CHAPTER 43
THE CHURCH OF SAN PIETRO in Vincoli was full of tourists from all over the world who, armed with their cameras, made the statue of Moses uninterruptedly bathed in the glow of thousands of flashbulbs.
— Excuse me — Nicole asked politely of an elderly, overweight Japanese gentleman who was nearly crushing her.
The man then looked at her with an unfriendly face, and muttering, replied something that Nicole did not understand. Upset, the young woman decided to walk away and return to the place where Victoria was, accompanied by Antoine and Gregory Evans, who were watching everything.
— I couldn't get close to the statue — he explained to Nicole.
— No problem — Greg replied.
— Looks like the tour bus is already leaving — the priest noted.
— Yes... — Victoria confirmed, turning to look at a tour guide who, at the door of a bus, was shouting some unintelligible words.
— Wherever you go in the world, you will always find slanted-eyed tourists — completed Greg — after all, they are an extremely wealthy nation and can afford to travel around the world.
— Japan is today one of the greatest economic powers in the world — continued Nicole — This country, defeated in the Second World War, has turned around and today has one of the largest economies in the world, a solid technological park and fantastic profits with investments in the stock exchanges. Tokyo values.
Upset at not being able to approach the statue because of the crowd, Greg now read and reread the riddle. Keeping himself oblivious to the young woman's explanations, but upon hearing her last words, Greg turned to her:
— What did you say?
Nicole is proud to see the detective's sudden interest in her explanation:
— Income from capital has given Japan…
— Not! — Interrupted Greg — you said stock exchange! — Greg then approached Nicole, showing the riddle — look! The third line tells us that:
— The saddlebag is succeeded by the purse!
— As far as I know, the saddlebag was used in antiquity to store documents and money, but nowadays what is the bag used to store and invest money?
— The stock exchange! — Exclaimed the priest euphoric, who noticed a small light:
— Are you implying that the stock market can be…
Nicole interrupted him:
— It's possible that your grandfather kept the Golden Book in the stock exchange!
— As far as I know — completed Gregory Evans — the stock exchanges have custody banks in their facilities for the custody of policies and values to be traded on the day. Is it really possible...
— WELL, THE CUSTODY BANK of the New York Stock Exchange, like any other bank in the world, must have an alphanumeric code, right? Nicole asked as she returned to the hotel suite.
Everyone nodded, and then Nicole continued:
— First we had unraveled the second part of this riddle, arriving at Michelangelo's Moses. However, we are only now discovering the meaning of the first part, that is, the first four sentences with the key words:
World, New, Bag, Taurus...
— Well then, I believe that the first part is the lock and the second the key, that is, that Moses himself is the key to this riddle and not the instrument to decipher it.
— That seems logical — agreed Roman.
— So — Nicole finished — I've been going through the photos of the statue exhaustively, and I haven't found anything exceptional that really caught my attention. Nothing that would lead me to some other riddle posed by my grandfather, except...
— Unless?
— Except for the four numbers at the foot of the statue: 1515, the year of its inauguration when Michelangelo handed it over to form part of a project by Pope Julius II for his tomb. This is where an idea came to me: the alphanumeric coding of the exchange's custody bank could be a combination of the word Moses with the date of its inauguration!
— What are you going to do, Greg?
— We've done our part, Nick, now we're going to ask your mother to test our hypothesis — he said as he dialed Victoria.