Selected Detective
INVESTIGATION INTO MURDER I

They were still in Malqata until almost 7 p.m., and at that time Anwar the virologist still did not come. Rather than waste any more time, Khalifa detailed a police group to guard the crime scene and, accompanied by Sariya, decided to visit the victim's hotel.

“Know the nature of Anwar, it could be that we stay here until midnight,” murmured. “Better we do something useful in this available time.” Menna-Ra is in a striking location in the heart of Gezira village, an area filled with dilapidated houses and shops on the west side of the Nile, opposite the Luxor Temple. A two-story white building, which can be reached through a narrow road and surrounded by mud brick walls on the surface attached to a type of chocolate mushroom. Khalifa and Sariya arrived early in the evening, accepted by a middle-aged English woman, in fluent Arabic and heavily accented, who introduced herself as Carla Shaw, the hotel's manager. He offered them tea and took them to the gravel terrace at the back of the building.

They sat on woven chairs under a canopy covered in red hibiscus flowers. The small, long lakes lie on their left-hand side to their right, black and gloomy, the surface surging by a slippery set of Nile red fish. Its palm-like edge was clogged by the waste of Baraka's water bottle. On the far side, an ad about the Hod-hod airman Suliman Balloon can be seen among the trees, drawn on the walls of the house. The air was filled with the sound of dog salak, taxi routers and, in the distance, the rhythmic sound of irrigation pumps.

“Not too surprising,” said the woman, sambal crossed legs wrapped in jeans under the other leg and lit a merit cigarette. “He has not fully recovered. I guess, cancer, even though he never said it.” Khalifa lit her own cigarette and threw a glance at Sariya.

“We will know more when it has been autopsied,” he said,

“But it seems Mr. Jansen may have been...” Khalifa stopped, pulled her cigarette, unsure how to express what she wanted to say.

“There is a certain peculiarity with regard to his death,” said the detective finally.

The woman looked at him, her eyes widening slowly. He wore a thick black eye line that seemed to emphasize his expression of surprise.

“What do you mean by peculiarities? Do you mean that he...”.

“I haven't said anything,” said Khalifa slowly.

“This facade needs to be carefully tested. There is an odd aspect to Mr. Jansen's death, and we need to ask some questions. Everything is routine.” The woman smoked her cigarette deeply, exhaled it, and felt the crescent-shaped earring on her left ear with her free hand. Her hair was unnatural black, as if it had just been painted. Attractive appearance.

“Please,” said. “even though I don't know what can help. Piet saves a lot of things for herself.” Khalifa nodded at Sariya, who was taking out her notebook and questioner.

“How long have you been working for Mr Jansen?” tanyakanya.

“Almost three years!” he raised his head slightly, and pulled his earrings. “A long story, but basically I was here on vacation, making friends with some local people, he said, and they said Piet was looking for someone to run his hotel—ia was too old to do the daily tasks itself and I thought, ‘Wow, why not?’ I just got divorced. No reason to return to the UK.”

“Don't he have a family directly?”

“My age is not.”

“He was married?” The woman came back to smoke her cigarette. “My impression is Piet does not specifically take an interest in women.” Khalifa and Sariya looked at each other.

“Male?” ask the detective.

The woman moved her hand irregularly. “I heard he wants to go to Banana Island. He never said anything about it, and I never asked. That's his business.” There were footsteps on a gravelly cobbled street, and a young man appeared carrying a tray of three tea cups and a small candle. He put it on the table by their side and disappeared again. Khalifa grabbed the glass.

“This is not the name of Egypt, Jansen,” he said, sipping his drink.

“I think he's from Holland. Came to Egypt about 50, 60 years ago. I don't know for sure. It's been a long time.”

“What he always settled in Luxor?”

“As far as I know, he bought again this hotel in the 1970s. After he retired. I think he lived in Alexandria before that. He never told me the full story of his past.” He smoked his cigarette and threw the rest into a beetle-shaped ashtray by his side. Above them some evening stars began to appear, blue and large, like fireflies.

“He does not live here,” he said, writhing backwards and having both hands taped to the back of his neck so that his chest pressed out of the material of his clothes. “Di hotel. He has a house on the east side of the river. Near Karnak. He used to drive his car every morning.”

Khalifa's eyebrows frowned slightly, then she asked her deputy to record her address.

“So when was the last time you saw Jansen alive?” sariya asked as soon as she finished writing, her eyes were fixed on the point where the blouse of the woman was drawn so slightly open, revealing a hint of her pink bra.

“Around 9 this morning. He stopped by at 7 as usual, worked on some paperwork at the office, then left a few hours after that. Said there was business to be done.”

“Did he say what business?” This is a question from Khalifa.

“We found some things in his body,” Khalifa said.

“Tick to help him walk and canvas bag.”

“Yes, it's hers. He always carries it when he goes to explore. The stick is for his feet. Old wounds. Car accident, I guess.” There was the sound of water splashing from the lake. A small boat was crossing the water, someone was rowing, another was standing on the deck of the ship holding a mesh. His figure was shaded and unlined firmly in the deep darkness.

Khalifa smoked the last part of her cigarette and turned it off inside the ashtray.

“Do Mr Jansen have enemies?” tanyakanya. “Anyone who expects it to woe?” The woman shrugged her shoulders. “As far as I know, no. But, as I said, he kept something to himself. Never share.”

“Friends?” ask Khalifa. “Anyone close to him?” Head again. “Not in Luxor, as far as I know. There was a couple he used to visit in Cairo. He just got out of there last week. Anton, I think the husband is called. Anton, Anders, like that, the Swiss or the Germans. Or maybe Netherlands.” He raised his hand apologizing. “sorry, I can't help you much.”

“Not at all,” says Khalifa. “You are really very helpful.”

“The truth is, Piet is indeed a bit of a loner. In three years I've never seen the contents of his house. He ... full of secrets. I'm just taking care of the hotel. That'sthat's all. Not much we do together outside of business.” The young man carrying the tea came back, bent down and whispered something into the woman's ear.

“Good, Taib,” said. “I'll be there in a few minutes.” He returned to Khalifa.

“Sorry, inspector. We're going to have a private party tonight and I have to arrange dinner.”

“Of course,” says Khalifa. “I think we've got what we need.” The three then stood up and walked back to the hotel lobby, a spacious white room with a reception desk on one side and a narrow staircase in the corner towards the next floor.

An old man dressed in dirty djellaba was mopping the floor, humming to himself.

“There are photos in Jansen wallet,” Khalifa said as they stopped admiring the line of Gaddis prints stamped on the wall. “photo a dog.”

“Arminius,” said the woman, with a smile. “ pets in childhood. Piet was always talking about the dog. You could say, the dog was a loyal friend who had been in his possession. The only one he really believed in. Piet talks about it as if she were human.” He stopped talking, then added, “He's a loner, in my opinion. Not happy. Too many trials.” They looked at the line of prints on the wall for longer than two men operating the shaduf on the Nile side; a group of women were selling vegetables inside the Bab zuwela gate from Cairo's Islamic headquarters; a boy wearing a tarboosh, a, he was staring at the camera and laughing then headed for the front door and stepped into the street. Two boys suddenly flashed, moving a rubber tire.

“There is one thing,” said the woman as they walked.

“Maybe irrelevant, but Piet is really anti-Semitic.” He said this last word in English. Khalifa's eyes narrowed.

“What does it mean?”

“I don't know how you say it in Arabic. He is a. ma habbish al-Yahudiyin, does not like Jews.” The detective's shoulder stiffened somewhat, imperceptibly, as if he had received a small electric shock that was not strong enough to injure him but enough to make him feel uncomfortable.

“Continue.”

“There is not much to tell. He never said anything in front of me. I accidentally overheard him talking to other people, guests, local people. What a terrible thing. What the only problem with regard to the Holocaust is that they did not complete the work. How should they drop a nuclear bomb in Israel I mean, I hate what's going on there, just like everyone else, but it's really sickening. Keiz.” He shrugged his shoulders, then played his earrings. “I think I should have asked him to have a discussion about this, but I assume he is old, and parents tend to have strange opinions. And by the way, I don't want to get involved too deeply and lose my job. Like I said, it might not be relevant.” Khalifa pulled out a cigarette and lit it, then sucked it deep.

“Maybe not,” said. “Thank you for telling me all that. If there is anything else, we will contact you.” Khalifa nodded her head, turned around and walked towards the highway, with her hands put in her pockets, a frowning forehead thinking of something. Sariya walked beside him.

“Can't say disagree,” he said as he walked.

“Related with Jews.” Khalifa looked at him.

“You think the holocaust was a good thing?”

“I don't even think that event ever happened,” Sariya said. “That's Israeli propaganda.they dropped an article about it this week in Al-Akhbar.”

“You believe?” Sariya shrugged her shoulders. “The sooner Israel is wiped off the map, the better!” he said to divert the question. “What they did to the Palestinians.unforgivable.butchering women and children.”

For a moment Khalifa seemed to want to discuss the issue with him. But he decided to hold it, and turned the corner at the end of the road. The two continued to walk towards the Nile in silence. Muazin's call over loudspeakers rang out behind them, inviting the cautious to evening prayers.