The Shroud Codex Part 21

"I can tell from the tone of your voice. I've been worried about you since you first briefed me on your new patient, Father Bartholomew. I've been following the television reports."

"I figured you would," Castle said.

"What's going on?" Rothschild asked. "I haven't heard anything since you left for the Vatican."

"I can't explain it to you now; it's too complicated. But I'm sure you will be catching up, once you turn on the television. Will you have time for dinner early next week, after I return to New York?"

"You know I will," Rothschild said affirmatively. He was looking forward to seeing Stephen in the city. "When are you flying home?"

"I will leave Rome on Sunday," Castle said. "I'll take tomorrow to rest. Can we have dinner Monday evening?"

"Of course we can," Rothschild said enthusiastically. "I will clear off my calendar whatever I need to clear. Call my office and my a.s.sistant will work out the details."

"Sounds good," Castle said appreciatively.

"Just tell me this," Rothschild said seriously, wanting to be sure before they ended the conversation. "Are you okay or do you need some a.s.sistance right now? I have colleagues I trust in Rome."

"I've been through a lot," Castle said, "but I think I'm okay for now."

Ending the call, Castle decided to turn his attention to dinner.

"What does the chef recommend?" he asked the waiter politely, ready to accept just about anything the waiter had in mind.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE.

Sunday evening New York City, 8:00 P.M. P.M.

Day 32 Anchor Dave Dunaway had Fernando Ferrar appear in person on his Sunday evening broadcast to promote the hourlong special on Father Bartholomew and the Shroud of Turin that Ferrar had produced for national broadcast the coming Wednesday. Since Friday, Ferrar's video of the events that transpired in the Chapel of the Shroud had been broadcast by the network and picked up on the Internet.

"What is the official status of Father Bartholomew and Anne Ca.s.sidy?" Dunaway asked.

"According to Italian law enforcement authorities, both are listed as 'missing persons,'" Ferrar reported. "I was there in the Chapel of the Shroud in Turin, Italy, when the burst of light flooded the room. The pope was standing within five feet of me at the time. What I experienced, I can't explain. But what I think happened is that Father Bartholomew and Anne Ca.s.sidy's bodies seemed to vaporize into what I can only describe as pure energy. It looked to me like they disappeared right through the Shroud."

While Ferrar was speaking, the audience saw the video of the moment-the light flash as Father Bartholomew stood there and reached out to Anne; as he grabbed her hand, she was absorbed into the light. It looked like both were vaporized, with the light leaving the room through the Shroud. When it was over, the pope and the others in the room were on their knees or knocked flat on the floor. When the commotion settled in the chapel, Bartholomew and Anne were gone.

"When I got back to my feet, I noticed that the eyes of the man on the Shroud had opened," Ferrar said. "I couldn't believe it, but before that the eyes were closed. I know that for certain. The day before the private showing with the pope and Father Bartholomew, the archdiocese allowed our video team to bring in high-definition cameras to record very detailed images of the Shroud for broadcast. We must have been in the Chapel of the Shroud doing the HD taping for somewhere around five hours last Thursday. I got a chance to study the Shroud very closely with my own eyes."

Again, as Ferrar talked, the broadcast showed images of the video team taping the Shroud, a close-up of the closed eyes in the image of the Shroud before the event, and the open eyes after the event.

"You interviewed Dr. Ruth Bucholtz, an internationally renowned particle physicist, didn't you?" Dunaway asked. "What does Dr. Bucholtz think happened last Friday in Turin, Italy?"

"That's right," Ferrar said. "We caught up by remote from Rome with Dr. Bucholtz in her office at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. I believe we have a clip of that interview now."

A split screen showed Ferrar in the television studio in Rome and Dr. Bucholtz in her Geneva office, being interviewed by Ferrar remotely.

"What you filmed, I believe, is the first doc.u.mentation of an 'event horizon' in which people pa.s.sed from our normal four dimensions into one of the additional dimensions required by advanced particle physics to explain quantum phenomena observed since Einstein first formulated the general theory of relativity," Bucholtz said.

"Can you translate that for our audience?" Ferrar asked. "I'm afraid you lost me once you started talking about quantum physics and Einstein. I barely got through physics cla.s.s in high school."

"Sure," Dr. Bucholtz said, smiling at Ferrar's self-putdown. "I think what your video shows really happened. It was not a trick. Father Bartholomew and Anne turned into pure energy. They transitioned from earth to some other dimension that we humans do not normally experience."

"I was raised Catholic," Ferrar said, "and what you are saying sounds a lot like the resurrection of Jesus Christ, especially when we are talking about the Shroud of Turin. Are you saying Father Bartholomew became Jesus and Anne Ca.s.sidy was like the Virgin Mary? According to what I was taught in Catholic catechism, Jesus died on the cross, was resurrected, and ascended into Heaven. His mother, the Virgin Mary, also died and was a.s.sumed into Heaven. Is this what you are talking about?"

"I'm not saying that Father Bartholomew became Jesus or that Anne Ca.s.sidy was the Virgin Mary," Dr. Bucholtz said to clarify things. "But I think they both went through an experience that the New Testament describes as the resurrection of Jesus and the ascent into Heaven of Jesus and his mother."

Cutting back to the studio in New York, Dunaway had a look of amazement on his face. "I can't believe what I'm hearing," he said to the national audience. "You're telling me that Dr. Bucholtz is an internationally respected physicist who works at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. Is that right?"

"Yes, it is," Ferrar affirmed.

"And she believes in resurrections and ascents into Heaven?" Dunaway asked. "Is that consistent with being a scientist?"

Ferrar laughed quietly in agreement. "It seems like the world of advanced particle physics and the world of religion may be a little closer than we typically a.s.sume."

"But Bucholtz wasn't your only interview, right?" Dunaway skillfully s.h.i.+fted the focus of the discussion. "You also interviewed a well-known skeptic."

"That's right," Ferrar said, picking up Dunaway's segue. "I also interviewed Dr. Marco Gabrielli, a professor of chemistry on the faculty of the University of Bologna. Gabrielli has made a career debunking religious and other paranormal phenomena. He's best at exposing frauds, like statues of Jesus that appear to cry tears of blood, when all that's involved is filling a porous cavity in the statue's head with a liquid solution that looks like blood. Here's what Professor Gabrielli told us."

Another split screen showed Ferrar in the television studio in Rome interviewing Gabrielli in his office in Bologna.

"It was cla.s.sic misdirection," Gabrielli said on camera. "Every magician in the world since before the time of Houdini knows their illusions depend on creating a diversion that distracts the attention of the audience. That burst of light that blinded all of us in the Chapel of the Shroud was one of the best I've ever seen. We were all thrown into confusion, even me. Who knows what really happened? Sure, it looks like Father Bartholomew and Anne Ca.s.sidy vaporized into pure energy and disappeared through the Shroud, but can you prove to me there wasn't a trap door in that room that allowed them to escape without any supernatural effects whatsoever?"

"So you disagree with Dr. Bucholtz, then." Ferrar pressed the chemist. "You don't think we witnessed any 'event horizon' or 'pa.s.sing into another dimension'? Nothing supernatural as far as you're concerned, is that right?"

"Right." Gabrielli said without any hesitation whatsoever. "Magicians have been making people disappear for generations. Usually they use a curtain, or they have a person go into some sort of a cabinet or box before the magician makes them disappear. But I have to admit that a blinding flash of light is every bit as good as any physical apparatus magicians have designed over the decades to pull off their disappearing tricks."

"Are you trying to duplicate the illusion right now?" Ferrar asked.

"Absolutely," Gabrielli said. "And I am pretty well along the way to figuring it out. My only questions now are who was paying Father Bartholomew and Anne Ca.s.sidy for pulling off this trick, and how much money did they walk away with? I also wouldn't mind tracking them down so I could prove to the world they are frauds. That should be pretty obvious after I find out where they went to spend their money."

"Well, that should settle it, don't you think?" Dunaway asked Ferrar as the camera returned to the New York studio.

"It might," Ferrar said, "except for one thing."

"What's that?" Dunaway asked, looking surprised.

"We've managed to find a picture of Anne Bartholomew, Father Bartholomew's mother," Ferrar said as the picture went up on the television screen. "When we set that photo side by side with the recent photos of Anne Ca.s.sidy, the woman who came on the scene as Father Paul Bartholomew's half sister, the two women look exactly alike."

The photo of Anne Ca.s.sidy came on the screen next to the old photo of Anne Bartholomew, the mother of Father Bartholomew, and the resemblance was obvious.

"So, to find out for sure if Anne Bartholomew and Anne Ca.s.sidy are the same person, we consulted an expert in face-recognition software," Ferrar said. "Michael Winters, in Concord, New Hamps.h.i.+re. Winters is founder and CEO of a company that works with casinos to find card counters and cheats even when they try to disguise their facial appearance."

"Very interesting," Dunaway said, now looking intrigued. "What did you find out?"

"Here's a clip from the special," Ferrar said. "I interviewed Winters in his home office by remote video this morning."

The split screen came up on camera again. Ferrar in the New York studio was talking with Winters at his computer in his New Hamps.h.i.+re office.

"So, if you are following me," Winters said in the clip Ferrar had chosen for the promo with Dunaway, "the one dimension of a person's face that is hard to change is the distance between their eyes, measured from pupil to pupil. People can get their noses or their chins modified relatively easily by plastic surgery, but not the distance between their eyes."

The camera focused on Winters's computer. On one half of his computer monitor, Winters showed a photo of Anne Bartholomew from when her son was an infant; on the other half Winters showed a photo of Anne Ca.s.sidy from a few days earlier.

"As you can see," Winters said, "the distance between the eyes of the two women is identical."

Winters typed in a few keystrokes, and the two photos began to merge.

"As you can see when we overlap the two photos, in this case all the facial features in the two photos match almost perfectly."

"What's your conclusion?" Ferrar asked.

"My conclusion is that these two photos show the same woman," Winters said, looking up from his computer monitor. "I believe I can say that with a ninety-nine-percent confidence level. In my years of working with this software, I can think of only two or three other cases where the faces have matched up so perfectly."

"So there you have it," Ferrar said to Dunaway as the scene returned to the New York studio. "We're going to have to let you, the viewers, decide whether our recorded video doc.u.menting that Father Bartholomew and Anne Ca.s.sidy disappeared into the Shroud of Turin is a paranormal event that confirms Christ's resurrection and the authenticity of the Shroud, or whether Father Bartholomew and Anne Ca.s.sidy are nothing more than top-notch charlatans who could show up any day with their next magic act."

"I can't wait to see your special," Dunaway said. "When does it broadcast?"

"This Wednesday at eight P.M. P.M. Eastern Time," Ferrar answered. Eastern Time," Ferrar answered.

"Well, I will be sure to be watching," Dunaway said, wrapping up the promo segment. "And I suspect I will be only one of the millions in your audience on the edge of their seats. What happened in front of our cameras in the Chapel of the Shroud in Turin, Italy, last Friday? A religious experience of the ages or an ingenious magic trick that was brilliantly pulled off? Watch this Wednesday at eight P.M. P.M. Eastern Time. Eastern Time. Father Bartholomew and the Shroud of Turin: Miracle or Magic? Father Bartholomew and the Shroud of Turin: Miracle or Magic? We will present the evidence so you, the viewers, can decide for yourselves." We will present the evidence so you, the viewers, can decide for yourselves."

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR.

Monday evening New York City, 8:00 P.M. P.M.

Day 33 Norman Rothschild reserved a private room for dinner with Stephen Castle at his favorite midtown steak house.

Comfortably settled at their table, the two psychiatrists each ordered a single-malt scotch, as Rothschild selected a fine bottle of vintage French Bordeaux to accompany their steak dinners. Castle knew that the wine Rothschild selected would probably cost twice as much as the steak dinners put together.

At seventy-five years old, Rothschild looked younger and more fit than he did more than two decades ago, when he first met Castle. The reduced patient schedule that came with semiretirement permitted Rothschild a lifestyle that included more time for himself. A medium height man at five feet, ten inches, Rothschild followed a daily routine of briskly walking five blocks to get his favorite espresso and croissant each morning, and five blocks back to his midtown Park Avenue apartment. With a full head of silver hair to set off his ocean blue eyes, Rothschild always looked distinguished, whether he was attired in his jeans and walking shoes in search of his daily morning coffee or in his tweed sport coat and tailored pants, as he was tonight for dinner.

When Castle changed careers to go into psychiatry, Rothschild had helped prepare him for the profession by serving as his a.n.a.lyst. Ever since, Rothschild remained Castle's dedicated mentor, always ready to meet with Stephen to counsel him not only through difficult psychiatric cases, but also through the expected psychological challenges that confront all human beings in the course of life. Though he had sported a neatly trimmed beard when he was in his fifties, much like Castle's, Rothschild discarded the beard when he reached seventy, thinking he no longer needed the a.s.sistance of a distinguished beard to appear mature for his patients.

Prior to the meeting, Castle emailed Rothschild a summary memo he had written for the file detailing Father Bartholomew's case history. By giving Rothschild the opportunity to study the memo in advance of the dinner, Castle knew he would save a lot of time explaining the basic facts.

"I declined to be on Ferrar's television show," Castle explained as they enjoyed their drinks. "I pleaded doctor-client privilege, but in truth, it's just too soon for me to talk about any aspects of this case in public."

"I think that's wise," Rothschild said. "Did Ferrar give you any hint on the angle he was going to pursue?"

"Ferrar told me that Canadian law enforcement officials have told the network they can find no record of any Matthew Ca.s.sidy working for either the Canadian National or the Canadian Pacific railways. Ferrar also says the Canadian government has no record of ever having issued a pa.s.sport to Anne Ca.s.sidy. I guess I was a fool just to look at Anne's pa.s.sport and a.s.sume it proved anything."

"Don't beat yourself up too severely," Rothschild said. "You're only human and you're not a trained law enforcement authority. You're a psychiatrist, not a private investigator."

"I know," Castle said, "but I'm afraid I let down my guard, maybe because I liked the woman and wanted to accept her story."

"I suspected as much, just from how you wrote up the case file," the senior psychiatrist surmised. "You are usually pretty cool with women, but this time I detected you were on the verge of being romantically interested in her."

Castle knew better than to try to hide anything from Rothschild. There was not much about him that Rothschild didn't know, especially since he went into a.n.a.lysis with Rothschild right after Elizabeth had died. "I've never really loved any woman except Elizabeth," he said openly. "I have always thought that no other woman could ever live up to her standard, or maybe it was that I have always been afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"Afraid that if I loved another woman, I might lose her, too, just like I lost Elizabeth."

Rothschild took a sip of his scotch, considering what Castle had just told him. "That's possible. But I think I sense an important change in you."

"What's that?" Castle asked.

"It sounds to me as if you're getting ready to make s.p.a.ce for a woman again in your life; otherwise I doubt Anne or any other woman would have caught your attention."

Rothschild was probably right, now that he thought about it. "I have to admit I was physically attracted to Anne. She was approaching maturity with a beauty most younger women would envy."

"Who do you think Anne really was?" Rothschild asked as the appetizers were served.

"Of course, I've thought a lot about that," Castle admitted. "I spoke with Dr. Bucholtz at CERN by phone before I left Rome and she would like me to think Anne was a time traveler. Maybe Dr. Bucholtz is right."

"Do you have any idea who Paul Bartholomew's father was?"

"No, not really. Ferrar told me the network's reporters have tracked down Bartholomew's birth certificate and the father is listed as 'unknown,' just as Anne's letter said it would be. Maybe Anne was the reincarnation of the Christ's mother, Mary. Maybe Paul was conceived by virgin birth."

"You're being facetious, I take it?" Rothschild asked.

"Yes, in large part I'm being facetious. But I can't accept Marco Gabrielli's theory that Father Bartholomew and Anne amount to nothing more than a con-artist team. I saw Bartholomew's wounds with my own eyes; I watched as some of them were being inflicted. He suffered real pain, even if the injuries healed in record time. All that is consistent with my original diagnosis that Father Bartholomew was suffering from a multiple personality disorder and that his injuries were psychosomatically induced, but not a conclusion that he was a con man. Still, I have to admit that dealing with this case has forced me to face mysteries I can't explain by sheer reason alone."

Rothschild agreed. "How about Anne and Father Bartholomew?" he asked. "What have you concluded about them? Were they mother and son, or were they brother and half sister?"

Castle wanted to choose his words carefully. "Try as he will, I don't think Gabrielli is going to be able to prove Father Bartholomew and Anne Castle were charlatans." The Anne Ca.s.sidy I knew was the Anne Bartholomew I saw in the photographs of that alb.u.m. They were one and the same person. Father Bartholomew may never have had a half sister, but he had a mother and I believe that mother was both Anne Bartholomew and the woman we knew as Anne Ca.s.sidy. I'm told Ferrar's television special this Wednesday has a face-recognition expert who's prepared to say on camera that Anne Bartholomew and Anne Ca.s.sidy were the same person."

Rothschild had suspected Castle would come to that conclusion. Even in death, Anne had somehow found a way not to abandon her only child. As impossible as that seemed, the possibility was what made the events his protege Dr. Stephen Castle had just experienced so tantalizing.

The steaks were excellent. The Bordeaux was one of the best he had ever tasted. There was good reason this restaurant was one of Rothschild's favorites.

"What position has the pope taken on what happened last Friday?" Rothschild asked.

"Father Morelli a.s.sured me before I left Rome that the pope is planning to issue a statement this week to the effect that the Vatican has agreed to cooperate fully with Italian law enforcement authorities in the missing persons case involving Father Bartholomew and Anne Ca.s.sidy," Castle explained. "The Vatican is preparing to explain that the events surrounding Father Bartholomew are still under investigation. Immediately following that, Morelli told me, the Vatican will issue a second statement affirming that the Shroud of Turin is still regarded by the Catholic Church as a relic worthy of veneration. Morelli said the Vatican also plans to announce a new exposition of the Shroud this spring. Father Bartholomew's case has obviously renewed interest in the Shroud worldwide."

"What do you think the pope believes about the Shroud of Turin?" Rothschild asked.

"Honestly, I don't know," Castle said. "The pope has always played his cards very close to the vest with me. But I may have a clue in how the pope handled himself during the conference with the Italian physicians who examined Bartholomew for the Vatican. The pope made it clear that his job was to lead the Catholic Church and he wasn't about to bet his future or the future of the Catholic Church on any relic, regardless of how many millions of Catholics might believe it is authentic. I doubt the pope will change his mind on that."