Theft on the Nile

By Tracy Higley

READ THIS SHORT STORY IN UNDER AN HOUR!

 

As a university math professor, Audrey knows how to solve problems. But the one problem she can't solve? The whereabouts of her brother, missing for seven months.

When a vintage travel poster advertising a Nile riverboat cruise—tacked up in the back hall of the restaurant where her brother was last seen—reveals a startling anomaly, Audrey stumbles into an adventure too classic to be real, but too real to be a dream.

Now she's trying to rescue her brother, return a stolen Egyptian artifact, and solve a murder, all while navigating the unfamiliar world of Egypt one hundred years in the past.

Sure, she wants to get home. But danger, mystery, and a dash of romance—who could resist?

 

An edge-of-your-seat short story from bestselling author Tracy Higley.

For a page-turning full length time travel series set in Egypt, see A Time to Seek.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tracy Higley
• Release date: May 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223789314

Tracy Higley

Tracy L. Higley started her first novel at the age of eight and has been hooked on writing ever since. She has authored ten novels, including Garden of Madness and So Shines the Night. Tracy is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Ancient History and has traveled through Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Italy, researching her novels and falling into adventures. See her travel journals and more at TracyHigley.com

Book preview

1

A nd that was the moment I knew. I would be a lifelong collector of igneous rocks.

Wow. Audrey choked down another bite of cavatelli, then lifted her water glass to her mouth in an attempt to smother the laugh threatening to ruin Kevin’s earnest declaration. Fascinating, she murmured past the rim of the glass, nodding.

What was she doing here, in this restaurant, of all the restaurants in the city? She should have said no when he suggested it. Shouldn’t have worried about offending him.

But she was trying.

That’s what she was doing.

Four men, four dates, four weeks. Each one more boring than the last. Apparently, studying online dating profiles was not like creating mathematical proofs. It was more like sifting the glowing self-recommendations down to… well, a small pile of igneous rocks. She should probably stop choosing only the safest-looking guys, the ones who looked like they still lived with their parents. But the past couple years had left her playing everything safe.

So… how many rocks have you collected?

Enough to build a castle? A climbing wall? A replica of Stonehenge?

The only question she could think of, but one that successfully launched him into a few more paragraphs, so she didn’t have to speak.

She let the details of his collection fade a bit and turned up her focus on the soft jazz playing on the restaurant’s sound system.

Why did she agree to this one? She should have shut it down, the moment he suggested this place for dinner.

This place.

Her chest seized, a mini-panic-attack. She grabbed the water again.

She’d promised Lucy, that’s the only reason.

Four dates this month. Lucy had waggled a finger over their Tuesday coffee-date. Then you can crawl back into your professor-hole, if that’s what you want.

Professor-hole was Lucy’s fond nickname for Audrey’s office at the university, a laboratory-like space Audrey rather liked, thank you very much.

She’d better slow down on the water. The last thing she wanted was to end up in that back hallway leading to the restroom.

But twenty minutes of rock-talk later, there was no avoiding it.

Will you excuse me a moment? She scooted herself out of the booth, not waiting for an answer.

What? Oh. Okay.

Kevin’s ravioli was long-gone. Would he order dessert while she was in the restroom? Should she suggest they wrap this thing up, before he had a chance to go for the tiramisu?

She hesitated at the table’s edge, then forced a smile. Be right back.

Maybe over dessert she’d have a chance to share about her life, and balance out the airtime.

You want to know about me? Oh, nothing special. Teach math at the university. Parents dead in a terrible car crash. Brother missing and presumed dead. No big deal. So tell me more about your rocks…

Yeah.

She twisted around the scattered tables, not needing the bagno sign to guide her. How many times had she stood in that back hallway, studying that poster?

Tonight, she sailed past it, refusing even a glance. There was no point.

He’d been missing seven months, and a hundredth look at the poster wasn’t going to change anything.

But on the way out of the restroom, she weakened.

The yellowing edges of the poster were unchanged. The vintage drawings… lush green palm trees lining the