God's Spy by Juan Gómez-Jurado Read Free Book Online Page B

photographs when Fowler spoke again.
‘It’s from the Bible – the New Testament, to be precise.’
‘What?’ Pontiero was surprised.
Dicanti raised her head and looked at Fowler. ‘Would you mind explaining yourself?’
‘MT 6. The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter sixteen. Did he leave another note?’
Pontiero looked upset. ‘Paola, you’re not really going to pay any attention to this guy . . .’
‘We’re all ears.’
Fowler stepped into the conference room. He carried a black overcoat draped on his arm, which he laid over a chair.
‘As everyone knows, the Christian New Testament is made up of four principal books, one for each of the Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In Christian bibliographies, the book of Matthew is abbreviated as MT and the number that follows represents the chapter. The next two numbers indicate a citation in that chapter, between two verses.’
‘The killer left this.’
Paola placed item number four, wrapped in plastic, in front of him. The priest studied it closely. He gave no indication that he recognised it, nor did the blood upset him. He simply examined it thoroughly and then said:
‘Nineteen. How appropriate.’
Pontiero was about to boil over. ‘Are you going to tell us what you know now, or are you going to make us wait around, padre?’
‘Et tibi dabo claves regni coelorum,’ Fowler recited. ‘Et quodcumque ligaveris super terram, erit legatum et in coelis; et quodcumque solveris super terram, erit solutum et in coelis. “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew sixteen, verse nineteen. That is to say, the words with which Jesus confirmed Peter as the leader of the apostles, and awarded him and his successors power over the whole of Christendom.’
‘Holy Mother of God!’ Dicanti exclaimed.
‘Considering what is about to take place in this city, ladies and gentlemen, I think that you ought to be worried. Very worried.’
‘Shit, some crazy vagabond slits the throat of a priest and you’re ready to sound the alarm. It doesn’t sound all that scary to me, Father Fowler,’ said Pontiero.
‘No, my friend. The killer isn’t just some crazy vagabond. He’s a cruel man, methodical and intelligent, and he’s extremely disturbed. Take my word for it.’
‘Really? Seems like you know a great deal about his motives, padre.’ Pontiero was mocking their visitor.
The priest fixed Dicanti with a steady gaze. ‘I know much more than that, gentlemen. I know who he is.’
    Article from the Maryland Gazette, 29 July 1999, page 7
AMERICAN PRIEST ACCUSED OF SEXUAL ABUSE COMMITS SUICIDE
    Sachem Pike, Maryland – As sexual abuse scandals continue to rock the Catholic Church in North America, a Connecticut priest accused of sexually abusing minors hanged himself in his room at an institution for troubled clergy, according to a report police made to the American Press service last Friday.
    Peter Selznick, 61 years old, relinquished his position as parish priest at Saint Andrews in Bridgeport, Connecticut on 27 April of last year, just one day after authorities in the Catholic Church interviewed two men who claimed Selznick had abused them over the course of several years, from the end of the 1970s to the early 1980s, according to a spokesman for the Bridgeport Diocese.
    The priest was being treated at the Saint Matthew Institute in Maryland, a psychiatric centre that deals with members of the clergy who have been accused of sexual abuse or have ‘problems in sexual orientation’, according to a statement from the institution.
    ‘Hospital personnel knocked on his door several times and attempt ed to enter his room, but something was blocking the door,’ Diane Richardson, spokesperson for the Prince George police department, stated at a press conference. ‘When they entered the room, they found the body