The Lost Catacomb (13 page)
For her to feel such a strong connection to Bruno so soon
after they
’
d met
obviously heralded a significant change.
Unlike the superficial nature of her ill-advised fling the previous year
—
with time spent
mostly in chic restaurants or at the theatre
—
she and Bruno had shared physically exhausting
and intellectually challenging days in a dusty catacomb, among crumbling tombs
and relics of the dead, and were never bored with each other.
She had felt comfortable with him from
the moment they
’
d
met, but in a different way than she felt when she was with Matt, who was more
like the brother she
’
d
never had.
It was not merely the warmth of Bruno
’
s personality
—
reflected so clearly in his passionate
understanding of history and ardent pursuit of knowledge related to the past
—
that had somehow
appealed to her admittedly more dormant imagination.
She felt, in some extraordinary way, as
if she
’
d known him
all her life.
As if he were a part
of herself that she was now ready and eager to embrace.
She couldn
’
t explain it rationally, but somehow, with Bruno,
she felt as if she had finally come home.
As if she had finally found roots and a long sought emotional refuge.
“
I
know,
cara
,
”
he
said softly, almost as if he
’
d
read her thoughts.
Playing with a
long tendril of her hair, he confided,
“
I
haven
’
t been with
anyone since Paola and I broke up over a year ago.
No special relationship, however brief.
”
She reflected silently for a moment and then decided to tell
him about Matt.
“
He
was always like the brother I never had,
”
she explained to Bruno.
“
I
grew up without parents, without siblings, without cousins
—
and with only a
few close friends.
When I met Matt
in college, we just somehow clicked.
He was very popular on campus, with any number of girls wanting to date
him.
But he always had time for me,
even when he was involved in a romantic relationship.
“
When
I broke up with my first serious boyfriend at the end of my sophomore year,
Matt was so supportive.
I remember
how unsure I was at the time, about whether I was doing the right thing.
I was really immature, I guess, and
didn't have the self-confidence to know what I wanted or needed then.
I cried on Matt's shoulder, literally,
for a period of several weeks.
“
Even
when my grandfather died last year,
”
she continued,
“
Matt
was there for me.
He helped me and
my grandmother organize the funeral. I don't know what we would have done
without him.
And when I got
involved
—
briefly
and stupidly
—
with
my grandfather's attorney, he helped me sort things out emotionally.
He understood me.
And he never made me feel that I had
been na
ï
ve and
overly trusting.
”
Finally she ended with what Matt had asked her to think about
on the eve of her departure to Rome and how surprised she had been.
“
Now
I know why I didn
’
t
jump at the opportunity,
”
she whispered softly.
“
I guess I was waiting
for you.
”
He caressed her cheek tenderly and held her close.
“
And
I for you,
cara
.
”
Turning off all but one lamp, so they wouldn
’
t trip over the
clothing and shoes that lay scattered around the sofa, he led her to his
bedroom.
Like the living room, it
also faced the street, and he briefly clicked on a bedside lamp, which shone
through a narrow crack in the drapes at the window.
Outside, the bored but watchful figure, now sitting in the
shadows on a large hydrangea pot near the entrance to the building, carefully
noted the lights flickering on and then off.
“
She
hasn
’
t left the
building yet,
”
he
whispered into his cell phone.
“
I think
they might have moved into a bedroom.
What do you want me to do?
”
“
This
is an unpleasant complication, but we
’
ll
deal with it later,
”
the
voice at the other end growled.
“
Stay there till she
does leave.
You can pretend
you
’
re one of
those disgustingly devoted early morning joggers.
Make sure you don
’
t disappoint me.
”
It had been a difficult decision, but Nicola and Bruno
realized that without examining the original manuscript of the
Liber
Pontificalus
there was no way to test their theory about who the nameless
murdered Pope might have been or to confirm the putative role of the Temple
treasures in his death. The difficulty, of course, lay in their need to request
access to a manuscript that others might feel had no apparent relevance to
their work.
It was a step that
might raise questions they preferred not to answer just yet.
Freshly showered, they now sat at Bruno
’
s kitchen table over
morning coffee, quietly debating what to do next.
Nicola was wearing one of Bruno
’
s old T-shirts and was
comfortably ensconced in a deep, cane-backed chair, with one leg tucked under
the other, as if she really belonged there.
She felt happier than she
’
d been in a long time
and smiled radiantly at him.
“
Bruno?
I wish we could just stay here, inside
your apartment, all day,
”
she sighed contentedly.
“
I
know,
cara
, so do I, but, unfortunately, business beckons.
Or rather, the Archives do.
”
He hesitated for a moment and
then said,
“
I don
’
t know how you feel
about this, but I think it might be a good idea if we kept this new aspect of
our relationship quiet for a while.
I
’
m not
sure how our mutual employer will react.
He might think it will affect our professional judgment.
I
’
m referring, of course, to Cardinal Rostoni.
”
“
I
know what you mean,
”
she
replied.
Instinctively, Nicola had recoiled from Cardinal Rostoni the
very first time they had met.
Although he had seemed gracious enough, though cold, in their initial
meeting, there was something about him that she couldn
’
t quite put her finger on
—
some nameless fear that hovered uncomfortably
at the back of her consciousness as she thought of that brief, almost
hallucinatory moment, when a chance ray of sunlight had glanced off the unusual
red jewel on his pectoral cross.
She shivered in a nearly automatic reflex as she recalled the way his
face had looked for that split second, almost skeletal in the bright sunshine.
She thought of her grandmother Elena
’
s superstitions about the evil eye, which she had
always brushed off as irrational Italian nonsense.
Malocchio.
Being looked over.
Maybe there was something to it after
all, though she hoped not.
“
Nicola?
”
Bruno asked.
“
Are
you okay?
You seem distracted.
”
“
Sorry.
I was just thinking about Rostoni.
It
’
s not just that he
’
s intimidating.
There
’
s
something a bit
‘
off
’
about him.
Something almost too professionally
detached.
I don
’
t know.
Just a gut reaction, I guess.
On the other hand, I feel quite
comfortable confiding in Father Benedetto about our theory.
I think we can trust him.
Or at any rate,
”
she said with a sigh,
“
I don
’
t
think we have much of a choice.
”
The Secret Archives had been established as a division of the
Vatican's meticulously acquired assemblage of documents back in 1612.
At first it had been housed in one of
the wings of the Apostolic Library, in a magnificent space with frescoed cove
ceilings and inlaid wood-paneled walls.
Later, however, it was transformed
into a formal research institute, but with certain limitations.
Documents were closely supervised and
censored, with those dating from World War II among the most highly
classified.
Even the library staff
in the Secret Archives could not access them, for they were under proverbial
lock and key in secret underground vaults that were said to zigzag mysteriously
beneath the Vatican gardens.
Only
recently had documents from the Spanish Inquisition been made available to a
select few, and then only with great reluctance and a certain amount of
trepidation at what might be revealed to the world.
Nicola and Bruno had phoned Father Benedetto several hours
earlier and were now on their way to meet him near the entrance to the
Archives.
He greeted them with a
warm smile and led them to his office, where, he told them, they could explain
what they needed to see and why, in complete privacy.
“
I
hope you don
’
t
mind my asking why you need to examine the specific manuscript that you
mentioned over the phone,
”
he said, as he sat down behind a large desk cluttered with files and
motioned them towards two comfortable looking armchairs on the other side.
“
It
’
s just that I might be
able to give you better direction or more effective assistance if I
know
exactly what you
’
re
looking for.
”
Nicola and Bruno looked at each other tentatively, and
finally Nicola took a deep breath and plunged in.
“
You
see, Father, we
’
ve
made a rather disturbing discovery. Yesterday, while we were in the catacombs,
we found an old clay amphora that had been hidden behind a brick near one of
the sarcophagi with the strange iconography.
I
’
m sure you remember that because of the lien on the
new
hypogeum
, nothing has been removed or even handled by anyone other
than the two of us.
“
The
amphora had a parchment scroll inside, and we took the liberty of removing it
from the premises for fear that it might be stolen, despite police surveillance
of the property.
”
She paused for a moment and
added, somewhat sheepishly,
“
Even
at the risk of our being accused of stealing it.
It
’
s here in my bag, as a matter of fact.
The parchment, that is,
”
she said with a sudden
surge of nervous energy.
“
I
’
ll show it to you in a
few minutes.
The amphora itself is
still at the site.
We replaced it
behind the brick.
“
Anyway,
the scroll contains a narrative that we can only assume is genuine.
We just don
’
t know how to date it precisely, and we don
’
t yet know who wrote
it.
Probably some scribe or highly
connected cleric in the Apostolic Court, back in the 3
rd
Century.
”
As Nicola spoke, Father Benedetto's features began to take on
a look of barely veiled concern.
“
Go on,
”
he said, leaning
forward in his seat, his hands clasped tightly under his chin as Nicola
continued rapidly.
“
It
seems that there was a pope who was murdered because he fell in love with a
Jewess.
She had come to the papal
court to plead for her people, since this pope had intended to place new taxes
on the Jewish communities of Rome and Ostia.
Apparently he was being pressured into
doing this by an influential group of bishops.
The young woman was quite young and
beautiful,
and
a brilliant rhetorician.
She not only convinced him to rescind
the decree, but she even engaged this unnamed pope in theological debates.
“
By
the way, the writer of the scroll seems to have been a close friend of the
pope.
He might even have been in
love with the young Jewess himself.
“
Also,
there
’
s another
complication to this story.
In his
effort to prove to the young woman that Christianity was superior to Judaism,
the pope allegedly said that he would show her some incredible treasures whose
very existence would prove that God now favored the Church, and not the
Jews.
The writer of the
scroll said that they were the lost treasures from the ancient Temple in
Jerusalem, and we think that perhaps the fact that the pope compromised this secret
was the real reason for his death.
”
Nicola now paused to drink some of the water that Father
Benedetto had poured from a bottle of
—
of
all things, she thought
—
San
Benedetto mineral water.
She looked
at him and at the water bottle in mock disbelief, then blushed as she went on
almost breathlessly.
“
We
think that the murdered pope was someone who occupied the papal throne for a
brief time only.
Sixty-six days, to
be exact
—
sometime
between the papacy of Cornelius, the twenty-second pope, who reigned from
251-253 A.D., and that of Lucius, the twenty-third pope, who reigned from June
26, 253 A.D. through March 3, 254 A.D.
These dates are exact.
I
memorized them.
“
We
examined the
Liber Pontificalus
last night, painstakingly, and to quote
the anonymous scribe who made the entry,
‘
The bishopric was vacant 66 days.
’
We think there was another pope
at some point between those dates.
And we think that his name and his very existence were deliberately suppressed
from the text.
That would explain
the anonymity of the tomb and its obscure location, away from the usual papal
crypts near the Via Appia Antica.
And remember, until the recent earth tremors exposed this new
hypogeum
,
it had been completely undetectable, plastered over with mortar and totally
sealed off from the rest of the catacombs in the Vigna Randanini.
”
Nicola took another sip of water and glanced in Bruno
’
s direction.
He nodded and she added almost casually,
“
And it would
explain the questions raised by the other grave next to his, which is equally
elaborate and equally unusual in its iconography.
”
“
What?
”
Father Benedetto exclaimed.
“
What
other grave?
”
he
repeated.
Bruno looked at Nicola, who had begun to twist a lock of her
hair, a sure sign that she was anxious.
“
Would
you like me to take over, Nicola?
”
Bruno asked her.
“
Grazie
.
That sounds like a good idea,
”
she said with a quiet
sigh of relief.
Father Benedetto nodded and directed his attention to Bruno,
who began to elaborate.
“
The
other grave has some very strange symbols near it,
”
he said.
“
A Star of
David.
Something that looks like a
scroll.
Maybe a Torah scroll or
maybe just a hint to look for the scroll that we ultimately found.
There
’
s also a crucifix and something that looks like a
papal miter, as well as a
menorah
.
Both of the sarcophagi have an equal mixture of Jewish and Christian
symbols, and the initials
M
and
R
appear
on the marble plaque near one of the graves, the one with a fresco painting of
a woman.
”
He met Nicola
’
s
eyes briefly and then explained,
“
Mariamne
Rufina
—
that
was the name of the woman mentioned in the parchment.
”
Father Benedetto now interjected,
“
At the risk of sounding overly sensational, or
suspicious, isn
’
t
it a bit too coincidental that we have this woman
’
s grave near the sarcophagus of the so-called, to
use your rather quaint expression,
‘
suppressed
’
pope
—
especially since
there are only two sarcophagi in the crypt?
“
If
there
’
s one thing
I
’
ve learned over
the years from all of the manuscripts I
’
ve
analyzed, there
’
s
no such thing as coincidence.
And
melodrama is frequently just a heightened version of the cold facts.
Maybe whoever killed him also murdered
her.
”
“
Dio
!
”
Bruno exclaimed.
“
That
’
s exactly what we were
thinking.
Nicola, I think it
’
s time to show Father
Benedetto the scroll.
”
She opened her purse, a sleek leather Mandarina Duck shoulder
bag that she'd purchased the previous week at a boutique near the Spanish
Steps.
Gingerly, she pulled the
carefully wrapped parchment out of the heavy cardboard box in which it rested.
“
I
do hope you realize that we
’
re
entirely in your hands,
”
she
said.
“
We have no one else to turn to or trust.
We
’
ve removed something of earth-shattering consequence
from the catacomb site, and we
’
ve
done it without permission.
It
’
s not only illegal, but
perhaps even dangerous.
“
If
what we suspect is true,
”
Nicola went on,
“
the
new catacomb area will be sacrosanct to both Jews and Christians.
Both a Catholic pope and a Jewish martyr
appear to be buried there.
At least
that
’
s the way it
looks at the moment.
The effect on
the court case could be devastating for the Vatican, not to mention the problem
of who obtains custody of the artifacts in the
hypogeum
,
and
the
scandal surrounding these unsolved murders.
“
Also,
we can
’
t ignore
the apparent involvement of the Temple treasures and the very real possibility
that they might still be here, somewhere in the Vatican.
”
Father Benedetto unrolled the parchment carefully and began
to read.
Several minutes later, he
looked up from the manuscript, pale and visibly shaken.
“
It
’
s definitely
genuine.
The appearance of the
parchment, the smell, the look and type of ink.
It won
’
t be necessary to send it for further analysis.
“
I
think it
’
s time to
visit the Archives.
Your theory
—
in fact, all of
your theories seem more than plausible.
I beg you,
”
he
urged,
“
not to
discuss this with anyone else.
Not
every one within the walls of the Holy See would share my confidence
—
make that my
trust
—
in
your sincerity.
”
Carefully considering the impact of his words, he was silent
for a moment and then added calmly, but emphatically,
“
I don
’
t
want to frighten you, but I
’
m
sure that you understand the broader implications of the motive for these
murders
—
and
I think we have no choice but to call them that
—
namely the possibility of a hidden treasure
whose ownership would be even more debatable, more legally problematic, than
that of the new catacomb and its artifacts.
Please, be as cautious and discreet as
possible.
