Free CS 01 The Grail Conspiracy by Lynn Sholes

meeting him, then
I did."
    "Still, it must have been exciting."
    "It was."
    Cotten went to the couch and sat silently, twirling a silver bracelet
around her wrist. "I guess you're waiting patiently for me to get to the
point so you'll know why I rushed here at this ungodly hour."
    John pulled up a chair and sat opposite her. "You sounded rattled
on the phone. You mentioned a break-in."
    "Well, sort of. They got in, but I don't know how. Still, I'm sure
somebody was there. I'd been out, and when I came home and looked
around, it occurred to me that lots of my things had been moved,
shifted, examined.
    "Did you call the police?"
    Cotten cleared her throat and tossed her hair. "No, I didn't report
it. Although I'm positive of what happened, there's no way I can prove
it-the police would never have believed me. Nothing was stolen."
    John leaned forward and laced his fingers together between his
knees.

    Before he could speak, Cotten said, "I think whoever broke in was
looking for this." She opened the leather bag and removed the box.
She held it for a moment, almost unwilling to let it go.
    "May I?" he asked, reaching out.
    "Sorry," she said, realizing she had not offered it to him.
    After rolling it over and studying each side and surface, John asked,
"Where did you get it?"
    It took several minutes for her to explain how it came into her possession, how she had smuggled it through Customs, how she couldn't
open it, and how she had hidden it in her kitchen stove.
    "That's quite a story," John said. He rubbed his forehead as if deep
in thought. "And I'm sorry to hear Archer is dead. Despite his quirkiness, he was a brilliant man. I liked him."
    "Do you have any idea what this thing is?" Cotten looked over at
the box in John's lap.
    "I think so," he said, examining it again. "I believe it's a medieval
puzzle cube. They were very popular among rich Europeans during
the Middle Ages. I've only seen a few before-I think I have a book
here someplace that has a chapter explaining how to open them."
    "What do you think is inside?"
    He shook it gently. "Usually, they held a prize or a toy, maybe jewelry or game pieces. I've heard some contained additional puzzle
cubes-a box within a box. They were mostly to entertain aristocrats.
There were several designs and each type opened in a totally different
manner.
    Her eyes widened. "Dr. Archer regarded it as something special.
He told me two things before he died. The first was a series of numbers and a name-twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, Matthew.
Then Archer said something about me being the only one who could
stop the sun, the dawn."

    "That would be quite a trick, wouldn't it?" John smiled. "From
what you say, I suppose Archer wasn't thinking clearly. Scrambled
thoughts. Delusional."
    Cotten balked. No, Archer hadn't been delusional. He knew precisely the words to get her attention. Geh el crip. You are the only one.
She didn't want to have to get into that or John might really think her
out of her mind.
    "But the numbers," Cotten said. "I looked them up in the Bible.
It's from the Gospel of St. Matthew."
    "And He took the Cup ..." John turned the cube in his hands.
"Those words are repeated around the world everyday at Mass.
They're the words Jesus used at the Last Supper when He established
the sacrament of the Eucharist."
    "From what you've told me, Archer was convinced he knew the
location of the Cup from the Last Supper. Do you think that's what
could be in the box? I mean there must be something of value inside.
I don't think someone would be willing to murder for an empty box.
And then track me down..."
    "Are you sure the two events are connected?"
    "You think I'm delusional, too?"
    "On the contrary." His voice rang sincere, not patronizing. "I
didn't mean to sound like I don't believe you. You've had a lot of traumatic things happen. Your reactions are perfectly understandable. By
linking the events you are trying to make sense of