“Well, yes. But…if you hear the message, you’ll understand.”

I wished I’d had time to develop a better rapport with her, but I didn’t know if I’d have another shot at this.

“All right,” she finally said.

I played the message. Abby started when she heard the voice but sat silently as she listened. She looked at me when the message ended, her eyes moist.

“Abby, was that your grandfather?”

She hesitated. “Yes, it was,” she answered quietly.

“The people your grandfather referred to—Sam and Lauren. Those are your father and his cousin?”

Her brow creased. She seemed surprised that I knew their identity. “Yes. So?”

“Do you know what the message means?”

She sat silently.

“Abby, do you know what it means?”

She opened her mouth as if to say something, then hesitated. She stood up, stared at me a moment, then spoke. “Thank you for inviting me to your class, Professor.”

Before I could respond, she turned and walked out the door.

20

I leaned back in my chair and stared at the ceiling. Now what?

I had scared her off. Maybe I should have taken things more slowly. Maybe I should have allowed Abby to get to know me over a longer period. Did my lecture offend her? Did the Q and A? Maybe I should have asked only to interview her, avoiding the classroom experience altogether. Maybe …

I had to admit the truth. I had no way of knowing how best to secure her cooperation. If I were in her shoes, I’m not sure I’d have trusted me, either. One thing was certain. For the moment I could do nothing. Trying to contact her again too soon would almost certainly be counterproductive. I’d have to wait.

I gathered a few items, returned to my house, and lay on the couch. I decided to put my mind on something else—a small mystery that the afternoon’s encounter with Abby had resurrected. “Alistair.”

My Grid interface appeared. “Yes, Creighton.”

“I need a search through your historical database.” I paused for a second. I felt a bit self-conscious asking this—as if my Grid interface would have any reaction. “I need information on people having dreams about Jesus.”

“Records of people dreaming about Jesus extend back to the first century CE. Can you be more specific, Creighton? Are you looking for a specific individual’s dream about Jesus?”

“No, not an individual dream at all. I’m looking for groups of people dreaming about Jesus—decent numbers in a contiguous span of time.”

“There are numerous such instances recorded in history.”

“When’s the most recent?”

“The first two decades of this century.”

“Who reported having such dreams?”

“Self-reports of many individuals from Islamic countries having dreams of Jesus were recorded on the Internet, usually as part of their accounts of converting to Christianity.”

“Weren’t conversions to Christianity illegal in most Muslim countries at that time?”

“That is correct.”