“Oh, yes. The Royal Mother used to wear it all the time, even when she was sleeping.” Bebi closed his eyes. “It’s on a thick gold chain—a gold pendant as big as my hand, with a large eye in the center made of ivory and lapis lazuli.”

  “Lapis lazuli,” I repeated. “The blue stones from the East?”

  “Yes, of the very best type. Very valuable,” said Bebi. “On one side of the eye stands the vulture goddess Nekhbet, guardian of Upper Egypt. On the other side is the cobra goddess Wadjet, guardian of Lower Egypt. Both of them are studded with turquoise and carnelian stones.” He opened his eyes and regarded me sadly. “It is an amulet fit for a queen, Ra, and it protected my mistress from all evils.”

  Gulping a last scrap of duck, I tried to picture the amulet and memorize the details. “So the gods are turquoise blue and carnelian red?”

  “Yes.” Bebi scratched his head in puzzlement. “Ra, I don’t understand. Why do you care so much about what the amulet looks like?”

  “Because I’m going to find it.” I cleaned my whiskers with a flourish as Bebi stared at me. “You see before you Ra the Mighty, Pharaoh’s Cat and Great Detective.”

  “And his scarab sidekick,” Khepri piped up behind me. He nodded happily at Bebi. “Thank you very much for the dung.”

  “My pleasure.” Bebi looked a little confused as Khepri sat beside me. “Do you mean you two are trying to find the thief?”

  “That’s right,” Khepri and I chorused.

  Bebi still looked confused. “But aren’t Pharaoh’s guards doing that?”

  “Yes,” I said, “but they’re after the wrong person.”

  Bebi tilted his shaggy head. “And how do you know that?”

  Khepri and I looked at each other.

  “It’s a long story,” I said.

  We ended up telling Bebi everything.

  “What a terrible miscarriage of justice!” he said when we finished. “So that innocent girl is hiding in a storeroom while the real thief gets away with the crime?”

  “No need to worry,” I assured him. “I’m on the case. And I always get my man.”

  “How can you always get your man?” Khepri wanted to know. “This is the first time you’ve ever detected anything, Ra.”

  “I always will get my man,” I amended.

  Bebi scratched his head. “Ra, my dear fellow, please don’t take this the wrong way. But are you sure it’s possible for a cat to solve this case?”

  How could Bebi doubt my abilities? I hopped up from the ground. “Of course it’s possible for a cat to solve this case, Bebi. Maybe not any cat, but it’ll be a breeze for Pharaoh’s Cat.”

  “And for his beetle sidekick,” added Khepri quickly.

  “Even so—” Bebi began.

  “The girl Tedimut appealed to me,” I interrupted. “She asked me to save her. It was a direct request, Bebi. To me, Pharaoh’s Cat.” I thought of the girl’s bright eyes and how she’d called me Great One. “It’s a duty, Bebi. She’s depending on me.”

  “And me,” Khepri chirped. “And Miu.”

  “But mostly me,” I said to Bebi.

  “Well, it certainly does seem wrong that the girl should be blamed for all this.” Bebi squinted down at both of us, his brown eyes almost lost in his fringe of silver fur. “And far be it from me to discourage you, Ra. I admire your desire to serve the cause of justice and truth, the cause of Ma’at.”

  I held my head up with the kind of pride only cats can muster, my whiskers glinting in the fierce sunlight. The very survival of the universe, and the defeat of chaos, depended on Ma’at—the ideal of harmony and order and balance. Ma’at was what every pharaoh was supposed to strive for. But it wasn’t every Pharaoh’s Cat who came to his aid.

  Pharaoh was trying hard to be a just ruler. Since he came to the throne, he had spent hours every day settling disputes, investigating corruption, and doing whatever the gods required to bring peace and prosperity to the kingdom. But because he was so busy, he sometimes missed important details. He was only human, after all. That’s why he needed a cat like me.

  “Of course I will do all I can to help you.” Bebi nodded at me kindly. “I may not get out much, but I still have some influence, and I hear things now and again that might be useful. Tell me, who are your chief suspects?”

  “Er…I’m not sure we have any yet,” I had to admit.

  “Your main lines of inquiry?”

  “We don’t have any of those, either,” I said. “But we know the Great Wife’s ladies and servants aren’t guilty, because they were all in the Great Wife’s rooms when Tedimut was attacked.”

  “Actually,” Khepri said in a small voice, “I was wondering about that.”

  “You were?” I was surprised.

  Khepri raised his bumpy head. “Well, Tedimut said it was Lady Shepenupet’s responsibility to make sure the proper jewelry was brought from the treasure room. So what I was wondering is this: Did someone in the treasure room send the wrong amulet by mistake? Or was it Lady Shepenupet who ordered the wrong one—on purpose?”

  “Why would she do that?” I couldn’t follow Khepri at all. “She’d only have to send it back.”

  “That’s my point,” Khepri said. “Lady Shepenupet would have known all along she was going to send the amulet back with Tedimut. That means she could have warned someone else to attack her. I’m not saying it happened that way, but it’s a possibility.”

  Hmmm…I hadn’t thought of that. Of course, only a truly sneaky person would play such a trick. But after my experience with the tunic and the funny-smelling meat in my bowl, Lady Shepenupet seemed sneaky enough to do just about anything.

  Bebi gave Khepri an admiring nod. “Well done, old chap. You really are coming out of your shell.”

  Khepri winced. “I prefer to think of it as coming into my own.”

  “As you wish, old chap. Either way, it’s a pretty piece of reasoning.” Bebi turned to me. “You’re wise in your choice of partner, Ra.”

  “Not partner,” I reminded Bebi. “Sidekick.” But Bebi didn’t hear me. He was too busy listening to Khepri.

  “So how do we find out if Lady Shepenupet ordered the wrong amulet on purpose?” Khepri was saying. “I don’t think Aat knows. But even if she did, she’d never tell us.”

  “Aat has always been difficult,” Bebi agreed. “But what if you tackled the problem from the other end?”

  What other end? I was mystified.

  Khepri, however, was clicking in an excited way. “You mean we should look for Lady Shepenupet’s partner in crime? We could try to find out whether anyone close to her was behaving suspiciously this morning—”

  Bebi beamed at him. “My, but you really are a quick-witted chap. Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. I can’t say I know Lady Shepenupet well, but I did know her father. He was one of the old pharaoh’s closest advisers, though I always thought he was a bit slippery. His son—and the brother of Lady Shepenupet—is the Overseer of the Royal Residence. And I believe the Director of the Royal Loincloths is one of their cousins.”

  The Director of the Royal Loincloths? Lady Shepenupet couldn’t have been plotting anything with him, I thought. He was too nice. But the Overseer—now, that was a definite possibility.

  Not only did the Overseer kick me when no one was around, but he also had a liking for fine jewelry. More than once, I’d caught him in the treasure room staring at the royal diadems. It was his job to check on them, I suppose. But he liked to stay there an awfully long time—and he looked at the gold the way I look at a bowl of roasted quail.

  “We’ll check them both out,” Khepri promised. He seemed to have completely forgotten his fear of Bebi. More importantly, he’d forgotten which one of us was the Great Detective.

  I rose to my feet. It was time I reminded everyone who was in charge of this investigation. “We need to go, Bebi, but we’ll definitely keep your information in mind—along with all our other leads.”

  Khepri hopped over to me. “We have other leads?”

  “Of course we do.” Well, maybe not leads, exactly. But ideas. I tapped my head with my paw. “It’s all up here, Khepri.”

  “I’d love to hear more,” Bebi said.

  Khepri waved his forelegs. “So would I.”

  “Later.” I motioned to Khepri to climb aboard. “I appreciate your help, Bebi, but time’s moving on, and we need to get back on the trail.”

  Bebi looked disappointed. He shuffled behind us as we crossed back through his mistress’s shabby rooms. “I must say I’m sorry to see you go. I haven’t had such an exciting visit in a long time. But good luck to you both. Please do let me know if there’s anything else you need.” He gestured to the guards by the door, who were moving into place to block his way out. “As you can see, I’m limited in what I can do, but I’ll gladly help in whatever way I can.”

  After we said our good-byes and walked away, Khepri whispered, “He may be a baboon, but he’s awfully nice.”

  “I told you so,” I said.

  “His dung is nice, too,” Khepri added.

  I stopped short. “I did not need to know that, Khepri.”

  “And it was warm—”

  “Not listening.” I picked up my pace. “Not listening. Not listening.”

  I bounded forward so fast that my hind legs started to skid. As I careened through the next doorway, my paws went out from under me.

  “Watch out!” Khepri cried.

  As I rolled to my feet, I heard a snarl behind me.

  Yikes! It was Aat. How had she gotten loose?

  There was no time to worry about that now. As Khepri scrambled down into my belly fur, I tried to bound away. It was no good. Aat whipped around and blocked the doorway, trapping me between her paws. Her huge amber eyes didn’t blink as they held mine.

  “What are you doing here, Fluffball?” she growled. “I told you to go back to your pool.”

  The pool had never sounded better than it did right now. “Er…I was just taking a walk.”

  “Hah!” She bared her teeth. “What do you think I am, Fluffball? Stupid? You peppered me with questions this morning, and now you’re nosing around some more. You’re up to something. Something to do with the Eye of Horus. What is it?”

  Instead of answering, I tilted my head to one side so I could see her collar more clearly.

  Whew! Aat wasn’t loose after all. Her collar was attached to her chain, and the chain was fastened around a pillar. That meant things weren’t quite as bad as I’d thought. Though since we were right between Aat’s paws, they were still pretty bad.

  How could I get us out of here?

  “I asked you a question, Fluffball.” This time Aat’s growl made my fur ripple. “What are you up to—you and that little decoration of yours? You’re not hiding the thief who took the amulet, are you? You’d better tell me now, or I’ll slice that nose right off your face.”

  She was getting too close to the truth, but I tried not to show it. “I told you, Aat. I was just curious.”

  Her claws shot out. For an instant, I thought my nose was gone. But even as her paw came whistling down, I heard Khepri shout, “I’ll save you, Ra!”

  He leaped onto Aat’s paw and raced up her fur.

  “Ewww!” She reared back, dancing around like one of Pharaoh’s acrobats. “It’s a bug. A bug! Get it off me!” She tried to bat Khepri away. But as I could have told her, he was too clever and quick for that. As I shot out of Aat’s reach, he ran straight to the top of her head.

  “Get off!” she shrieked. “Go away!” She tried to claw at him, but she only succeeded in nicking her own ear. While she nursed it, Khepri jumped off and scrambled over to me. Once he was on board, I ran into the next room.

  Aat howled.

  Lady Shepenupet rushed into the room, her peevish face looking alarmed. “Oh, Babycakes,” she crooned to Aat. “What’s wrong?”

  “Babycakes?” I said to Khepri. “Is that what Lady Shepenupet calls her?”

  “Looks like it.” Khepri giggled.

  “Hey, Babycakes,” I called back to Aat.

  She growled. “Don’t you ever, ever call me that.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it.” To Khepri I whispered, “Babycakes!”

  “I heard that!” Aat roared.

  “There, there,” Lady Shepenupet soothed Aat. “Don’t let that nasty cat bother you, Babycakes. You’re much, much prettier.” Glaring down at me, she fluttered her hands. “Shoo!”

  I took my time leaving. “Bye-bye, Babycakes.”

  Khepri and I giggled.

  “You’ll pay for this,” Aat called after me. “The next time I’m off the leash, I’ll find out what you’re up to. And then you’ll be sorry you ever crossed me.”

  She snarled again to show she meant business, but by then Khepri and I were halfway across the next room. Before long we were completely out of earshot.

  Once we were at a safe distance, Khepri and I almost fell over ourselves laughing. “It’s serious, though,” Khepri said at last. “Maybe we shouldn’t have teased her. Next time we see her, she’ll be madder than ever.”

  “Then let’s not see her anytime soon,” I said. “But don’t worry. You’re more than a match for her. Thank you for leaping in to save my nose.”

  Khepri peered down from his perch between my ears. “She didn’t hurt you?”

  “Not a scratch. She pulled back as soon as you jumped on her.” I shook my head, still amazed he had done it. “I never expected you to take her on, Khepri. She’s a hundred times your size.”

  “Wasn’t she funny?” Khepri said cheerfully. He hopped down my back, imitating Aat. “ ‘Oooh! Oooh! Get it off me! Get it off me!’ ”

  We both started laughing once more.

  “Well, thank you again,” I said. “It was a brave thing to do. Especially when you’re just the sidekick.”

  Khepri didn’t look as pleased as I thought he would. “Right.” He perched himself on my tail. “I’ve been thinking about that, Ra. How about we switch? You can be the sidekick for a while, and I’ll be the Great Detective.”

  “Er…no,” I said. “It’s too late, Khepri.”

  Khepri hopped off my tail. “Too late? Why?”

  “Because I’ve already cracked this case. This is a time for action. Come on, let’s go investigate the guilty parties.”

  “And who would they be?” Khepri asked.

  “We already said, didn’t we? The Overseer. Lady Shepenupet.”

  “We said they might be guilty,” Khepri reminded me. “We don’t know for sure. Not yet.”

  “I have a feeling they’re the ones,” I said. “And my instincts are always right.”

  Khepri looked a little cross. “Instincts aren’t evidence, Ra. Not even yours. The truth is, it could be just about anybody.”

  “That’s why I’m depending on instinct,” I said. “If we investigate everyone, this case is going to take forever. And I’ve missed enough snacks already.”

  Before Khepri could say anything else, Miu padded out of the shadows, startling both of us.

  Miu was good at keeping a low profile. I had to give that to her. She’d hidden in the shadows like she was part of them.

  “There you are!” She bounded up to us with a little chirrup. “Tedimut’s asleep, so I thought I’d see if I could find you. How is the case going?”

  “It’s going great,” I said.

  Khepri’s click was uncertain. “I don’t know about great, but we’ve learned a few things.” He told Miu everything we’d discovered so far.

  “That’s all you know?” Miu said when he’d finished. “I was hoping for more.”

  “There’s nothing to complain about,” I protested. “We have our prime suspects—”

  “Shhhh!” Khepri warned. “Humans coming.”

  As we darted into the recess behind a statue of the falcon god Horus, I heard the Overseer coming toward us, speaking in a low voice to his companion, the Director of the Royal Loincloths.

  “I don’t want any more of your excuses, do you hear?” The Overseer sounded crabbier than ever. “When I give an order, I expect you to carry it out.”

  “Yes, my lord.” The Director of the Royal Loincloths came into view, looking miserable. “It’s just that there are complications—”

  “Complications?” the Overseer hissed. “What sort? Do you mean blackmail?”

  “No, no, my lord.” The Director looked more distressed than ever. “I mean that it’s difficult for me—”

  “And you think it isn’t for the rest of us? I’ve told you what you need to do. Get it done.” The Overseer swept away, leaving the Director standing on his own in the middle of the room.

  Peeking out from behind the tail feathers of the Horus statue, we all watched him.

  “He doesn’t look happy,” Khepri whispered. “I wonder what the Overseer ordered him to do.”

  “And why the Overseer mentioned blackmail,” I said.

  “Maybe it’s something to do with the theft,” Miu murmured. “Didn’t that baboon say the Director was related to Lady Shepenupet?”

  “Yes. And to the Overseer,” Khepri said.

  “Well, maybe all three of them are in it together,” Miu suggested.

  Now, that was a ridiculous idea. “The Director wouldn’t steal anything,” I told her. “He’s not the type.”

  “Look at him,” Miu urged. “That’s a guilty face if I ever saw one.”

  The Director certainly did look troubled. Instead of running off to follow the Overseer’s orders, he was sighing heavily and shaking his head.

  “I think it’s time for some purring,” Miu told me. “Why don’t you give it a try?”

  She wanted me to fawn over the Director and make a fool of myself? No, thank you. “He’s innocent, Miu. And anyway, he’s not part of my family.”

  “But you know him. He’s your friend. Isn’t it worth a try, for Tedimut’s sake?”

  I sat back on my haunches. Tedimut could count on me for everything else, but not that. I was giving all I had to this case—even missing my snacks!—but Pharaoh’s Cat had to uphold his royal dignity.

 

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