‘Were they?’ Miriam sounded tense.
‘Perhaps. I don’t know. When I first heard Lev had been killed, I thought the fundamentalists were behind his murder. As it turned out, the men who killed him were German mercenaries.’
‘What do you think about the legend?’
‘You mean, do I believe it?’ Namati shrugged. ‘I am a Muslim. I believe in the teachings of God, but I don’t believe that God wants genocide for the rest of the world. I believe the Scroll could exist, and that it might foretell the future of the Muslim world. But many believe the Scroll would give the Muslim faith power over the rest of the world. That God’s wrath is somehow writ on that Scroll and any Muslim who possesses it and wants to can bring down furious punishment on nonbelievers.’ He paused. ‘Have you heard of Winston Cardwell?’
‘The British historian who’s written extensively on the Muslim world?’ Lourds not only had heard of the man, he’d recently met Cardwell at a large signing in London while promoting his latest book.
‘Yes.’
‘Lev had talked to Cardwell about the book, hoping for some direction on his research. Cardwell didn’t have any information that Lev didn’t already have, but he evidently began searching for the truth of the tale. Somewhere along the line, he asked the wrong people. Two days ago, he was found murdered in a terrorist safe house in London. Someone had beheaded him.’
Lourds winced. Winston Cardwell had been a good man, overly ambitious, perhaps, and certainly pushy. But he hadn’t deserved such a fate. ‘That’s horrible.’
‘So you can understand why I might suspect your investigation into this book could have prompted an attack such as the one you faced yesterday.’
‘I do.’ Lourds took a breath. ‘I haven’t found any mention of what happened to the Koran and Scroll after Mohammad lost them. Do the legends say anything about that?’
‘They do. According to legend, a religious man among the workers constructing the Dome of the Rock found the Koran and the Scroll. He was moved by God to hide those things within the building.’
Lourds’s blood sang in his veins. At last they had a potential final resting place for the objects Lev had been looking for. No wonder his friend had been in Jerusalem. Lev must certainly have felt he was sitting on top of the find of his life. ‘No one knows where he put those things?’
‘If anyone knew, they would have been found long ago.’ Namati clasped his hands. ‘Scholars have searched for the Koran and Scroll for generations.’
‘But they didn’t have the book Lev found in Cairo.’
Namati nodded. ‘It is as you say. Lev was also convinced he’d found a map that led to the Koran and the Scroll. Was there any mention of that in his notes?’
‘No.’ Another wave of excitement surged through Lourds. There had been no mention of a map, but maybe Lev hadn’t written about that on purpose, afraid of his notes falling into unfriendly hands. Or maybe there was another hidden message Lourds hadn’t found yet.
‘Well, he was convinced he’d found the map, but there was no way to decode it.’
‘Did Lev say where he found the map?’
‘He told me it was part of the book, that he found it by accident. That was only a day or so before he was killed. It was a recent discovery.’
‘“Part of the book”?’
‘That’s what he said, yes.’
Lourds nodded at the clock on the wall. ‘Maybe I could take you to lunch now.’
Namati smiled. ‘That would be wonderful. Would you care for the local cuisine?’
‘I would love the local cuisine.’
Namati turned his attention to Miriam. ‘And you, Miss Abata?’
‘I haven’t had genuine Persian food in many years. I’d love it.’
‘Then we will go in memory of your father.’
Named after the Alborz Mountains, which jutted up so proudly in northern Iran, the Alborz Restaurant occupied a comfortable space in the neighborhood. Tehran splashed into the foothills, and the mountains towered above even the Milad Tower, the tallest structure in Iran, and the four largest telecommunication towers in the world.
Lourds took in the white-capped mountains as he walked from the car to the restaurant. Even though Tehran was brimming with things from the modern world, the overpowering shadow of the nearby mountains still made it seem Old World, tucked into the security of a natural barrier against enemies.
Namati quickly negotiated a table for them, and they were led past diners facing heavily laden plates of chelo kebabs loaded with steak, chicken, lamb, and salmon. The amount of food looked daunting, but Lourds felt capable of meeting the task. The French breakfast hadn’t stayed with him as long as he’d expected.
The server showed them to a table.
Reza remained standing while everyone else sat. ‘If you’ll excuse me, Professor Namati, I’ve got some work I can be doing while you eat.’
‘Nonsense.’ Lourds gestured to a chair. ‘I’m treating.’
‘I appreciate the offer, Professor Lourds, but I am experiencing some indigestion. Please. Enjoy your meal. I will be up front when you need me.’ Reza turned and walked away.
Lourds felt bad for the young man. ‘Did I hurt his feelings earlier when I excused him from our meeting?’
‘Reza isn’t so vulnerable. I wouldn’t worry about it.’ Namati reached for the hummus and smeared it onto a slab of homemade bread.
‘A college student turning down a free meal?’ Lourds shook his head. ‘That just sounds wrong.’
Namati chuckled. ‘Some of the students are still embarrassed about eating in front of strangers.’
‘That only means you go hungry a lot when you get out into the world.’ Lourds spread hummus over a chunk of bread after Miriam had helped herself. The aroma of the tahini, garbanzo beans, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil was intoxicating and tasted even better.
They ordered the chelo kebabs, lamb for Miriam and Namati, and Lourds selected steak.
‘I feel I must point out another possibility for Lev’s death.’ Namati took a short breath. ‘I don’t mean to undermine your interest in this book, but legends are sometimes that: beautiful or terrifying stories. Both, in this case. I know the Eastern and Western worlds would view the existence of Mohammad’s Koran and the Scroll in much different lights.’
Lourds slathered another piece of bread with hummus and waited.
‘Lev Strauss was my friend, and he was a very progressive thinking man. I don’t know if he talked much to you about his views of Islam and Judaism.’
‘Somewhat. I’ve always been more interested in forgotten history than in fixing the world’s views of God.’
‘Yet, in this case at least, both of those goals appear attainable.’
‘Perhaps.’
Namati brushed that away. ‘If that Koran and Scroll exist, you will be in a position to shed some light for the world. If you find them. But I digress. As I was saying, Lev had remarkable mien. He believed that the Jews and the Muslims could find a way to live together. He believed in the peace process. He actively tried to reach out to the Islamic world, and I was one of his chief supporters. The far right in his own country hated him.’
Lourds knew that was true. Lev had always been a man to follow his own course through the world, and his loss was going to make the world poorer for it.
‘It’s very possible that his own people murdered him.’
‘With Austrian mercenaries?’ Miriam’s rancor with that statement echoed in her words.