Why did Cleopatra tell Marc Antony that she was dead?

This is one of history's mysteries. All the ancient writers say about this is that Antony received an erroneous message that Cleopatra was dead. Cleopatra herself either never sent the message or the message got misinterpreted. Something like, "Cleopatra is in her tomb", instead of "Cleopatra is hiding out in her tomb". Antony, hearing that she was in her tomb, would naturally assume that she were dead.