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Painter held up a hand "I’ve answered your question, Gray So now you answer mine Will you take the lead on this case?"

"After the professor was shot in front of me, I want answers as much as anyone"

"And what about your…extracurricular activities?"

A wince of pain narrowed Gray’s eyes The planes of his face seerow harder as a part of him clenched internally "I assume you’ve heard, sir"

"Yes The navy has discontinued its search"

Gray took a deep breath "I’ve pursued all angles There’s nothing more I can do I admit that"

"And do you think Monk is still alive?"

"I…I don’t know"

"And you can live with that?"

Gray"I’ll have to"

Painter nodded, satisfied "Then let’s talk about this coin"

Gray reached out and took the coin froers, he examined its freshly cleaned surfaces "Were you able to determine much about it?"

"Quite a bit It’s a Ro the second century Take a look at the woman’s portrait on the back That’s Faustina the Elder, wife of the Roirls and sponsored many women’s charities She also had a fascination with a sisterhood of sibyls, prophetic women from a temple in Greece"

Painter waved for Gray to turn the coin over "That’s the temple on the other side The temple of Delphi"

"As in the Oracle of Delphi? The female prophets?"

"The same"

The coin’s report on Painter’s desk included a historical sheet about the Oracle, detailing how these woenic fumes and answer questions of the future from supplicants But their prophecies were reat impact on the ancient world Over the course of athousands of slaves, setting the seeds of Western de the sanctity of hu Greece out from barbaris E in the center of the temple?" Gray asked "I assume the letter is Greek, too Epsilon"

"Yes That’s also from the Oracle’s temple There were a couple cryptic inscriptions in the temple: Gnothi seauton, which translates--"

"Know thyself," Gray answered

Painter nodded He had to remind himself that Gray ell versed in ancient philosophies When Painter had first recruited hi both advanced chemistry and Taoisued Painter from the start But such distinctiveness came with a price Gray did not always play ith others, as he had deood to see hiain

"Then there was thatto the coin "It lay carved in the temple’s inner sanctued "No one knows Not even the Greeks Historians going all the way back to the ancient Greek scholar Plutarch have speculated at its significance The current thought a modern historians is that there used to be two letters A G and an E, representing the Earth goddess, Gaia The earliest temple at Delphi was built to worship Gaia"

"Still, if theis so mysterious, why depict it on the coin?"

Painter slid the report across his desk toward Gray "You can read more about it in here Over time, the Oracle’s E becas throughout the ages, including Nicolas Poussin’s Ordination, where it’s inscribed above Christ’s head as he hands the keys of heaven to Peter The sye in the world, usually brought about by a single individual, whether that be the Oracle of Delphi or Jesus of Nazareth"

Gray left the papers on the desk and shook his head "But what does all this have to do with the dead man?" Gray lifted the silver coin "Was this valuable? Worth killing over?"

Painter shook his head "Not especially It’s ofspectacular"

"Then what--?"

The intercom’s buzz cut him off "Director Crowe, I’m sorry to interrupt," his assistant said over the speaker

"What is it, Brant?"

"I have an urgent call fro for an immediate teleconference"

"Fine Queue it up on monitor one"