Page 35 of Garden of Lies

She felt quite daring, she realized. Perhaps even a bit reckless. Something about being alone with Slater had that effect on her.

Slater looked startled by her response for about two seconds and then he laughed his short, rusty laugh.

“It is good to know that you take such a worldly view of exotic rituals,” he said.

She opened her mouth, determined to use the opening to urge him back to safer ground but an ominous knock stopped her. Webster opened the door as though it was the entryway of a crypt, allowing Mrs. Webster to sweep in with the tray of tea things. She set the tray on the one table near Ursula’s chair and stood back.

“Shall I pour?” she asked with a hopeful air.

“No, thank you,” Slater said. “We can manage.”

Mrs. Webster did not bother to conceal her disappointment. “I’ll be off, then. Ring if you need me.”

“I’ll do that,” Slater said.

He waited until the door closed behind her and then he looked at Ursula. The brief moment of sensual amusement that had charged the interior of the library dissipated. She reached for the pot and filled two cups.

Slater came out from behind the desk and crossed the room to accept the cup and saucer she held out to him. He returned to the desk and stood in front of it.

“I’m aware that, in addition to the rather annoying speculation about exotic rituals carried out in a secret chamber, the press has also suggested that the experience on Fever Island may have affected my mind,” he said. “And, in truth, perhaps it did. It certainly changed me in ways that are difficult to explain.”

“That is hardly surprising,” she said.

She spoke quietly and calmly, trying to let him know that he was free to tell the story in his own way. She was a woman with secrets. She understood that if they were confided, they needed to be confided carefully.

“Torrence and I were friends.” Slater set the cup and saucer on the desk, the coffee untouched. “We had a mutual interest in antiquities. Early on we became intrigued by the legend of Fever Island. At some point the search for the island became an obsession for both of us. It took us two years of research before we finally got the first clue to the actual location of the damned place.”

He broke off, gathering his thoughts. Ursula waited, making no effort to hurry him along.

“The charts that I discovered were buried deep in an old sea captain’s journal and they were vague, to say the least,” he said. “Torrence was half afraid that they were the product of a deranged mind but he agreed to make an attempt to find the island. In the end the captain of the ship we chartered discovered the place more by accident and good luck than because of the charts.”

Slater went to stand at one of the windows. He looked out into the garden.

“From what we could tell, Fever Island was uninhabited,” he said. “Torrence and I found the entrance to an ancient temple and what appeared to be an endless maze of burial chambers and treasure rooms all carved into the base of a volcano. We called the complex the City of Tombs.” Slater paused and then shook his head slightly. “It was quite... astonishing.”

Ursula sat very still and watched his hard profile. She knew that it was the temple tombs of Fever Island that he saw now, not the fogbound garden.

“It must have been a wondrous discovery,” she said.

“Unlike anything I had ever seen in my life. It was as if we had stepped into a dream world.”

Slater fell quiet again. She drank some of her coffee and waited.

“We had brought a small crew of men with us to assist in the excavation work,” he said. “The entrance to the tomb complex was a long corridor of stone that led deep into the mountain. At the end of the tunnel was a vast chamber. The walls and floor were painted in dazzling colors. Statues of fantastic beasts were everywhere—large birds and reptiles unlike anything Torrence and I had ever seen. Each was studded with incredible gemstones.”

“I saw the statue of the Jeweled Bird that Lord Torrence exhibited in the British Museum in the months following his return,” Ursula said. “It was extraordinary. There was a great sensation when it was reported stolen.”

“There were so many artifacts crammed into the temple chamber that we could only assume they had been collected over a long period of time—several centuries, perhaps.”

“Do you think they were of Egyptian or Greek origin?”

“Neither,” he said. “I’m quite certain of it, although there were similarities to both of those ancient civilizations. But I am convinced that we discovered the tombs of an unknown culture that was so old, so rich and so powerful that it may have left its influence on the great civilizations that rose after it was gone.”

A sense of wonder came over her. “Good heavens, sir, do you think you and Lord Torrence discovered the royal tombs ofAtlantis?”

He shook his head. “Atlantis is a legend.”

She smiled at that. “I would point out that you are reputed to be something of a legend, yourself. Such tales are not woven out of thin air. There is usually a grain of truth in them.”

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