‘Yes, Procurator, it caused great agitation. They summoned me immediately.’
Even in the semi-darkness one could see how Pilate’s eyes flashed.
‘That’s interesting, interesting ...’
‘I venture to disagree, Procurator, it was not interesting. A most boring and tiresome business. To my question whether anyone had been paid money in Kaifa’s palace, I was told categorically that there had been nothing of the sort.’
‘Ah, yes? Well, so, if no one was paid, no one was paid. It will be that much harder to find the killers.’
‘Absolutely right, Procurator.’
‘It suddenly occurs to me, Aphranius: might he not have killed himself?’6
‘Oh, no, Procurator,’ Aphranius replied, even leaning back in his chair from astonishment, ‘excuse me, but that is entirely unlikely!’
‘Ah, everything is likely in this city. I’m ready to bet that in a very short time rumours of it will spread all over the city.’
Here Aphranius again darted his look at the procurator, thought for a moment, and replied:
That may be, Procurator.‘
The procurator was obviously still unable to part with this question of the killing of the man from Kiriath, though everything was already clear, and he said even with a sort of reverie:
‘But I’d like to have seen how they killed him.’
‘He was killed with great art, Procurator,’ Aphranius replied, glancing somewhat ironically at the procurator.
‘How do you know that?’
‘Kindly pay attention to the bag, Procurator,’ Aphranius replied. ‘I guarantee you that Judas’s blood gushed out in a stream. I’ve seen murdered people in my time, Procurator.’
‘So, of course, he won’t rise?’
‘No, Procurator, he will rise,’ replied Aphranius, smiling philosophically, ‘when the trumpet of the messiah they’re expecting here sounds over him. But before then he won’t rise.’
‘Enough, Aphranius, the question is clear. Let’s go on to the burial.’
The executed men have been buried, Procurator.‘
‘Oh, Aphranius, it would be a crime to try you. You’re deserving of the highest reward. How was it?’
Aphranius began to tell about it: while he himself was occupied with Judas’s affair, a detachment of the secret guard, under the direction of his assistant, arrived at the hill as evening came. One of the bodies was not found on the hilltop. Pilate gave a start and said hoarsely:
‘Ah, how did I not foresee it! ...’
‘No need to worry, Procurator,’ said Aphranius, and he went on with his narrative: The bodies of Dysmas and Gestas, their eyes pecked out by carrion birds, were taken up, and they immediately rushed in search of the third body. It was discovered in a very short time. A certain man ...‘
‘Matthew Levi,’ said Pilate, not questioningly, but rather affirmatively.
‘Yes, Procurator ... Matthew Levi was hiding in a cave on the northern slope of Bald Skull, waiting for darkness. The naked body of Yeshua Ha-Nozri was with him. When the guards entered the cave with a torch, Levi fell into despair and wrath. He shouted about having committed no crime, and about every man’s right by law to bury an executed criminal if he so desires. Matthew Levi said he did not want to part with the body. He was agitated, cried out something incoherent, now begging, now threatening and cursing ...’
‘Did they have to arrest him?’ Pilate asked glumly.
‘No, Procurator, no,’ Aphranius replied very soothingly, ‘they managed to quiet the impudent madman, explaining to him that the body would be buried. Levi, having grasped what was being said to him, calmed down, but announced that he would not leave and wished to take part in the burial. He said he would not leave even if they started to kill him, and even offered for that purpose a bread knife he had with him.’
‘Was he chased away?’ Pilate asked in a stifled voice.
‘No, Procurator, no. My assistant allowed him to take part in the burial.’
‘Which of your assistants was in charge of it?’ asked Pilate.
‘Tolmai,’ Aphranius answered and added in alarm: ‘Perhaps he made a mistake?’
‘Go on,’ answered Pilate, ‘there was no mistake. Generally, I am beginning to feel a bit at a loss, Aphranius, I am apparently dealing with a man who never makes mistakes. That man is you.’
‘Matthew Levi was taken in the cart with the bodies of the executed men, and in about two hours they reached a solitary ravine north of Yershalaim. There the detachment, working in shifts, dug a deep hole within an hour and buried all three executed men in it.’
‘Naked?’
‘No, Procurator, the detachment brought chitons with them for that purpose. They put rings on the buried men’s fingers. Yeshua’s with one notch, Dysmas’s with two, and Gestas’s with three. The hole has been covered over and heaped with stones. The landmark is known to Tolmai.’
‘Ah, if only I had foreseen it!’ Pilate spoke, wincing. ‘I needed to see this Matthew Levi ...’
