Solomon's Throne

by Jennings Wright

  After lunch they followed Mrs. Pandey’s directions and walked to a small tailoring shop on a quiet mixed street of residences and shops. When they walked in it was apparent that the innkeeper had called ahead, because they were expected, and didn’t have to explain what they wanted.

  Thirty minutes later they all walked out dressed in local garb, the men in white linen sherwani and pants called churidars. Mac had a simple boxy white hat on his brown hair and new large lens sunglasses. Gideon had a turban covering his blonde hair. Rei had on a colorful top called a kameez, churidars, and a yellow scarf called a dupatta, which she could pull over her head. She too had large sunglasses covering her face, and had put her hair in a tight bun.

  “I kind of like this,” Rei said, looking down at herself. “I have pants on, so I can run if I need to. And everything else is so loose I could eat a huge meal and not have to unbutton my pants!”

  The men laughed, and the three walked back to the house. Mrs. Pandey greeted them with a grin, and complimented them on looking like natives.

  “It’s as close as we’re gonna get, anyway!” said Gideon.

  They left Panaji and followed Mrs. Pandey’s directions to Old Goa. They had decided to try the Chapel of Saint Francis Xavier first, as it was the smaller of the two churches affiliated with the Jesuits. Located through the gates of St. Paul’s college, down a lonely road, on the bank of the Mandovi River, it was a large brick structure, rather imposing for something called a chapel.

  They went into the cool, dark interior and got their bearings. There was one altar. The rafters were exposed wood. The three stopped in the rear to read the information about the chapel.

  “Damn!” Rei swore, then clapped a hand over her mouth.

  “What?” Gideon asked.

  “I didn’t find this online. The original chapel fell to ruins. This building was built in 1884!”

  “Crap. So if he did hide it here, it’s long gone or destroyed, or buried under all this brick.” He waved his hand around the interior.

  “Yep. There’s nothing to find here.”

  The three left the church, dispirited.

  Outside on the steps Rei said, “Ok, so do we try the Born Jesus place today? Or head there first thing in the morning?”

  “Let’s go today,” Mac said. “We can at least get the lay of the land, come up with an action plan.”

  They agreed that this made sense, and trudged to the car. They asked the guard at the gate of Saint Paul’s College how to get to the Basilica of Born Jesus, and wrote down his rather rambling directions, which were punctuated with landmarks and vague hand gestures to the left and right.

  “I think we’ll have to ask along the way,” Gideon grumbled as he powered up the window.

  As it happened, the man’s directions were impeccable, and before long they were parked in front of the west facing facade of the Doric inspired church. There were brick buttresses along the sides, and a row of round windows on the third story. The roof was lined with a balustrade.

  They got out and entered under the large arched doorway. The interior was bright, and the walls painted white except for at the back, where the altar was. There, the wood carvings were ornate, with angels and columns, a huge sun and an ascending Jesus. The ceiling overhead was white and spectacularly arched. The building was obviously not a museum, but an operating church.

  “We need to find the relics of Saint Francis Xavier. This floor is marble—there’s no way anything is hidden underneath it. Or at least nothing we’ll get a chance to dig out. And there are no carvings on these side walls, just up at the altar. I can’t see us getting a shot at the altar… But probably Father Eduardo couldn’t either.” Rei started walking into the huge structure.

  They came to the crypt of the saint, and stared at the elaborate mausoleum.

  “This mausoleum wasn’t here in Father Eduardo’s day. But Saint Francis was in that silver tomb. And that cross and those angels were on top of it,” Rei said.

  “But this whole thing is marble!” Gideon said. “If they did that after Father Eduardo’s day, they covered up anything he might have done.”

  Rei just nodded. When she was doing the online research, it had seemed possible that something could have been hidden and survived here. And it probably was possible in the rest of the church. But not in the mausoleum, which was a hugely elaborate and highly decorated mass of marble.

  “So it can’t be in here, unless it’s in the silver coffin. A, I don’t think Father Eduardo would desecrate a saint’s casket, and B, it would have been found before now if it was in there. So it’s got to be the main altar, or the other altar over there.” She pointed to a chapel off the main knave.

  They walked across to the small altar, noticing that there were several people quietly praying, and an elderly woman dusting in the main altar. Rei pulled her scarf over her head, as she noticed the other women had done. They studied the smaller chapel altar.

  “This is a possibility, although I don’t see any Xs at the moment. If he hid it here, it would have to be hidden in something besides the floor. Marble.” Rei tapped her foot. “I don’t see us getting up there any time soon.” They all watched the cleaning lady at the main altar morosely.

  They were turned towards the altar when light shined in from the main door, which opened and closed quickly. Rei glanced over her shoulder, more out of nosiness than concern, but drew in a deep breath.

  “It’s one of them!” she whispered. “Don’t turn around! From the back we look like Indians.”

  They could hear footsteps going up the center aisle of the knave, casual, not hurried. The man had probably checked the church every day for a week, and had perhaps decided that they weren’t going to show up on his watch. He walked to the mausoleum and looked inside, and while he was turned to the left side of the church, the three turned from the small chapel on the right and walked as casually as they could down the side aisle of the church and out the door. They were careful to keep backs to the man, and not show their Caucasian faces or hands.

  As soon as they got outside they jogged to the SUV. Mac quickly started the vehicle and drove down the street the way they were facing. He had no idea where that road would lead, except away from the man in black.

  They finally made it back to the guest house after following more rambling directions from a man at a petrol station. They changed into their western clothes and sat in the garden.

  “That sucked.” Mac said.

  “Yep,” Gideon said.

  “Well, we ruled out one, anyway. And confirmed they’re here looking for us,” Rei said.

  “And we saw another place where it would be almost impossible to find a clue.” Gideon countered.

  “I’ve been thinking…” Rei said, “and I agree, Born Jesus is not going to be easy. And they’re watching it. We don’t know how many brothers this group has, so they might be watching all of the churches. But don’t you think it’s more likely that they’re watching on a rotation, not sending one guy per place? I mean, that monk that came in wasn’t there when we got there.”

  “He might have taken a potty break,” Mac said.

  “True. We can’t know, I guess. But it would be suspicious for these guys to spend all day every day in a church, wouldn’t it? Anyway, why don’t we move Born Jesus down the list? We know there’s only two places inside it could be. I didn’t see any place outside, did either of you?” Rei asked.

  “I wasn’t really looking, but nothing jumped out at me. There were some carvings, but mostly high up, not down at…well, graffiti level.” Gideon said.

  “Right. So we know where it is, and we know they’re watching it. We were there at what, 3:30? So if they’re doing a route, checking several on a rotation, maybe they do it at the same time every day. Maybe once in the morning and once in the afternoon.”

  “That’s possible,” said Mac. “If we can learn the route we’d know when to be somewhere else.”

  “Yeah, but we don’t want to
waste time tailing that guy when we need to find the letter.” Gideon countered.

  Rei nodded. “So let’s just go to the next one on the list. The tongue twister—The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. The name alone could make it ‘the great church!’”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception was not in Old Goa, but was in the city of Panjim, just a few kilometers away. It was located at the end of a residential street, on the town square. A big blue statue of the Virgin Mary with a huge halo looked benignly out over the neighborhood. Under her was a blue iron lectern that could be used for addressing an outdoor congregation. There were old brick steps leading up to an elaborate whitewashed stairway, with zig zag portions leading up to the white church building. A great silver bell hung in a bell tower, a smaller bell to its left, and a cross sat high up at the top.

  “This looks promising,” Gideon said.

  “And not crowded,” Mac said.

  They started up the steps. They zigzagged their way to the arched front door, and went inside. The two story knave wasn’t well lit, although it had a row of windows running along the second story. The floor was stone, and the altar was an elaborate Renaissance style. There was no one inside, but candles were burning.

  “Looks good so far!” Rei said.

  They walked along the sides of the church, looking for any markings, but finding none. They stood in front of the main altar, which was below an elaborately carved wall. Two smaller altars stood on either side, and there were statues of Jesus and the Virgin next to them. Rei noticed three other marble statues, and went to investigate.

  “Hey! Over here!” she called excitedly. “Look!” She pointed to the small plate describing one of the statues. Gideon leaned down to read it.

  “Saint Francis Xavier!” he exclaimed. “Who are these other guys?”

  Mac read the inscriptions. “Peter and Paul. Saint Francis was in good company!”

  “Hurry, look around! With Saint Francis Xavier here, I think this church is a good possibility,” Rei said.

  They all took different sections of the altar and began combing the walls, floors, statues, and carvings. Rei was down on her hands and knees looking in front of the statues of Jesus and Mary when she heard Mac grunt in satisfaction.

  “Here! I haven’t seen the other Xs, so I might be wrong. But I’ve got something over here!” he said.

  Gideon and Rei had run over to join him when they heard the vestry door open, and a young priest came into the sanctuary. He was startled to see them and stopped short, then smiled a welcome.

  “Shubhodaya,” he said.

  “Hello,” Rei said in English. “English?”

  He nodded his head. “You are visitor?” he asked, gesturing up and down to indicate their clothes.

  Rei laughed. “Yes, visitors. We came to see your lovely church.”

  “Yes, much lovely! You wish to have a tour?” he asked.

  “Oh no, we’re just looking around. Thank you. Is it all right if we explore for awhile?”

  He paused as he translated this in his head, then nodded assent. “You look. I have come for the candles. It is all fine.” He gave a small bow, used a candle snuffer on the small stubs of candle that had still been burning, and removed them from their holders.

  Once the priest had gone back through the vestry door, the three knelt down at the statue of Saint Francis Xavier. Mac pointed to a carved X on the base of the statue, on the rear near the wall.

  “That’s it! That’s Father Eduardo’s mark!” Rei exclaimed.

  “So what’s it pointing to?” Gideon asked. “We’ve got a marble statue, and a stone floor.”

  “And what if they’ve moved this statue in the last four hundred years?” asked Mac.

  Rei sat back on her heels and looked around. “Let’s think this through. Every other X has been above the letter. Some have been buried, some in a hiding place…” She felt around the statue’s base. “There’s nothing on the statue itself. A hidden compartment would have been nice. So it’s got to be the floor.”

  Gideon looked at the floor around them. “It looks original. These stones are smooth and worn, and don’t look at all modern era.” He began tapping on the stones around the back base of the statue with his chisel. Tap tap tap.

  “Stop!” Mac hissed. “That priest is going to hear that and come back! Look, the stones are set pretty tightly together, but it looks like there’s no mortar or anything actually cementing them. None of them seem loose.” He looked at the corner where the wall met the floor a foot behind the statue. “But if we can lift the stones out one by one…”

  He shifted to the corner where the stones butted up to the wall, and used Gideon’s chisel to pry up the stone that was directly in line with the X. It was thicker than he’d expected, and much rougher on the underside. It was sitting on dark, dry dirt. He handed the stone to Gideon, who put it face down on the floor. Working his way towards the base, he slowly pulled up the next stone. He had sweat running down his face, and Rei had started to rock back and forth on her heels.

  “Hurry it up!” Gideon whispered. “That priest is going to bring new candles any minute!”

  Mac clenched his teeth, and kept working patiently, careful not to drop the stone when he handed it to Gideon. He had begun to lift out the stone directly under the X when they heard the vestry door open again. Rei and Gideon stood up and feigned interest in the statue of Saint Paul, effectively blocking the short pile of stones on the floor as Mac pressed back into the wall. If the priest came out of the sanctuary, they would be found out.

  Rei moved over to the altar rail and looked up at the elaborate carvings. The young man smiled when he saw her still there, and refilled all the candle holders. He began to putter around the sanctuary, apparently preparing for a mass. Gideon and Mac stayed by the statuary, trying to remain out of sight.

  “Excuse me, Father…” Rei said. The priest turned to her. “Do you have any literature on this altar and the carvings? A book perhaps? It’s quite amazing! The pamphlet in the back isn’t very detailed.”

  “Ah yes, I do have a few things. This church is very old, no? We have some old letters, a few books. But they are in my private quarters.”

  “Oh, I would love to see them!” Rei said enthusiastically. “I am an art history buff, and I am just so impressed by this work…” She smiled.

  The priest was torn for a minute, but after glancing at his watch, nodded. “Certainly. I will get them for you, but you must read them here. We do not loan out our historical materials, as they are irreplaceable. You will wait?”

  “That’s really great of you, Father. Thank you so much!”

  The priest left again, and Rei hurried back to the men. “Hurry! I don’t know where the parsonage or wherever he lives is, but it can’t be too far.”

  Mac lifted the last stone. There, in a ten-inch deep hole, was a leather pouch. He lifted it and handed it to Rei, and as she opened it, he began to replace the stones.

  “It’s a letter!” she whispered. “We’ve got the last one!” She unzipped her backpack and put the pouch into it.

  Gideon and Mac hastily replaced the stones, made sure they weren’t loose, and all three left the building. Rei looked back, feeling a little bad for lying to a priest, but she said a quick prayer for forgiveness and followed Gideon out the door.

  They gathered in the Quinns’ bedroom at the guest house to open the letter. Rei would have to translate it, but Gideon and Mac were hoping there was also a map of some kind that they could start trying to match up to modern maps of Goa. While it was one of the smaller Indian states, the population had moved steadily inland from the coast and from Old Goa. However, when Rei pulled the vellum scroll out of the tube, there was only one sheet, containing a letter.

  “Damn,” said Gideon. “Nothing so simple as a map…”

  “A map might not have helped much anyway. Mapping coastlines was one thing, but inland maps fr
om the 1600s are notoriously wrong. I’ll figure out what it says—he said there would be instructions, so we have to trust that we can still follow them after all this time. Y’all go get some tea or something—you’re making me nervous,” Rei said.

  She set to work with her battered notebook, and finished quickly. She reread it, and shook her head a bit. The man certainly had a flair for mystery. Of course, a lot of things had changed since he wrote the letter, and it would be up to them once again to decipher what might have been a commonly known location in his day. She closed the notebook and went in search of Gideon.

  The men were sitting on the veranda, a laden tea tray on the table before them. Mrs. Pandey had brought them a true British tea, with scones, cream, and cookies, along with hot tea, sugar and milk. Rei sat down and helped herself to a cup and plate.

  “So?” asked Gideon.

  “I’ve got it. I don’t know what “it” is, but I’ve got it written down. We’ll just have to do what we’ve been doing, and decipher the name.”

  “Well, let’s hear it…” Gideon said.

  My dear son,

  You have arrived in Goa, and seen what a lovely city and countryside I have lived in for these last years. I continue to pray that you have not arrived with the great rains, as you will not be able to complete your journey until they have subsided for the season. But I am sure that, if this is so, you can take your ease with the society here, and enjoy the many delicacies and forms of culture that our Eastern capital city can provide.