Daniel turned and saw a tall, well-dressed – and, he had to admit – attractive woman in her mid-thirties stood glaring at him.

‘I beg your pardon, madam?’ he said. ‘But, for the moment, the Egyptian collection is closed to visitors.’

‘I am not a visitor. I am making an inventory of the collection for the museum,’ she said curtly.

‘That may be,’ he began, ‘but a body was found here and I have been asked to look into it. My name is Daniel Wilson—’

‘I know who you are,’ snapped the woman. ‘You were formerly Inspector Wilson of the Metropolitan police, Chief Inspector Abberline’s assistant on the notorious Jack the Ripper case, now operating as a private detective. Sir William advised me yesterday that he would be telegraphing you.’

‘Private enquiry agent,’ Daniel corrected her politely. ‘In that case, you have the advantage of me, madam.’

‘I am Abigail Fenton, archaeologist, with an honours degree from Girton College in the Classics. I am not just some nosy local busybody. As I informed you, I have been asked by the Fitzwilliam to make an inventory of the Egyptian collection, and it was I who found the body.’

‘I see,’ said Daniel. ‘In that case I would be most interested to hear what you have to say, Mrs Fenton …’

‘Miss,’ Abigail stressed firmly.

‘Miss Fenton,’ Daniel corrected himself. He gestured at the sarcophagus. ‘Would you show me how you discovered the body, and what position it was in?’

Abigail joined him.

‘It was yesterday morning, Wednesday, at about ten o’clock. I had been examining the object the day before, both externally and internally.’

‘Did you have assistance in removing the lid?’ asked Daniel. ‘It’s very heavy.’

She shook her head.

‘The lid had been slid partly to one side, enough to enable me to see inside. On Tuesday the sarcophagus was empty. I know that because I was particularly keen to see if there were any decorations on the interior; the ancient Egyptians were very keen on colour and adornment.’

‘Yes, so I see.’ Daniel nodded, indicating the other objects in the large room, many of them colourfully painted.

‘In fact, as you will have observed, the interior of this particular sarcophagus has not been decorated; the ornamentation has been kept to the outside. However, when I left the museum on Tuesday evening, I left the lid pushed to one side so I could carry out a more detailed examination of the interior the next day, in case there were holes in the stone that might show where a different form of decoration had been used.’

‘And when you returned on Wednesday morning …’

‘The lid had been pushed back in place. I assumed it was one of the museum staff who’d done it, possibly for reasons of safety, although I can assure you I had not left the lid in an unsafe or precarious position …’

‘No, I’m sure you didn’t,’ murmured Daniel.

‘I started to push the lid to one side – it moves surprisingly easily because the Egyptians had used highly polished stone on the top of the actual box – and saw at once that there was something inside. At first I thought someone had dumped a pile of old clothes inside it, but then I saw the man’s head …’

‘If it distresses you …’ began Daniel gently.

‘Of course it doesn’t distress me,’ Abigail snapped at him. ‘Life and death are facts of nature. I’ve not long returned from an archaeological dig at Gaza in Egypt, and out there human life is far more precarious than it is here in Britain. Death is an everyday fact of life there.’

‘I apologise for being overprotective of your feelings,’ said Daniel.

She sniffed, but appeared to be slightly mollified.

‘I apologise for the sharpness of my tone,’ she returned. ‘But I am fed up with being treated as some kind of fragile flower just because I am a woman. We do not all swoon at the sight of death or injury. If we did, there would have been no Florence Nightingale or her nurses to bring comfort and aid to soldiers during the Crimean War.’

‘No, indeed,’ agreed Daniel, making a mental note that this woman would be a formidable adversary, but at the same time could be a very useful ally in the right circumstances.

‘At first I thought he might be drunk, but I smelt no alcohol. And then I noticed the unnatural angle of his head and realised that his neck looked as if it was broken.’

‘You have medical training?’ asked Daniel.

She shook her head. ‘While I was in Egypt I saw the body of a man who’d been hanged. His head was at the same angle to his body.’

This is a formidable woman indeed, Daniel thought. Unafraid, not easily put off.

‘I immediately went to see Sir William Mackenzie and reported my discovery to him. Sir William came down, confirmed what I had found, and called the police.’ Her expression hardened. ‘Some idiot called Inspector Drabble arrived, who promptly ordered me to leave. He said the dead body meant it was no place for a woman.

‘I pointed out to him that we are surrounded here by dead bodies with all these mummified remains, but he was adamant, and he actually called for a constable to escort me from the premises. I complained to Sir William, but he told me that the site was under the jurisdiction of the police. Inspector Drabble didn’t even ask me about the body, despite the fact that I was the one who discovered it.’

‘There was a reason for that,’ snapped a voice, curtly.

They turned to see the short, round, moustached figure of a man descending the steps, bowler hat firmly wedged atop his head, the buttons of his suit jacket straining over his ample stomach.

‘Inspector Drabble, I presume,’ said Daniel. ‘My name is Daniel Wilson—’

‘I know who you are,’ said Drabble brusquely.

‘I assume you have finally come to talk to me about finding the body,’ said Abigail, her disapproval clear in her tone.

‘You assume wrong,’ said Drabble. ‘I gained all the information I needed from Sir William Mackenzie and the other staff.’

‘But I found the body!’ exploded Abigail angrily.

‘I am aware of that, and it was noted,’ said Drabble coldly. He turned to Daniel. ‘I’ve been advised by Sir William that he has brought you in to investigate this case.’

Daniel nodded. ‘That is correct.’

‘I have advised him that your presence is unnecessary, and also could be a distraction.’

‘Really?’ said Daniel.

He’d been expecting this. So often, when he was called in, he encountered hostility from the local police force, who resented him.

‘The reason I say your presence is unnecessary is because our study of the situation, and of the premises, indicate that the man broke in during the night of the Tuesday. With all the external doors and windows being secure, this suggests he gained entry by climbing a drainpipe up to the roof, then traversing the roof to the courtyard area, down another drainpipe into the courtyard, where he was able to access the interior of the building, the doors and windows from the courtyard being less secure.’

‘That seems a very circuitous route,’ mused Daniel.

‘We have examined the building and it is the only answer,’ said Drabble tersely.

‘Unless someone let him in?’ suggested Daniel.

‘We’ve spoken to the nightwatchmen who were on duty during the night and they both insist that no one entered the building while they were here,’ said Drabble. ‘As I say, all the evidence so far points to the fact that this man had come to steal some artefacts, and he was in the act of climbing into the sarcophagus when the heavy lid fell down on him, killing him.’

‘And that’s your conclusion?’

‘It is. However, we shall continue with our investigations in case new evidence arises, and if it does, we shall reappraise the situation.’ He stepped close to Daniel and thrust his face forward. ‘If anyone’s going to solve this case, Wilson, it’s me and my men. Local bobbies using proper police procedures, not a so-called private enquiry agent. If you ask me, you and Abberline have done a disservice to the police by setting yourselves up the way you have, just because you had a bit of luck on some high-profile cases.’ He sneered. ‘The fact is, you never brought Jack to justice, did you. It was all hot air. You and Abberline were chancers, the pair of you.’