The Boudicca Parchments

Chapter 19

Sam Morgan had stayed in the living room while HaTzadik had gone to answer the door. The voices were raised… agitated. More than that… there was anger. Both men were shouting.

Morgan didn’t have a clue what it was about. He didn’t speak a word of Hebrew — or was it Yiddish? In any case, it was quite frightening, the level of anger that seemed to have been generated between them. He was glad that they were angry with each other and not with him.

Looking down at the manuscript, he tried to blot out their shouting as he contemplated the contents. Of course he couldn’t read it any more than he could understand the spoken language. But he thought about what a great find it was. And how glad he was that Shalom Tikva wanted it so badly. He had told HaTzadik that he was sympathetic to their cause… that he too was opposed to Godless Zionism — albeit from a Christian perspective rather than a Jewish one. But at the same time, he needed to be compensated for his efforts. His work involved risk. And risk entitled him to reward.

The shouting seemed to subside and he thought that Baruch Tikva would soon be leaving. But instead, the door to the living room opened and both Shalom and his son entered the room. And what was more alarming was that they were both looking at him with anger in their eyes. In the case of the older, average-sized Shalom, this was not particularly frightening, despite his narrow, penetrating eyes.

But in the case of Baruch, who was about six foot six tall, it was quite menacing.

It was the father who spoke.

“Why did you lie to me?” he asked.

Morgan tried to hold his gaze, but was momentarily forced to look away. When his eyes again met those of HaTazadik, he was barely able to mumble a pale “what do you mean?”

“Why did you lie to me!”

It started a quietly menacing growl and ended up a monstrous roar of anger.

“About what?”

Morgan was wondering if HaTzadik was starting to question the authenticity of the manuscript. There was surely no reason to. He was quite sure that it was genuine.

“About Daniel Klein! You told me you killed him!”