man replied simply. ‘You’re not the only contractor in Cairo. Unless you deliver the parchment to me within the next twenty-four hours, we will terminate the contract and issue appropriate orders to another person. Orders that may indirectly include you. You have been warned.’

Before Abdul could even begin to formulate a reply, the other man ended the call.