“Megan, I swear to you that I did not kill Dennis,” he told her, gazing straight into her eyes.
Megan felt, with the same certainty in her midsection that had told her the moment before that he had lied, that now he was speaking the truth. “Then look me in the eyes, right now, and tell me how my brother died.”
Theo stared at her for a moment, then broke away with an oath. “Bloody hell, woman. I swore never to reveal this to anyone.”
He stopped and stood, gazing into the distance at something only he could see. Finally, with a sigh, he turned. “All right. Nothing will satisfy you now but the complete truth. I suppose it no longer really matters, anyway.”
He came back to her and, taking her hands in his, led her to the small couch, pulling her down to sit with him. They turned toward each other, her hands still in his, and Theo looked into her eyes as he went on, “We went deep into the cave, carrying our lanterns. There were other smaller caves and tunnels branching off from it. We were curious—even I, despite my growing fever—and we searched them. One tunnel narrowed and then emerged into a large, high cave deep in the mountain. It was very much like a vaulted room, empty except for a tall, flat stone that lay in the center of the cave. The stone was carved and looked like an altar.”
“An altar?”
“Yes, I know. It sounds fanciful. But if you could have seen the place—there were soot marks on the walls at intervals, as if something had burned close to them. It wasn’t hard to imagine torches flickering around the cave and people gathered around an altar. But what was even more astounding was what we found in some of the other caves. In two, there were stores of golden objects.”
Megan drew in an involuntary gasp.
Theo nodded. “Exactly. Hidden treasure.”
“But this is fantastical.”
“I know. It was like something out of a story. There were small statues and sheets of worked gold. Replicas of all sorts of animals and trees. Bowls and trays and goblets of gold and silver. Gold and silver masks, bracelets, necklaces, earrings. Boxes and chests, some all of gold and others of wood with inlays of worked gold. You cannot imagine the sight of it, all piled up, gleaming in the light of our lanterns. We could scarcely believe our eyes. If the others had not been there, I think I would have thought it was a fever dream.”
“And is that what you fought over?” Megan asked softly. “The treasure?”
“Fought over?” Theo grimaced. “No. I told you, I did not hurt Dennis. Someone else killed Dennis.”
“Who? Are you saying Mr. Coffey—”
“No, no. I don’t know who it was.”
“But there was no one else there.”
“Yes, there was. You have to hear all my story. There was another cave, long and low. At one point we had to crawl through it. We got to the end, and we found—well, it opened on the other side of the hill. There was a beautiful enclosed valley. And in this valley was a village. It was lovely, untouched, closed off from the rest of the world. We were uncertain what to do, what our reception would be, so we crawled back into the main cave. My fever continued to grow worse. Dennis did what he could for me, but he was very worried. Finally he felt he had no recourse but to go down to the village.”
Caught up in the story, even knowing that Dennis did not survive, Megan could not help but feel the clutch of worry and fear. “What happened to him? To you?”
“Somehow he communicated with them. I’m not sure how, for they did not speak even Spanish. They spoke in a tongue none of us had ever heard or dreamed of hearing. They were, we think, descendants of the Incas. From what Dennis could gather from their attempts at communication and from some drawings on the wall of the cave, we came to believe that a group of Inca warriors and their families fled from the Spaniards, carrying as much as they could of the treasures of their temple. They found this secluded valley and settled down there. And the people there now are the descendants of the ones who fled.”
“This is unbelievable.”
“Yes. But it is the truth.” Theo looked unwaveringly into her face. “I did not kill your brother, Megan. But I—” Sorrow filled his face. “The truth of the matter is that I did not save him, either. I tried—I swear to you that I tried, but I was still so weak….”
The raw emotion in his voice tugged at Megan’s heart, but she struggled not to let it overcome her reason. “What happened?”
“The villagers seemed friendly, at least at first. Dennis made them understand, I think, that he had a sick companion. A young woman came back with him to the cave. I don’t know who she was. She had long, straight black hair, and she was quite lovely. She gave me a bitter brew to drink. I resisted. It tasted foul, but she insisted, time and again. She tended to me. She lit bowls of incense, and set them at my feet and head. I’m not sure what else happened. I was so feverish that I was delirious half the time. I saw things that—”
He broke off and shook his head. “I woke up one time. I’m not even sure if it was day or night. Everything seemed the same there in the cave. There were torches around the room, casting light. And I saw Dennis struggling with a—a creature.”
“A creature! What do you mean? An animal?”
“No. A man…I think. Frankly, in my delirious state, I took him to be one of the statues of their gods come to life. His face wide and gold, glittering, rising in a high headdress of feathers. His eyes glowed green in the dark. And his body was gold, as well. I cannot explain it. He scarcely seemed human. He was wide and rather boxy, not shaped like a man, and he had scales, golden scales all over him.”
Theo shook his head. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know exactly how he looked, how much was real and how much was the product of one of my fevered hallucinations. But it was clear that he was fighting with Dennis. He had a knife, and he slashed at Dennis with it, cutting his arm, his chest. I let out a shout—or at least, I meant to, but it came out as little more than a hoarse whisper. I got to my feet and staggered over there to help him. He had stabbed Dennis, and Dennis fell to the ground. I fell on the fellow. He was hard, and I think he was somehow covered in metal, like golden armor. He shook me off and hit me in the face with his arm, and I tumbled backward.