The Shroud Codex - Jerome R. Corsi [80]
“The champagne and caviar are a nice surprise,” Anne said, welcoming him into the living room of the suite.
“This way I thought we could miss the cocktail hour at the restaurant,” Castle said with a smile. “I’d much rather spend the time talking with you.”
He enjoyed the pleasure with which Anne sipped the champagne and tasted the caviar. “You’re going to spoil me living like this,” she said, unafraid to show much she was enjoying the moment.
“I hope so,” Castle said, raising a glass in a toast. “Here’s to many more evenings together.”
The limo ride to the French restaurant was nice and short.
Once inside the restaurant, Dr. Castle introduced Anne to several of his friends before they were shown to a relatively private side table, a banquette facing into the room.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Castle said, “but while attending these charity events is sometimes a social necessity, I still prefer to dine as privately as possible.”
“Fine with me,” Anne said, relieved she was not going to be thrown into a long evening of conversation with people she didn’t know.
“Meeting you has been the silver lining in my taking on your brother as a client,” Castle told Anne as they proceeded through the first course accompanied by a delicious French white wine Castle had perfectly selected.
“It’s been doubly important for me,” Anne added. “I’m thrilled to be reunited with my brother.”
“Is your brother the person you expected to find?” he asked.
“In a way, yes,” Anne answered. “Reading about my brother on the Internet, I realized how devoted he was both to his career in physics and to our mother. Now meeting him, I believe he is a very driven person. I have to admit I don’t understand all his concerns, but the conversation with Dr. Silver in Princeton yesterday helped.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s hard to explain, but all my life I have had the sense that I too am somehow suspended in time. After my father died, it was like I reconnected with a hidden life I never knew I had, not until I found those divorce papers. Now, in meeting Paul at the hospital, it somehow doesn’t feel like we were ever separated. When I first saw him lying there unconscious, I panicked, worried that he might slip away before we had a chance to connect. When we were alone, I held his hand and I felt we were the same flesh. I understood him without him having to say very much. I’m sure I would have loved Mom and I’m sorry I never had the chance to meet her.”
Castle listened carefully, moved at how much Anne cared for her brother.
“Do you really think all this is being caused by psychological problems my brother is going through?” Anne asked.
“That’s what I’m trained to think,” Castle said. “Still, the discussion with Father Middagh and Father Morelli about the Shroud has presented me with a lot of information I never considered before. I remain convinced the carbon-14 testing is likely to be correct and that means the Shroud has to be a forgery. The story about the carbon-14 sample being contaminated is a little bit too convenient for me. Still, I have to admit, the image of the man in the Shroud has begun to haunt me.”
“It haunts me, too,” Anne said, “especially when Paul has come to look so much like the man of the Shroud.”
“Then I had no idea modern physics was so seriously considering other dimensions,” Castle said. “The idea of parallel worlds and time travel had always seemed just science fiction to me.”
“Do you think it’s real?” Anne asked.
“I don’t know, but your brother and Dr. Silver both seem to think other dimensions are a reality and they are the professional physicists. After all, your brother was appointed to the Institute for Advanced Study and Dr. Silver still considers him to have one of the most brilliant minds in physics that he has ever seen. That’s quite a compliment coming from an emeritus professor who used to head the Physics Department at Princeton.”
“My brother insists his life will unlock the meaning of the Shroud,” Anne said. “That