He studied the upper reaches of the choir, focusing on the second-story gallery that encircled the central octagon. He noted how the choir and the Carolingian core joined, the higher parts feeding into the octagon, neither building forfeiting any of its effectiveness. Malone studied the choir, a bold gothic design where stone walls seemed to dissolve into expanses of towering glass. The guide was fielding questions about Charlemagne as the group snapped pictures. Supposedly fifteen other emperors are also buried around us." "Beneath here is where Otto III was buried. Christl pointed to a memorial plaque embedded in the floor. The tour group had retreated behind the reliquary, the guide explaining how the choir had been consecrated in 1414. She grasped his arm in a light embrace and led him to a spot before the shrine. "Inside that reliquary is a log that records every time, since 1215, when the lid was opened. Four others are in the treasury, and the rest are gone."
"The Shrine of Charlemagne," Christl whispered. Just beyond, the group had congregated around a gilded reliquary, its table-like pedestal elevated four feet off the floor and encased in glass. They hurried after the tour group and arrived in the choir just as the guide was about to rehang a velvet rope that blocked entrance. How else could he have found anything? So somewhere inside this structure lay the answer. But Hermann Oberhauser had solved the riddle. To presently do as Einhard instructed-begin in the new Jerusalem-could prove daunting since virtually nothing from twelve hundred years ago existed. In Charlemagne's time, which was Einhard's time, the stone surrounding him would have been coarse and painted. The mosaics, the marble floor, and the marble-sheathed walls were all less than two hundred years old. But he wasn't about to discuss Gary's parentage with this stranger. When it came to their son she'd been wrong. "Believe me, Pam was always right about everything." But he silently added a qualification that he'd only come to understand years after the divorce. "She decided that Herr Malone was a pain in the ass." "The history of this place is like my marriage. "But the words are the same as in Charlemagne's day?" he asked. CUM LAPIDES VIVI PACIS CONPAGE LIGANTUR INQUE PARES NUMEROS OMNIA CONVENIUNT CLARET OPUS DOMINI TOTAM QUI CONSTRUIT AULAM EFFECTUSQUE PIIS DAT STUDIIS HOMINUM QUORUM PERPETUI DECORIS STRUCTURA MANEBIT SI PERFECTA AUCTOR PROTEGAT ATQUE REGAT SIC DEUS HOC TUTUM STABILI FUNDAMINE TEMPLUM QUOD KAROLUS PRINCEPS CONDIDIT ESSE VELIT Christl noticed his interest.