Eventually he was pulled to a halt and was beginning to relax when a strong hand suddenly clasped his shoulder. Then he felt the icy caress of steel graze the back of his neck.
SIXTEEN
Southern Jordan
M
aria Benariac smiled as she shifted down a gear on the rented Range Rover. The vast desert landscape all around her was silent, uncorrupted by any semblance of life. Cruising this ocean of sand in her air-conditioned cocoon, she felt a deep sense of peace. Far in the distance she could just make out the five pillars of rock, rising up from the desert like the upended prows of sinking ships. Ever since that dark night three days ago when she had decided to visit the Father, she had felt so positive. She wondered now why she hadn't thought of visiting him earlier.
She had been to the Cave of the Sacred Light a few times before, but never unannounced. However, since today was a scheduled meeting of Ezekiel and his two most senior lieutenants, she knew he would be there. After meeting with him she was sure she could get the decision on Dr. Carter reversed.
The sun was high in a sky of cobalt blue, and as the car carried her across the roadless plain she allowed her thoughts to wander. In her mind she was the prodigal daughter returning to the bosom of the Father, and she realized how much she looked forward to seeing him again. She hadn't spoken to Father Ezekiel face to face for almost five months, and couldn't wait to see his expression when
he learned of her surprise visit. Yes, she felt confident he would be happy to see her and that he would endorse her right to complete her task. Had he not always told her that she was a natural Nemesis?--that no one else had her talent and dedication for the Righteous Cleansing? She smiled as she cast her mind back to that first kill, the one that brought her to his attention.
T
he fifteen-year-old Maria Benariac does not take the decision
to kill Father Angelo lightly but it surprises her how soon the ideal
opportunity presents itself.
Her decision is triggered by two events. One is the suicide of
Sister Delphine, a young novice at the orphanage, and the other
is the third time Father Angelo rapes her.
After the first rape he insists on giving her "counseling" sessions
whenever he visits the orphanage. The blinkered, sycophantic
Mother Clemenza makes Maria attend them, of course, telling her
she should be grateful for all the time and trouble the great man
is taking with her development.
Maria tries to hide when he visits the second time, but he seeks
her out and during the session rapes her again, only this time
even more violently than the first. She thinks of showing her
bruises to Mother Clemenza afterward but knows it will do no
good.
The third time he ties her up when she struggles, then makes
her perform oral sex on him before sodomizing her. And as he
thrusts into her he tells her to never forget she is powerless against
him--that she is his slave and should accept it. Afterward he
boasts that she isn't the only one--that he even uses some of the
younger nuns for his pleasure.
Ten days later Sister Delphine is found hanging from the beam
above her bed. She is four months pregnant and cannot live with
her shame. No one has any idea who the father could be.
Except Maria.
She realizes then that unless she wants to end up the same way
she will have to kill Father Angelo. She has no other place to go.
And she will have to do it in a way that
brings none of the blame back to her. She has had enough of being
punished.
When Father Angelo comes to the orphanage two weeks later
she feigns complete subservience--a child broken to his will. And
when he tells her quietly that he is staying in Calvi that night and
has arranged for her to secretly visit his hotel room, she accepts
without argument.
He smiles at her new compliance and when he leaves, hands
her a key to his hotel and a hundred francs. "If you leave after
midnight and take a taxi into town no one will be the wiser. Use
the side door to the hotel so you aren't seen. I'll make sure you're
back here by dawn."
Maria pockets the money but has no intention of taking a taxi.
That afternoon she goes to the kitchen to empty the bins as usual,
and leaves with the biggest knife she can find hidden under her
skirts. Then she goes to the laundry and takes a set of soiled
clothes from the large pile of dirty laundry she's responsible for
washing the next morning. Finally she goes to the bicycle shed,
takes out Mother Clemenza's bike, and hides it in the thick bushes
by the main gates.
The rest of the day she busies herself in her chores, trying to
distract herself from what she has planned to do. She wishes she
had friends to talk to, but the other girls have always regarded
her as difficult and she has been branded an outcast. When she
eventually goes to bed she lies there trembling with fear and ex
citement. There is no danger of her falling asleep before the allotted
hour.
Father Angelo deserves to die, she's sure of that. He must be
stopped before he hurts anybody else--or before he kills her. He
wears the clothes of God, but acts like a servant of the devil. God
wants her to kill him. She is God's instrument and will be aven
ging her Lord as well as herself. What she plans to do is a good
and righteous thing.
She waits till thirty-five minutes past midnight before making
her move. The whole building is fast asleep when she creeps out
of her dormitory wearing the soiled set of clothes, and carrying
her clean ones in a plastic bag. It is simple to steal out of the
building and take the bike from its hiding place. The clear night
air is cool but she is sweat
ing by the time she arrives near the marina. She parks the bike
down the road from the hotel, and covering her face in a scarf,
walks into the hotel parking lot. Using the key, she enters the side
door.
His room is on the first floor but she encounters no other guests
on the way. She is surprised at how calm she feels now she is here
and knows there is no going back. At the door to Father Angelo's
room she knocks quietly. His pockmarked face appears almost
immediately, his eyes bright with lust. He does a quick look left
and right then pulls her into the room and closes the door.
"I'm glad you came, my child," he says.
She barely has time to take in the well-appointed room before
he takes off his robes and stands before her, his penis angry and
erect.
Not bothering to undress her, he forces her to her knees and
with a groan moves her face toward his swollen member. "Pay
homage to me," he says.
Again she is amazed by how calm she feels. The terror she en
dured during the rapes has gone. Instead she feels in con
trol--powerful. Looking up at him, she opens her mouth and
moves toward him. She watches him smile down at her from his
lofty position as her right hand feels inside her waistband and
pulls out the knife.
She has thought about the blood and the noise and wants to
minimize both. So when she does it she does it quickly. Even as
her right hand severs his penis, her left hand reaches for the pillow
on the bed and pushes it into Father Angelo's face to stifle his
screams. But the screams don't come for many seconds. At first
his face looks more surprised than pained--as if he can't believe
anybody could do this to him.
But then his legs buckle and as he reaches for his crotch she
pushes him back on the bed. His eyes stare at her with uncompre
hending horror. He tries to struggle and scream now but she jumps
on him, pushing the cotton of the pillowcase deeper into his mouth,
gagging him. Then she securely ties his hands together with the
bedsheets, which are red with blood. Blood is everywhere but far
from feeling disgust she feels a rush of heady exhilaration.
Leaving him rocking on the bed in silent, impotent agony, she
feels around on the blood-slick carpet until she finds what she's
looking for. Then she climbs back on the bed and smiles into her
tormentor's eyes. "Tell me," she demands. "Was Sister Delphine
one of your slaves too? If you answer me honestly I will call the
doctor." She feels giddy with power as she waves his severed penis
in front of his horrified eyes. "You can still save this. Did you
rape her too?"
He stares at the deflated, bloody slug nestling in the palm of
her hand.
"
Tell me! Nod for yes
."
Slowly he nods.
"Good." She pulls the pillowcase out of his mouth, but as he
opens his lips to scream she pushes his severed manhood into his
mouth and stuffs the pillowcase back in after it. "Who's the slave
now?" she asks, looking into his protruding eyeballs, hearing him
gag and splutter as he fights for breath.
Calmly she watches his death throes, feeling a rush of satisfac
tion when his pupils flicker for the last time. Satisfied he's dead,
she gets off the bed and using the bloody knife blade writes on the
still-white part of the bedsheets
: An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Then she takes off her bloody clothes, showers in the bath
room, cleans the knife, and puts on her clean set of clothing. She
bundles the bloody clothes back in the plastic bag. Maria takes
one last look at the carnage, satisfied that justice has been done.
Then, not bothering to close Father Angelo's staring eyes, she
leaves.
It is only as she walks down the corridor that she sees the sil
houette of a man waiting in the shadows by Father Angelo's room.
She pulls the scarf tighter around her face and tries to ignore him
as she flees from the hotel. But on the ride home she senses she
is being followed.
Back at the orphanage she feels safe again. She has replaced
the knife and bike, put the blood-soaked clothes deep in the pile
of laundry, and crept back into bed. She even thinks she may have
imagined the man in the shadows. She was only out of her bed
for fifty-five minutes. There is
no way anyone can know she killed Father Angelo.
But a week later, when Mother Clemenza summons her, Maria
discovers she was wrong.
The toad has been in a state of shock ever since Sister Delphine
committed suicide and Father Angelo's body was discovered. But
that doesn't explain the strange way she acts when Maria enters
her study. The toad is warm, almost maternal. Maria can only
assume it has something to do with the wizened man with black
eyes sitting opposite her in a dark suit. The toad smiles and ges
tures obsequiously to the small man.
"Hello, Maria. You have a visitor." She says it as though Maria
is so popular she has visitors all the time. "This gentleman wants
to talk to you."
Maria's heart freezes. She can guess what the man wants to
talk to her about. But what clue could she have left at the scene
to lead him to her? How could this man possibly know she killed
Father Angelo?
The toad suddenly stands and walks to the door of the study.
"Well, I'm sure you have lots to talk about. So I'll leave you."
The man stands out of courtesy and says, "I would rather not
be disturbed." His voice makes the words sound like an order.
Mother Clemenza wipes her palms on her robes and smiles
nervously. "As you wish."
Maria is amazed. Mother Clemenza has never vacated her study
for anyone before--not even Father Angelo.
When the toad has closed the door behind her the man intro
duces himself and gestures for her to sit behind the desk.
"
But that's the Mother Superior's chair
."
The black eyes wrinkle mischievously. "I won't tell her if you
don't."
She smiles at him and begins to relax. Perhaps he's come about
something else? Then just as she sits down he says the words that
make her knees go weak.
"
Maria, I know you killed Father Angelo. One of my friends
saw you enter and leave his room at the time he was murdered
."
She slumps in the toad's chair and looks down at her feet.
There's obviously no point in denying it. "He was evil. God wanted
me to avenge him. He raped me three times and made Sister Del
phine kill herself." She says the words automatically, knowing
they won't be believed.
"I know," she hears him say. "Father Angelo was indeed an evil
man who deserved to die."
Stunned, she looks up and sees him smiling at her. It is a smile
of affection and understanding--the kind a father might give an
errant daughter. She is surprised to feel a lump in her throat, and
the sting of tears behind her eyes.