The only thing missing from Chris’s room was Chris himself. Valeria was right to be cautious. Question was: what else did she know? Any doubts he’d had about the story Valeria told him the night before had been partially dispelled after his trip to the mausoleum, but even though he had seen it first-hand he was still to learn anything definitive. In many ways, he felt worse because of it. The clues were cryptic, just like the notes left behind by TF. Ben knew they wouldn’t have been recorded in the diary if they weren’t relevant. The book Dr Phillips had given him was interesting rather than useful. Chapter eight began with the author introducing the legends of the islands before spending ten pages recounting Cortés’s life story. It focused on the telling of the Noche Triste – or as it was translated into English, The Night of Sorrows. The Night of Sorrows, he thought. Plural, not singular. The story of Cortés was legendary. Born in 1485 to a family of Spanish nobility, he lived a childhood of almost complete anonymity.
