"This is a very odd construction," Selena said. She pointed at a section of writing where something seemed to have eaten part of the parchment. "I've never seen anything quite like it before."
"I don't read Aramaic," Wainwright said. "I'll take your word for it."
"I'd like to photograph this if it's all right with you. It's going to take some time for me to make an accurate translation. I'll be sure to send you my results and comments if you'd like."
"Of course, Doctor Connor." Wainwright looked at his watch. "Tea time. Would the two of you care for a cup of tea?"
"That would be wonderful. Thank you, Sir Peter."
"How do you take it?"
"Milk on the bottom, please."
Wainwright nodded approvingly. "And you, Mister Carter?"
"I'll take a coffee if you have one," Nick said. "Black."
Wainwright sniffed again. "I'll see what I can do. Let me go find someone to get it for us."
He left them at the table and disappeared between the shelves.
"Are you deliberately trying to piss him off?" Selena asked when he was out of earshot. "First that crack about the lions and now you want coffee?"
"He's annoying," Nick said. "I don't like the way he looks at you. Besides, I don't like tea that much."
"You're hopeless."
Selena took out her phone and began photographing the scroll.
"What does it say?" Nick asked.
"Like I told Sir Peter, it will take me a little time to translate it. From what I can see, it's just what he said, a diary of a trading expedition south into the Arabian Peninsula from Jerusalem."
"Carrying the body of Solomon?"
"There's no mention that I can see," Selena said. She pointed. "This is the reference to the Queen of Sheba. It's in that section that's torn and there's something strange about the way it's written. I'll have to study it to make any sense of what it means."
Wainwright returned. "Have you managed to complete your pictures, Doctor Connor? I've asked that tea be laid out for us in the canteen."
"I'm almost done." She took two more pictures and put her phone back in her purse. "I could use a nice cup of tea."
An hour later they were coming down the steps of the museum. Neither Nick nor Selena noticed the tall man who glanced at them as he passed them going up.
CHAPTER 17
The next morning Nick and Selena went out for breakfast. Their plane wasn't leaving until the afternoon. They passed a newsstand.
"Nick. Look at that headline."
MURDER AT THE
BRITISH MUSEUM
Nick bought a paper and glanced at the article. "Guess who was murdered?"
"Not Sir Peter?"
"Right the first time. Somebody cut his throat. I didn't like him much but he didn't deserve that."
"It can't be a coincidence," Selena said.
"No."
"Does it say anything about the scroll?"
Nick scanned the article. "It says an inventory is being conducted and police suspect theft as the motive."
"Somebody killed him and took the scroll," Selena said.
"It looks that way. Good thing you have those pictures."
"It has to be the same people who blew up the train and the research facility in Grenoble."
"Seems likely." Nick looked at his watch. "A little early in Virginia to call Harker."
"You think she'll want us to stay here?"
"I don't see any reason why she would. Wainwright's dead and I'll bet that the scroll is gone. There's nothing we can do about it on this end."
"What about breakfast?"
"That's one of the things I like about you," he said. "The way you pay attention to what's important. We'll eat, go back to the hotel and get to the airport. I'll call Harker from there."
Five hours later they were over the Atlantic headed home. The business class seats on the British Airways 777 were wide and comfortable. Selena sipped a Mimosa and began making notes as she worked through the pictures she'd taken of the scroll, reading the story.
Ephram had left Jerusalem with a trading caravan in the same year the Romans reached the city, headed to the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula and what was now Yemen. There was no mention of Solomon or anything to do with the Temple. She came to the part of the scroll that seemed odd to her. Selena was familiar with many variations of classical and biblical Aramaic. She'd never seen anything like what Ephram had written.
"This is really interesting," she said.
Nick sat next to her. He was nursing a glass of whiskey and reading about the gadgets offered in one of the magazines provided by the airline.
"What is?"
"This part of the scroll." She tapped her finger on the notes she had made. "It just doesn't make sense. Up until this point it's typical Aramaic, then suddenly it becomes unreadable. It's almost as if the letters were scrambled."
"Maybe they are," Nick said.
"Why would Ephram…" Selena paused. "Oh. You think it's deliberate. A code?"
"It could be. Maybe he's hiding something."
"Like where he hid the treasure?"
"At least something he didn't want people to know about. Why did he go on that trip in the first place?" Nick asked.
"Rome was advancing on the city. This caravan could be the one that took Solomon's body out of Jerusalem. The scroll says it was carrying cloth and wine to the south. I have trouble believing that. Why go overland? If you were a trader back then, it was easier and quicker to sail down to the southern tip of Arabia with your cargo. Ephram's route went down the eastern side of the coastal range in Arabia, through the kingdom of the Dedanites. They're the ones mentioned in the other scroll. It's hard to believe he'd take that route to sell goods."
"Maybe he had a stake in the profits. They must have needed money to fight the Romans."
"I don't see how a trip to the bottom of Arabia would help. It's a long way from Jerusalem and Judea, especially in those days."
"No mention of Solomon?"
"None. Only the reference to the Queen of Sheba. The section I can't read comes right after that."
"What does Ephram say about Sheba?"
"That she was the Queen of the Night. Then he says that those who follow the route to her home will find wisdom."
"That's all he says?"
Selena nodded. She finished her Mimosa and signaled the attendant for another.
"The mention of Sheba seems out of context," she said. "It doesn't make any sense. That's right where everything becomes garbled in the narrative. Part of that section is damaged and can't be read at all. Then the narrative picks up again and Ephram starts talking about the coast of Arabia. He calls it a terrible country and says that hostile tribes live in the mountains. There's nothing else of interest to us that I can see. The end of the narrative is illegible. It looks like something ate part of the scroll."
The attendant brought Selena's drink.
"If that section is in code it can't be that complicated," Nick said. "Those old codes worked great back then but they're child's play compared to the modern stuff. Give it to Stephanie when we get back and have her run it through the computers. If it's a code, she should be able to crack it."
Selena gathered up her notes and put them away.
"How come you're not using your laptop?" Nick said.
"I like the feel of pen and paper. It's more personal and I think better that way. Once I know what I want to say, that's when I go to the computer."
"Kind of old-fashioned," Nick said.
"That's me. How long do you plan to keep Diego on probation?" she asked.
"You think he fits?"
"He's not afraid to say what he thinks and he does have the skills we need."
"He did a good job in Beirut. I'm giving him a qualified yes. He has a quick temper. That could cause trouble if he doesn't control it."