“Hold up, did you say the Voynich?”
“Yes, I did. Isabella is a Voynich scholar. Finding the lost pages was a huge break for her, the kind that makes careers.”
“How did she find pages of the Voynich?”
“She was in the ancient Rome archives, archiving a shipment of books. She pulled a book from the box, the quires fell out. An amazing coincidence.”
“Yes,” Mike said, thinking about Ben and Melinda, “that surely is an amazing coincidence. What book were the pages in?”
“Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Surely you understand this is a once-in-a-lifetime discovery.”
“Would Isabella normally be cataloging books?”
“Not normally, no, but this was a priceless collection that came in from a major collector. It needed the utmost care, and she offered. Wait, are you saying you think Isabella planted the quires?”
“Yes, I am.”
Mike’s phone beeped. She glanced at the screen. A text from Gareth.
Big surprise! We have the murder on video. The crime scene crew found a small camera hidden in the kitchen. We guess Gil Brooks was taping the engagement. My tech ran it. Sending screenshot of the suspect now.
A photo scrolled in, an almost perfect profile shot of a man with sandy hair, a beard, and glasses, his black eyes dead in the pixels. Mike felt a punch to the gut looking at the vicious smile on his face. Wait, there was something about the profile that looked familiar to her.
Mike turned the phone around.
“Ms. Powers, do you know who this is?
Mike watched Phyllis pale. “No, it’s not possible. How could it be? I mean, that’s Dr. Laurence Bruce.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
Mike called Gareth Scott i
mmediately.
“The murderer’s name is Dr. Laurence Bruce. I’m putting you on speaker with Phyllis Powers, Dr. Wynn-Jones’s personal assistant. He’s Isabella’s boss. I’m hearing all this for the first time, too. Please, Phyllis. Go ahead.”
“He’s a colleague of Persy, I’m sorry, Dr. Wynn-Jones. He’s a Voynich scholar, always around when discoveries are made. He’s multipublished, well known in the field. He was one of the first calls we received on Tuesday after the announcement. He was in town, as I recall, wonderful timing for him, as he’s based in Rome. He came to see the manuscript and spoke at length with Isabella.”
Gareth said, “Please tell me you have cameras, Ms. Powers.”
“I’m sure security at the museum would be happy to help. Shall I take Agent Caine to them?”
“Yes, and thank you for being such a help. We’ll be in touch. Mike?”
Mike turned off the speakerphone and put her cell to her ear.
“Hey.”
“This is quite a break. Let’s get as much information about this man as possible and figure out where he is. If we can find that, we might have a chance to save Isabella Marin’s life.”
“I’ll get back to you as soon as I have something.”
“Thank you. I’ll get my people working on his Rome connections. Keep me apprised.”
“Will do.” Mike punched off and said to Phyllis, “I need everything you know about Dr. Bruce, especially where he might stay when he’s in London, and we need to get with your security folks and get a visual on him if at all possible.”
“Give me a moment.”