Written by David de Sola
DAY 4
"In the mountains of truth, you never climb in vain." –Friedrich Nietzsche
By the time Gabriel had gotten up, everybody was already gone. Gabriel got up and went back to Dean Jennings' office, where he found out she was already gone. Gabriel decided to wait in the lounge for her.
Grace breathed a sigh of relief as she left her class. She had finished her hardest test and could now focus entirely on her Shattenjager research. She went to Professor Barclay's office to ask him about the notes that Gabriel had found in Hessler and Bishop's desks.
"Professor Barclay?"
"Hello Grace. Come in. Tell me what's on your mind."
"Thank you. I just found these notes somewhere and I was wondering if you could tell me where they were from." Grace said as she handed Barclay the notes.
"Hmmmm...very odd...I've never seen designs quite like this before...the only place I can think of that this COULD be from is..."
"Where?"
"The Voynich Manuscript."
"What is the Voynich Manuscript?"
"The Voynich Manuscript is a 200 page text which we currently own and is held in the Beinecke Rare Book Library. It is an illuminated medieval manuscript that contains symbols of astrological configurations, odd plants, naked women, and other odd, unrelated material."
"So what's so special about this script?" Grace asked.
"The text has never, I repeat NEVER, been translated in the thousand or so years of its existence. Every major historical institution and scholar has tried it, and they've all come up with one thing: absolute nada, zip, diddly, you know what I mean?"
"Yes, I do. Do you know anything more about this?"
"No, not really. I'm just a History professor, but the entire faculty knows about the manuscript. It's like the ultimate jigsaw puzzle, and everybody wants to be the one to solve it. Jane Cooper could help you out more with that."
"Who is Jane Cooper?"
"She's the Beinecke librarian. She's the one that knows the most of the history of the Voynich Manuscript."
"Well, that's all. Thanks a lot Professor." Grace said as she left his office and headed to the Beincke Library.
Grace walked to the counter and asked for Jane Cooper. The woman at the desk said she was going to get her. While she waited, Grace noticed that they were selling copies of Gabriel's novel on the counter. She sighed, trying not to think about the trashy literary value of Gabriel's work and how he had mutated all of the important characters of the real Voodoo Murders mystery. As she continued imagining how the badly Gabriel would alter his next case for the inevitable novel, the librarian showed up "How can I help you?"
"Hi. I want to ask you about the history and origins of the Voynich Manuscript, and possibly see the manuscript."
"I see. Let's sit down for a minute, it's quite a long story." the librarian said as the two sat down at a table in a private reading room. "The Voynich manuscript is a 200 page document which has never been translated over the centuries, as you already know. The name Voynich refers to a New York book dealer named Wilfred Voynich, who purchased it in 1912 from a Jesuit college in Frascati, Italy. With the manuscript came a letter dated 1666 written to famous Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher, from his former tutor Marcus Marci. According to Marci, the author of the manuscript was Roger Bacon, a thirteenth century English scientist and more specifically an alchemist." the librarian explained as she took a breath.
"According to Marci, the author was identified as Bacon by one of the manuscript's former owners, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II, who died in 1612. Now, Voynich made copies of the manuscript to the world's best codebreakers. Some of these people deciphered wartime communication codes. Others were ancient language scholars. Every single ONE of them failed. Odder still is that most of the illustrated species of flowers don't even exist."
"Voynich's widow died in 1960. The manuscript was sold to a book dealer named Hans Kraus. He attempted to sell the manuscript on the antique book market, but failed to find any takers. In 1969 he donated it to Yale University, where it has remained ever since."
"A man named Dr. Leo Levitov wrote a book titled Solution of the Voynich Manuscript in which he claims that it is the only primary document remaining from the Great Heresy in Italy, which would also flourish in Languedoc until it was exterminated by the Albigensian Crusade in the 1230's. He also claims to have some formula to decipher the manuscript, but it is generally discredited by most respected field scholars. The only person to even REMOTELY come close to discovering the true meaning of the manuscript is Yale Professor Robert Brumbaugh. Brumbaugh believed that it was an alchemical work, because such works of that time period were known for their cryptic test and complicated symbolism. Through many MANY hours of calculation, he was able to decipher some of the codes to identify certain known plant species and astronomical constellations. Everything else in the manuscript, which is about 98% of it, remains unsolved to this day. The alphabet in which the text is written is estimated to have nineteen to twenty-eight letters. Some speculate that the manuscript is written in two or more different languages, but I don't believe that."
"Wow." Grace said as she finished writing her notes. "Any theories to its purpose?'
"Well, some say it's an attempt at an artificial language, others say it's an elaborate hoax (highly unlikely but possible), some sort of spirit-mediated communication, or a very inaccurate herbal catalog (which I also find highly unlikely). Another theory which is fun to ponder about (but also highly unlikely) is that it contains the first universal language, like from before Babel, after which God made everybody speak a different language. If that was true, we would have something pretty darn close to a holy relic, but we have absolutely nothing to substantiate it."
"You know, Miss..."
"Nakamura, Grace Nakamura."
"Miss Nakamura, you are not the only one to research the Voynich Manuscript."
"Really?"
"Yes, several professors and students have been investigating it. The murder victims were researching it as well."
"What? All the murder victims were also investigating the Voynich Manuscript?"
"That is correct. Professor Hessler told me he was getting close to POSSIBLY cracking the code, but I didn't think he'd ever find anything. That was his hobby, you know. Professor Bishop was trying to trace the origin of the manuscript through the chemicals, since he is adamant that it was not written by Roger Bacon. His hypothesis was that it came from some Eastern Orthodox monastery in South Eastern Europe, possibly from Romania or Bulgaria. He asked the TA to give him a complete chemical breakdown of what was in the manuscript and to trace it to the original source, and see if the source was found anywhere in that region. He was trying to prove his theory by analyzing its chemical composition and the materials available in that region and time period. As for the last victim, she was merely researching it for her art history senior thesis. Except for Professor Bishop and the TA, they were all working independently."
"Wow. Well, thanks a lot. You should tell the police about that, if that's some sort of clue."
" I already did. They checked every possible lead with that connection and they found nothing, so that connection has been ruled out."
Grace thanked the librarian and left. She went to the first pay phone and dialed Gabriel's cell phone.
"Hello?"
"Gabriel! I found a lot of information that could help us out with this case. I think we may need the Schattenjager library, but we have a lot already. How's it going with you?"
"I'm waiting for the Dean of Students to show up from wherever she is. I was going to ask her about Diana Bryant."
"Don't worry, I already know what she was doing. Just come back to the apartment and I'll explain everything to you and Mosely when you get back."
"OK. I'm on my way. Bye." Gabriel said as he hung up. Grace hurried back to her apartment.
Mosely headed over to the temporary headquarters that had been set up in a vacated janitors' office in the main Administration building of the Yale campus. He asked the first police officer in sight for Lieutenant Jake Thornton. The officer pointed him in a direction.
"Hey Jake."
"Mosely! Oh my God! What a great surprise! Good to see you."
"It's great to see you too. I wish I could say I was here to see you after ten years, but I'm not. I'm a PI in New Orleans now. I'm investigating these murders for one of my clients."
"I see..." Thornton said to himself. "Normally, I would boot you out the door, but you WERE a good detective from what I remember about you., so I GUESS I could UNOFFICIALLY let you on as an affiliate of the Connecticut State PD."
"Thanks so much. I really REALLY appreciate this."
"So what have you been up to?"
"Well, Jake. I retired from the force in fall of '93 after the whole Voodoo Murders thing. I figured that with so many guys going down in that corruption scam, it wasn't worth staying with such a tainted department anymore. I was starting to feel like friggin' Serpico, for crying out loud!" Mosely explained as the two men shared a laugh.
"Oh, that's right. I read about it in the papers over here. I can't believe you solved that whole mess by yourself!"
"Well, I had SOME help, but for their safety, they have remained anonymous."
"What about that book?"
"I served as a consultant to the author. I heard they're making it into a movie." Mosely explained, breathing a sign of annoyance.
"Hmmm...interesting. He was just here the other day asking for information on the case. I booted his ass out of there and I'll do it again if I ever see him again, too."
"Yeah, that moron can be like that." He said, frowning in disgust at how he had been portrayed in the book. "Anyway, I want to know about the state of the bodies."
"All the victims were impaled through the chest plate by the six inch-thick stake. Each stake has varied in length from four and a half to seven feet long, each varying in length with each victim. The really bizarre thing is that the stakes are somehow grafted to the ground, like a tree. We had to dig like three feet below the surface to pull the damn things out. We've checked surveillance videos from the library, and at no point is there ANYBODY walking with a long thin object. It's almost as if the damn things just grew into place, like a tree, you know?"
"All of the bodies were facing up and their eyes were open. I don't know if that has any major importance. The only thing all the victims had in common was that they were researching the Voynich Manuscript, which is kept at the Beinecke Rare Book Library here at the university. That lead has proved inconclusive. If nothing comes up, then we just might have to close off access to that thing. The card from the hematology department is also damn near useless. They all went there for blood check-ups but that's it. It's standard university medical procedure. That's pretty much all we've found that is of any use to this case. It's the toughest case I've ever seen." Thorton explained.
"Great. Thanks for the info. I'll come by tomorrow and see if I can think of anything. "
"All right. Great to see you Mosely. Catch you later." Thornton said as the two shook hands and Mosely headed back to Grace's apartment.
After Mosely arrived back at the apartment, the three sat down together and filled each other in on what they had discovered. Gabriel had been unsuccessful at seeing the dean, since she had been running around back and forth trying to arrange for extra security. Grace naturally had to do the most explaining.
"OK. So we now have a POSSIBLE reason why they were all murdered." Gabriel explained. "Some...outside force...killed all these people because they were close to solving the code of the Voynich Manuscript? I'm going to call Gerde up right now and ask her to look up the Voynich Manuscript in the Schattenjager library."
"Yeah, I’m sure…some basket case with a knack for agriculture is going around killing people because they’re researching a damn piece of paper? I’m sorry, but I ain’t buying it. There’s got to be something else to all this."
Gabriel ignored Mosely’s skeptic sarcasm and dialed Gerde's number in Germany. After hearing the dialtone for what seemed an eternity, a female voice groggily uttered "Hello?" into the telephone.
"Gerde, it's Gabriel. I'm sorry to be calling so late, but we're really on to something here in Yale. Get a pen and paper and write this down..."
"Just a minute Gabriel.." Gerde said as she got up and found a paper and pen. "Go ahead, I'm ready."
"OK. Look up the Voynich Manuscript in the Schattenjager library. That's spelled V-O-Y-N-I-C-H. Find me anything about its history, origin, whatever. Fax me whatever you can to Grace's number here in New Haven from the Post Office in the town plaza as soon as you find anything, OK?"
"Voynich manuscript...OK I got it. I'll look it up and you should hopefully get it by tomorrow at around noon. Good night Gabriel."
"Good night Gerde, thank you." Gabriel said as he hung up the phone.
"Now…there's something else I have to tell you people." Gabriel explained. He took a deep breath and continued. "The last few nights, I've had this dream that I'm fighting this totally darkened stranger. I'm holding out my talisman. This stranger just extends his hand, crushes my hand that is holding the talisman, drags me by my hair, summons a very long stake out of the ground itself, and throws me onto it. The stake penetrates me through my chest, like those murder victims. Every night, I've seen something new. First, I saw his hand is covered by some old metal gauntlet. Second, he wears a crown made of like velvet or something. It's laced with pearls and has this big gold star with a ruby in the middle of it just above the forehead. He also said some word when he summoned the stake. It was something like 'Zepesh' or 'Tchepezh' or something like that. I couldn't really understand him because his voice was really low, like Darth Vader low. I also keep seeing these bizarre images, like from a painting r something. Plants and naked women bathing are all I can remember, but now that I think of it, it sounds like the Voynich Manuscript." Gabriel explained.
"All this is great Gabe, but there's still ONE little problem." Mosely interrupted. "We have no proof or the slightest idea of who is committing these crimes."
"I think that guy I keep seeing in my dream is the key. I'm going to check the hematology department, too. Maybe they know something." Gabriel explaied. "Grace, could you go look up that word I just told you?"
"Sure Gabriel." Grace said, as she wrote down the word Gabriel heard in his dream.
"Well, good night people. I'm dead as a doornail, and I want my eight hours." Gabriel said as he slumped into the couch and slept. Gabriel saw himself in a circular room made of earth itself, with rotting carcasses all around him. He knew this place. It was the sacred circle of the Gedde family in Benin. He walked over to the sacrificial trough which had contained the talisman for over 300 years. A beating heart was still on the trough. Gabriel looked on the other side of the trough and to his shock, saw Wolfgang's bloody corpse start to rise.
"Gabriel?" Wolfgang said.
"Uncle Wolfgang! Oh my God! What is going on?"
"You're dreaming again Gabriel. Dreams are the most important weapon that any Schattenjager has. They are visions of the past, of the present, and most importantly, of a possible future."
"I need your help Wolfgang. There is a genuine evil in the case I am currently involved in. Help me. Please."
"Right. I do not know the precise specifics of who you keep seeing in your dream, Gabriel. But I do know this. You will find something in the Schattenjager library. There is another power that all Schattenjagers have besides those you have aleady experienced. What it is I cannot tell you, but here is the clue. Remember the oath of the Schattenjagers..." Wolfgang explained.As he finished the sentence, he slumped over and turned into a rotting corpse again. Gabriel tried to wake him up again, but was cast out by some unknown force. He woke up in his bed, sweating everywhere. He reached over for a piece of paper and wrote down "REMEMBER OATH OF SCHATTENJAGERS!!!!!!"
After much pondering and recollecting of the initiation ritual, he remembered it and wrote it down for future reference.
"St. George, patron of the light
who hunts the shadows of the night...
upon my blood, I call thee now,
purify me, for I avow...
to set my feet upon thy road,
they sword I take up for mine own."
If you have any comments, you can email David de Sola at ddesola@emerald.tufts.edu.
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