A. I. Evolution: The Coming of Christopher

Chapter 55

Smit follows the runner through the throng of people to the side of the square and passes between two of the columns that surround the famous meeting area, to a service door that leads out into the rest of Vatican City. The small square is only the next block over. The smell of smoke and the flashing of the lights from the fire truck, are a clear indication of where the fire was.

Rafael Donatello, Val's second in command, is talking to a group of people over to the side of the fire truck. Smit continues over to his side, as Rafael writes down what he has been told by the onlookers to the event. Smit glances at the people being questioned and recognizes a few of them as being regular residents of Vatican City. "What do we have, Rafael?"

"Well, an Asian man had requested permission to put up an artistic display here in the square about three weeks ago, based on the Evolution of man's ability to work with wood. He got the permission to construct his masterpiece from the public works department. He started on Friday and worked day and night, building his sculpture of wood from rough logs to a finely constructed royal armchair, which was perched on top of the pyramid-like assemblage of wood. Then, when the Pope started his talk from the window, these people over here who were heading for the Square, saw him climb up on top of the pile and sit down in the chair. By all accounts, he simply lit a match and threw it out in front of him, lighting the bottom logs that were covered in oil. The fire flared up quickly, engulfing him as he sat in the chair. After he threw the match, there would have been no chance of saving him. The witnesses all said, he smiled as the fire burned his clothes and then his very flesh. By the time the fire department got here, there was nothing left but the charred bones of the man."

Smit looks to the pile of still smoldering wood, all that is left after the hundreds of gallons of water that must have been poured on it to put it out. "Do we know who the man was at least?"

"Yes, his name was Wong Fung."

Smit whips his head back to face him. "That was Saint Christopher's companion. What the heck is going on here, this does not make any sense."

Smit stares at the pile of half burnt wood and the firemen gently removing the blackened remains of Mr. Fung. Rafael speaks up. "Well, he couldn't have done it. The witnesses put him in the middle of a roaring fire at the time the shot was fired."

Smit shakes his head, as he thinks to himself. "Well, that is one suspect accounted for." He turns back to Rafael. "Keep me informed if you come up with anything else. This case is getting stranger by the moment, and it will probably take very small details to give us a clue as to who did it and why," adds Smit, as he turns back to the Square, heading for the building where the shot came from.

The main entrance is being guarded by two of the Swiss Guard, and he nods to them as he swiftly enters the lobby of the building. He looks around for the stairs that will take him to the top floor and finds them to the right of the reception desk, that is now empty. He runs up the stairs and moves down the hall on the top floor. He comes upon the men that Val had sent over, to find them running their hands over the wall around a protrusion that covers one of the ancient support beams for the structure. "So, what have you found so far?"

The guard with the pen and paper in his hand along with a camera slung over his shoulder, looks up. "We have determined that this section of the wall is right behind where the hole is on the outside. We dusted for prints and managed to get a few, but they look more like somebody walking down the hall had absently touched this section in passing. There was no indication of pressure being applied to the protruding frame as if it was being moved out of the way somehow."

Smit steps up to the bulkhead, looking for any slight indentation or other anomaly. "When do you intend to open this up?"

"We are at that stage now. We plan to cut the drywall that was applied when the renovations were done three years ago. If you want to wait a few minutes, we should be able to lift the plastered section off, so we can see what is behind it," states the leader of the men.

One of the men produces a knife and cuts the tape under the plaster at the drywall joints as another holds the section in place till he is done. In moments, the covering of the support beam can be lifted to the side.

Smit is standing as close as he can when they remove it, and there, sitting in a carefully carved out section of the ancient wooden beam, is a high-powered sniper rifle sitting on its small metal legs. The end of the long barrel is pressed right up against the outer wall of stone that has been gouged out for it to rest in. "I knew it," says Smit. "They probably put a thin layer of treated paper over the outside that matched the color of the stone, so it would go unnoticed. It could have been remotely triggered from anywhere by an electronic device. I want this photographed and every bit of dust or dirt collected for analysis. I also want the fingerprints from the outside matched with the ones in our data base, along with any on the rifle itself. I will send Val over with his gadgets to check the trigger device when you find it."

Smit turns away from the hollowed-out section of the wall, and thinks about who could have had a motive, as he walks down the hall to the stairs. "OK, we have the murder weapon and the location of the shot. The financial building has an internal monitoring system, so we should be able to track the shooter coming and going." He gets back to the reception area and walks to the information desk, going around it to the offices behind. A man dressed in a guard's uniform is sitting in the monitoring room at the end of the narrow hallway, going over the recordings from the security cameras. "What have you found so far, Mike?"

Mike continues to stare at the screens as his commander steps up behind him. "I am not sure you are going to like this, but I can't find any evidence of the shooter being anywhere near that section of wall for as far back as we have records of."

Smit was afraid of just that. "OK, when were the surveillance cameras installed in the building?"

Mike turns around to face him. "About a week after the renovations were done. According to what I am seeing, that section of the wall has not changed in all that time."

"The rifle that shot Saint Christopher, is still there in the wall and stone facing of the building. Are you telling me it has been there, untouched for all these years!"

"That's what it looks like. I will keep searching, but that is all I have for you right now."

"OK, keep at it, and call me right away if you get anything we can use."

"Will do," says Mike.