The Bible had got them to Stratford, Shakespeare’s “alpha” and “omega.” Now, it remained for her to convince them where the “pot of gold” described in the last text—written by Diana herself—would be found. It was just a week ago, she explained to them, when she had been researching the background to Shakespeare’s poem, Venus and Adonis, on the Web, that she had first found mention of what she believed in her heart must be of major significance. On the professor’s expensive notebook, she asked him to enter the relevant data, and they watched together as the images loaded: a magnificent contemporary painting of Shakespeare’s published work—the only one in existence, a “national treasure” according to one enthusiastic source. Uncovered almost by accident as some paneling was stripped to mend an old wall, the narrative mural had only recently seen daylight again for the first time in centuries. What secrets did it conceal about the original purpose of the room? What rituals had it watched over, and why had such an image been painted on the ordinary wall of an unassuming inn in the first place? The data indicated that it seemed to date to the year 1600: so close to Giordano Bruno’s death. When she and Alex discussed the possibility that it might be involved in their quest, he had thought it apt that the shrine of England’s first martyr could launch the Rapture for the professor’s followers. “Why not?” he’d shrugged. And though she kept this dry comment from them now, she fully enthused the two men at her side with her narrative, and her suggestion of the old White Hart Inn at St. Albans, of a room of long-ago predictions, and of a revelation to come.

So now Lucy used her own cell phone and made the necessary call, to arrange getting some keys for the unused part of the building tonight. “It must be tonight,” she insisted.

“And the alpha-omega clue?” Guy Temple asked her.

“I imagine the White Hart is the place where they first formed the idea for this quest, and thus, where it will end.” Lucy had a confidence about her that was compelling.