Free The Columbus Code by Mike Evans

squirm. Sophia must have sensed that because she lightened her voice and said, “But we do know that
Señor
Columbus was passionate in his opinion that the world was about to end, and he was not alone in that belief. Several noted theologians ofthe day supported him. They were convinced the world would last a total of seven thousand years, counting from the creation of Adam through the books of the Bible to the birth of Christ and calculated that time to be 5,343 years.”
    â€œAh,” Winters said. “So he added the fifteen hundred years up to the time he lived and expected the world to end around 1656.” Donleavy would be impressed, although Winters didn’t know why he wanted this woman to be.
    â€œ
Sí
. Yes.” Sophia gave the almost-imperceptible smile again. “As we know, of course, he died before that. And the world did not end.”
    â€œSeems to happen a lot with these prophecies,” Winters said. “So, are we saying he was nuts?”
    â€œI am sorry.” Her eyes laughed. “I am not familiar with that expression.”
    â€œWas he crazy?” Winters asked.
    â€œThere is a long line of scholars who think he was. I prefer to think of him as zealous. Completely—how do you say it—sold out to the mission he had undertaken. Not unlike you, Mr. Winters.”
    â€œCrazy?” he said. “Or sold out?”
    Her eyes laughed once more, and she folded her hands under her chin. “That is as far as it goes—the prophecies and the belief that they would come true. You can read more about this in the
Book of Prophecies
. I thought you might find that interesting. However—”
    â€œI don’t like howevers,” Winters said.
    â€œI understand. Speculating about this area of inquiry is a nice mental exercise, but it brings us no closer to finding the next generation of your family.”
    â€œWhat does?”
    Sophia shuffled through papers in front of her and looked back into the camera. “I may be able to show you an established genealogyof Columbus that runs down to within a few generations of your grandfather.”
    Winters came back to life. “You can?”
    â€œYes, but I must take a few steps back first.”
    â€œOkay,” he said, nodding.
    â€œI have looked at the immigration records you sent me. Officials often listed the names of immigrants incorrectly. Most of them could not read any language other than English. When your grandfather gave his name and hometown, the immigration officials, it seems, could understand only part of what he said—in this case, the name of the town. And because that came last, they wrote it down as his last name.”
    â€œIs that good or bad?”
    â€œNeither. It simply means your grandfather was thereafter known as Esteban Torme, instead of Esteban from Torme, Spain.” She glanced down at a paper. “Actually, it says Esteban Torme from Huelva, Spain, which was the town they sailed from, not the town they lived in.” She smiled, again in the smallest way. “You will like this, though.”
    â€œWhy is that?”
    â€œHuelva is the same place
Señor
Columbus sailed from on his first voyage.”
    â€œSounds like a lot of people sailed from there,” Winters said. He was strangely disappointed.
    â€œYes,” Sophia said. “However—and you may appreciate
this
‘however’—that means the reason I have been unable to trace the name Torme to the Columbus line may be because that was not their real last name.”
    Winters nodded. “So how do we find out what it was?”
    â€œIt may be difficult, but knowing where they were originally from is helpful. Alba de Tormes is a famous place in Spain and a link likethis, if it proves correct, could make it possible to connect your family to a known genealogy of
Señor
Christopher Columbus.”
    â€œCould,” Winters said.
    â€œYes. We have only to