They watched Asif set out along the track across the fields.
Youll need to pick things up quickly, said Owen. Theres a danger of a tit-for-tat killing.
The mans family?
Owen nodded.
The brother especially. Theres another woman involved. They think he was killed because of that.
Her husband?
No. Shes a widow. The wifes family. Asif was going to take a look at them tomorrow.
Ill do that myself. Ill come out tomorrow morning. However, Ive arranged to do something else first. He hesitated. Im going to talk to the railway people. He looked at Owen. You wouldnt care to accompany me, would you?
Owen knew exactly why he was asking that. Any investigation involving foreigners was potential political dynamite. Most foreigners doing business in Egypt were protected by special provisions of the legal code, forced on the Egyptian government in the past by foreign powers. No European or American could even be charged unless it could be shown that he had committed an offence not against Egyptian law but against the law of his own country. Even when a charge was accepted, he had to be tried, in the case of a criminal offence, by his own Consular Court, and in civil cases by the Mixed Courts, where there would be both foreign and Egyptian judges.
And those were merely the formal protections. Informally, there were jugglings for reference, disputes about nationality and the use of cases as pretexts for the assertion of national interests. In such circumstances the cards were always stacked against the unfortunate policeman; and especially so if he happened to be Egyptian.
It made sense, then, for Mahmoud to ally himself with the Mamur Zapt. It protected him personally against political comeback and increased the chances of successful prosecution. At the very least it meant that the Belgian-owned Syndicate would not be able to fob him off without even listening to his questions.
Owen was quite willing to allow himself to be used. Like many of the British officials, like, indeed, the Consul-General himself, he had considerable sympathy with the Egyptians over this issue of legal privileges, the Capitulations as they were called.
But only up to a point. The Parquet, too, had its political agenda. The Ministry of Justice was the most Nationalist of all the Ministries and the Parquet lawyers were Nationalist to a man. Mahmoud himself was a member of the Nationalist Party. Might not the Parquet be seeking to use the case for own political ends?
Why have they put you on the case? he asked.
Mahmoud smiled.
Why have they put you on the case? he countered.
Chapter 3
'There is this Tree, said the site foreman doubtfully.
Tree? said the man-higher-up-in-the-Syndicate, Varages, another Belgian. What Tree is this?
I gather theres been some problem, said the site foreman, looking at Owen.
Is it in the way or something? said Varages.
If its a case of compensation- said one of the lawyers.
The Belgians had brought two lawyers. They had also insisted that the foreman could only be interviewed in the presence of someone high up in the Syndicate. It was likely that Varages was another lawyer. With Mahmoud, that made four of them. This meeting wasnt going to get anywhere, decided Owen.
The Tree, actually, is beside the point, he said.
I thought you told me I had to look out? said the foreman.
That was because of the attitude of a local sheikh-
That awkward old bugger?
If its a question of compensation- began the lawyer again.
Pay him and lets get the Tree moved, said Varages impatiently.
Its not-
Can we get the ownership straight? cut in the other lawyer. It belongs to this old sheikh-?
No, said Owen. It belongs to a Copt. His name is Daniel. But-
Ah, the ownership is disputed? Well, that gives us our chance, then. It will have to be settled in the courts. A Copt, you say? And a sheikh? That will be the Native Tribunals, then-
I wouldnt recommend that, said the other lawyer. Not in the circumstances. Much better to get it referred straight to the Mixed Courts-
On the grounds that the Syndicate is a party? Well, yes, of course, that is a possibility-
Listen, said Varages, we dont want to get this tied up forever in the courts. Weve got to get on with it. How long is it all going to take?
About four years.
Four years! Jesus! Cant you speed it up a bit?
If the Syndicate cared to use its influence-
What would it take then?
The lawyers looked at each other.
Two years? one of them ventured.
Two years? Listen, two months would be too long! Well have to do something else. Or rather-yes, thats it. Why dont we just dig up the Tree and argue about it afterwards? It wouldnt matter then how long you took-
Dig up the Tree of the Virgin, said Owen, and youll have the whole desert in flames!
Did you say the Tree of the Virgin? asked one of the lawyers.
Yes, its-
The Tree of the Virgin? said the other lawyer. Are you sure?
Yes, but-
Does that make a difference? asked Varages.
It certainly does. Captain Owen is quite right. The desert would be in flames. However, that is not the real difficulty.
Not the real difficulty? said Owen.
Not the real difficulty? said Owen.
No. Not from a legal point of view. The fact is-correct me if Im wrong, he said, looking at his colleague, the fact is that, well, the Tree doesnt belong to either the sheikh or the Copt-
The Copts put a railing round it, said Owen.
Who does it belong to, then? asked Varages.
The Empress Eugenie.
Just a minute, said Varages, the Empress Eugenie? Of France?
Thats right. The Khedive gave it to her. In 1869. When she came to open the Suez Canal.
Gave it to her?
Yes. As a present.
There was a moments stunned silence.
Its still there! said Owen. I saw it yesterday!
Yes. She didnt want to take it with her.
And it-it still belongs to her?
In theory, yes.
We could ask the courts to pronounce, said the other lawyer eagerly.
How long would that take? asked the site foreman.
Oh, about eight years.
I dont think wed better move the Tree, said Varages.
I would strongly advise against it.
The French wouldnt like it.
They wouldnt, indeed. They might even, I go so far as to suggest, see fit to treat it as a casus belli.
Moving the Tree? A cause of war?
It cannot be ruled out. As Captain Owen will know better than anybody, the French have always resented their exclusion from Egypt by the British. They might see this as an opportunity to reassert their influence.
I dont care who runs Egypt, said Varages, just so long as I can get on with my job. Which happens to be building a railway. What are we going to do about this Tree?
The Tree, actually, is beside the point, said Owen desperately.
It certainly is, said Mahmoud.
At the last moment the Syndicate had made difficulties. It had no objection in principle to meeting a representative of the Parquet and answering any questions he might care to put, but it failed to see any reason, beyond the purely adventitious one of where the body was found, why it should be expected to answer questions bearing on the circumstances of the mans death.
True, the man had been part of its workforce. But the death had occurred off the companys premises and out of company time, while, in fact, the man had been at home and in his native village. The death was, surely, a private or domestic matter, on which the company could hardly be expected to be able to throw any light.
Nor was it reasonable for the Syndicate to be asked to make working time available for Mahmoud to question the workmen. If the death had resulted from an accident at work that would have been quite another matter. The Syndicate would have been glad to comply. But it had already lost a lot of valuable work time as a result of the accident of the body having been found where it had been and it was loath to lose any more.
Besides, if the death arose, as it appeared it did, out of private or domestic circumstances, what was the point of questioning the mans working colleagues about it? What light could they be expected to throw on the incident?
In vain had Mahmoud put forward reasons. The Syndicates lawyers had merely raised further objections.
At last he had looked at Owen despairingly.
I think that the reason why the Parquet has asked for this meeting, said Owen, is that it is in the Syndicates interests.
How so? asked the lawyers.
Because while the circumstances of the mans death remain undetermined, all sorts of stories are getting around. He is concerned that some of these could have an effect on your workforce.
It was then that the foreman had mentioned the Tree and they had begun on their detour.
The Tree, said Owen, perspiring and making one last valiant attempt, is not in the way. You do not have to move it. In itself it is nothing. It is the way it might be used that is important.
To create mischief, you mean? said the foreman.
We certainly wouldnt want that, said Varages, frowning. He glanced at the lawyers.
What do we have to lose by letting him ask questions?
I think we should maintain our position, one of them said. Strictly speaking, it is nothing to do with us. There is nothing that points to a connection between the mans death and the railway.
Oh, yes, there is, said Mahmoud. We have found sand in the mans clothes and superficial lesions consistent with the body having been dragged. We do not think he was killed at the place where he was found. He was killed somewhere else and dragged there. And the question is why? The answer, surely, is to make precisely the connection between the killing and the railway that you deny exists.
The money is good, conceded the labourers.
But the work is hard.
Heavy, is it? said Mahmoud sympathetically.
Its more that they keep you going.
They keep you going in the fields, said one of the men.
Yes. But its at a sensible pace. On this job they make you go faster than youd like.
Thats because they want to get it finished. The Khedive, they say, has fixed the day he wants to travel on it.
Why cant he wait a bit?
Hes got some big do on, I expect.
Well, if he wants to travel to the city, why cant he go by coach and horses, the way hes always done?
Hes in a hurry, I suppose.
All he needs to do is set out earlier. Then hed get there at the same time.