“I know. It’s not on the line, either.” Jackson ran a hand though his shaggy hair. “I realise that Belial’s agents could be anywhere, but the statues, I think, are part of something else.”
“The root of everything,” Maggie said, understanding his thinking.
“Yes. If we trace that line back, we hit Corsica. I thought it was Sardinia at first, but the line was wrong. Then we hit Algeria, Mauritania, and Senegal. I don’t think we should focus there.”
“Why not?”
“It feels wrong.”
Maggie snorted. “Feels wrong? We need facts, not feelings.”
“What can I say? I have a hunch. I think this is a European thing.” He jabbed at Corsica. “I’d like to look there more closely.”
“Why?”
“The description of the buildings that Barak saw makes it sound Mediterranean. It’s French, but used to be Italian, and we have a lot of Italian links in this story.”
Maggie patted his arm. “We work with what we have, and we don’t make too many assumptions. We can’t make our hunches fit facts that aren’t there. That’s one way to ruin any good investigation. It’s called unconscious bias. You cast your net wide with Black Cronos. That’s why you had success. We should do the same here.”
Jackson gave her a wry smile. “Since when did you become so wise?”
“I always have been. Cheeky shit. Now, tell me about Corsica.”
“Well, it’s a French island…”
“Something I don’t know.”
“If you’d stop interrupting! It’s the fourth largest Mediterranean island, and it has a long history of human habitation, the most notable being the Carthaginians and the Greeks. There’s lots of prehistoric monuments there. The Etruscans were there for a while, and then the Romans took over.”
“Wow. You have done your homework.”
“The important thing is that there are old cities there. Maybe that’s what Barak saw.”
“Maybe. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What about later years?”
“The Vandals and then the Byzantine Empire ruled. Then it became the Kingdom of the Lombards.”
Maggie sighed as she settled into a chair. Jackson had become far too caught up in research and had lost track of his goals. “Let’s focus on what we know, Jackson. Belial might be as old as the hills, and his jewels, but his agents are a more recent thing. At least as in the last few hundred years. That means we focus on closer timeframes. The church in Florence may have been a few hundred years old—”
“The temple underneath it, too, don’t forget! The Nephilim said it was carved from rock.”
“Yes, I know, but it could have been used for other things years ago and they repurposed it. The trap could have been added later, too. Amato’s country house is also modern. Have you got a date?”
Jackson’s face scrunched up as he considered her question. “No, but Harlan would know. I think three or four hundred years old, max.”
“And again, whoever owned it could have been recruited at any point. Maybe even a hundred or so years ago.”
Jackson smiled at her. “We focus on the last couple of hundred years, then.”
“We consider it. No unconscious bias, remember. We also have to consider the relic that started this off, the one Olivia found. That’s been around for hundreds of years too, but again, from the research that she did just to find it, she believes that the jewels were added only in the last hundred or so years. Why they picked that reliquary is still a mystery, but I guess that’s something else we should add to the list.” Maggie liked talking things through. It helped her thought processes. The more she talked, the more clarity she gained. She nodded at Jackson. “Yes. Let’s focus on the last couple of hundred years. We won’t exclude anything, but the facts are pointing in that direction. What might have happened a couple of hundred or so years ago to precipitate this?”
“Someone opened a portal and a Nephilim came through, if our discussion last night was correct.”
“Perhaps. Why was there such a big hoard of jewels in the temple under the church?” Jackson just stared at her, puzzled. “I mean, why not spread that around, too? If the jewels are so destructive, why keep them there?”
“Maybe they hadn’t found places for them.”
“Perhaps. Or maybe they liked the collection of power there.”
Jackson huffed. “Stop suggesting more things! This isn’t helping!”
“It is. We must look at all angles.” Her thoughts returned to their earlier conversation. “You say Romola gave Gabe a list of Lamberti family members?”
“Yes, and a list of a few other properties. Like Amato’s place.”
“Which we know was only passed to him twenty years ago.”
“Yes.”
“The names that Romola identified. Any of them on our list from the spell?”
“No.”
“But that family is clearly involved. Or was. We know they were a couple of hundred years ago.”
Jackson grinned for the first time in hours. “The alchemist. The one JD said went to the house about the jewel ‘with strange properties.’ That information is why we sent Gabe there now.”
Maggie returned his grin. “Exactly! Now that’s something tangible! Let’s look at the dates in that diary.” She stood abruptly, seized with conviction and the need to act.
