The Prophecy

make sense. This was necessary because some of the languages had conflicting rules when it came to grammar. For example, where an adjective needed to be placed in order to modify the appropriate word in a sentence. ‘Does that make sense?’

‘Perfect sense. It also explains what’s wrong with the second line.’

Payne put two and two together. ‘Does this have to do with love?’

She flashed him a smile. ‘Everything has to do with love.’

‘Wow, my flirting must have been contagious.’

‘Tell me,’ she said, ‘how much Italian do you guys know?’

Payne shrugged. ‘A few words, here and there. Mostly related to food.’

‘Trust me,’ she said, ‘you don’t have to be fluent to know this. When you mentioned love, it got me thinking about the second verse. What if the word lover was the wrong form of the word? What if it was supposed to be love instead?’

Jones took his finger and erased the r from the board. Now it read: A love from the lost line.

Payne studied the subtle change, but the solution still didn’t click in his head. ‘I don’t get it. How does that help us?’

‘And,’ she added, ‘what if the word was never meant to be translated? What if it was meant to be read in its original Italiano?’

Jones wasn’t an expert, but like many people he knew the Italian word for love. He erased the English version and wrote it in its original language.

Amore from the lost line.

‘I’ll be damned,’ Payne said from his chair. ‘That’s really clever.’

‘Certainly not you,’ Payne teased, ‘or else you’d see it.’

‘See what?’ Jones snapped.

Payne smiled at Megan and encouraged her to speak. ‘Go on. Tell him why you’re so confident this line is about you.’

‘I don’t care who tells me,’ Jones growled. ‘Just give me the damn answer!’

Smiling from ear to ear, Megan stood up and walked to the board. She grabbed a red marker and made a slash through the middle of the Italian word. Now it read:

A/more from the lost line.

‘Do me a favour,’ she said to Jones. ‘Read this phonetically.’

He did as he was told. ‘A more from the lost line.’

A few seconds passed before Jones understood the pun. ‘Holy shit! They used your name in the verse. A Moore from the lost line. I have to admit, that’s pretty cool.’

‘It’s cool,’ he admitted, ‘but is it good news?’

‘What do you mean?’

Jones smiled. ‘Now that we know the poem is about you, there’s no getting rid of us. You’re gonna be stuck with us until the bitter end.’

49

Although Payne and Megan’s work on the first half of the verse was impressive, Jones wasn’t going to let them steal all the glory — especially since Payne had figured out ‘Philly’ the day before. If Jones didn’t start pulling his weight soon, he knew he’d never hear the end of it.

‘So,’ Payne taunted Jones as he took a seat next to Megan, ‘I vaguely remember you saying something about understanding the significance of “the lost line”. Or was that just bullshit?’

Jones smirked, enjoying the added pressure. Over the years he had developed a friendly rivalry with Payne in just about everything they did, whether that was golf, bowling, or guessing the names of total strangers. Neither man liked to lose, which was one of the reasons they had worked so well together in the MANIACs. Their drive to be the best made everyone better. ‘No, I’m pretty sure I know what it means. In fact, your discovery actually strengthened my case.’

‘Glad we could help. Now quit stalling.’

A Moore from the lost line.

Jones asked, ‘What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you read this line?’

Payne shrugged. ‘Something to do with Megan’s ancestry.’

‘That was my first guess, too. Line stands for lineage. Pretty simple, right?’

‘Right,’ Megan agreed.

Jones continued. ‘Furthermore, if you think about the final word in lines one and three — brothers and mother — they have to do with family as well. Which fits in nicely with the theory that the first three lines are connected. Remember, none of them have verbs.’

Payne nodded. ‘We’re all in agreement. Those lines are talking about Megan.’

Jones smiled cryptically. ‘And yet we’re still missing a key piece of information. How does Megan’s lineage fit into all of this? What has actually been lost?’

‘I’m guessing you have a theory.’

Your fortune waits for you.

Protect it with your life.

Death shall visit those untrue.

Blood of his first wife.

Payne skimmed the quatrain. ‘Care to narrow it down for us?’

‘I could,’ Jones said, ‘but I think it’s pretty obvious. Only one line talks about family.’

Megan pointed at the board. ‘The fourth one. It mentions someone’s wife.’

‘Not only that,’ Jones said as he underlined three words: waits, protect, and shall. ‘It’s the only line in this poem that doesn’t have a verb.’ He paused for a moment, then glanced at Megan. ‘How about that? I guess they do teach grammar at the service academies.’

She smiled, remembering her earlier wisecrack. ‘Touche.’

‘Okay,’ Payne admitted, ‘you make a pretty strong case. The fourth line seems to connect with the first three lines from the other poem.

‘Don’t worry. I was just getting to that.’

Jones erased the first three lines of the poem. When he was done, only two lines remained on the board: A Moore from the lost line.

Blood of his first wife.

Wasting no time, Jones explained how they were connected. ‘As soon as I saw the word line, my mind jumped to bloodline. I mean, when you’re discussing someone’s lineage, that’s what you’re actually referring to: their bloodline. Then it dawned on me that “line” ended one verse and “blood” began another. That led me to believe that the two statements could be combined. All you have to do is tweak the word order a tad, and you get the following…’