‘Sorry.’
She bangs the drawer closed. ‘Money,’ Claudia says. ‘Paul’s bonus, in cash, once Peter is dead.’
Cassius Gallio peeks inside, sees several bricks of notes. He doesn’t need to count it, but guesses more of a stash than he spent on Judas.
‘You knew all along,’ Cassius says.
‘Some of it. I’ve speculated the rest for myself. Valeria had to have an inside contact for us to find the disciples so quickly.’
‘Her inside man was Paul. We both worked out Paul was working for Valeria.’
‘She learned from the past. You ran the same double-agent ploy with Judas, only Valeria embedded Paul more deeply.’
‘Why are you telling me this? I’m a deserter. I make colossal mistakes, and end up sleeping in your garden. My judgement is suspect.’
‘I don’t remember Caistor as a misjudgement. Speaking for myself.’
Claudia sweeps at the counter, and she leans in and sweeps at the counter once more. She checks her phone, sips some coffee. She bites the inside of the corner of her lip, works at the soft inner flesh like Judas had in the Antonia. Whatever she’s about to say, the effort involves eating some of herself up.
‘I’m telling you because of Caistor. The CCU has not been kind to you.’
‘Valeria called me back from Germany. I’m grateful for the second chance.’
‘She couldn’t find anyone else.’ Claudia offers nothing to cushion the truth, not even the softest lie. ‘You were asked to look for Jesus as if he were alive, but Valeria reasonably assumed he was dead. She wanted you for a specific purpose of her own. Basically she faked a manhunt using a washed-up Speculator, and Paul exploited the charade. He could let it be known the CCU was looking for Jesus, making the resurrection more credible, which suits Valeria’s strategy of running Paul as a Roman client apostle. By this stage the story of Jesus is more powerful than the living human being, and Paul’s version of the sect can prosper on the story alone, as long as the disciples aren’t alive to disagree with the details. And, of course, as long as Valeria and the Complex Casework Unit pull the strings.’
‘What about the second coming, and the promise Jesus made to show himself in the lifetime of one of his disciples, and to stage a once-and-for-all public appearance?’
‘Paul can explain that promise away, with Valeria’s help. The second coming is symbolic, he says. It represents individual enlightenment when the world changes for whoever becomes a believer. Not the end of the world, as the disciples understand it.’
‘Which is convenient, because personal armageddons don’t threaten civilisation.’
‘There you have it. The Jesus belief is tamed if Paul takes the place of the disciples, and at the same time Valeria gets her private revenge by luring you into a ridiculously empty quest. To anyone in the loop you look stupid. You’re a Speculator running around searching for a long-dead terrorist. Cassius, you’re a laughing stock.’
The backs of Gallio’s hands look old on the worktop, the ridged knuckles, the prominent veins. Valeria brought him back to seek out a man she knew was dead. She’d contrived a mission with no possibility of success, even though the pursuit itself had given a purpose to his days, the endless days. He at least had that, and maybe his time was better spent on this than looking for nothing. Cassius Gallio remembers his dream of glory, the vanity that had blinded him to the truth. Well played, Valeria.
‘I’ve spent too much of my life on this,’ Gallio says. ‘I should have accepted the fact that Jesus died. Look again in the obvious place. That’s what my stepdad always said. Jesus was crucified and Jesus died.’
‘The CCU analysts made a percentage chart, and the highest probability is that the man who died on the cross was Jesus. He did die, like so many others, and his body was stolen from the tomb with the collusion of individuals working for the occupying army. That computes as the most likely explanation, given the conditions, and to make it happen the disciples needed someone’s help.’
‘It wasn’t me.’
‘Your soldiers were paid off.’
‘After the event. Baruch paid them on behalf of the Israelis to say the disciples stole the body. They wanted to stop the resurrection story from gaining traction, and Valeria knows what Baruch did and why. It came out in the interrogations we did at the time.’
‘Baruch is dead. Also convenient. No one can check with him who he paid and who he didn’t. You could have taken a bribe to help set Jesus free, which then makes you a prime suspect as the murderer of disciples. You want them dead because they know you were involved, and now you’re trying to clean the slate. Valeria can pin this on you without breaking sweat, if that’s what takes her fancy.’
‘You’re speculating, so speculate about the body. The body, Claudia. No one ever found a body.’
‘You’re fixated on his corpse. Move on. Even if Jesus survived the cross and the tomb he’d have died soon after from his injuries. That’s the strongest probability. They could have hidden his body anywhere in Israel.’
‘No mysteries,’ Gallio says. ‘Just like the CCU promised us. You don’t believe I killed the disciples, but we both have a suspicion about who did. Doesn’t look good for me, though, I see that now. Baruch is dead. Soon Peter will be dead, then John. If I die next no one is left alive to remember Jesus.’
‘Except Paul.’
And Paul works for Valeria. He portrays Jesus as a non-political pacifist eager to pay his taxes. With Valeria’s help Paul travels the world, speaks at conferences, writes his letters, and together they encourage converts of the acceptable sort: Paul’s type of believer, short on the radical tendencies of the original Jesus movement. Paul advises his correspondents to respect the rule of law and put in a solid day’s work for the benefit of the civilised economy. Instead of miracles, he opts for conference theology with regular breaks from spiritual engagement for complimentary light refreshments.
‘And he gets handsomely paid,’ Claudia says, patting the soft envelope on the counter between them. ‘You’ve seen how he lives, and every time a disciple dies Paul’s influence increases. I can’t say he comes very well out of this.’
‘I’m a loose end, aren’t I? I was at the tomb. I can’t explain what happened but I was there, like the disciples were there up to the crucifixion and then afterwards for the life-after-death appearances. Valeria has to kill me to protect Paul’s version of Jesus. That’s why you’re telling me this.’
Claudia holds up her hands. ‘I’m going into the drawer again. Don’t grab me. I haven’t got a gun.’
She pulls out a Circus ticket and slides the stiff card across the counter. ‘Check the seat number.’
Gallio recognises the row and seat as the place next to the pair of tickets Valeria gave him the day before. Jesus is not alone in planning ahead.
‘If you turn up without John, and if Jesus fails to make an appearance, and if we don’t all die in a terrorist attack, then I’m supposed to do the cleaning.’
‘I was right. You’re my assassin.’
‘Except I’m telling you about it now. That usually means it isn’t going to happen.’
‘You’re young, you’re starting out. Making independent decisions could go very badly for you.’
‘So I’m changing my little portion of the future, as the least I can do. I used to believe we were the good guys, and I jumped at this mission. If we’d found Jesus or explained the resurrection we’d genuinely enlighten an unsatisfactory mystery that misleads as many people as it helps. Now I find out that Valeria’s idea was to replace one version of the superstition with another, and by killing lovely men like Bartholomew. I liked Bartholomew.’