Underneath London... "THE EGYPTIAN CROCODILE CURSE"

“You mean our British Museum exhibition has inspired a serial killer?” she said.

“I told you the poster was unsettling.”

“And you of course have a theory.”

“I do. Whose mummy is at the centre of this exhibition?”

Why was he asking?

“The Middle Kingdom Queen Sobekneferu, a queen who came to rule as a pharaoh. The discovery of her tomb near the oasis city near Crocodilopolis recently made world headlines and this is a special touring exhibition to boost Egyptian tourism.”

“Yes, but she’s famous for something else.”

“Okay. She extended the lost labyrinth of her father Amenemhat III in the Faiyum Oasis area. She also had a unique affiliation with the crocodile god Sobek. In fact her name, Sobekneferu, means ‘Beauty of Sobek’.”

“Correct. And what was it about the crocodile god Sobek?”

“Jon, you have the coaching air of a professor. I’m the Egyptologist, you’re the gifted amateur,” she said to the stolen-antiquities detective.

“Go with me on this.”

“Sobek, the crocodile god, was a zoomorphic god depicted with a human body and a crocodile’s head. Like the violent Nile crocodile, he was the ferocious protector of the pharaoh.”

“Exactly. Now someone, or something, is killing people around the British Museum where the Crocodile Queen Exhibition is about to open.”

“Hang on, this happened around here? I’ve heard nothing about it.”
“No, it’s been kept quiet. The killings happened beneath the museum. In the sewers nearby, in fact. There’s been an electrician killed, a fibre optic cable worker, a sewer maintenance worker. That we know of. And a growing list of people have gone missing.”

“Attacked by a crocodile?”

He swayed in uncertainty.

“Well, let’s just say the remains showed the marks of a crocodile’s teeth. Skulls crushed in by powerful jaws. Protective hard hats crushed like eggshells.”
“But how could a crocodile get down into the sewer?”

“Ah, but is it a crocodile?” he said.

“What else? A serial killer with a croc’s head? Maybe I should have a go at the impossible for a change,” she said. “Let’s see. The killer is actually the ancient Egyptian god Sobek, half man, half crocodile and he’s been dormant all these years. Maybe some amateur archaeologist brought him here from Egypt when the sewers were first built and then decided to get rid of him. But now the mummy of Queen Sobekneferu pops up in London, so the crocodile god has suddenly come awake and he’s mad as hell and creating havoc. Doing his job of protecting the female pharaoh...”

Jon gulped his coffee.

“Where do you get this stuff from, Jennefer?”

She kicked him under the table.

“The unadorned facts, please...”

Excerpt from "THE EGYPTIAN CROCODILE CURSE (Amazon Kindle and paperback)