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| Dear Jon and Evelyn- we love you dearly, and this is not what it seems. Never give up hope dear ones, we will return for you in due time. It didn't make any sense when Jonathan told me, Rick. I was so confused and horrified, and disgusted. "At their funeral I begged him to let me open the caskets, to bear witness of their deaths with my own eyes and he consented. That night, after all the mourners had left Jonathan and I stole into the Funeral Hall in our nightclothes and candles. Slowly we tiptoed forth over the lavish Arab rugs to the caskets, which bore in gold, the names Howard Evans Carnahan, and Adinah Ra Carnahan. Ever so slowly Jonathan pried open the lid. It was as if he were already preparing for what came next. He opened the first lid, the lid of my father's coffin and there was a rushing of air and a cool scent of the Moonflower as the ebony top shifted on its hinges. I gasped at what I saw before me. It was not my father, Rick... The man who lay dead, faceless below me, I had never seen, and had no relation to us whatsoever. So shocked was I that I wanted to run from the room, but Jonathan grabbed my wrist, twisting me around to face him and persuaded me to open mum's coffin as well. We reset 'dad's' lid and then opened mum's. Again, the woman lying serene, as if in a deep slumber before us was not our beloved mother. I began to weep then. What had they done with our parents? I was terrified." She shuddered and he wrapped his arms around her, getting Goosebumps himself at the thought of opening up his own parent's caskets. He pulled her close kissing the top of her head. "Evelyn, why do you suppose they mixed up the bodies?" "There's only one possible answer Rick. And that is that they were never killed in the first place. It was a cover up for something, I don't know what, but Jonathan and I vowed to each other that very day, one day we would get to the bottom of it all. I think those days, which we dreamed about with a passion then have finally come. I am both depressed and excited, but at the same time apprehensive. This could be our biggest adventure yet!" she said smiling, kissing him slowly. "And it's one that will put our parents to rest forever if they so choose." "But why Evie? What did they have to hide?" "That I don't know Rick, but I want to find out..." Penny ([email protected]) September 11, 2002 Rick sat in the kitchen alone, sipping coffee and pouring over the journal. He felt like a thief, in the big rambling old manor, glancing nervously at the door, every few seconds. He'd waited for Evie to leave this morning taking Alex to school, before going to the museum. He watched her leave, going down the long tree lined drive and out through the tall iron gate. Giving himself a nod of reassurance he marched up the flight of stairs, straight into the bed room, and he lifted the journal, from inside the night stand. Now here he sat alone, well almost alone. Jonathan was hiding out in the east wing, hold up in his room no doubt, locked away from all of them. The journal had opened too many old wounds and Rick's questions on the subject only served to pour salt on them. For somewhere in Jonathan's hurt psyche, the child in him not only felt his parents were dead, but they had abandoned him and his sister as well. Because if the bodies in the coffins weren't his parents, where the hell were they? It was clear he wasn't thinking straight. Especially after that tangent three nights ago, when Rick tried to broach the subject again. Poor Jonathan was a powder keg and Rick was a lit match! He should have just fired a broad side at him and been done with it But Jonathan blew up none the less. And it wasn't a pretty picture. His eyes went from a tortured, bloodshot blue to a storm cloud gray in a matter of seconds. "I don't know what the deuces you're talking about, O'Connell!" O'Connell. That should have been Rick's first clue to abandon ship right there. Jonathan hardly ever called him O'Connell anymore, except on those rare occasions when they'd reminiscence, about what Alex called the 'GOOD OLD DAYS', when he referred to Hamunaptra. "I don't have the foggiest notion where you come up with this dribble!" he'd screamed at Rick. "What the hell business is it of yours, anyway? Where the hell do you get your ideas from? Evie doesn't know what she's talking about!" With that his brother-in-law had stormed out of the library and made himself scarce. Hopefully, he'd get an answer to the wire he sent a week ago. Maybe then he could figure out where to go from there, to help his family. He took another sip of coffee and grimaced. It was cold. As he got up to refill the cup, the door bell alerted him that someone had come calling at the manor. It wasn't even eight thirty yet. God, he hoped it wasn't Evie! He quickly snatched up the book and opened a cabinet door, found a large pot with a lid and set it inside. Satisfied the book would keep, he went and answered the front door. The look on Rick's face when he opened the door, went from shock, to surprise, to a frown. He just stood looking at the man, not wanting to ask why he had come, but knowing he had too. "It's not gonna be good is it?" The tall man in turn just shook his head. Rick sighed and opened the door wider so Ardeth Bay could come in. They sat in the kitchen and Rick poured them each a cup of coffee. Ardeth frowned, looking as weary as he felt. His task had not been an easy one, nor one he would have wished to deliver to any family of the Med-Jai. When he spoke his voice held a deep regret. "I fear I have brought more pain to your home, ahi." He laid two gold wedding bands inlaid with lapis on the table in front of Rick. "We have found the bodies of Robert and Adinah Carnahan. They were placed in a common grave at Luxor." Rick felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach. Damn! Ardeth sighed seeing the look that crossed Rick's face. "We found this item as well." He placed the tarnished gold locket with its broken chain next to the rings. Rick stared at it and finally picked it up, feeling the cool metal between his fingers. "How do you know..." "Read the inscription on the back, ahi," Ardeth offered quietly. Rick swallowed a painful lump and turned the locket over reading to himself. To Adinah, ALL MY LOVE,ALL MY LIFE, Howard. "Now, open it and look at the pictures and tell me what you see." Experience told him to let it alone. Don't open it. Opening things and reading things always managed to get them in trouble somewhere down the line. Their track record just wasn't that good. "Rick?" He heard the urging tone of the Med-Jai's voice. "You asked me to help. Please. Look inside." His hands started to tremble as he pushed a thumb nail inside to pop the clasp. There before him, two small faces smiled for the camera. Two faces he knew quite well. A boy and a girl, although they were no longer children. They were adults, grown. One with a child of her own, who looking at the pictures again, Rick could see Alex in both of them. This was definitely Evie and Jonathan. He sat the locket gently back on the table and ran a hand through his hair. "See?" his conscience told him. "I told you not to open it. Told you not to." "I trust this is enough evidence, ahi. We have taken the remains to a safe place and will help Jonathan and your wife put them to rest if they wish it, in a place that is suitable." "How...Ardeth how did you find them? Evie was what? About seven when they died? How did you know where to look after that many years?" "The Med-Jai know many people, my friend. Contrary to popular belief, we do not shoot everyone we meet," he answered raising an eye brow as if to make a point. Rick could only grin. "You never change," Rick laughed. "But you have my friend, there is gray in your hair." "Hey! Do I poke fun at your robes? Leave my hair outta this!" His grin suddenly was gone. "Alright give. Let's hear it and cut through the chase." "There was an old man, Aswad Fulana. He worked on the digs with your wife's parents. He knew them very well. Knew the children." Rick butted in. "Then why didn't he come forward? Why in hell wait till now?" "He was afraid for his life and he was afraid for the lives of Evelyn and Jonathan. You see, right after we found him, he was murdered." Rick took a deep breath. Yeah, he thought. Books, puzzle boxes, chests, and lockets were definitely not going to be on his Christmas list this year. |