Anne Perry: The Scroll

Actually he did not bother with more cider, or the cake. He paid his bill and left. As soon as he was in his car he tried Hank again on his cell phone. This time Hank answered.

“I must see you immediately,” Monty said before even asking how Hank was or what he was doing. “Please come to the bookshop. I’ll wait for you.”

“Are you alright?” Hank said anxiously. “You sound terrible. What’s happened?”

“Just come to the bookshop,” Monty repeated. “Ring the bell. I’ll let you in.”

Half an hour later Monty and Hank were sitting at the table in Monty’s workroom with the scroll open in front of them.

“Who was this scholar?” Hank said gravely. “He must have given you a name.”

“No, he didn’t,” Monty replied. “Like the old man with his granddaughter, and the bishop, or whatever he was, they all knew about this,” he glanced at the scroll. “And my name, and where to find me. But I’ve told no one, except you. I didn’t even have a chance to tell Roger.”

Hank looked at the scroll again, lifting up his glasses to peer beneath them and see it more intensely. He was silent for so long that Monty became restless. He was about to interrupt him when Hank sat back at last.

“I’ve been swatting up a bit on Aramaic,” he said, his voice quiet and strained, lines of anxiety deeper in his face than usual, perhaps exaggerated by the artificial light. “I can only make out a few words clearly. I’m not really very good. It’s a long way from mathematics, but I’ve always been interested in the teachings of Christ—just as a good man, perhaps morally the greatest.”

“And …?” Monty’s own voice quivered.

Hank’s face lit with a gentle smile. “And I have no special illumination, Monty. I can make out a few words, but they seem ambiguous, capable of far more than one interpretation. There are several proper names and I’m almost sure one of them is ‘Judas’. But there is so much I don’t know that I couldn’t even guess at the meaning. It isn’t a matter of missing a subtlety. I could omit a negative and come with a completely opposite interpretation.”

“But could he be correct … the scholar?” Monty insisted. “Could it be the lost testimony of Judas Iscariot?”

“It could be a testimony of anyone, or just a letter,” Hank replied. “Or it could be a fake.”

“No it couldn’t,” Monty said with absolute certainty. “Touch it. Try to photograph it. It’s real. Even you can’t deny that.”

Hank chewed his lip, the lines in his face deepening even more. “If it is what the scholar says, that would explain why the bishop is so anxious to have it, and perhaps destroy it. Or at the very least keep it hidden.”

“Why? Surely it would make religion, Christianity in particular, really hot news again.”

“If it confirms what they have taught for two thousand years,” Hank agreed. “But what if it doesn’t?”

“Like what?” Monty asked, then immediately knew the answer. It was as if someone were slowly dimming all the lights everywhere, as far as the eye could see, as far as the imagination could stretch.

Hank said nothing.

“You mean a fake crucifixion?” Monty demanded. “No resurrection?” Then he wished he had not even said the words. “That would be awful. It would rob millions of people of the only hope they have, of all idea of heaven, of a justice to put right the griefs we can’t touch here.” He swallowed painfully. “Of ever seeing again those we love … and those who didn’t have a chance here …”

“I know,” Hank said softly. “That is a belief I would never force on others, even if I hold it myself. I would be inclined to give it to Prince of the Church, and let him burn it.”

“Book burning? You, Hank?” Monty said incredulously.

“If I had to choose between truth, or what seems to be truth, and kindness … then I think I might choose kindness,” Hank said gently. “There are too many ‘shorn lambs’ I wouldn’t hurt.”

“Temper the wind to the shorn lamb,” Monty said in a whisper. “And could you do it without even knowing what the scroll said?”

“That’s the rub,” Hank agreed. “We don’t know what’s in it. It might not be that at all. Do you remember what the Bible says Christ said to Judas? ‘Go and do what thou must’?”

Monty stared at him.

Hank looked at the scroll. “If there were no betrayal then there would have been no trial, therefore no crucifixion, and no resurrection. Is it possible that Judas did only what he had to, or there would have been no fulfilment of the great plan?”

Monty was speechless, his mind whirling, his thoughts out of control.

“But that would spoil the simplicity of the damnation that Christendom has always placed on Judas,” Hank went on. “It would all suddenly become terribly real, and fearfully complex, much too much to be shared with the whole world, most of whom like their religion very simple. Good and evil. Black and white. No difficult decisions to be made. We don’t like difficult decisions. For two thousand years we have been told what to think, and we’ve grown used to it. And make no mistakes, Monty, if this goes to anyone except the Prince of the Church, it will be on the Internet the day after, and everyone will know.”

“The Churchman is obvious,” Monty agreed. “Anyone can see why he wants it, and I can’t entirely disagree. And I can see why the scholar wants it, regardless of what it destroys or who it hurts. But who is the old man? Why does he want it, and how did any of them know it exists, and that I have it?”

“What did you say his name was?” Hank asked. “He was the only one who gave you a name, wasn’t he?”

“Yes. Judson Garrett.”

Hank stood motionless. “Judson Garrett? Say it again, Monty, aloud. Could it possibly be …?” He stared at the scroll. “Lock it up, Monty. I don’t know if it will do any good, but at least try to keep it safe.”

Quite early the next morning Monty received a phone call from the police to tell him that it was now beyond question that Roger Williams had been murdered. They asked him if he would come down to the local station at his earliest convenience, preferably this morning. There were several issues with which he could help them.

“Of course,” he replied. “I’ll be there in a couple of hours.”

He was met by a very pleasant policewoman, no more than in her mid-thirties. She introduced herself as Sergeant Tobias.

“Sorry about this, Mr. Danforth,” she apologized straight away. “Coffee?”

“Er … yes, please.” It seemed discourteous to refuse, and he would welcome something to do with his hands. It might make him appear less nervous. Had she seen how tense he was, how undecided as to what to tell her?

“You said Roger was murdered,” he began as soon as they were sitting down in her small office. If that were so, why was a mere sergeant dealing with it, and a young woman? It did not sound as if they regarded it as important.

“Yes,” she said gravely. “There is no question that the fire was deliberately set. And Mr. Williams was struck on the head before the fire started. I thought you’d like to know that because it means he almost certainly didn’t suffer.”

For a moment Monty found it difficult to speak. He had refused even to think of what Roger might have felt.

“Thank you,” he said awkwardly. “Why? I mean … do you know why anyone would kill him?”

“We were hoping that you could help us with that. We have found no indication of any personal reason at all. And the fact that the house was pretty carefully searched, but many very attractive ornaments left, some of considerable value, not to mention all the cutlery, which incidentally is silver and quite old, suggests it was not robbery. All the electronic things were left too, even a couple of very expensive mobile phones and ipods, very easily portable.”