by Summer Lee
Daniel nodded. “You’re right. That folder points right to the robbery. I don’t know how he got the folder, but I’m sure Alan Cranston had something to do with it.”
“The police could be involved as well then,” the cardinal added, with a look of shock and dismay. “No law abiding officer would try to jeopardize the church by revealing that the shroud is gone.”
Daniel felt despair all around him with no way out. “Maybe I should just turn myself in. Get it over with.”
“No!” Magena snapped. “Not until we figure out what’s going on! Cardinal! Will you help us?”
“Yes! Of course!” he replied, eagerly. “The church is almost in more dire straits than it was with my brother being found dead in the basement. We must protect the church and its followers from knowing that the shroud is missing! You have all of the resources of the Catholic Church at your disposal, Magena!”
“Thank you, Cardinal,” Magena said, breathing a sigh of relief. “That means we have no choice, but to get to the bottom of this. It looks like our agenda has changed, Daniel. We not only have to clear Daniel’s name, because I’m a witness to the truth, but we also have to find out who all is involved with the theft.”
Daniel finally reached his breaking point. All of the emotions he tried to suppress, came out all at once. His family cutting him off from money that he believed was rightfully his, his longtime family friend may have something to do with the current manhunt for him, and now his new partner wanted to jump right into the middle of the fire to find out the truth. “Are you nuts, Mags?” His voice broke. “This was probably all drummed up from my parents to teach me some sadistic lesson!”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“I should just go to the cops and hold out my hands in surrender!”
Magena leaned back against the wall. Placing one foot on the wall, and putting her weight on the other leg, she crossed her arms in front of her, while gritting her teeth. “Okay,” she said, calmly. “You go ahead and give yourself up. Go ahead and prove to your family that they’re right about you. You do all that, but I’m still going after the one who’s behind the robbery. My grandfather’s name is honored in the Catholic Church. I respect that. I’m still trying to absorb it, but I believe it to be true.”
The cardinal looked pleased. “It is true.”
She continued, “You, Daniel, can sit in a jail cell and feel sorry for yourself, if you want. You’ll probably get lost in paperwork and never be able to see the States again. Or you can come with me and find out what’s really going on. The choice is yours, Daniel. Either way, it’s going to be a hard road, but it’s just like choosing to follow Jesus is a narrow road. To resolve this issue, you need to take a narrow path. It will be filled with hardship, but the rewards will be worth it. Are you willing to join me?”
“I guess.” He groaned and ducked his head in shame.
“To add one more obstacle to our already difficult trek,” she said, “I do not believe that the shroud that was stolen in front of us, was the real Shroud of Turin.”
“Do you mean they will sell a counterfeit as real.” His eyes bugged out. “What now?”
The sirens were getting closer.
“We must go now.”
“I’m with you.” He nodded.
“As we go along the way,” she continued. “We will also be looking for the thieves of the real Shroud of Turin. I want to find it and return it to the church.”
“They could get millions for the real one.” Daniel looked serious. “I’m in. What is next?”
TWELVE
Daniel and Magena were introduced to Cardinal Cino, who was more than happy to hide the new friends of Cardinal DiStazzi. He was pleased that they were going to assist the church in retrieving the original shroud. Daniel, Magena, and Cardinal DiStazzi followed Cardinal Cino down into the basement of the monastery that housed fellow cardinals.
Cino was a quiet man of 71 years. Although retired due to health reasons, he spent much time in prayer. He wanted to help find the shroud. He said that he had seen Andellini on television, and knew that he almost revealed that the shroud was missing.
Cardinal DiStazzi explained everything to the elder cardinal, while Daniel and Magena moved their bags down to the basement.
Cino introduced them to Sister Adina, who prepared the meals for the cardinals. She was all smiles as she welcomed the visitors. She, like Cardinal Cino, spoke broken English, but they understood more than they let on. Magena recognized Sister Adina as the nun that talked to her at the police station. The sister put her finger to her lips to show Magena not to mention it.
Once they were all seated in the dining area, Magena turned to Cardinal Cino, who was sitting on her right. “I have some requests for the finance committee of the Catholic Church that I’d like you to present.”
He nodded in agreement. “That will be fine.”
Daniel sat to her left. While keeping his voice low so no one but Magena would hear him, he said, “Listen, Mags.”
She ignored him.
“Hey! Did you hear me?” He spoke a little louder, so that she could definitely hear him.
Without turning to look at him, she responded, “Until you call me by my proper name, I choose not to respond to you.”
Daniel rolled his eyes, but knew that he had to comply if he wanted answers. “Fine. Magena. There! How do you know that the shroud they stole was a fake? I’ve been dying to ask you since the Jet Hotel.”
She placed her hand on the back of his chair and looked him in the eye. “We’ll talk after dinner.”
The meal was simple, as one would expect a monk to eat. They had beans and rice. No meat.
After they ate, the two returned to the basement, where they had separate sleeping quarters. Walking down the stairs, Daniel saw that he finally had a moment alone with Magena. He looked around and then said, “Tell me how you knew the one we saw was fake.”
“The casing was perfect. The shroud was almost as perfect with only one major flaw. The original Shroud of Turin was in a fire in the sixteenth century. The original has a double series of dark spots caused by burns it suffered in the fire. There are also visible, broad, symmetrical rings from the water used to extinguish the fire. Neither of these markings were on the shroud we saw get stolen. The stolen one is a fake.”
Daniel sported a huge grin and spoke with enthusiasm. “That’s great!” He leaped. “Right? The thieves have the fake, so we don’t have to go after that one! Hah! I love it when a plan comes together!”
“No!” she said, as she looked up the basement stairs to see if anyone was listening. “Will you please keep your voice down, Daniel?” she said quietly. “We still have to hunt down the thieves and murderers to not only clear your name, but prevent them from stealing the original, once they realize they have a fake.”
“Okay. This whole thing still doesn’t make sense,” Daniel replied, feeling frustrated. “I get that Alan set me up with the folder and that he is probably behind the theft, but wouldn’t thieves of Biblical artifacts have a better clue as to which ones are real or not?”
“Not necessarily,” Magena said, with an ever growing enthusiasm regarding their new direction. “What if someone got to the shroud first? I mean, if someone stole it before it was supposed to be stolen, then it would have been taken by someone who knew about the theft beforehand. Therefore...”
“There’s no honor among thieves,” Daniel interrupted, shaking his head.
Magena smiled, with her chin slightly raised. “You are so right. There is no honor among thieves. This is the perfect opportunity to pit one thief against the other. Of course, we have to find out who both of them are before we do that.”
“Of course,” Daniel replied, with absolutely no exuberance. “Sounds like a solid plan that will eventually end with one or both of our deaths. Can’t you call your favored family in on this for help?”
She placed a hand on his shoulder, while raising one brow. The sparkle in her eye
was back. “No. I’m not bringing them into it unless it’s do or die. I’m not going to take a chance of tarnishing their reputation with the church. It’s just us until then. You’d better start believing in God, my friend, because I have a feeling we’re going to need Him.”
“How do I do that? Where do I start?”
She grabbed a Bible out of one of her bags and opened it to Romans 6 for him, with a fishy grin. “Here. Read this. That will give you something to think about…”
Daniel read silently. He looked up. “Is this referring to a power that raised Jesus from the dead?”
“Certainly is. It is about us too. We who are united with him in his death shall certainly be united with him in his resurrection.” Magena smiled.
Sister Adina came down the stairs. “Those are powerful words. We died when Christ died and rose when he rose. That means, dear Daniel, that Christians can be filled with the power of God.”
“That is what I need.”
THIRTEEN
Within 24 hours, Cardinal DiStazzi had approached the church officials with Magena’s requests. After some deliberation and explanations for every item needed, approval was given. The church also sent technicians to install everything according to Magena’s specifications.
There were two laptops, an internet modem, an entire line of GPS equipment, mini-recorders, phone bugs, and all forms of surveillance equipment, including two sets of night vision goggles.
As the boxes were unpacked, it was as if Daniel revisited his childhood. He would get excited with each new one revealed. Even with the items he wasn’t familiar with.
Once everything was set up and operational, Magena waited for the techs to clear out before she sat down at one of the laptops. Her fingers flew over the keyboard with an expertise, that shocked Daniel.
Within minutes she stopped, looked at Daniel, and said, “The other laptop is yours. Please pick a password and get started.”
Daniel shook his head in disbelief. “Wow! I never knew you were a tech geek! That would have been the last thing I would have suspected of you. Isn’t this against your code as a Native American or something?”
Magena lost her smile. “When you get signed on, make sure you search the Internet for modern Native Americans. I am proud of my heritage, but we no longer live in our stereotypical shadow.”
Magena watched as Daniel hunted online and pecked his way on the search engine, for about a half an hour, before he was finished with his laptop’s initial set up. “Believe it or not, I used to have someone do this for me, before my allowance was cut off.”
She started to laugh, but realized he was probably telling the truth. She couldn’t read him yet.
He burst out laughing. “You believe me? Ha ha! No. I made it up! I’m not that tech friendly, though.”
“Nor I.”
“I’m not even going to ask what made you get into it.”
“It was a necessity. You have to stay on top of things like this, if you want any kind of success,” she said, as she searched the Internet. She stared at the screen and beamed when she found what she was searching for. “This is the history of the shroud. It was once in the possession of a Margaret de Charny.”
“How did she get it?”
“It doesn’t say. Where she got it is all but pure speculation. There were rumors that Leonardo Da Vinci forged a shroud, but the carbon-14 dating disproves that timeline. So he was proven not real.”
“So there might be other fakes besides the one we saw?” Daniel asked, while staring at the laptop screen.
“Several,” Magena replied, with a sigh. “Margaret’s son, Geoffroi, was in possession of a shroud in Lirey, France in 1390. She still had it in 1453. That was probably the real one. She deeded the shroud to the House of Savoy.”
Daniel bit his lower lip. “How do you know that the original was the one that was burned? Didn’t you say that the one stolen was a fake, because it wasn’t in a fire?”
Her eyes widened at the thought of him actually listening to her. He was interested. She had to keep him interested, so that he would help her. “Good point. There are other ways to tell. There wasn’t much back then, because they didn’t have the science we do today. Like you said, none of them were burned. I have done extensive research on the shroud and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the burned one is the original.”
“What makes you so sure?” He wondered what information she was hiding from him and if she was planning on revealing all of her secrets.
“I just do. The pollen was from the area and time of Christ. Give me time and I’ll explain,” she replied, while turning her attention back to the laptop. “It says that all of the shrouds that have surfaced since 1390 have been forgeries. That means the shroud willed to the House of Savoy in 1453 was the real one.” She looked at him. “What do you think? Does it make sense to you?”
He nodded. “That was probably the real one.”
She continued to read the screen, without looking up at Daniel. When she turned back to face Daniel, she asked, “Do you believe in the Shroud of Turin?”
He gave himself a moment before he answered. His psychology training automatically kicked in. “I believe that there are enough people who believe in it to make it a viable research subject.”
“That is not what I meant.”
“What do you mean? Do you want my opinion, Mags?”
“No.” She smirked. “Are you familiar with a website called Tin-eye?” Before he had a chance to answer, she continued, “It’s where you can upload a picture and it will show you everywhere on the Internet where that picture has been.”
“I understand.”
“The GPS is connected in such a way, so that all we have to do is scan pictures of the shroud and it will find locations everywhere there is one that has had pictures of it. It’s a little more sophisticated than just looking for the same exact picture.”
“I said that I understand.”
“Okay. This should cut our search down tremendously.”
“You are a smart lady. I respect your intelligence.” Daniel didn’t like to show others that he respected them. For one thing, there weren’t a lot of people he did respect, so it was easy for him not to show it. He had to admit to himself that he was really starting to respect Magena though. “Why don’t you complain when I call you Mags anymore?”
Without even looking at him, she answered, “Because when I stated that I didn’t like it, you kept doing it anyway. That was proof that you were trying to get a response from me. I’m sure it’s the way that you’re used to getting people’s attention. I decided to let it continue, until you were tired of doing it. It appears that you have finally tired of it or you wouldn’t have asked me. Shame on you, Mr. Psych Major!” She looked at him and laughed.
She got him. He wasn’t mad though. All he could do was laugh. This was a first for him. Maybe it was the fact that they were in the same bizarre situation together and he was a wanted fugitive. It might have also been that his family cut him off, and he felt all alone for the first time in his life. He welcomed her company and her wisecracks.
Putting her hand over her mouth, she giggled, because she made him speechless. She then narrowed her brow, looking at her laptop. Gasping, she frowned and let out an exasperated sigh of frustration. “Well, I found Dr. Cranston.” Her voice became shaky, as she was clearly unnerved. “I guess that saves us a trip back to Fresno for the time being. Come see.”
Daniel stood and stepped behind her. He felt a tug at the pit of his stomach, as he gulped in a big breath of air and looked at the screen. There was an article from the Fresno Bee, an online newspaper, that caught her attention. The home page featured an article with a familiar name. He looked over her shoulder and read.
Dr. Alan Cranston, noted assistant to the president at C.S.U. Fresno, was found dead in his campus office. He died from two bullet wounds to the back of the head.
Daniel gasped!
This was too much. Despite being arre
sted, watching a priest gunned down before his eyes, and being stuck in Turin, Italy for longer than he had anticipated, Daniel finally realized that his entire situation was very real with the murder of Alan Cranston. He turned away, teary-eyed.
“I need time alone.” He stepped over and sat in the darkest corner of the basement and wept.
FOURTEEN
Cardinal DiStazzi took his computer to the basement and joined Magena in the search for local sightings of the Shroud of Turin. “I know this is a long shot,” Magena said, with a small amount of hope in her voice. “It’s not like the thieves are going to leave a picture trail all over Turin or wherever they may be now, but if I can trace any patterns of where some have been spotted, we might get lucky and find the real one.”
She pulled up the GPS tracker on her laptop. It showed a map of Turin and the surrounding areas. After a few moments, several blinking blue dots started to pop up all over the map. Magena counted them silently to herself, as she pointed to each new one that appeared.
When the blue lights stopped appearing, Magena sat back in her chair and sighed deeply. “Okay. That makes 26 appearances in Turin, Cardinal. That doesn’t count the one that was in the cathedral. I would expect a few since this is shroud country, but this is ridiculous.”
Concerned, the cardinal looked over at Daniel sitting on the floor in the corner. He kept his voice low, so that only Magena could hear him. “Will Daniel be alright? Is he up to going with you, once you have a lead?”
She glanced at her partner and forced a smile. “He’ll be fine when it’s time. I don’t know him that well yet, but I think I know him well enough to know that he will give it everything. He is wanted by local law enforcement, though, which means two things. Why aren’t they coming after me as well? I mean, I was there with Daniel and was taken into custody the same time he was. Also, we need some kind of disguise for him. If he’s going to be going around Turin helping me, he has to look different. Do you have any ideas, Cardinal?” She smiled as if she already knew the answer to her question.