“What do you mean?” Liam asked her.
“Well!” Jaden said, leaning closer. “I found the exact reliquary. I’ll show you!” She opened the book. There was a painting done by an obscure artist from the time period. It showed a man in a monk’s robe holding what looked to be the same reliquary.
“So it is that old?” Kelsey said, puzzled.
“The reliquary first held a fragment of a charred piece of bone obtained after Joan of Arc’s death. The little gold ball that held the saint’s relic inside the box was designed by the monk in the picture, Brother Antoine. He also designed the little casket, or box, that holds the gold ball.”
“So, it was considered an especially holy item,” Kelsey said. “If my grandfather had such an object, I honestly believe he would have wanted to return it to the Catholic Church.”
“Maybe. There’s more to the story, which perhaps Cutter Merlin knew—and then again, maybe he didn’t,” Ted said, nodding sagely.
“Was such a relic supposed to ward off evil?” Liam asked.
“Joan of Arc became an incredibly honored saint, so of course,” Jaden said. “She was a victim of betrayal after serving king and country, and it was said that the fires for her burning were set before sentence was pronounced on her. She recanted her pleas, but in the end was true to herself, her God and her voices. In the fire, she was heard to call out to Jesus many times, and those in the crowd were brought to pity. It was in the market place in Rouen, and when she was dead it was recorded that her ashes were spread in the Seine. Naturally, there were holy men and women who sought a piece of such a famous or infamous woman—there were many such beliefs. The severed fingers of dead men were believed to hold different magical properties depending on whether the deceased had been a murderer, a thief—or a saint. Any relic with an historical claim to holding so much as an ash from Joan of Arc would be highly esteemed.”
“That’s why Cutter was holding it, surely,” Avery told Kelsey. He patted her hand.
Kelsey was staring at Jaden, and Jaden looked as if she were about to burst. But she held silent as a waitress came to take their drink order and ask about appetizers.
Kelsey looked at them all and then at the waitress, asking if they could give her the entire order. It was obvious Kelsey was trying to be polite but was far too anxious for many interruptions.
Their puzzled waitress agreed and discreetly moved on.
“Jaden, spit it out!” Kelsey begged. “What else are you trying to say? Cutter was using it in some kind of a spell against evil? That’s why he held the book, too, In Defense from Dark Magic?”
“We need the next book,” Jaden said. She reached into her bag and pulled out another. It was titled Nazi Treasures Secreted from Germany.
“Okay, so the Nazis stole the relic from the monks?” Kelsey asked.
Jaden nodded. “The relic was at a church in Rouen, in the center of the altar. It was taken—not for holy purposes, but for the gold. The relic was secondary—the gold was what they valued.”
Kelsey sat back, puzzled. “I’m lost. Cutter was sitting in the house, the book, the relic and a shotgun on his lap. We’re assuming he was frightened by something or someone. But if the person who had frightened him so badly was there, wouldn’t he have taken the relic?”
“If there was someone there, he might have tried to take the relic,” Jaden said.
Liam spoke up. “All right, wait. He was dead quite a while before I found him. If someone had been there to steal the relic, that person had plenty of time to take it.”
“Yes. But you haven’t heard the rest.” She flipped open the second book. “Herr Hubert Eichorn. She pointed to the picture of a man in a distinguished pose before a fireplace. “He was never in the German military. He was a ‘consultant.’ He was a consultant on how to most quickly and efficiently kill people—he was a chemist. He had left the bunker long before Hitler’s last days, and he knew he had to get out of Germany. He left the country disguised as a priest—carrying the reliquary.”
“All right, so that’s how it left Germany,” Kelsey said. “I’m still—”
“Ahem!” Jaden said. “Here!” She flipped a page in the book. They saw a picture of a brilliant-cut but unset diamond. It was an old picture, and the caption beneath it announced that it had been taken in 1942. “The reliquary is worth ten to twenty thousand dollars. This diamond—called the Koln diamond, a gift from a prince to his princess at the time of Joan’s death, is worth a million or more.”
“They make diamonds worth that much?” Avery said.
“Perfect clarity, perfect hue…nearly ten carats. A size that fit perfectly into the reliquary,” Jaden said.
Kelsey sat back, staring at her. “Jaden, you’re telling me that this diamond was in the casket?”
Jaden shook her head. “That’s the point. The diamond isn’t in this reliquary.”
“So it was taken?” Liam asked.