With a touch of a button, he turned on the video camera and monitor that had been set up on the conference table. As the screen flickered on, thoughts of the previous Sunday flashed through their minds. It was hard to believe only one week had passed since their last videoconference with the Ulster Archives. Then, they had been trying to decipher the mysterious letter that Ashley had brought to the Cathedral of Learning. Now they were about to find out if the Nostradamus artefacts were authentic.
Adding to their deja vu was the image that filled their screen. Ulster was sitting at the same antique desk as last time. On the wall behind him was the same dry-erase board, covered with many of the same notes, and a silver tray filled with coloured markers. As far as they could tell, the only major difference was the number of people on the screen. Ulster was no longer alone, he was accompanied by Megan, who sat in a chair to his left.
Payne smiled as soon as he saw her. Although they had spoken on the phone the night before,
‘Good morning,’ he said into the camera.
‘Good morning to you, too,’ she replied.
‘Actually,’ Ulster said, ‘it’s late afternoon over here, but we appreciate the sentiment. How are you feeling, Jonathon?’
Payne gently touched his shoulder with his opposite hand. ‘This sling is a pain in the butt. Thankfully, I’ll be free from it soon.’
‘Thank God for that,’ Jones muttered.
‘Do I detect some tension?’ Ulster asked.
Jones nodded. ‘
‘Over what?’
He snarled at Payne. ‘I saved the guy’s life, and how does he repay me? He makes me his friggin’ butler.’
‘His butler? What do you mean?’
‘As you know, my place is kind of crispy right now, so I needed somewhere to stay. Jon was kind enough to offer me a room in his mansion, but he didn’t tell me about the catch. I’ve been his manservant for the past three days.’ He continued his rant in a mocking tone. ‘I can’t butter my toast! My foot needs ointment! Give me a sponge bath! I feel dirty!’
Payne laughed at the claims. ‘I asked the guy to
‘I can’t hold the pillow. Please stop squirming!’ Jones teased.
Payne rolled his eyes at his friend. ‘On that note, let’s talk about something factual. I was intrigued by the trust fund at Capital Savings — the one that paid for the safe-deposit box — so I had a computer researcher at the Pentagon do some checking for me. With his hacking skills, he managed to track down the name of the company in charge of the fund. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a
‘What does that mean?’ she asked.
‘Sometimes people set up fake companies for tax purposes. In this case, the offices were nothing more than mailboxes in Paris and Tokyo.’
‘Tokyo?’
He nodded. ‘That’s where your mysterious letter was mailed from. We figured that out once we had a chance to examine the stamps and the postmark. They were Japanese.’
‘And,’ Jones added, ‘the business address in Paris is only a few miles from the airport. Remember, that’s where the phone that sent you the text
‘Me, too,’ she admitted. ‘Will you know something before I get to Pittsburgh?’
‘You’re coming to Pittsburgh?’
‘Didn’t Jon tell you? He invited me to his house for Christmas. Just the three of us.’
‘Thank God!’ Jones blurted. ‘Now
Payne glared at him. ‘Why do you say stuff like that?’
‘Because it’s funny,’ he said, grinning.
‘Anyway,’ Payne said, ‘where do we stand on the carbon dating?’
Ulster rejoined the conversation. ‘We have conclusive data on all the documents — except, of course, for the journal you acquired in Bruges. Due to its late arrival, we are still testing it.’
‘What do you know so far?’ Jones asked.
‘The letter mailed to Megan is authentic. So is the puzzle box, and all the documents found within its walls.’
‘Define
‘Carbon dating doesn’t give us an exact date, per se. It simply gives us a time window of approximately fifty years. Everything that we’ve
Jones nodded. ‘In other words, the years surrounding Nostradamus’s death.’
‘Precisely.’
‘What about the handwriting?’ Payne wondered.
‘We flew in an expert from France, who feels the writing on all the documents is a perfect match to the Nostradamus samples that have survived over the years. While he was here, I also had him peek at the journal, and he feels it’s a perfect match as well.’
‘So,’ Jones said, ‘what’s the consensus?’
‘As far as the Archives are concerned, these documents
‘Awesome!’
‘Even the Birthday Tree?’ Payne asked.
Megan smiled at the reference. ‘Yes, even that.’
Ever since Payne had learned of the final parchment, he had referred to the document as the Birthday Tree. The nickname stuck because it perfectly summarized its contents.
To prove he wasn’t a con artist who had capitalized on ambiguous quatrains, Nostradamus had created his family tree for dozens of future generations, starting with a son from his first
‘Any thoughts on why the tree ended with you?’
‘Who knows? Maybe I’m not going to have any kids.’
‘Actually,’ Ulster suggested, ‘I might have another possibility.’
She looked at him, surprised. ‘You do?’
He nodded. ‘While examining the Bruges journal, I started to ponder the significance of line three of the final quatrain. He claimed the fortune would be “Hidden in ink inside his lair”.’
‘And that’s where I found it,’ Payne assured him.
‘Actually, the phrase that caught my eye was “hidden in ink”. I figured, if he wrote secret
Payne sat up in his chair, intrigued. ‘Go on.’
‘I tested my theory a few minutes ago, just before I made this call, and it appears I was correct. The journal is filled with several notes, written in UV ink.’
‘Are you serious? Why didn’t you tell me?’ Megan demanded.
‘I literally just found out, my dear. It seemed easiest to share it with everyone at once.’
‘And what did it say?’ Payne asked.
Ulster smiled and looked into the camera. ‘It appears to be a prophecy.’
Author’s Note
For those of you who have read my other novels, I’m sure you realize that I like to tackle controversial subjects in my writing. Whether it is racism in
