“His purple robes are the color of royalty,” said Jean, “and he wears a crown inscribed with Persian letters.” Nemo squinted at the crown and saw something that looked like modern Arabic. “He has an ‘M’ on his robes and he’s carrying a gift of gold.”

“How do you know it’s a gift?” said Nemo.

“He’s Melchior, the King of Persia—one of the three wise men, the magi who brought gifts to Jesus after he was born. According to tradition, Melchior brought the gift of gold.”

“If he’s an ancient figure associated with gold, it doesn’t seem so strange to find him in an alchemical scroll,” said Nemo.

“Well it is unusual,” said Jean. “I’ve never seen him in a Ripley Scroll and, as I said, he was clearly added later on. If this scroll has some sort of clue about Himmler’s secret, Melchior is that clue.”

“So why did you have me ask for that book about the magi if you already knew who he was—just to get Andrea out of the room?”

“No,” said Jean. “Because there’s something else odd about this Melchior. I could swear I’ve seen him before.”

Ted, Bob, and Franklin stood just behind the police barrier on Döbereinerstrasse, close enough to see the blackened ruins of Ingrid Weiss’s house. Many of the nearby homes already had plywood covering windows that had shattered in last night’s blast.

“Let me try to understand this,” said Ted. “We couldn’t sit together on the plane and you said we couldn’t talk in the taxi, so please explain to me now. If every cop in Europe is looking for her, how exactly are we supposed to find her?”

“Look,” said Bob, “twelve hours ago we didn’t know that we would track her to Munich. So let’s give it some time. We’ve been here twenty minutes.”

“My daughter graduates from high school in three weeks,” said Ted.

“Right,” said Bob, “in three weeks. We have time.”

“What do you think, Franklin?” said Ted.

“I think there’s no way in hell she’s guilty,” said Franklin. “And I doubt they have any real evidence against her, which means even if they find her, they won’t hold her for long.”

“If she’s not guilty then why would this Ingrid Weiss person set her up?” said Bob.

“An excellent question,” said Franklin. “Makes you wonder if this Weiss character might kill Patton Harcourt before we can.”

“What do you mean you’ve seen him before?” said Nemo.

“There’s something familiar about those robes and the awkward way he’s holding the casket of gold. See the elbow—it doesn’t bend quite right, like the artist either used a model who had broken his arm at some point or else just . . . wasn’t good at elbows.”

“You can recognize him because of a funny elbow?”