CONFESSIONS OF A MUMMY

Chapter 8

The Hotel Solidana had once, long ago, been an elegant hotel. It hosted royalty and was known as the finest hotel in Cairo. But not any more. The memories of a gentleman's, finely accoutered cigar smoking lobby were a distant, fragrant past. The white fans, high in the ceiling, with wide blades and lazily turning hubs spoke of a time before air conditioning. The sagging, butternut leather of it's armchairs and grandly drooping palms in huge marble urns were majestic relics of the 20's. There were ornamental, tin, press-plate ceiling tiles which were beginning to come back in vogue, but these were dim with the tarnish of happy times, ages past. There was once, a long, sparkling white, marble reservations desk but it had become yellowed and patina-ed with age.

The carpet circling the edges of the lobby was new and crushed like velvet underfoot. On the sun-ward side, floor to ceiling clear pane windows filled spaces which were once, in a more euphemistic, carefree age, open to the step down gardens surrounding the minor lake. Girls in flapper dresses and cloche hats had tripped down those steps talking about nothing important. Massey didn't care if it was a little run down. He liked it. It fit him well.

The only thing out of place in this tableau were two younger guys, jeans and sports coats, which could have concealed weapons. They sat relaxed, trying to look bored and uninterested but their heads swiveled every time the glass double brass doors swished open.

The reservations clerk was young as well, and alert, so Massey passed him by in favor of the cigar counter in the corner nook which still existed, by an oddity. There were curios in the nook also, as well as newspapers for those still wishing to read the printed word. The girl slouching behind the counter was dark haired, slim-waisted, with a high forehead and bored, disinterested, end of shift, grey eyes.

Massey walked over and leaned on her counter, perusing the elite cigars in their bright wrappers under the glass. She watched him approach but didn't move up to the counter when he got there.

"Pack of Gitanes please." he said. She moved to a shelf behind her and laid a pack with the complimentary hotel matches on top. He laid seven hundred pounds Egyptian on the counter and kept his finger on top. "What time did your shift start?" he said.

There was a spark of interest, or cool unfriendliness in her eyes, same thing. She made change for the cigarettes, dropping the coins into a slotted box on the counter marked Alms for Covid, and laid the bills on the counter with her hand on top. She looked at him wearily. "I've been here for a while, actually. But I suppose what you really want to know is what time I get off?"

Massey looked at her with genuine regret and said, "Suppose I didn't." He paused and then said thoughtfully, "I imagine a girl as nice as you gets asked that a lot."

"That could be embarrassing." Her voice changed. It was low and it had a throaty chuckle in it which he found appealing. He dropped a couple of more coins into the Alms box. She gave him a slow smile. "You're very nice to do that. A lot of guests ignore that box." Her voice was very low, a bit seductive, and it was doing things to him. If he hadn't been wrung out from a long night he might have paid more attention.

"How long have those two been in here?" he said. He didn't point or nod, but cut his eyes that way surreptitiously. She glanced over. Her other hand went up in an absent, feminine gesture to pat the side of her head and a slender finger elegantly led a stray tendril of hair back over her ear. There was an ornate silver earing attached to the lobe. "They've been waiting all morning." Her eyes sought his. In a low voice she said, "Is there going to be trouble?"

Massey said, "If so, it won't be from me, beautiful." He looked down the corridor towards the porter's station. "Is security down there?" he said.

She leaned over, elbows on the counter, accidentally gaining him a look down her cleavage. "There's only one man. Mr Abdul. He's a retired policeman." She looked at him uncertainly. "You could duck out the back if you wanted to. There's a door that leads to the service alley."