They walked on. Magnus’s brain was working. To some extent, Eygló was correct. Although he had considered Carlotta and the wampum, he hadn’t thought much about her involvement with the Columbus letter. All those years ago, a rare-book dealer had forged it and inserted it into the Vatican Secret Archives.
‘You know Anya said just now that Carlotta had figured out who had forged it? What exactly did she say, can you remember?’
‘Oh, let me think,’ said Eygló. ‘She said that Carlotta “suspected who had forged it, whatever ‘it’ was, and who had planted it”. I think those were her words.’
‘So do I,’ said Magnus. ‘We know who forged it: Nancy Fishburn’s rare-book dealer friend. I think his name was Emilio. But from what Anya said, Carlotta was implying someone else planted it in the Vatican Secret Archives.’
‘Did she imply that?’ said Eygló.
‘Yeah, I know,’ said Magnus. ‘It’s vague. I’m trying to remember exactly what Kelly told me about who her grandmother had said had planted it, but I can’t. I suppose I assumed it was Emilio. But maybe it was an accomplice. Let’s assume for a moment that it was someone else, how could Carlotta have discovered who?’
They pondered that. ‘I have no idea,’ said Eygló after a minute.
‘What about you?’
‘I’m thinking.’
‘I’ll shut up, then.’
Kelly had said that the book had scarcely been taken out since the hoax was hatched. Maybe the Vatican Secret Archives kept records of who had taken the book out and when. It seemed like the kind of thing an ancient library might do. Or maybe not: lots of people, lots of books, many years. Worth checking, though.
‘You’ve thought of something,’ Eygló said.
‘I have,’ said Magnus.
‘Well?’
Magnus told her.
‘OK. Let’s call them. The Vatican.’
‘When we get back to Narsarsuaq.’
‘No, now.’
‘How would we do that?’
‘Look.’
Although they were still out of sight of Brattahlíd and the fjord, Eygló pointed to a couple of towers on a hilltop two miles away, no doubt providing phone coverage to the village. She pulled out her phone. ‘See?’ she said, showing him the screen. ‘Three bars. And 4G.’
She sat on a rock and worked her phone. ‘The Vatican Secret Archives, right?’
In less than a minute, she tapped a key triumphantly and put the phone to her ear. ‘Yes, good afternoon,’ Eygló said in English. ‘I have Inspector Magnús Ragnarsson of the Reykjavík police here. He is investigating a murder, and he would like to speak to the head librarian.’
She nodded and then looked up at Magnus. ‘There you go.’
So Magnus sat on a rock in the wilderness of Greenland and spoke to the keeper of one of the world’s most exclusive libraries in Rome.
Magnus repeated Eygló’s introduction. ‘I am investigating the murder of Carlotta Mondini in Iceland on August twenty-first She was an Italian postgraduate student.’
‘Oh, yes, I remember her.’ The head librarian had a soft Italian accent, but his English was clear and precise. ‘She has been murdered? I am very sorry to hear that.’
Magnus’s heart beat faster. Eygló had placed herself next to him on the rock and could hear what the librarian was saying. She gave Magnus the thumbs up.
‘You say you remember her? Have you seen her recently?’
‘Short hair with blonde stripes? A postgraduate? From Padua, I think?’
‘That’s right,’ said Magnus.
‘Yes, then I certainly remember her. She came into the library last year. She was asking about a volume of memoirs written by a Genoese sea captain in the seventeenth century. Another student, a friend of hers, had found a letter crammed in the back pages of the book. It purported to be from Christopher Columbus to his brother. My colleagues analysed it: a fake of course, and we told him that. My impression was that this Carlotta Mondini believed that the letter was real. Absurd.’
‘So she asked to look at the book herself?’
‘No. She just wanted to know who had ordered the book up from the stacks in the past.’
‘And were you able to provide her with that information?’
‘With difficulty,’ said the librarian. ‘But we keep comprehensive records here.’
‘I don’t suppose you wrote the names down somewhere?’ said Magnus. ‘Or perhaps you could check your records again for me.’
‘There were three names,’ said the librarian. ‘Two of them I would have to look up, but one of them I remember. It is a famous one, at least in our country. Probably all over the world. In fact, he came back to look at the letter earlier this year. He seems to think it is genuine too.’
‘And what name is that?’ said Magnus. Although now he knew the answer.
‘Beccari. Marco Beccari.’
Forty-Eight
‘See?’ said Eygló.
‘Professor Beccari,’ said Magnus.
‘Carlotta discovered he inserted the fake letter.’
‘It could be a coincidence.’
‘Oh, come on!’ said Eygló. ‘How likely is that?’
‘Very unlikely. But I can find out.’ Magnus checked his notebook for Kelly Fishburn’s cell number. He dialled it.
She answered.
‘Kelly, it’s Inspector Ragnarsson. How are you doing?’
‘All right, I guess. My dad’s here now, which is great.’
‘Good. I have a question for you. Did your grandmother say that her friend Emilio placed the Columbus letter in the Vatican Secret Archives himself?’
There was a pause. ‘I assume it was him, but I really can’t remember. I’m sorry.’
That was disappointing. ‘Do you think Emilio or your grandmother might have known a man named Marco Beccari?’ Magnus asked. ‘He would have been about twenty, twenty-five at the time.’
‘I don’t know. Let me ask my dad. He’s right here.’
Magnus heard Kelly’s voice repeating his question. Then a man’s voice appeared on the phone.
‘This is John Fishburn, Kelly’s father. My mother knew Marco Beccari. So did, I as a matter of fact. I remember him when we were both kids. And of course Emilio knew him.’
Magnus felt foolish. He was missing something. ‘Why is that?’
‘Because Marco Beccari is Emilio Beccari’s son.’
Yep. He had missed that.
But Carlotta hadn’t.
Magnus thanked Kelly’s father and hung up. He and Eygló looked at each other. ‘Did you get that?’ Magnus asked her.
‘Yeah, I heard it,’ said Eygló. ‘So Beccari knew all along the letter was a hoax.’
‘Because his father had asked him to plant it in the Vatican Secret Archives.’
‘That would really screw him if it came out.’
‘You mean because of his reputation?’
‘Absolutely. It would all be over. There would be a massive scandal; the press would love it. He’d be fired from Princeton, no one else would hire him, no one would publish his books; it would be total humiliation. If the world finds out this is a hoax, it’s going to be bad for Einar and me, but it will be so much worse for him. We were duped; he was a perpetrator. And he has much further to fall than we do.’
‘He struck me as quite a proud man,’ said Magnus.
‘Very.’
‘He would be totally destroyed.’
The conclusion was obvious, and Eygló voiced it. ‘Does that mean Beccari killed Carlotta? To shut her up?’
‘It may well do,’ said Magnus, thinking it through. ‘We know Rósa was at Glaumbaer when Carlotta was killed. Rósa told Einar that she discovered the body, and that just before then she saw a man take something out of Carlotta’s car, and later saw him leave via the folk museum. Einar didn’t seem to believe she really saw anyone, and we didn’t either. But perhaps it was true.’