Jodi and Brian both looked at him in slight surprise. "Why did you tell me at least?" Thomas looked at her, "You would have kept everything from me and with me being also your cousin, I would feel like an outsider. But no, I will not tell Dagnter." Brian looked at him puzzled, "But I thought as his lawyer…"
"I still don't have to tell every detail to him. I have known the man for 7 years ever since he hired me to go against this man who was wrongfully suing him."
Jodi smiled and kissed his cheek, "Thank you, you have no idea." "Please save it, dear cousin. I am sure there will be more times when you are in this situation." Bret looked down at the box and back at Brian, "You said that you also found musical notes on the lid of the coffin. Were they the same as these?" Brian shook his head, "Doubt it, there were far too many on the lid to really know for sure anyway." Jodi closed the lid, "We're going to the opera house anyway to look for more answers, once most of the tourists are gone." Thomas smirked brightly, "Really, and when exactly will that be?" she smiled but answered seriously, "7pm sharp."
That is exactly what they did. Right at 7pm, they entered the front doors of the opera and went directly to the circular room. When they entered into the hallway, Jodi stopped Brian behind her from going anything further. "What is it?" "Someone is in there already." Jodi answered him. "Is it Dagnter?" he asked looking over her shoulder. "Doubt it. He is completely cloaked." The figure in the small room was covered head to foot in a cloak with the hood over his face. After a brief moment of dead silence, the figure left the room and came through the hallway, brushing past the hidden forms of Jodi and Brian.
"Who the hell could that be? Surely not a staff member or janitor." Brian commented as he watched the stranger leave. Jodi shook her head and went into the room. They found a white lily and rose over his coffin. "It seems he was paying respects to the forgotten ghost." Brian picked it up and saw the stems intertwined, "Symbolism perhaps?" She flipped over the lid and gestured for him to place the flowers off to the side. "Hopefully we can recognize some of these notes from the box Bret found." They examined the lid for 10 minutes, coming up with a blank.
"None of these match." Brian got up and looked around the room, "This room must have some other clue to these notes but…. what else could a room made of concrete could handle?" He asked himself. After a moment of looking around, he came back to his senses, helping Jodi replace the lid. "We shall have to come back tomorrow and uncrack this puzzle." Jodi wiped off her jeans and left the room behind Brian. Suddenly, Bret popped in front of them startling them. "I thought you might need a rubbing." Brian turned around to face him. "Rubbing?"
"Maybe we can make a link to see if its from the same person." Jodi's eyes lit up. "Bret, you're a genius!!" she took the rubbing from Bret and went back into the room, slowly propping the lid down. "What good will that do? We won't know whose it is." Brian said helplessly. "Maybe, but…" Jodi looked for a usable engraving, "but it could get a hint on who did it." She placed the rubbing next to a few of the notes on the lid. Surprisingly, they matched handwriting wise but not note wise. Brian looked at it quite astonished, "But how could…" Brian started to asked. ""Some things are sometimes left confusing."
"Well we are working on why we just know most likely who." Jodi got up and placed the lid back on the coffin. With the help of Brian, they placed it back on the coffin. "I suggest you take us up to where you found that box Bret, and maybe we could find some other clues to these musical notes." Brian patted her back, "Not now though, the first thing tomorrow though." The group left the room and went back to the hotel. All of them were still thinking about the connection of the box and coffin and that one question: what and why?
Early the next morning, Brian had rented a car for them to get to Rouen. Without waking Thomas and Carrie, Bret and Jodi quickly and quietly rushed down the hallway and got into the car. Just before dawn, they were just turning into the side road leading through the forest. "Alright Bret," Jodi said looking around the forest, "Tell us where you found this box." After a ways down, Bret gestured them to stop the car.
They rushed down to the bank and looked through the brush. "Nothing." They both exclaimed. "What is the nearest town from here?" Brian shook his head, "I read up somewhere about a church named Boscherville but I can't…." Jodi went up the steep slope, "Then that is where we shall be. " Bret and Brian followed after her, "Why? That town might not hold any answers." Bret called after her.
"And it might, come on!" Brian sighed and joined Jodi up front while Bret hopped into the back. They drove to Boscherville and found nothing there. They then tried the town nearest to the church and came up with nothing. The group leaned up against the car in exhaustion, "We've tried everything. It seems hopeless to find anything else." Brian said, rubbing his temples. "I am sure no one wanted to let anyone know about this." Jodi shook her head, "There is got to be something that we overlooked, something right in front of us." Brian came off the car and sighed, "Well, let's get going. We can pick up breakfast along the way."
Just as Jodi was going to get into the car, she noticed a sign in the vacant lot behind them. "I can't read it, but I am sure Thomas is up." She took out her cell phone and called him. Bret and Brian leaned up against the car as they waited. "Thomas? Are you fully awake? Your translation talents are needed again…." She told him what the sign said and spelled it out for him to write it down. After a few minutes or so, Jodi hung up and beamed a great smile. "Unholy ground."
"And THAT is suppose to make you happy?" Bret asked astonished. Jodi shook her head, "No, when we were in Boscherville the priest told us that a deformed man lived around here but would not specific where. This must be it." She exclaimed excitingly. Brian took out the shovels and went over to the ground with Jodi and Bret taking them hastily. "Watch for anyone awaking." She said, bend down and starting to dig while Bret dug in another section. After a few cans and rubbish they found, Jodi hit up something unusual.
With the help of Bret, they dug out a rotten binder, the pages inside complete with chicken scratch handwriting but the sketches of a pure genius. They were architectural drawings of every kind. Arches, columns, pillars, buildings, you name it and inside the cover of the binder was more musical notes. Bret took out the rubbing and placed it next to the notes. "Almost as if the notes are…. maturing." He was right. The ones on the rubbing were very identical to the ones on the binder, but the one on the binder was more childlike and less educated.
"This must have been his home." Jodi looked at the ground in pure amazement. "He lived here! The beginning of it all!" They stepped away from the dug up hole, silence. Jodi looked down at the binder and closed it. "We should be going, like Brian said… we can breakfast along the way." They both got up and got into the car. Brian took one look at the expressions on their faces and the binder Jodi was holding, knowing to hold his tongue as he drove them away.