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were used by members of ODESSA to finance their escape through the Vatican ratlines.”
    â€œSo nobody really knows how much of the art is still there?” Lazarus asked.
    â€œNo,” Peck answered, shaking his head. He fished around his waistcoat pocket and brought out a darkened, gnarled briar pipe and a kitchen match. He lit the match and held it over the bowl of the pipe, sucking until it began producing clouds of aromatic smoke. He turned to Holliday. “Now, you said you had a question?”
    â€œWhat can you tell me about a Templar Knight named Sir Martin Fitzwilliam?” Holliday asked.
    â€œSir Martin Fitzwilliam. Fitzwilliam was a monk of the Abbey of Saint Andrew. All we know of him is that he vanished sometime shortly after the taking of Jerusalem in 1199. He is notable for refusing to take part in the massacre that followed the siege and was last seen heading into the desert alone. According to Roland de Vaux, Fitzwilliam’s family sigil—a single lion rampant below a Templar Cross—was found scratched onto a staircase in the ruins of the scriptorium at Khirbet Qumran.”
    â€œWho is Roland de Vaux?” Lazarus asked.
    â€œYou mean, who
was
he,” said Holliday. “From the early twenties onward he was head of theJerusalem Archaeology Institute. He was also the first man to dig for the Dead Sea Scrolls.”
    â€œHe had a theory, I believe,” said Peck.
    â€œYes,” said Holliday. “De Vaux surmised that, instead of heading east, Fitzwilliam returned to France and gave a scroll to Bernard of Clairvaux, who was a student of languages and knew the scroll for what it was. He gifted the scroll to the Vatican and Pope Innocent III, and it hasn’t been seen since.”
    â€œWhat was in the scroll?” Lazarus asked.
    â€œSupposedly it was the Gospel according to Christ himself and described his travels in the East. Apparently the ‘East’ included India, Tibet and China.”
    â€œSuch a document would be heresy. It would belie the whole story of the Resurrection. It would destroy the very foundation of Christianity,” Peck said, tamping his pipe with a nicotine-stained thumb.
    â€œI don’t see what this Fitzwilliam fellow and a train load of looted Nazi art have to do with each other,” said Lazarus.
    â€œI’ll tell you,” said Peck. “The actual Vatican Bank wasn’t organized until 1942 by Pope Pius XII. Prior to that, all Vatican real wealth—bullion, art, gemstones and monetary offerings of all kinds—were held by the Administration of thePatrimony of the Apostolic See, which managed the funds remaining at the disposal of the Pope. In other words, the private funds used to run the Vatican itself. All of this was kept in the Vatican Administration Building, which is where the trucks from Huff’s train were unloaded.”
    â€œNardi said the trucks off-loaded through the side entrance of the administration building’s southern wing. Why would they have unloaded there?” Holliday asked.
    â€œCome with me and I’ll show you,” said Peck.
    The old man led them up the circular staircase to the second floor, where instead of bookshelves lining the walls there were old-fashioned wooden print drawers. Peck went to one drawer, withdrew several drawings and took them to the large metal-and-glass light table that dominated the center of the room. He chose two from the sheaf of drawings and laid them out flat. It showed a profile view of the Vatican Administration Building. The center section was five stories tall and topped by a small dome. The south and north wings were four stories tall and plain. There was a park in front of the building and an ornate circular driveway, while at the rear of the building was Saint Anne’s Chapel. Peck withdrew the first drawing and put down the second. This showed a main floor plan for the south end of thebuilding. There was a short hall