Destiny

FOUR

Jacob Kogen stepped back from the whiteboard, capped the marker in his hand and stared at the equation. At age sixty-eight, he was recognized throughout Israel as brilliant, the most dynamic mathematician in the nation. Students from around the world, those with a deep interest in engineering, science, space travel, and physics, took his classes. Today, he worked on a problem no one, not any of his colleagues at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, had been able to solve.

He looked down at the handwritten notes drafted meticulously almost three centuries years earlier. “What were you trying to say, Mr. Newton?” he mumbled, his tired eyes rising back to the long equation across two thirds of the board. Jacob’s pale, narrow face reflected deep thought, a suggestion of internal quandary swirling in a mind wired to solve problems. His brown corduroy jacket hung from his lean frame, white hair uncombed beneath the kippah he wore on the back of his head. His eyes were the blue shade of swimming pool water, white eyebrows wild and tangled as barbed wire.

The phone on his desk buzzed. “Yes,” he said, picking up the phone without taking his eyes off the whiteboard.

“Dr. Kogen,” said the receptionist, “I know you asked not to be disturbed, but I have a call from Paris. The woman’s name is Gisele Fournier.”

“Did she say what she wants?”

“She says she has a gift for the university library. Shall I put her through, sir?”

“Yes.” Jacob lowered his eyes from the whiteboard, answering the call.

“Professor Kogen,” the voice had a slight French accent. “My name is Gisele Fournier. My grandfather, Philippe Fournier, attended a Sotheby’s auction in London. I think it was in 1936. He purchased some papers from the estate of Sir Isaac Newton.”

Jacob felt his pulse kick, the phone now warm in his moist hand. He gripped tighter. “Yes, yes — what do you have?”

“I’m not sure, really. My grandfather died. Before his death, though, he asked that we donate the papers to your university library because he read how you were searching for some clues possibly from the Bible, yes?”

“Correct. For years we have been researching the Newton papers we received from the Yahuda collection. We knew some were missing from the Sotheby’s auction in 1936. Maybe these are the lost Newton papers.”

“Perhaps you would find interest in adding these to your collection.”

“Oh yes, indeed, thank you. This is most generous of you. Perhaps the papers you have in your possession will give us some of the answers we have been seeking to find. Is there a cost associated with the acquisition?”

“It is a donation — a gift. I will send them to you.”

“Thank you, Miss Fournier. You are most generous.”

“Professor?”

“Yes?”

“My grandfather was a religious man, a good man. He dealt in antiquities and art sales. He believed he had purchased something very extraordinary…so extraordinary that he did not wish to sell it or even let others know it was in his possession.”

“I see. Did he offer any clues?”

“He read his Bible trying to learn what it was. He thought Isaac Newton had discovered something that he, Newton, took to his grave. As a little girl, I remember being at my grandparent’s house one summer night. My grandfather, after consuming a bottle of wine, was going to destroy the papers. He finally sealed the boxes and placed them in the attic. If you find something in these papers, something that has meaning, please tell me, and I will share it with my grandfather in my prayers.”

“Of course. Miss Fournier, I will give you our shipping number. Can you send these overnight? Perhaps these papers are the missing puzzle pieces.”