Free A Murder in Thebes (Alexander the Great 2) by Paul Doherty Page B

The doors were open, the rooms were ransacked. She went farther up. The door to Memnon’s chamber
     was ajar; she pushed it open and went in. The air smelled stale—of dog, oil lamp, sweat, and leather. She placed the torch
     in a holder, and groping in the darkness, found some oil lamps, which she lit.
    The shutters were closed. Miriam went to open them but felt a cold draft seeping through the cracks and decided to leave it.
     She opened the satchel and took out Memnon’s papers; she undid the cord and laid them on the table. In the light of an oil
     lamp, she began to leaf through the greasy, well-thumbed pieces of papyrus. In her time she had helped Simeon with army records,
     and these were no different. Typical soldiers’ entries, the writing crude and large. Stores, provisions, arms, a rough drawing
     of the Cadmea, a votive prayer to Apollo, drafts of orders. She found a copy of a letter Memnon must have intended for his
     son. Apparentlywritten during the early days of his command of the Cadmea, the letter depicted Memnon as a jovial, bluff man, proud of Alexander’s
     trust in him, full of advice on how his son was to act. The letter, however, had never been sent. The scribbles of graffiti
     on the bottom half of the page were interesting. Probably done during the last days of his life, Memnon had written out promises:
     he would travel to this shrine or that, make votive offerings to the gods if he was safely brought through the present dangers.
     One phrase, however, was repeated: the name
Oedipus
, or the literal translation of the ancient Theban king’s name, swollen foot. “I have seen him tonight,” Memnon had scrawled.
     “I have heard him on the stairs, his club rattling against the wall.”
    Miriam went cold. What had Memnon been talking about? The ghost of Oedipus? The accursed king of Thebes dragging himself through
     this ancient citadel? She continued reading, the same entry was repeated time and again. She found another dirty piece of
     parchment with the same remarks beneath a crude drawing of Oedipus carrying his club. Miriam raised her head. The citadel
     was very quiet now. She stared round the chamber.
    Was Memnon’s shade here, she wondered? Did the old captain stand in the shadows and peer out at her? Or had he gone to Hades?
     She grasped her torch and went out to the stairwell. She heard a door close and turned around but there was no other sound.
     She went up the steps and passed the small garret, its door flung back; she peered in: nothing but a dusty cubicle. She climbed
     on. The staircase became narrower and led to a wooden door. Miriam raised the latch, and a buffet of cold air made her torch
     splutter. She went out onto the top of the tower, her feet crunching on gravel deliberately strewn there so that no one could
     miss their footing. The wind was strong, and Miriam shielded her face. She walked to the edge and stood with one hand resting
     onthe crenellations. She lifted the torch and gazed down. It was now pitch dark. Yet she was aware of the dizzying height. Fires
     still burned in the city, and beyond, she could see the lights of the Macedonian camp. Memnon must have stood here when he’d
     seen the fire arrow loosed into the night sky. She once again stared at the ruins of Thebes and repressed a shiver. This was
     truly a necropolis, a city of the dead. She heard a sound; a group of soldiers were leaving, their torches mere pinpricks
     of light. Behind her the door to the tower clattered and banged. Miriam went back and, carefully closing the door behind her,
     went down the steps. She reentered Memnon’s chamber, and her stomach pitched. Someone had been here. The oil lamps had been
     moved. Her hand went to her girdle and she realized she had brought no weapon. But surely the garrison? Men were still here?
     She hurried to the chest at the foot of the little truckle bed and opened it. It smelled of stale sweat. She fumbled through
     the contents and sighed with