When the housekeeper finished serving and had closed the swinging door to the kitchen behind her, James used his cloth napkin to blot his eyes, which had become significantly red. “I sincerely apologize for my maudlin behavior,” he said.
“That’s okay,” Jack responded quickly.
“No, it isn’t,” James answered, “not in front of a guest, and especially not in front of a good friend I am about to ask for a serious favor.”
“I disagree,” Jack said. “This shows me how important this is to you, whatever it is you’re going to ask me.”
“You are too kind,” James said. “Now permit me to say grace.”
After James had voiced his final amen, he glanced up at Jack and said, “Please start. I’m sorry we don’t have much time, as I mentioned earlier, but I have to be at Gracie Mansion at two p.m.”
Jack picked up the heaviest silver soup spoon he’d ever had the opportunity to use and took a taste of his soup. It was sublime.
“She’s a good cook. Not the most pleasant personality, but definitely a good cook.”
Jack nodded, glad that James had recovered from his emotional outburst.
“As I said, I believe the ossuary downstairs will eventually be proved to be just another unfortunate forgery. I say ‘unfortunate’ because before it is proved to be a forgery, it can cause a good deal of harm to the Church, its followers, and to me personally. The problem is that proving it a fake is not going to be easy and may ultimately rely mostly on faith.”
Jack silently acknowledged that in science, proof that relied on faith was hardly proof at all. In fact, it was an oxymoron.
“The biggest problem we face is that the ossuary was discovered by one of the most renowned archaeologists in the world.”
“You mean Shawn?”
“Yes, I mean Shawn. After we opened the crate and looked at the top of the ossuary, Shawn pointed out two things. Among all those scratches are a date and a name. The date is in Roman numerals and is 815 AUC, which in a Gregorian calendar is AD 62.”
“What the hell is AUC?” Jack asked, then blushed. “Excuse my French.”
“I remember your French, as you call it, was significantly more colorful in college. No need to apologize, I’m as immune to it now as I was then. But AUC stands for ab urbe condita, referring to the supposed date of the founding of Rome. In other words, it’s a date appropriate to such a find. And when the date is combined with the name, it becomes truly disturbing — the name Maryam, written in Aramaic characters, which when translated into Hebrew is Miriam or the English Mary.”
“So Shawn is convinced the ossuary contains the bones of the Virgin Mary, Jesus’ mother?”
“Precisely. Shawn is an extremely credible witness and can prove that this ossuary has not seen the light of day since the time it was interred almost two thousand years ago. He found it nestled next to the tomb of Saint Peter. Furthermore, the ossuary is sealed. All other ossuarys as far as I know have not been sealed.”
“Wasn’t Mary a common name back then? Why does he believe it’s the Mary who was Jesus’ mother?”
“Because Shawn has discovered an authentic second-century letter that claims the ossuary contains the bones of Jesus’ mother. And it was the letter that led Shawn to the bones.”
Jack raised his eyebrows. “I see your point. But what about the letter? Couldn’t that be fake?”
“Although it is somewhat tautological, finding the ossuary where the letter says it will be proves the authenticity of the letter, and vice versa. Both are such extraordinary finds that that fact alone will convince people that the bones in the ossuary are the Holy Mother’s.”
Jack thought about the issue while using a pair of silver tongs to help himself to some of the raw vegetables that had been waiting on the table. He could see James’s point. But then he had another idea. “Did you see the letter?”
“I did. I saw it yesterday.”
“Who wrote it?”
“A bishop of Antioch called Saturninus.”
“I never heard of him.”
“He’s a known figure, not very well known, but he was a real person.”
“Who did he write to?”
“Another bishop, a bishop of Alexandria, named Basilides.”
“I never heard of him, either.”
“Do you know anything about Gnosticism?”
“Can’t say I do. It’s a subject that doesn’t come up often at the morgue.”
“I’m sure not,” James said with a laugh. “It was a serious heresy in the early Christian church, and Basilides was an early leader.”
“Would Saturninus have had any reason to lie to Basilides?”
“Clever idea,” James said, “but unfortunately no.”
“Does Saturninus take responsibility for actually burying the ossuary?”
“Most definitely.”
“Does he say how he came to have the relics or who gave them to him?”
“He does, and you are cleverly enough coming to what I think is the weakest point in the chain of custody, so to speak. Do you know who Simon Magus was?”
“You have me there, too. Never heard of him.”
“He is the archvillain of the Bible’s New Testament, a true scoundrel who tried to buy Saint Peter’s healing powers. From him we get the word simony.”
Jack smiled inwardly when he realized that Jesus Christ was the most famous provider of alternative medicine, and Saint Peter was the second.
“Simon Magus is also considered by some to be one of the earliest Gnostics,” James continued. “And Saturninus, who was much younger, worked for him, helping him with his magic. So to prove whether the bones in the ossuary are the Holy Mother’s, which they certainly are not, it all depends on Simon Magus, perhaps the most notoriously poor witness of all.”
“There’s another way,” Jack said. “A particularly straightforward way.”
“Which is?” James asked eagerly.
“Have an anthropologist check the bones, if there are bones, and first make sure they are human. If they are human, then make sure they are female, and if they are female, check whether or not the woman had given birth. We know Mary had at least one child.”
“An anthropologist can tell those things?”
“A definite yes on the first two points: whether or not the bones are human and whether or not they are female. It is a little less certain on whether one can tell if the woman was parous or not. If the changes one looks for are present, the woman definitely had children, and generally, the more prominent, the more children. However, if they are not there, you cannot say with certainty the woman didn’t have, perhaps, one child.”
“Fascinating,” James said. “Especially with the idea the bones could be male. If they are, the nightmare would be over.”
“Have you seen the bones?” Jack asked.
“No. Shawn and his wife were only interested in making sure the ossuary had not been broken during transit. They did not want to open the ossuary itself, since it is sealed with wax. Both are concerned, as you might imagine, with the state of the contents after two thousand years, and didn’t want to expose them to air and moisture without having laboratory facilities available. Have you met Shawn’s wife?”
“Maybe,” Jack said. “The last time I saw him was two years ago, and considering the speed with which he goes through wives, I don’t know if I’m current. I’ve seen Shawn only twice in the fourteen years I’ve been here in the city. In that time I know he’s been married and divorced at least twice.”
“Totally shameless,” James remarked. ”But not totally out of character. Remember how many girlfriends he had in college?”
“Do I ever,” Jack said. “I remember one weekend when two showed up. One was supposed to be for Friday night and the other for Saturday, but the Saturday one mistakenly thought it was for the whole weekend. Fortunately, I was able to help out. I ended up entertaining the Friday-night choice, and we hit it off.”