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Hassan finished his recital of a trip to the Valley of the Kings with his American employers and Rick took advantage of the lull to borrow a match. He lighted it and looked at his watch. It was nearly midnight. Had Scotty met Kemel Moustafa at seven? Rick thought he probably had, and wondered what Third Brother's reaction to his mysterious disappearance had been.
Rick described the encounter, and he gave a detailed description of the man. Before he was through, Moustafa was nodding his head. "I recognize this man! From your description, it can only be one Youssef. He is a well-known thief, and the leader of a gang. My brother Fuad was once requested to defend him, and refused. Another lawyer with less scruples took the case and got him off."
They should not wait at the house of Fuad Moustafa. "Come on," he said. "Back to the hotel. If we can't have facts to feed on, we can at least have that sandwich." But the sandwich was not to be had so easily. Back in their room, a call to the waiter brought the porter, who announced that all hotel facilities were closed and the waiters had gone home.
He wondered as Hassan drove them to the hotel below the pyramids: had the business in the pyramid been staged so Kemel could come to the rescue? If not, that meant two different groups were interested in the cat. The way Kemel Moustafa had looked at the broken kitten was revealing, too. One glance and he had rejected it. How had he known? He put the question aloud to Scotty.
Let's ask Kemel Moustafa." Over coffee, Rick asked the third Moustafa brother many questions, and received answers to most of them although the answers were not always satisfactory. Moustafa anticipated some of the questions. As the waiter brought coffee, he pulled out his wallet and showed the boys his identity card, driver's license, and business card. Clearly, he was Kemel Moustafa.
He wore thick eyeglasses with stainless-steel rims. On his curly hair was a tarboosh of red velvet. In his hand was a gleaming, snub-nosed hammerless revolver, pointed at Rick's midriff. "I know it's late," the man said pleasantly, "but may I come in?" He walked through the door, and Rick backed away to make room. "Are you Fuad Moustafa?" he asked shakily. The man smiled. "I have not that honor.
"It is the store of Ali Moustafa," he explained. Hassan shrugged. "I do not know it. But it can be found. Enshallah." Although the boys did not recognize it then, the word was a common expression meaning "If God wills it." They would learn it, though, and with it other Arabic words, including zanb, dassissa, and khatar or, in English, crime, intrigue, and danger! El Mouski
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