Page 73 of An Unexpected Pleasure

“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.

“The next thing I remember is waking up and finding Julian bending over me, shaking me and telling me to wake up. I sat up and looked over at Dennis. He was lying there dead. There was blood all over his chest and on the ground around him. Julian helped me up, and he told me that one of the priests had killed Dennis. Julian said the villagers were gathering and were coming toward the caves. We had to get out of there. I wanted to take Dennis’s body with me. I couldn’t bear to leave it there. But Coffey pushed me out into the tunnel. He told me we could not wait. The villagers would be there any moment, and we must hurry. We stumbled through the tunnel and out to our burros. He put me on one of the pack animals, and we fled.”

Theo let go of Megan’s hands and stood up abruptly. “I didn’t help Dennis. I left him there. You have ample reason to despise me. I shouldn’t have let Julian rush me out. I should have stayed. We should have brought him out with us, not left him there for his enemies.”

Megan sat in silence for a long moment, then said, “That is the most bizarre story I have ever heard.”

Theo sighed. “I know.” He turned. “I can understand why you would have trouble believing it. But I swear to you that it is the truth. I would never have hurt Dennis. In that short time he had become like one of my brothers.” He ground his teeth in frustration. “If I had had any idea what your family believed, I would have come to your father and told him the tale in full.” He paused, then said quietly, “I am not a murderer, Megan. I could never have killed your brother.”

Megan sighed, looking at him for a long moment. There were doubtless a hundred reasons why she should not believe Theo’s story. Her father, she knew, would simply assume that Theo was a smooth liar.

But deep inside, Megan knew that Theo was telling her the truth.

No matter how peculiar or unlikely the story he told was, he was not lying. It was there in his face, in his eyes.

Theo was not a murderer. She had known that, really, on some level, from the moment she’d met him. That was why she had had to struggle so hard to remember that he was a villain.

“I believe you,” she told him simply.

Theo’s brow went up in surprise. “Just like that? Really?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“For one thing, you are a terrible liar. For another, no one would ever have made up a story like that. If you were going to lie about it, you would have invented something much more plausible.”

The beginning of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Perhaps you are right about that.”

“But why did Mr. Barchester lie about it? Why did he tell us that you killed Dennis?”

“I don’t know.” Theo looked as puzzled as Megan felt. “It makes no sense. He wasn’t even there when it happened. He was back at the base camp. All he knows is the story I told him—that Dennis had fallen, that he had died in an accident.”

“He did say that he couldn’t believe your story, that he questioned you and he was certain you were lying. Having seen you try to tell that story, I can understand why he thought you were lying.”

Theo grimaced. “But why make the leap from that to my murdering Dennis?”

“He was quite definite about it. He told us that you and Dennis had quarreled, and that you had stabbed Dennis,” Megan told him.

Theo stared at her. “He is lying. I cannot imagine why, but he made up that entire story.” He paused, shaking his head in disbelief. “I thought Andrew was a good man. He had been my friend. Even though we are no longer friends, I wouldn’t have thought he would spread such lies about me. And to what purpose?”

“I agree. It makes no sense. I plan to question him about it.”

Theo gave her a sharp look. “Not without me, you won’t. I was furious and sad about Dennis’s death, but I was certain that the priest who had killed him must have believed that Dennis was harming the village somehow. They were a peaceful, gracious people, and they had not harmed us. Indeed, they had taken care of me. I knew that whatever caused the fight, it had to have been a mistake. Besides, the whole village did not deserve to be punished for one man’s sin.”

“So you kept silent to keep the village’s secret.”