Page 13 of When a Lady Desires a Wicked Lord
“That question requires far more time for discussion than we’ve got. For now, I’m keeping my focus on the obvious. There is a man lying in your study who came here tonight in search of a map…a map that leads to a treasure someone wants badly enough to kill for.”
“That vile man did not succeed. The threat is over.”
“You’re wrong. It has only just begun to pursue you.”
“To pursue me? There’s no need for melodrama.” Concern flickered in Alex’s eyes. “If Professor Stockwell were here, he would tell you that you’re exhausted from the journey. That’s the only explanation for this…shift in your thinking. This is all rather sudden. And rather…out of character.”
“It goes without saying I do not believe the whispers of a curse. But the threat against you originated in Egypt. Rooney is a pawn. He is not in control.”
“What is it that you are trying to tell me?” Her tone seemed designed to coax a response from him. “I need to understand.”
Bollocks, this was harder than he’d expected. How did one go about describing a menace his own rational mind could not fully comprehend?
“When I explain, you may believe me quite mad.” He raked his fingers through his hair, shoving the unruly strands from his forehead. Her gaze trailed his movements. Of course she would read the gesture correctly, seeing through the small motion to the tension roiling within him.
The faintest hint of a smile lifted the corners of her lips. “I’ve questioned many things about you over the years. Your sanity was not one of them.”
“Stockwell told me of the danger. But I dismissed the warnings. That was a mistake.”
“Expeditions can be fraught with peril,” she said, her words measured and abundantly logical. “Excavation of a tomb carries substantial risk. Some hazards can be predicted. Others cannot be anticipated. You and I…we understand the danger.”
“When Stockwell summoned me, I initially said the same thing. He sent for me after the second death. When he tried to explain his belief that a malevolent force was at work, I thought the man had spent too much time in the field. I reasoned his work had taken a toll on him. Coupled with the fact that two respected colleagues he’d considered friends had been killed under circumstances that could best be described as bizarre, it seemed understandable that he’d allowed the legends to get the better of him.”
Alex nodded solemnly. “Professor Baker and Lord Carruthers were good men. I once had the opportunity to work on a translation with Cedric Baker. His expertise with ancient languages was unparalleled. I grieved their deaths. But the circumstances—though highly unusual—were not suspicious.”
Benedict considered his words carefully. He’d no desire to upset Alex with the most disturbing details of the so-called accidents. But she had to understand the danger she faced.
“Professor Baker succumbed to a snake bite,” he said. “The man was not in the field at the time. Rather, he was in his bed at an elegant hotel in Cairo. He died without even attempting to summon help.”
“An undoubtedly tragic circumstance,” she said softly. “It stands to reason he’d been overcome by the venom.”
“The viper that bit him was never found, despite a thorough search of the hotel premises.”
She cocked a feathered brow. “What precisely are you implying?”
“I do not pretend to know what really happened to Baker. But his death may not have been an accident.”
“Surely, you do not believe he was murdered.”
“Is it so difficult to imagine a circumstance where a poisonous snake might be employed as a weapon?”
She frowned. “Handling such a creature would expose an assassin to considerable risk. Any number of weapons would be far less dangerous and ultimately more predictable.”
“If the murderer intended to create the illusion that the death was accidental, such a method would make sense.”
“Perhaps.” Her frown deepened. “But you cannot doubt that Lord Carruthers’s death was an accident. He took a fall minutes before he was to present a lecture. There were more than a dozen witnesses.”
“Professor Stockwell was convinced Carruthers had been poisoned. When he lost consciousness, the fall down the stairs created the illusion that his death was a tragic mishap.”
“The illusion?” Alex scoffed. “Members of the audience who’d gathered for his presentation were quite certain of what they’d seen. There can be no doubt.”
Benedict shook his head. “There is always doubt. At first, I also believed Carruthers’s death was nothing more than an accident. But then, I learned of a third death—an Egyptian who’d served as a guide on several of Stockwell’s expeditions.”
“Another murder staged to look like an accident, I suppose.” Alex pursed her lips skeptically.
He shook his head. “The guide was found just beyond the Great Pyramid at Giza. He’d been stabbed to death.”
“Oh, dear,” she said. “As horrid as that is, he may have fallen victim to a bandit.”
