Tom, or Thomas Corelli Sullivan, often found himself distracted by his father's death. His father was a close friend of Richard Curry and Vincent Taft, both of them advisors for Paul's thesis. The flashback goes on as Taft distanced himself from both Curry and Tom's father at some point to carry out his own research. Taft also developed a rivalry with both men in the quest to decode the "Hypnerotomachia"'s 500-year-old secret. By luck, Tom's father found a letter, dating back to Renaissance times, referring to the book's supposed author, Francesco Colonna. Tom's father even wrote a book, "The Belladona Document", which revolves around the mysterious letter. But, a negative critique from his academic rival Vincent Taft spelled the demise of the book's popularity as well as his career. Taft allegedly also stole a diary written by a contemporary of Colonna's that Curry had found. That diary, as Paul and Tom discovered it later, would prove to help the duo to decode the elusive "Hypnerotomachia".