28
CONNOR
“I’ve gone over it several times, Lynne.” Dr. Moshe Biran was what one might expect of a Biblical scholar, Israeli citizenship aside: a small man with thick white hair and a neatly-trimmed beard. Lynne had studied Aramaic under him years before. We had come to Jerusalem to hopefully have him verify her suspicions regarding the papyrus.
Biran turned his computer monitor at an angle that allowed us to see it as he spoke. “You are certain it is no more than two thousand years old?”
“No question,” I assured him.
“Puzzling, to say the least,” he said, thoughtfully rubbing his beard.
“It’s a reference to John the Baptist, isn’t it?” Lynne asked.
Biran shook his head. “No, I don’t believe it is,” he said.
“But it doesn’t fit any other Biblical reference,” Lynne said.
“Perhaps n
