Isla couldn’t detect any emotion in Bones’ voice. She knew the man disapproved of her, and was certain she hadn’t forgotten the way she’d left them the last time they’d been together.
“You got any ideas, Maddock?” Bones said. “Did they say anything?”
“I’ll tell you later,” Maddock said in a flat tone. “You can drop us off anywhere,” he added.
“Not until I’ve gotten you well away, just to be safe. But given that they were stalking me, too, I think it would be fair to tell me what you know. It might help keep me safe.”
“Dude, you’ve got some nerve saying that to us after what you did,” Bones said.
There it was. Isla had known it was coming, but her face still turned a crimson mask of shame. “I know how it looked,” Isla began.
“Looked? Chick, we don’t care about how it looked. We care about what you did. You ditched us and ran off with the people who were trying to kill us.”
Isla stole a glance at Maddock, who betrayed no emotion.
“You’re right. I did run away. With my mother.”
“Who is a bigwig with the Tuatha de Danaan,” Bones said.
“Who, until a few minutes before that, I had thought dead.” Her eyes began to mist and sadness pinched at the back of her throat. Don’t cry in front of him! “Bullets were flying. I was frightened to death, and in shock at seeing my mother again. I didn’t run from you so much as I ran to her.” She turned to Maddock, a note of pleading in her voice. “Dane, you lost both of your parents. Can you honestly tell me you would be completely in your right mind if you suddenly found out one of them was alive?”
“Don’t talk about my parents.”
“I’m sorry. But I want you to understand. I have tried so many times to explain this to you but you won’t communicate with me. I wasn’t trying to abandon you, even though that was the end result. I can’t begin to tell you how badly I want your forgiveness. Both of you,” she added, glancing in the mirror where Bones stared back at her with a flinty gaze.
Maddock folded his arms, chewed his lip. Finally, he spoke.
“The people who are after us claim to be descended from Black Caesar. In their minds, that means Solomon’s ring, and the mines, are theirs.”
“Who the bloody hell is Black Caesar?”
Maddock finally looked in her direction, a frown creasing his brow. “What do you mean? I thought you were after Solomon’s Mines? Why else would those men have been following you?”
“I am on the trail of the mines.” She took a deep breath. She didn’t want to tell him anything, or perhaps she didn’t want to reveal how little she knew. “H. Rider Haggard spent a great deal of time at the cathedral. I thought he was studying a particular book, but it turns out he was spending time in conversation with a certain priest. He was apparently taken with the man’s stories. I know I’m grasping at straws, but Haggard is one of the few avenues I haven’t exhausted.”
Maddock nodded.
“Are you going to return the favor and tell me about this Black Caesar? It’s not like I won’t look him up the first chance I get.”
“Black Caesar was a slave turned pirate who, we believe, possessed Solomon’s ring,” Maddock said grudgingly. “He was arrested and sentenced to die. Before his execution, he gave the ring to a man named Israel Hands, who lived out his days in poverty in the area surrounding the cathedral. We thought he might have hidden the ring there or maybe given it to someone.”
“Did you find it?”
Maddock shook his head.
“So, what’s your next move?”
Maddock gaped at her, disbelief shining in his eyes. “We don’t work together anymore, Isla. You work for the Tuatha now. I suppose this is their next big plan? Use the gold from Solomon’s mines to what, bribe officials? Buy weapons?”
“No. It’s not like that. You don’t understand anything.”
“I understand enough. You’ve joined forces with the people who, a few months ago, were trying to kill us.”
“I’m wasting my breath with you,” she said. Anger welled up inside of her. The fool man wouldn’t even hear her out. “I could help you, you know. I’m not a member of the Tuatha, as you seem to think, but I have resources at my disposal. And I’ve been researching Solomon’s Mines. I have a lot to offer, but I’m sure you’re too stubborn to accept my help.”
“You got that right,” Maddock said.
“Fine. Where shall I drop you off?”
“The nearest pub will be fine,” Bones said.
Isla pulled to the curb at first sight of a pub. As Maddock unbuckled his seat belt and turned to unlock the door, she made a hasty decision. She reached into her purse and slipped out a tiny metal object. She reached out and grabbed the hem of Maddock’s jacket. He froze but didn’t turn to look at her. It pained her, but that was exactly what she’d hoped for.
“Please, just consider talking with me some time,” she said as she clipped the object to his jacket. “I want to make it right.”
Maddock gave a shake of his head and exited the car, slamming the door behind him.
“Just be that way, Dane Maddock,” she said softly. “Try and shut me out of your life. We’ll be seeing each other again very soon.”
Chapter 25
The Boleyn was a tavern on Barking Road in London. Reading Maddock’s mood, Bones refrained from making puns with the street’s name or any jokes about beheading wives. He followed Maddock inside, eager to learn who, exactly, was after them, and what, if anything, Maddock had found behind the secret door.
The tavern was impressive. Lots of old wood and stained glass. The floor was a little sticky and the place could have used some spit and polish, but it was what Bones imagined a London pub would be like — old, with a strong sense of history. They ordered two craft beers and a pizza at the bar, then found an out of the way table. The crowd was sparse this time of day, with only a few men in West Ham Football t-shirts or jerseys occupying a few seats here and there.
They settled in and Maddock filled him in on what had transpired — the descendants of Black Caesar, finding the body of Israel Hands, and the message carved in stone.
“You think H. Rider Haggard took the ring and, I don’t know, gave it to his wife?”
“Something like that,” Maddock said.
“You think he used it first? Found Solomon’s Mines and opened it?”
Maddock shook his head. “Haggard wouldn’t have been a young man by then. I don’t think he’d have been up to the journey, which is why he planned on giving the ring away.”
“Why bother stealing it, then?”
“The legend of King Solomon’s mines was his passion, maybe even an obsession. I think he figured out where the mines were, but without the ring he couldn’t get inside. And that meant he couldn’t prove the legend was true.”
Bones rubbed his chin. “So, finding the ring was the completion of his quest? It satisfied him that he’d been right all along?”
“That’s what I think. He knew he couldn’t survive the demands of the journey back to Africa. Maybe he couldn’t afford to fund an expedition. So, he satisfied himself with the knowledge that he’d assembled all the clues. And he couldn’t resist leaving that message with Israel Hands’ remains, just to show who had solved the riddle. I guess that had to be enough for him.”
“Wouldn’t be enough for me,” Bones said. “Or you.” He and Maddock could back out of this search anytime. Let Isla and the descendants of Caesar fight it out. But the truth was, the two of them were cut from the same cloth as men like Haggard. Treasure hunting was an obsession. Despite the danger, there was no way either of them would give up the chase.