Library of the Dead (23 page)

For the rest of his life he would remember the way he felt when he read that e-mail.

Nancy came into his office and saw him frozen like marble at his screen.

She drew close until he could feel her breath against his neck. "What's wrong?"

"I know him."

"What do you mean, you know him?"

"It's my college roommate." The image of the scripts on Shackleton's neat white desk rushed back in, his insistent words,
I don't think you're going to catch the guy,
his palpable unease at his spontaneous visit and--one more detail! "The fucking pens."

"Sorry?"

Will was shaking his head in lamentation. "He had black ultrafine Pentels on his desk. It was all there."

"How can it be your roommate? This doesn't make any sense, Will!"

"Jesus," he moaned. "I think Doomsday was aimed at me."

Will's fingers danced over his keyboard as he feverishly hopped from one federal and state database to another. As he hunted, he repeatedly thought, Who are you, Mark? Who are you really?

Information started hitting his screen--Shackleton's DOB, his social, some old parking tickets in California--but there were maddening gaps and shrouds of obscurity. His photo was blacked-out on his Nevada driver's license record, there weren't any credit reports, mortgages, educational or employment records. There were no criminal or civil proceedings. No property tax records. He wasn't in the IRS database!

"He's completely off the fucking grid," Will told Nancy. "Protected species. I've seen this once or twice but it's rare as hell."

"What's our move?" she asked.

"We're getting on a plane this afternoon." She'd never heard him sound as agitated. "We're going to make this bust ourselves. Go start the paperwork with Sue, right away. We'll need a federal arrest warrant from the U.S. Attorney in Nevada."

She brushed her fingers against the back fringe of his hair. "I'll make the arrangements."

A couple of hours later a car was waiting to take them to the airport. Will finished packing his briefcase. He checked his watch and wondered why Nancy was late. Even under his subversive watch, she had retained the virtue of punctuality.

Then he heard those clicking high-heeled steps of Sue Sanchez approaching fast and his stomach tightened in a Pavlovian way.

He looked up and saw her taut, strained face at his door, her eyes off-the-chart wild. She had something to say but the words weren't coming out fast enough for him.

"Susan. What? I've got a plane to catch."

"No you don't."

"Sorry?"

"Benjamin just got a call from Washington. You're off the case. Lipinski too."

"What!"

"Permanently. Permanently off." She was almost hyper-ventilating.

"And why the fuck is that, Susan?"

"I have no idea." He could see she was telling the truth. She was borderline hysterical, fighting to stay professional.

"What about the arrest?"

"I don't know anything and Ronald told me not to ask any questions. This is way above my pay grade. Something huge is going on."

"This is bullshit. We've got the killer!"

"I don't know what to say."

"Where's Nancy?"

"I sent her home. They don't want you two partnering up anymore."

"And why is that?"

"I don't know, Will! Orders!"

"And what am I supposed to do now?"

She was mournfully apologetic, the official face of something she didn't understand.

"Nothing. They want you to stand down and do nothing. As far as you're concerned, it's over."

W
hen the baby was born, Mary refused to name it. She did not feel it was hers. Octavus had crudely placed it inside her and she could only watch her body grow heavy as its time neared and endure the pain of its birth just as she had endured the act of its procreation.

She suckled it because her breasts were full and she was required to do so, but would not look at its indifferent lips as it fed nor stroke its hair the way most mothers did when an infant was sucking at her teat.

After her violation, she was moved from the Sister's Dormitory to the Hospicium. There, she was segregated from the prying eyes and gossip of the novices and sisters and would gestate in the relative anonymity of the guesthouse, where visitors to the abbey were unaware of her shame. She was well-fed and permitted to take walks and work in a vegetable garden until the fullness of her term made her waddle and puff. However, all who knew her were saddened by the change in her disposition, the loss of her sparkle and humor, the dullness that prevailed. Even Prioress Magdalena secretly lamented the alterations to her temperament and the loss of youthful color from her formerly ruddy cheeks. The lass could never be admitted to the order now. How could she? Nor could she return to her village on the far side of the island--her kin would have nothing to do with her, a debased woman. She was in limbo, like an unbaptized child, neither evil nor graced.

When the baby was born and they all saw its bright ginger hair, its milky skin, and its apathetic countenance, the abbot and Paulinus deduced that Mary was a vessel, perhaps a divine one, who was owed nurturing and protection in much the same way the way the child had to be nurtured and protected.

This was no virgin birth, but the mother's name was Mary and the child was special.

A week after the baby was born, Magdalena visited Mary and found her lying in bed, staring vacantly into the air. The baby was still, in its cradle on the floor.

"Well, have you a name for him yet?" the prioress asked.

"No, Sister."

"Do you intend to name the child?"

"I do not know," she answered listlessly.

"Every child must have a name," Magdalena declared sternly. "I shall name it then. He will be Primus, the first child of Octavus."

Primus was now in his fourth year. Lost in his own world, he wandered the Hospicium and its environs, pale as cream, never straying far, never interested in objects or people. Like Octavus, he was mute and expressionless, with small green eyes. Every so often Paulinus would come, take him by the hand and lead him to the Scriptorium, where they would descend the stairs to his father's chamber. Paulinus would watch them as he might study heavenly bodies, looking for signs, but they were indifferent to one another. Octavus would continue to furiously write, the boy would move dreamily around the room, not bumping into anything but not seeing either. The quills did not interest him, nor the ink, the parchment, and the scribbles that emanated from Octavus's hand.

Paulinus would report back to Josephus, "The boy has shown no inclinations," and the two old men would shrug at each other and shuffle off for prayer.

It was a crisp autumn afternoon with a snap to the air. The waning sun was the color of marigold petals. Josephus was gingerly walking the abbey grounds, deep in meditation, silently praying for God's love and salvation.

Salvation was much on his mind. For weeks he had noticed that his urine first turned brown and now cherry red and his hearty appetite had vanished. His skin was becoming slack and tawny and the whites of his eyes were muddy. When he rose from kneeling prayer he felt like he was floating on waves and had to hold on for balance. He did not need to consult with the barber surgeon nor Paulinus. He knew he was dying.

Oswyn never saw the completion of the abbey reconstruction, nor would he, he reckoned, but the church, the Scriptorium, and the Chapter House were done and work was progressing on the dormitories. But more important, Octavus's library was on his mind. He could never truly fathom its purpose and he'd stopped trying to make sense of it. He simply knew these things:

It existed.

It was divine.

One day Christ would reveal its purpose.

It must be protected.

It must be allowed to grow.

Yet, as he watched the blood drain slowly from him with every passage of his water, he feared for the mission. Who would guard and defend his library when he was gone?

In the distance he saw Primus sitting in the dirt of the guest vegetable garden, a barren, harvested plot beside the Hospicium. The boy was alone, which was not unusual since his mother was inattentive. He had not seen him for a while and was now curious enough to spy on him.

The boy was nearly the age of Octavus when Josephus first took him in, and the resemblance was uncanny. The same reddish hair, the same bloodless complexion, the same frail body.

When Josephus was thirty paces away he stopped in his tracks and felt his heart race and his head swim. If he had not taken to using a walking staff he might have stumbled. The boy had a stick and was holding it in his hand. Then, before Josephus's eyes, he began using it to scrape the dirt in large swirling motions.

He was writing, Josephus was certain of it.

Josephus struggled to get through None prayers. After the congregation dispersed, he tapped three people on the shoulder and pulled them to a corner of the nave. There, he huddled with Paulinus, Magdalena, and Jose, who had been included in his inner circle ever since the young monk discovered the rape. Josephus had never regretted his decision to open up to the Iberian, who was calm and wise and discreet to a fault. And the abbot, the prioress, and the astronomer, who all were growing old, appreciated Jose's strength and vigor.

"The boy has begun to write," Josephus whispered. Even at a whisper, his voice echoed in the cavernous nave. They crossed themselves. "Jose, bring the boy to Octavus's chamber."

They sat the boy on the floor next to his father. Octavus took no notice of him nor any of the others who had invaded his sanctum. Magdalena had shunned Octavus since the atrocity, and even with the passage of time she recoiled at his sight. She no longer allowed her girls to tend him--those tasks were now delegated to young male novices. She kept as far away from his writing table as she could, half worried he might spring up and violate her too.

Jose placed a large sheet of vellum before Primus and surrounded it with a semicircle of candles.

"Give him a dipped quill," Paulinus rasped.

Jose dangled a quill in front of the boy as one might tempt a cat to pounce upon a feather. A drop of ink fell and splashed the page.

The boy suddenly reached out, grabbed the quill with his tiny right fist and put the tip onto the page.

He moved his hand in circles. The quill loudly scraped the parchment.

The letters were large and clumsy but clear enough to decipher.

V-a-a-s-c-o

"Vaasco," Paulinus said when the last letter was written.

S-u-a-r-i-z

"Vaasco Suariz," Jose intoned. "Portuguese
nombre.
"

Then numbers also sprang childlike from the juvenile hand.

8 6 800 Mors

"The eighth day of Junius, 800," Paulinus said.

Josephus said, "Please, Jose, check Octavus's current page. What year is he recording?"

Jose stood over Octavus's shoulder and studied the page. "His last entry is the seventh day of Junius, 800!"

"Dear Jesus!" Josephus exclaimed. "The two of them are connected as one!"

The four ministers tried to read each other in the dancing candlelight.

"I know what you are thinking," Magdalena said, "and I cannot abide by it."

"How can you know, Prioress, when I myself do not," Josephus answered.

"Search your soul, Josephus," she said skeptically. "I am certain you know your own mind."

Paulinus threw up his hands. "You are both talking in riddles. Can an old man not expect to know of what you are speaking?"

Josephus rose slowly to avoid wooziness. "Come, let us leave the boy with Octavus for a short while. No harm will come of him. I would have my three friends join me upstairs where we might have a prayerful discussion."

It was warmer and more comfortable than in the damp cellar. Josephus had them sit at copy desks, Josephus facing Magdalena, Paulinus facing Jose.

He recounted the night of Octavus's birth and each remarkable milestone in the youth's history. To be sure, they all knew these details, but Josephus had never before laid out an oral history and they were sure he had a purpose for doing so now. He then turned to the briefer though no less remarkable history of Primus, including the events that had just transpired.

"Can any of us doubt," Josephus asked, "that we have a sacred obligation to preserve and sustain this divine work? For reasons which we may never know, God has entrusted us, His servants at Vectis Abbey, to be the keepers of these miraculous texts. He has endowed this youth, Octavus, born in miraculous circumstances, with the power--nay, the imperative--to chronicle the entry and passage of all the souls entering and departing from this Earth. Man's destiny is thus laid bare. The texts are a testament to the power and omniscience of the Creator, and we are humbled by the love and care He has for His children." A tear formed and started to slide down his face. "Octavus is but one special though surely mortal being. I have wondered, and so have you, how the enormity of his task might be perpetuated. We now have our answer."

He paused and noted their solemn nods.

"I am dying."

"No!" Jose protested, showing the concern a son might have for a father.

"Yes, it is true. I am quite sure that none of you are too shocked. You have only to look at me to know that I am gravely ill."

Paulinus reached out to touch his wrist and Magdalena wrung her hands.

"And Paulinus, will you not acknowledge that you have seen the name Josephus of Vectis entered in one of the books?"

Paulinus answered through parched lips, "I have."

"And you know my date certain?"

"I do."

"It is soon?"

"It is."

"It is not tomorrow, I trust," he jested.

"It is not."

"Excellent," he said, lightly tapping his fingertips together. "It is my duty to prepare for the future, not only for the abbey, but for Octavus and the Library. So here, tonight, I declare that I will send for the bishop and beseech him, upon my passing, to elevate Sister Magdalena to Abbess of Vectis and Brother Jose to prior. Brother Paulinus, dear friend, you will continue to serve them as you have done so faithfully for me."

Magdalena bowed her head deeply to hide the thin smile she could scarcely suppress. Paulinus and Jose were mute with grief.

"And I have one further declaration," Josephus continued. "Tonight we are forming a new order within Vectis, a secret and holy order for the protection and preservation of the Library. We four are the founding members, which will henceforth be known as the Order of the Names. Let us pray."

He led them in deep prayer, and when he was done they rose as one.

Josephus touched Magdalena on her bony shoulder. "When Vespers is complete, we will do what must be done. Will you do this willingly?"

The old woman hesitated and silently prayed to the Holy Mother. Josephus was waiting for her response. "I will," she said.

After Vespers, Josephus retired to his room to meditate. He knew what was transpiring but did not wish to witness the events personally. His resolve was strong but he remained at the core a kind, gentle soul with no stomach for this kind of business.

He knew that as he bowed his head in prayer, Magdalena and Jose were leading Mary from the Hospicium down the dark path to the Scriptorium. He knew she would be softly weeping. He knew the weeping would turn to loud sobbing when they pulled her by the hand down the stairs into the cellar. And he knew the sobs would turn to screams when Paulinus opened the door to Octavus's chamber and Jose bodily forced her through the threshold then latched the door behind her.