Murder scene evidence: An ancient Egyptian Shabti afterlife servant puzzles Daniel Cane, the Egyptologist Detective (Amazon series)

CHAPTER 1 Servant of the dead

The Egyptian Antiquities official handed Daniel Cane a ziploc bag. “This little man was found at the scene of the crime, sitting on top of a murdered archaeologist.” A small blue face and figure pressed through the sheen of plastic. An ancient Egyptian shabti figure. Daniel found himself re-evaluating the Egyptology definition in a moment of wild conjecture. Shabti: ancient Egyptian funerary figurine placed in the tomb to perform any task for the dead... including murder? “Looks like a miniature human in a body-bag,” Daniel said, taking the bag to examine. The official was Ahmed Khadir from Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, an acquaintance of Daniel’s who had developed a respect for his investigative talents. They were meeting across a coffee table, seated in comfortable chairs in the official’s luxury hotel suite at the Mena House Hotel, Cairo, where Khadir was staying to attend an Egyptology conference. Daniel peered at the figurine in his hands. “The world’s first labour-saving devices that worked for eternity. But they’re normally deposited in a tomb to labour for the dead in their next life. Or found sitting in almost every museum collection.” “Not this one. It was found on the scene of a murder at an archaeological digsite. An American Egyptologist.” The shabti figurine had come out of the pocket of a file folder spread open by the Egyptian Antiquities high official. Along with the plastic bag, the man took out several photographs. “And there’s more puzzling evidence.” Khadir picked up the photo prints and dealt them out in front of Daniel like ominous playing cards. A photo of a man’s body lying face down in a palm grove. A close up of the man’s skull horrendously injured as if in some ancient battle with axe and sword. A blue faience shabti figure on the dead man’s back. Photos of palm trees, green irrigated farming fields and nearby the half-buried ruins of an archaeological dig.