The Public Prosecutor (13 page)

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Authors: Jef Geeraerts

BOOK: The Public Prosecutor
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Igor jumped to his feet, growled and ran out of the room.
“What’s his problem?” said Louise.
“Probably heard something outside.”
“Shouldn’t you take a look?”
“Maybe a good idea…” D’Hoog got up and headed towards the front door.
 
What happened next took place at lightning speed. Barks turned to high-pitched yelps.
“Rambo!”
A halogen lamp flooded the entire area with light. The front door opened. A hirsute young man, stripped to the waist, looked around nervously, disappeared inside for a second and returned with a rifle.
“Rambo,” Materne yelled, running in the direction of the yelps.
“Bastards!” the man roared, and he stormed behind him. Materne found Rambo holding a brown-haired dog by the neck in what looked like an overexposed movie shot. He tugged at the dog’s collar but the pit bull refused to let go.
“Son of a bitch!” the man yelled. He took aim. An angry rifle shot resounded through the night air. The pit bull jolted and rolled over in convulsions. The brown-haired dog, a Labrador, limped off, bleeding badly.
“Hands up, bastard!”
The man poked his rifle into Materne’s chest. In the blink of an eye, Materne grabbed the barrel, yanked it out of the man’s hands, tossed it aside and treated him to a karate blow to the gut. The man keeled over without a sound and lay motionless on his back.
“Let’s get the fuck!…” Voorhout screamed.
“Johan!”
A young woman with long black hair, dressed in a negligee, rushed towards the vet, fell to her knees by his side, took hold of his head and held it to her cheek.
“Johan! I called emergency. They’re on their way!”
The vet tried to get up. “Bastards!” he growled.
“My dog!” Materne screamed.
“Leave him! He’s dead!”
“Fuckin’ hell!” Materne launched himself at the vet, kneed him in the face and tossed him to the ground. Voorhout took a series of shots with his mini camera. “Move it, man! We’re out of here!”
They took to their heels. When they arrived at the Mercedes van, Voorhout gasped: “We have to go back for Rambo! My address is hanging round his neck!”
“Jesus Christ, man!” Voorhout jumped into the driver’s seat, turned the Mercedes round and sped towards the still-floodlit house. The woman was dabbing blood from the vet’s face with a towel.
Materne jumped out of the van before it had stopped, dashed towards the pit bull, lifted him onto his shoulder and carried him with difficulty to the back of the van, which Voorhout was holding open. He tossed the dog inside. A second later, Voorhout was behind the wheel with Materne at his side, thumping the dashboard like a madman.
The Mercedes took off, its engine screeching.
8
 
Shortly after midnight, Baron Hervé van Reyn’s daily review of the international press clippings selected by his secretary was interrupted by the buzz and whirr of the fax machine. It was a fairly long fax. When the machine stopped, he got up from his desk and collected the various pages. From Rome. In French. Sender: Joaquín Pla y Daniel. He returned to his desk and started to read. It was the transcript summary of a taped conversation between Pla and Amandine de Vreux. Extremely interesting reading, if the marginal notes he took were anything to go by.
After about fifteen minutes reading, he slipped the fax into a brand-new folder, wrote “D.S.” on the front and drew a tiny cross in the upper left-hand corner. In spite of the late hour, he was still wearing a suit, a family custom he maintained with respect. He had been wearing it the entire day, but it looked as if it had just come from the dry-cleaners.
Fax (39) 66869550
Mittente: Ufficio informazione della Prelatura dell’Opus Dei in Roma Via Sant’Agostino 5/A 00186 Roma
Indirizzo: Prélature de l’Opus Dei en Belgique. Fax (32) 2347 4916.
1999 05 25 11.56 p.m.
 
God and daring (Saying 401)
Querido amigo,
Please find an exact transcription of the content of the conversation I had today with the mother of D.S. I am sure it will be of interest to you in a number of respects. It should facilitate the urgent resolution of the situation at hand. Whatever the cost, resolution is essential at two different levels.
Greetings
in Christo
Joaquín
 
 
V - When did you last go to confession?
A - Today, on your advice.
V - Do you remember anything from the evening meditation that caught your attention?
A - (She picks up a copy of
The Way
and reads the text of Saying 178) When you see a poor wooden cross, alone, uncared-for and of no value… and without its crucified, don’t forget that that cross is your cross: the cross of each day, the hidden cross, without splendour or consolation… the cross which is awaiting the crucified it lacks: and that crucified must be you.
V - I would like to ask you a number of questions, which I expect you to answer truthfully, even if it shames you deeply.
A - You have my word, Father. Let sacred brazenness be my guide.
V - You appear to have misunderstood the meaning of the word. Ask your mentor to explain it.
A -
Pax
.
V - How did the relationship with your husband begin?
A - We were studying at the same university. I was studying history of art and he was at the faculty of law. He was an exceptional student. He participated in student life to the full and was president of the faculty student organization, but he managed
summa cum laude
year after year without the slightest trouble. My father was professor of constitutional law at the time and a Supreme Court barrister…
V - Do I detect an element of pride in the way you draw attention to your father’s position? Meditate on Saying 606: See how humble Jesus is: a donkey was his throne in Jerusalem!
A -
Pax
.
V - Continue.
A - Daddy took him as his assistant and invited him to the house from time to time. That’s when we got to know one another.
V - What was this elite student’s social and cultural background?
A - His social background was middle class. His parents owned two large delicatessens in Antwerp. They had a cottage in the country. They were hard-working shopkeepers without cultural baggage or social status.
V - Were they Catholic?
A - No, but they could hardly have been described as dyed-in-the-wool nonconformists either. They were… shopkeepers.
V - Why did they send him to a Catholic university?
A - I’ve no idea.
V - Are they still alive?
A - No.
V - Where did he do his secondary studies?
A - Grammar school in Berchem.
V - Didn’t your father find that a little suspicious? I’m lead to believe that, as a member of the aristocracy, he is a man of deep faith.
A - With the exception of the Jesuit College, the grammar school was the best in Antwerp.
V - Where did your father study?
A - With the Jesuits.
V - Did your husband go to church with any frequency?
A - I fear not. When we were first married he came with me to mass.
V - And now?
A - Only on official occasions.
V - So he lives in a permanent state of mortal sin?
A - Yes.
V - Has your father ever been contacted by Opus Dei?
A - Yes, but he saw them as the Jesuits’ main competitors and he had great respect for the Jesuits.
V - What do you mean?
A - He did not want to commit himself.
V - Were you ever approached by Opus Dei during your years at the university in Leuven?
A - You appear not to be aware that Opus Dei was completely unheard of in Leuven in 1951.
V - Your answer is correct. Don’t forget to meditate on the virtue of humility. Sleep on the floor tonight.
A -
Pax
.
V - You said that your father invited him to the house?
A - Yes.
V - And?
A - We got to know one another.
V - Intimately?
A - No. Daddy found him a scholarship to study at Harvard after he finished his five years in Leuven.
V - So you didn’t see much of one another.
A - Precisely.
V - My insinuating question seems to have served your purpose.
A - We married late, after a very short engagement.
V - What does late mean?
A - My husband was thirty and I was twenty-nine.
V - And the period of engagement?
A - What do you mean?
V - We ask the questions! Let me put it differently: was your engagement a chaste experience?
A - Absolutely. Daddy kept a very close eye on my social activities.
V - Did you
touch
each other?
A - We kissed when we met and said goodbye. Nothing more.
V - A
French
kiss?
A - Never! That was strictly forbidden by my confessor.
V - Who was he?
A - A Dominican.
V - Were there sins against chastity?
A - No. He tried to touch my breasts once but I managed to prevent it.
V - Did you confess the matter?
A - Yes.
V - Did you experience sinful desires when he touched you?
A - I have never been troubled by such desires.
V - Were you pure when you married?
A - Certainly. Daddy arranged a week of retreat for us in a monastery after the wedding, as advised by the pre-marital counselling book
Yes, I Do.
V - Did you sleep in separate rooms in the monastery?
A - Of course! We were only together for the meditations and the sermons.
V - When was your first sexual contact?
A - Two months later.
V - Did you give your full consent?
A - Yes and no. My husband insisted so much I was afraid and I gave in to him. I wasn’t even aware such things happened in married life.
V - Had you never received sex education?
A - People of our status did not talk about such things in those days.
V - What was the first contact like?
A - I prefer not to talk about it, Father.
V - Did you enjoy it so much?
A - Enjoy it? I never enjoyed it. I always found it unpleasant and only submitted myself because of his conjugal rights.
V - How many times did you have intercourse on the first night?
A - He was insatiable. He wouldn’t stop!
V - So you never really took pleasure in it?
A - No. I considered the deed necessary for procreation and nothing more.
V - The nobility of procreation?
A - Precisely.
V - Why then did you only have two children?
A - Because he stopped insisting at a certain moment.
V - Were you happy with the situation?
A - He refused to share the nobility of procreation with me.
V - Did you ever try to change his mind?
A - No.
V - Why not?
A - Because he no longer paid any attention to me.
V - Did you ever have intercourse using a condom?
A - He asked once, but no.
V - And the pill?
A - It was no longer necessary.
V - Coitus interruptus?
A - Once. I was so outraged we never had intercourse again.
V - So your last intercourse was a mortal sin?
A - No. I didn’t give my consent.
V - You clearly did!
A - I confessed everything, Father.
V - You see. Did you ever commit a sin against nature?
A - I’m not sure I understand.
V - Anal intercourse?
A - I didn’t know such things existed.

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