SEPHY WAS IN THE SHOWER, so Antonia took the opportunity to sit at her desk in her office to copy down several phrases inscribed on the crypt walls, which she had seen thanks to Gregory Evans's detailed sketches. They were in Latin, something very typical of the time, but their meaning didn't seem coherent. On the contrary, they were very ambiguous and also unsettling. One could say they were part of an initial divination, as the ancient alchemists did. She copied the first three phrases:
— Hic est lapis, qui reprobatus est a vobis aedificantibus, qui factus est in caput anguli... Delictum oris eorum, sermonem labiorum ipsorum: et comprehendantur in supervia sua... Existimabant ut cognoscerem hoc, labor est ante me, donec intrem in Sanctuarium Dei.
He wrote the translation below:
"This is the stone you rejected when building, which has become the cornerstone... By the crime of your mouth and the words of your lips, you are victims of your own pride... Reflect to penetrate this mystery: but the difficulty was great for me, until I entered the Sanctuary of God."
Then he did the same with the other two new sentences:
"Sanctum et terribilie nomen ejus, initium sapientiae Timor Domini... In excelso throno vidi sedere virum."
Which corresponds to:
— Holy and awesome is His Name; the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom... I saw a man sitting on the high throne. —
He reviewed what he had written, trying to find meaning in the words. He would need a copy of the draft if he wanted to compare the various phrases with the companions' markings, the astronomical glyphs, and the geometric figures. The latter were numerous and contradictory. On the one hand, there were triangles within circles, which in turn ended in perfect squares. Then there were circles joined together to form a chain, pentagons with crosses within them, and right-angled triangles that sometimes overlapped, forming the Star of David. He studied this last symbol, the symbol of reintegration, known in India as the Shîyantra. The upward-pointing angle represented the primordial heavens, and the opposite direction symbolized chaos, the earthly hell.
The opposing principles were equal in the center, where the eye of God could be seen. And even though they were only sketches she had time to sketch, she was certain that by seeing the images again and analyzing them one by one, in depth, she would be able to obtain new data to compare with what she already had.
AT THAT MOMENT, the cell phone on his desk ringed. He answered it immediately.
— Yes?
— Sorry if I woke you, but it's important. — Gregory Evans sounded agitated.
— Don't worry, we haven't gone to bed yet — he said. — Sephy's taking a shower, and I was just making some notes on your sketch. Tell me... what's going on? —
— Here's a riddle: — If you wish to know the truth, you must first find the key to the secret of our store, which is carefully hidden inside an ivory box covered in hair. — Do you know the answer?
— Is this a joke? — she replied, perplexed, not understanding anything he was saying.
There were a few seconds of uncomfortable silence.
— You might be right... — the detective reasoned. — It's too late to fight talent. Good night, Antonia. Sleep well.
Before she could say anything, he hung up without giving any further explanation.
The cryptographer didn't know what to think. Gregory Evans had either lost his mind or was hiding something truly transcendental.