Before the news broadcast Brian Sadler had asked an expert to examine the ossuary. He said it was Jewish, made during the period known as the Second Temple, its style placing it roughly between 100 BC and 100 AD. The carvings on the box were faint and difficult to make out. Further tests would determine if the marks were words like those found on other Jewish ossuaries.
Switching back to the Canadian studio, the Minister of Culture explained what happened late that evening. Brian Sadler and Harold Mulhaney had placed a guard at the site. A police investigation revealed that an intruder landed a boat in Smith’s Cove, walked to the Money Pit and tranquilized the guard. He was tied up and gagged and the man dynamited the shaft, causing the flood tunnels to flow thousands of gallons of seawater into it.
For the sake of archaeology, the Minister continued, it was fortunate that Brian Sadler had decided to remove the artifact in secret. The ossuary was now in a safe place within the government of Nova Scotia awaiting further examination both in Canada and the United States.
The press conference ended with the Minister’s assurance of cooperation going forward. “We will engage in a close working relationship with Mr. Sadler and Mr. Mulhaney as we learn more about this incredible discovery.”
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Dallas
The day after the press conference Brian received a call from the Archdiocese of New York. He knew the Archbishop; they had met several times as a result of Brian’s involvement in high-profile antiquities and the Church’s interest in many of his discoveries. The Church was important to Brian’s work and played a major part in some of the important pieces he handled.
The Archbishop told Brian that the Pope was interested in the ossuary that had been found, especially in the ancient inscription that appeared on it. He asked if the pontiff could be informed ahead of the general public once Brian knew more about it.
“Excellency, although I want to be cooperative I can’t guarantee that. The decision’s not just mine to make. I have a partner, Harold Mulhaney, and the Minister of Culture in Halifax has a vested interest in this project too. I’ll see what I can do; shall I let you know what I find out?”
The Archbishop responded affirmatively and Brian asked, “If I may ask, why is the Pope personally interested in the box and its inscription?”
The answer was sprinkled with a little humor. “Sometimes his Holiness doesn’t let me in on his thinking, Brian. I’d speculate that he’s interested in whose bones are in the ossuary, assuming you ultimately find there are bones at all.”
Brian said he would try to let the Archbishop have advance notice of any discovery but couldn’t promise anything.
The ossuary hadn’t been opened. The piece was so old and potentially so fragile that it had to be handled extremely carefully, and only by experts. Brian had conferred with the Minister of Culture and reached an agreement to bring it to New York where experts at the American Museum of Natural History could perform a close examination in every respect. It would be flown from Halifax the following week and Brian would be at the Museum when it arrived.
It could take several days, maybe even weeks, before definitive information was known about the box. No one knew if this ossuary held bones, as one might expect, or if something else was in it. Brian knew the Templars called this the Most Holy Relics – plural. So it wasn’t just the box itself. It was what was inside. And the Pope undoubtedly knew about the Most Holy Relics from the research of Cardinal Conti.
He thought about what scenario would make the Pope the most concerned. If the ossuary was being used for its original purpose, then it held bones.
Brian was well aware of the furor that had arisen in the academic community a decade ago about another ossuary. A prominent Israeli collector turned up a first century bone box with the inscription “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” A tremendous battle had occurred between the Israeli Antiquities Authority and the collector, including a seven-year court battle to determine if the inscription was forged much later than the first century.
The collector ultimately was found not guilty of forgery but the judge’s acquittal was accompanied by a caveat that he was not ruling on the authenticity of the inscription or that it was two thousand years old. To this day many scholars believed that ossuary proved the historical existence of Jesus for the first time ever. Many others labeled it a complete hoax.
Brian considered what he had learned. Taking the Knights Templars manuscripts at face value, this latest ossuary was the repository for the Most Holy Relics. They had been in the care of the Templars since 1129, had been in Ephesus and in the late 1400s were moved overland to Bruges, Belgium, then by boat to Bristol and across the sea to a new place where a hiding place was constructed.
Giovanni Caboto, or John Cabot, was the Voyager who carried the Templars and the Most Holy Relics. They built a pit and Cabot “involved himself in things best left to our brothers.” Much of his crew died of disease or food poisoning at the hands of the Templars. The rest, including Cabot, were “dispatched to their eternal fates” and the Cabot expedition of 1498 was never heard from again.
One coded Templars sheet was nothing but Bible verses – the story of Jesus on the cross entrusting his mother to his disciple John, and the verses about Jesus’ burial and resurrection.
Could the bones be those of Jesus himself? How could that be possible? Brian had been a regular churchgoer since he was a baby and he knew that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead and ascended into Heaven. No bones. No reburial.
Brian knew this was what concerned the Pope. He was afraid the ossuary contained the bones of Jesus along with an inscription describing them. If Jesus hadn’t risen from the dead, John, the self-proclaimed “disciple whom Jesus loved,” would have been the natural choice to gather his bones. It was generally accepted by Bible scholars that John and the Virgin Mary went to Ephesus, where John continued his preaching and evangelizing, and Mary eventually died. There was even a shrine to her in Ephesus.
What if John had transported Jesus’ bones when he and Mary went to Ephesus? Had he buried the bones there and did Knights Templars protect them over the centuries? If all that were true, Brian couldn’t imagine the earth-shattering consequences. Non-believers would have a field day. If you couldn’t believe that part of the Bible, what parts could you believe? It would be catastrophic in its impact on religion.
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Toronto
“This is a collect call from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. This call is from…” – there was a pause – “John Spedino.” The recording continued. “To accept all calls from this number press *13. To decline all calls from this number press *15.”
The man in Toronto who had destroyed the Money Pit pressed *13 on his single-use cellphone and immediately heard the godfather launch into a rage.
“Good job you did for me,” Spedino said sarcastically. “I guess you’ve seen the news. Brian Sadler found an ossuary in the Money Pit. And say, you know they record all these calls. Especially mine.” He laughed sardonically.
The man was careful in his response. “I did the job exactly as you directed. It was done as expeditiously as possible. If the timing was off that’s out of my hands.”
“Out of your hands?” the mobster exploded. “You idiot. You were supposed to make sure…”
The man disconnected. He wasn’t interested in the ravings of a man who could hurt him only with incriminating words. He tossed the phone in a trash bin as he walked down the street. John Spedino had been a powerful man once, the Canadian knew. But his upcoming trial and the massive evidence against him made Spedino completely powerless to retaliate. The mobster had no way to find the man, much less hurt him.
Chapter Seventy
New York
Two weeks later the examination of the ossuary was complete. Antiquities experts at the museum in New York opened the box, found decaying bones and immediately moved to preserve them from the air they hadn’
t known in two thousand years. They would ultimately be carbon-dated to the first century AD.
Working alongside the museum staff were two linguists from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. They took rubbings of the faint inscriptions on the outside of the box and created computer-generated enhancement to make them legible. Some words were missing a few strokes here and there due to the extreme age of the box itself.
The Minister of Culture and Harold Mulhaney agreed to allow Brian a courtesy call to the Archbishop in New York.
The cleric took Brian’s call immediately. “What did you find out?”
“Excellency, I think this is the proverbial good news-bad news call. I hate to be flippant about something the Pope considers so serious, but I think the good news for the pontiff is going to be this. If the inscription can be believed, the bones in the box aren’t those of Jesus Christ.”
There was a faint sigh of relief on the other end of the conversation. “And…?”
“I did a bit of research on the Catholic faith before I made this call, Excellency. I know you believe in Mary’s assumption to Heaven – God took the Virgin Mary’s body to Heaven after her death. So I think the inscription on the ossuary may be the bad news. The inscription says
Mary, blessed Virgin, mother of Jesus, wife of Joseph
“Archbishop, the Most Holy Relics guarded by the Templars for centuries are the bones of the Virgin Mary.”
Chapter Seventy-One
Dallas – Six months later
The opening of Bijan Rarities’ new gallery in Dallas was a major event. The beautiful store in the Crescent Court was just blocks away from Nicole’s condo in the Ritz-Carlton. High-profile clients and celebrities joined news crews from Texas and the nation to toast Brian Sadler’s glitzy showroom in his home state of Texas.
The Government of Nova Scotia had quickly reached an agreement with Brian and Harold Mulhaney on the division of the gold coins and jewelry. There were a number of laws on the books governing antiquities and treasure, given discoveries in the past and the province’s history as a hangout for pirates. In the gallery a side room was dedicated solely to the gold and it was the must-see highlight of the evening. The room was named the Collette Conning Hall in memory of Brian’s valued assistant in the New York. The area had displays of the exquisite Spanish coins and jewelry they’d found, all of which certainly had been buried by pirates. A diorama with thrilling tales of the buccaneers’ exploits entertained the visitors.
The disposition of the bones and ossuary were more challenging. The artifacts obviously couldn’t be divided three ways so attorneys for Brian and Harold were negotiating with the provincial government toward a solution. Brian had offered to donate the half of Oak Island he had purchased from Harold Mulhaney to the government for a national park. Local and provincial officials already were planning a museum surrounding the Money Pit itself. It was sure to be a major tourist draw for this otherwise quiet locale. For now the bones and ossuary remained in the American Museum of Natural History’s sealed chamber for protection.
Since he couldn’t show the ossuary itself Brian did the next best thing – there were videos and slideshows showing the excavation and the discovery. These ran on huge screens hanging from the ceiling along the main showroom walls. Photos of the artifacts also lined the walls. The guests loved the presentation, especially the press who occupied Brian with interviews as much as he’d let them. He gave them time but he had to circulate among his guests – in this crowd were people who frequented the top social scenes of New York, London or Dubai.
Along with the celebrities and clients were two people who had become very close to Brian Sadler – Carissa Borland and Harold Mulhaney. He and Nicole would meet them tomorrow for lunch once things settled down after tonight’s gala event.
This was Nicole’s first appearance in public since her accident. Outwardly she looked as beautiful and poised as she had always been. Inside she was still mending both mentally and physically, but her physician assured Brian she’d be fine for an hour or so. She sat in a chair and greeted dozens of friends she knew through her legal practice and social activities in this metropolitan city. Shelia stood close by and took her home once she began to tire.
The party wrapped up and by eleven Brian was with Nicole. Back at her condo he changed into sweats and met her on the patio for a nightcap. He told her how he’d missed the glittering skyline of downtown Dallas. He sipped Pyrat Rum with a cube of ice; she drank Perrier from a bottle.
“I’m glad we agreed on our future, Brian. I’m so glad you’re willing to be here with me, even if I’m not the person I once was. I promise I’ll try. I’ll try so hard to get back to normal.”
Brian smiled and held her hand. “You’re great, sweetie. If nothing ever changes you’re just perfect right now. I want you just the way you are, and I’ll take care of you.”
There were a number of things that still weren’t right for her. Nicole couldn’t drive – her reaction time was slow and her intuition and concentration were lacking. But she was wealthy – she could hire a driver if she needed. The best news was that her doctors said she’d likely improve over time.
She also wasn’t ready to go back to work. Randall Carter offered to hold a place for her at the law firm indefinitely, but after a long discussion with Brian she decided what would come next. She resigned her high-stress, long-hours job and would eventually open a solo practice. It would be totally opposite from the crazy world of Randall and Carter, but at this point it sounded wonderful. And there was no hurry. She could take her time, get better and spend valuable moments with Brian right here.
He had agreed to relocate to Dallas and move in with Nicole. The gallery here would be the flagship and they would split their time between Texas and London. As he traveled making acquisitions and seeing clients she would be free to go with him. Shelia would travel with them as long as Nicole required assistance. She’d made it clear that was fine with her.
Nicole yawned and stretched. Brian smiled at her. “I know you’re tired, baby. Let’s go to bed.”
She turned out the light and snuggled with him. He reached to the nightstand then turned to her and took her hand in the darkness.
“Oh yeah, something I forgot,” he said as he placed a small box into her palm.
“Will you marry me?”
Table of Contents
The Bones in the Pit
Acknowledgements
Historical Prelude
Part One
Part Two
Brian Sadler Archaeology 04 - The Bones in the Pit Page 27
