A gleam of recognition began to show in the pale green eyes beneath the massive clumps of hair. "Oh, yes, Hawthorne! Well, how the hell are you? What are you doing here in Connecticut?"

Before Decker could answer, another person entered the room and called out, "Harry Goodman!" and came over to where they were standing. "So, where were you last night? I called your room, hoping to have dinner with you."

² For the resulting article see K. F. Weaver, "Mystery of the Shroud." National Geographic, June 1980, 157:729-753.

Goodman did not respond but proceeded instead to formal introductions. "Professor Don Stanley, allow me to introduce Decker Hawthorne, a former student and research assistant of mine from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville."

Professor Stanley shook Decker's hand, gave him a quick onceover, and then looked back at Goodman. "So Hawthorne here must be the research assistant that I heard you'd suckered into helping out. What a shame," Stanley added, pausing and looking back at Decker, "I'd have thought you looked too intelligent for that."

"He is," responded Goodman, "and, unfortunately, so is the young man you're referring to."

"Oh, so he jumped ship on you, did he?" responded Stanley with a chuckle.

"Well, after all," Goodman shrugged, "it is quite a lot to expect a young man to pay the cost of an airline ticket to Turin, Italy, just to go on a wild goose chase."

Decker let none of this escape his attention. The possibility of replacing the missing research assistant provided a much better chance of getting onto the team than did the direct approach of getting the team to accept a second reporter. Now it was just a matter of waiting for the right opening.