Redemption aka A Conspiracy of Faith

25

The worst thing that could ever happen had happened, and Rachel was devastated.

Satan had materialized in their midst and punished them for their wantonness. How could she have allowed a total stranger to take her two darling children, and on this holy day? Yesterday, they should have been quietly absorbed in Bible study in preparation for the bliss of the Sabbath. They should have folded their hands together in the hour of rest and allowed the spirit of the Mother of God to descend upon them and bring them peace.

And now? God had thrust His arm out at them like a thunderbolt. They had succumbed to all the temptations resisted by the sacred Virgin Mary. Flattery, the disguises of the Devil, empty words.

Their punishment had come promptly. Magdalena and Samuel had fallen into the power of the sinner. A night and a day had passed, and they could do nothing.

And Rachel felt the shame. Exactly as she had done when she had been raped and no one came to her aid. Only then she had been able to do something. Now she was powerless.

“You must raise the money, Joshua,” she implored her husband. “You must!”

He looked ill. The whites of his eyes merged with the pallor of his face. “But we haven’t got it, Rachel. I made the voluntary tax payment the day before yesterday, you know that. One million at a good rate of interest, like we always do.” He buried his face in his hands. “Like we always do, in the name of Jesus. Just like we always do!”

“Joshua, you heard what he said on the phone. If we don’t raise the money, he’ll kill them!”

“We must go to the congregation.”

“NO!” Her scream was so loud their youngest daughter began to cry in the next room. “He took our children and now you will get them back, do you understand? If you tell anyone, we’ll never see them again, ever. I’m certain.”

He turned his head toward her. “How do you know, Rachel? Perhaps he’s bluffing. Perhaps we should go to the police.”

“What do you know about the police? The police may be in the pay of the Devil. And how can you be sure he won’t find out? How can you be sure?”

“Our friends, then. People in the congregation would keep it secret. If we stand together in this, we can raise the money.”

“What if he’s there outside when you go to them? What if he has helpers among us? He was so close to us, and yet we failed to see his true self. How can you be certain there are no others like him? How, Joshua?”

She looked across at their youngest daughter, now standing in the doorway, clutching at the frame with tears running down her cheeks.

He had to find a way.

“Joshua, you must do something,” she said again, getting up from the table. She kneeled in front of her little girl and held her head in her hands.

“You mustn’t despair, Sarah. The Mother of Jesus will watch over Magdalena and Samuel. But you must pray so that they may be helped. And if this has happened because of something we did that we weren’t supposed to, then we shall receive forgiveness when we pray. That’s what you must do, my love.”

She saw the girl react at the mention of forgiveness. How her eyes yearned for it. There was something she wanted to say, but her mouth would not open.

“What’s wrong, Sarah? Is there something you want to tell Mummy?”

Sarah’s mouth twisted, and her lips began to quiver. Something was the matter.

“Does it have to do with the man?”

The girl nodded, and now her tears began to flow.

Rachel held her breath instinctively. “What is it? Tell me!”

The girl was frightened by the sudden harshness of her mother’s voice but began to speak regardless. “I did something you said I shouldn’t.”

“What was it, Sarah? Tell Mummy.”

“I looked in the photo album during the hour of rest while you were all in the kitchen with your Bibles. I’m so sorry, Mummy. I know it was wrong of me.”

“Oh, Sarah.” Rachel’s face dropped. “Is that all?”

Her daughter shook her head. “I saw the picture of the man who took Magdalena and Samuel. Is that why it happened? Is it because he’s the Devil, and I looked at him?”

Rachel inhaled deeply. This was something she didn’t know. “Are you saying there’s a photograph of him?”

Sarah sniffled. “Yes, outside the congregation hall when we all had our picture taken at Johanna’s and Dina’s initiation ceremony.”

Was he really on that photograph?

“Where is that picture, Sarah? I want you to show it to me, now!”

Obediently, the girl showed her the album and picked out the photograph.

Rachel’s heart sank. It’s useless, she said to herself. No help at all.

She considered the photo with disgust, removed it from its pocket, stroked her daughter’s hair, comforting her, telling her she was forgiven. And then she turned back into the kitchen and slapped the photograph down on the table in front of the slumped figure of her husband.

“Here’s our tormentor, Joshua.” Her finger pointed to a barely visible head in the back row. He had managed to stand half concealed behind the man in front and was looking away from the camera. If she hadn’t known it was him, it could have been anyone.

“You’re going to the tax authorities first thing in the morning to tell them that that payment you made was a mistake. Tell them we need the money back right away, otherwise we’ll go bankrupt. Do you understand me, Joshua? First thing in the morning.”

Monday came and she gazed out of the window at the dawn as it broke over Dollerup Church. Long, dazzling rays of sunlight poked through the morning mist. The proffered hand of God in all His splendor. How could He enjoin her to bear such a cross? And how could she allow herself to even ask such a question? The Lord worked in mysterious ways. She knew that.

She tightened her lips to stave off tears, folded her hands, and closed her eyes.

All night she had prayed, the way she did so often within the comfort of the congregation, but this time peace was not forthcoming. This was the testing time, Job’s hour of destiny, and the pain seemed endless.

By the time the sun lay nestled in the abundance of clouds and Joshua had driven off to the local authority to try to retrieve the business’s voluntary tax payment, her strength was almost gone.

“Josef, you must stay home from school and look after your sisters,” she had told her eldest. She needed Miriam and Sarah out of the way in order to get herself together.

When Joshua returned, he would, God willing, have the money with him. They had agreed he would pay the check into the Vestjysk Bank and instruct them to distribute the funds to their various accounts with Nordea, Danske Bank, Jyske Bank, Sparekassen Kronjylland, and Almindelig Brand Bank. All told, that would allow for cash payments of some one hundred and sixty-five thousand kroner from each bank, which ought not to provoke comment. Any new banknotes would have to be made grubby and creased and then mixed in with used notes from the other withdrawals so that the fiend who had taken their children would not suspect them of passing him marked notes.

She booked seats on the evening’s InterCity connection arriving in Odense at 7:29 P.M., then onward with the express to Copenhagen. And then she waited for her husband. She was expecting him some time between twelve and one o’clock, but he came back at half past ten.

“The money, Joshua. Did you get the money?” she asked, though she knew, just by looking at him, that he had failed.

“It wasn’t that straightforward, Rachel. I knew it wouldn’t be,” he replied, his voice feeble. “The people at the local authority were helpful, but the account belongs to the tax authorities, so it would take some time. This is so terrible.”

“You insisted, Joshua, didn’t you? Tell me you insisted? We haven’t got all day. The banks close at four.” Now she was desperate. “What did you say to them? Tell me!”

“I said I had to get the money back. That the payment was a mistake. We were having problems with our IT system, I said, and had lost control of our payments. Money had been going into the wrong accounts and invoices were getting lost in the system. I told them we’d had suppliers on the phone this morning and that if we didn’t pay what was outstanding we’d be losing them. I explained to them that the financial crisis has got suppliers feeling the squeeze and that they’d soon be reclaiming their harvesters and selling them off to others at a discount. I told them we’d be losing our leasing advantage, that it was going to end up costing us a packet, and that it was a critical time for us, too.”

“Oh, Lord. Did you have to make it so complicated, Joshua? Why?”

“It was just all I could come up with.” He sat down heavily on a chair and slapped the empty briefcase down on the table. “I’m under pressure too, Rachel. I can’t think straight. I didn’t sleep at all last night.”

“Dear God, what are we to do?”

“We must go to the congregation. What else can we do?”

She tightened her lips and thought again of Magdalena and Samuel. Poor, innocent children. What on earth had they done to deserve such punishment?

They had made sure their pastor would be at home and were putting on their coats to go and see him when the doorbell rang.

Rachel wasn’t going to answer, but her husband opened the door without thinking.

They didn’t know the woman standing on the step with a folder in her hand, and neither did they wish to speak to her.

“Isabel Jønsson. I’m from the local authority,” she announced, stepping into the hallway.

Rachel felt hope stirring. The woman had brought the necessary papers for them to sign. She had sorted everything out. Perhaps her husband hadn’t been so stupid, after all.

“Come in. We can sit here in the kitchen,” she said, relieved.

“I see you’re on your way out. It needn’t be now. I can come back tomorrow if that would be more convenient?”

Rachel sensed the clouds begin to gather as they sat down at the kitchen table. So the woman couldn’t be here to help them get their money back at all. If she was, she would know how imperative it was. Why not just get to the point? She had said it needn’t be now. What kind of a thing was that to say?

“I work in IT, as part of the business consultancy team. My colleagues informed me you were having some rather serious problems with your systems, so I’ve come to help.” She smiled and handed them her card: Isabel Jønsson, IT Consultant, Viborg Municipality. This was the last thing they needed right now.

“I’m sorry,” Rachel said after a moment, realizing that her husband was reluctant to take charge. “It’s awfully nice of you, but I’m afraid it’s a bad time for us. We’re very busy.”

She thought that would be enough and that the woman would make her apologies and leave, but instead she remained seated, staring at the table as though she were fastened to the chair. As though she would use whatever means necessary to enforce the right of the public authorities to poke their noses in.

Rachel stood up and flashed her husband a harsh look. “We need to be getting on, Joshua. We’re in a hurry, remember?” She turned to the woman. “So, if you’ll excuse us…”

But the woman didn’t move. And that was when Rachel saw that what she was staring at was the photo Sarah had found in the album. The photo that had been lying on the table to remind them that in any flock there could be a Judas.

“Do you know this man?” the woman asked.

They looked at her in bewilderment. “What man?” Rachel asked in turn.

“This one here,” the woman replied, placing her finger underneath the man’s head.

Rachel sensed danger. The same way she had on that dreadful afternoon in the village near Baobli when the soldiers had asked her the way.

The tone of voice. The situation.

It was all wrong.

“You must go now,” Rachel told her. “We’re busy.”

But the woman wasn’t going anywhere. “Do you know him?” she repeated.

So now another devil had been sent to them. Another devil in an angel’s guise.

Rachel stood in front of her, clenching her fists at her sides. “I know who you are and I want you to leave, now. Do you think I don’t realize he sent you, that monster? Get out. You know how little time we’ve got.”

And then she felt everything keeping her together inside fall to pieces. Suddenly she was unable to hold back the tears as rage and impotence took over and dragged her down. “GET OUT!” she screamed, her eyes closed and her hands clutching at her breast.

The woman rose, putting her hands on Rachel’s shoulders and shaking her gently until she looked up. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but believe me, if anyone has reason to hate this man, it’s me.”

Rachel opened her eyes wide and saw that it was true. Behind the woman’s calm gaze, hostility smoldered, its embers glowing deep inside her.

“What has he done?” the woman asked. “Tell me what he did to you, and I’ll tell you all I know about him.”

The woman knew him, and her encounter with him had been anything but happy. That much was plain. The question was whether she could help them. Rachel doubted it. Only money could help, and soon it would be too late.

“Tell us. But hurry, or we’ll go.”

“His name’s Mads Fog. Mads Christian Fog.”

Rachel shook her head. “He told us his name was Lars. Lars Sørensen.”

The woman nodded deliberately. “OK, it’s possible both names are assumed. When I met him, he was calling himself Mikkel Laust. But I’ve seen documents, and I found an address, a house in the name of Mads Christian Fog. I think that’s his real name.”

Rachel gasped for air. Had the Mother of God heard her prayers? She looked again into the woman’s eyes. Could they trust her?

“What address? Where?” Joshua’s face had taken on a bluish-white tinge. This was obviously too much for him.

“A place in Nordsjælland, near Skibby. Ferslev, it’s called. I’ve got the exact address at home.”

“How do you know this?” Rachel’s voice trembled. She wanted to believe it, but could she?

“He was staying with me until Saturday. I kicked him out on Saturday morning.”

Rachel covered her mouth with her hand in order not to hyperventilate. This was all so terrible. He had come to them directly from this woman’s home.

She looked up at the clock with a dreadful sense of fear, forcing herself to listen to the woman’s account of how the man had exploited her, enthralled her with his charm, only to change in an instant.

Rachel recognized the man Isabel described, and when she had finished, Rachel looked across at her husband. For a moment, he seemed far away, as though trying to put everything into some perspective. Then finally he nodded. They should tell her, his eyes said. This woman was on their side.

So Rachel took Isabel’s hand in hers. “What I’m about to tell you, you must not tell a single person in the entire world, do you understand? Not yet, at least. We’re telling you because we think you can help us.”

“If it’s something criminal, I can’t guarantee you anything.”

“It is. But we’re not the criminals. He is, the man you kicked out. And what he’s done…” She took a deep breath, noticing for the first time that her voice was shaking. “What he’s done is the worst thing anyone could do to a family. He’s kidnapped two of our children. And if you tell anyone, he’ll kill them. Do you understand?”

Twenty minutes had passed, and never in her life had Isabel been held in the grip of shock for so long. Now she saw everything as it was. The man who had been living with her, and whom for a brief, intense period she had taken to be a possible life partner, was a monster most likely capable of anything at all. She felt it now, as her senses recalled his hands on her body. Just a little too strong, too competent almost. She realized how fatal his entry into her life could have been. And her mouth went dry as she thought back to the moment when she had revealed to him that she had been gathering information on him. What if he had attacked her there and then, before she managed to tell him that she had passed on everything she knew to her brother on the force? What if he had discovered that she was bluffing? That she would never dream of involving her brother in her erotically derived catastrophes?

She hardly dared think about it.

She looked at these people and shared their pain. Oh, how she hated that man. And she vowed that regardless of what it might cost, he would not get away.

“Listen, I can help you. My brother’s a policeman. He’s in the traffic police, but we can get him to put out a description. That way we can spread the word, cover the whole country in no time at all. I’ve got the number of his van. I can describe everything in detail.”

But the woman in front of her shook her head. She wanted to agree, but couldn’t. “I told you, you’re not to tell anyone. You promised,” she said after a moment. “Now we’ve got four hours before the banks close, and we need to raise a million kroner. We can’t sit here any longer.”

“But listen to me. If we leave now, we can be at his address in less than four hours.”

Again, Rachel shook her head. “What makes you think he took the children there? Surely that would be the stupidest thing he could do? My children might be anywhere at all. He may have taken them over the border. Anything can get through these days. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Isabel nodded. “You’re right.” She looked at the husband. “Have you got a mobile phone?”

Joshua pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Here,” he said.

“Is it fully charged?”

He nodded.

“Have you got one, too, Rachel?”

“Yes,” was all she said.

“I think we should split into two teams. Joshua should try to raise the ransom, and we’ll drive to Sjælland. We need to do it now!”

The couple looked at each other for a moment. This unlikely pair-Isabel understood them only too well. She had no children of her own, and that was cause for grief enough in itself. How must it feel to realize you were about to lose those you had, that you might fail to save them?

“We need a million kroner,” said Joshua. “We’re good for more, but we can’t just go to the bank and ask them to give us the money, and certainly not in cash. A couple of years ago, maybe, when things were different. But not now. The only place we can go to is our congregation. It’s a risk, but it’s our only chance of getting the money.” He looked at her urgently. His breathing was shaky, his lips a little blue. “Unless you can help us. I think you can, if you want to.”

Here, for the first time, she saw the real person behind the name, so well known for the efficient running of his business. One of the best taxpayers in Viborg Municipality.

“Call your superiors,” he said with sadness in his eyes. “Tell them to call the tax authorities. Tell them we’ve made a mistake with our voluntary payment and that they need to return the amount to our account immediately. Can you do that?”

And suddenly the ball was in her court.

When she had gone to work that morning, three hours ago, she had still been feeling stunned. Out of sorts and in a foul mood. Self-pity had been her only momentum. Now she could hardly recognize those emotions. At this moment, she was prepared to act, to do anything necessary. Even if it cost her her job.

Even if it cost her more.

“Let me go into another room,” she said. “I’ll be as quick as I can, but it may take some time.”