‘And for good reason. I left here without hope but came back with my faith restored. I found new evidence that might contradict what we know.’
‘New evidence?’ His tone was full of doubt. ‘And where did you get this new evidence?’
‘At Il Duomo,’ she answered. ‘I went to the cathedral to do some soul-searching. I figured, if I was going to ponder God, that was probably the best place in Milan to go. Anyway, I was up on the roof, battling the ungodly heat, when I saw him.’
‘You saw Him? Just how hot was it up there?’
‘Not God! I didn’t see God. I saw the laughing man.’
‘Once again, let me ask you how hot was it up there?’
‘Not in the flesh. I saw a statue of the laughing man at Il Duomo!’
‘Wait a moment. You’re serious?’
‘Yes, I’m serious. Our friend from the Catacombs is on the roof of the cathedral.’
‘What? But that doesn’t make any sense. The cathedral wasn’t built by the Ancient Romans. In fact, if my memory is correct, it was built some time in the 1300s.’
‘Hold on, there’s more.’ Maria smiled, enjoying her chance to teach her teacher. ‘The laughing man had a letter carved into his ring. There’s no guarantee that it’s actually his initial, but I think there’s a good chance that it was.’
‘Which letter?’ he demanded. ‘Was it the letter P?’
She nodded, half disappointed that he was able to figure it out. ‘P as in Paccius, right?’
He held up his hand to silence her. ‘Maybe, but not definitely. We mustn’t jump to any conclusions. We must find conclusive proof before we move on.’
‘Come on, professore, who else could it be? Tiberius ordered Paccius to execute his scheme in Judea, and we have the scroll to prove it. Later, during that same year, Paccius disappeared from the Roman history books altogether. That can’t be a coincidence. I’m telling you, Paccius has to be the laughing man. He has to be.’
Boyd rubbed his eyes, considering her theory. Everything she said made sense, all but one thing. ‘Maria, I don’t mean to ruin your mood, but this news about Paccius only strengthens the case against Christ. It means Paccius received the scroll, then went to Judea to carry out the plot. It also suggests that his results were so positive that Tiberius felt obliged to honor him by building a shrine underneath Orvieto.’
‘True,’ she admitted. ‘But I think you’re the one who’s missing the big picture, not me. I left here lost and depressed, filled with doubts about God, Christ, and everything else that I believe. In order to gather my thoughts, I went to the closest church I could find, looking for solace in God’s house, hoping to find something, anything, that would get me through my personal crisis. And guess what? I was given a huge piece of the puzzle. Talk about working in mysterious ways! Santa Maria! I’ll never doubt God again.’
She gazed at Boyd and noticed that his eyes were still filled with doubt.
‘I know you think I’m crazy and that this was all a coincidence. But I honestly believe that this was God’s way of telling me to keep looking, to keep searching, to never give up on him. And in my heart I know if I keep doing that, then everything will be all right.’
Several minutes later Maria was still riding high from her discovery at Il Duomo. ‘You know, it’s pretty obvious to me we’re onto something. I mean, the historical evidence alone is mind-boggling. Throw in the assassination attempts, the lies in the newspaper, and the statue at the cathedral, and we’ve got the makings of a first-rate conspiracy.’
Boyd glanced at her, focusing his icy blue eyes on her face. One minute she was soul-searching, the next she was defiant. ‘Yet you think that this is all a ruse.’
‘Not all of it,’ she stressed. ‘I believe we found the Catacombs and the scroll. But I don’t believe that Jesus was a fraud. I’m willing to accept that other stuff with little proof, but when it comes to my religion, I’ll need a lot more evidence to convince me that I’m wrong.’
‘Truthfully, I think I would’ve been disappointed if you’d taken any other stance.’
‘Really?’
‘Of course. Keep in mind that two millennia have passed since our scroll was written, and several critical events have occurred since then, things that Tiberius couldn’t have foreseen. In any case, I hope you’ll keep an open mind during our search for evidence. Once we’ve rounded up all the data, we can sit back and hypothesize as to what really happened two thousand years ago. Then we can tackle the consequences together. All right?’
‘Deal!’ she said, thrilled that he understood her position. ‘Let’s get started.’
Using the evidence they had found, Boyd and Maria drew a timeline, trying to figure out how all the pieces of their theory fit together.
32 AD
• Tiberius senses uprising
• Proven by Orvieto scroll
among the slaves of Judea
• Tiberius plans to profit
• Mentioned in Orvieto scroll
from the promised one
• Tiberius sends a message to
• Document found in Bath
Paccius in the Britains
• Paccius returns to Rome
• Paccius = laughing man???
and participates in plot
33 AD
• Paccius goes to Judea to
• This has not been verified.
carry out plot
• Paccius uses his power to
• In what way? Proof
manipulate Jesus
needed.
• Jesus becomes the