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Noaited for the fish to strike To strike me

“Lately I feel like a time traveler,” I said to Miranda “Or like there are two ofto help Descartes find Stefan’s killer The other ure out how that box of bones ended up in the wall of the palace And how in bloody hell the Shroud of Turin and this painter Simone Martini are connected to it”

We were back at the library again, once more on the trail of Martini and the Shroud I nodded toward the i room that had once been a vast banquet hall Cohts surrounded by frescoed walls and leaded s and a coffered ceiling “I feel as schizophrenic as this library” From somewhere below, an annoyed sshh floated up at me

Miranda surveyed the space, the lavish architectural metaphor I’d just staked out for ht smile “You could do worse,” she whispered “Pretty dah and motioned her out into the stairwell so we could talk without disturbing everyone else “We es,” she resumed with scarcely a pause “Descartes hi those fax nu for the fish to bite Meanwhile, why not keep plugging away on the bones and the Shroud?” Miranda had bounced back remarkably from her scare It helped that the hotel had reed to post a guard outside her door at night It also helped, I figured, to have so to occupy her mind

“Sure,” I said “Maybe we can figure out the connection”

“Maybe we can even figure out where Stefan hid the bones,” she said “Wouldn’t that be swell, if we could find them”

“I’m not so sure, Miranda Maybe those bones aren’t meant to be found Maybe they’re like the Hope Diamond — bad luck for anybody who tries to possess them”

“Oh, that’s bullshit,” she said

“Stefan ree with you,” I pointed out

“I don’t mean bullshit about the bones; I mean bullshit about the Hope Diaus All those lurid tales of murder and madness and suicide? Hype conjured up to boost the diamond’s mystique and jack up the market value”

“Remind me never to ask you about Santa Claus,” I retorted “But seriously, none of it’s true? Nobody ned it met a bad end?”

“Well, okay, there’s King Louis the Sixteenth and Marie Antoinette; I guess the guillotine wasn’t the greatest way to go” She winced “But it does beats crucifixion”

“No kidding So here’s the thing I don’t get I thought I had the ured out: This fourteenth-century h in the theocracy He’s attracting a big following, the people love hi priestly class feels threatened, so he’s put to death Sound familiar? Remind you of anybody else? Anybody from, oh, say, the first century?”

“There ht be a parallel or three,” she conceded

“And somehow this painter, Simone Martini, sees Eckhart’s body,” I pressed on “And he sees the parallels to Christ, so he creates this ie, this pseudo burial shroud Maybe he’sin on the trade in relics Either way, the theory works It fits the facts — or it did until the damn C-14 test said the bones are two thousand years old”

She studied ht You’re disappointed about that?”

“Confused,” I said “Frustrated, I guess”

“How come?”

“I don’t know I liked the theory Liked the story I was spinning”

She frowned “Liked it better than the possibility that they really are the bones of Jesus?” I pondered that, and while I was pondering, she pounced “I don’t believe this You’re jealous, aren’t you?”

I drew back; it felt almost as if she’d slapped me “What on earth do you mean? Jealous of who?”

“Jealous of Stefan You’re afraid that he was right after all — that he really did reatest find ever” She shook her head, the disappointment in her eyes unot no reason to envy Stefan, and no need to be petty If those are the bones of Christ, so what? It doesn’t make you any less, and it doesn’t ood But just think — what if he was up to no good with the actual, for-real bones of Jesus Christ? How totally a! Can’t you see that?”

Myhow best to defend myself Then, almost as clearly as if they’d been spoken aloud, I heard the words of Meister Eckhart: Do exactly what you would do if you felt most secure But ould that mean, ould that be? What would I do, if I were ht noas so surprised at the answer that I laughed out loud “Thank you,” I said Her eyes narrowed, and I saw her bracing for the next salvo of sarcasht” Was this really ? “I cared— one of the cardinal sins in science And yeah, I probably wanted to look shter than Stefan”

“Why?”