Bill Franks: Jesuit

Graham was becoming resigned to surprises being thrown at him by the remarkable Jesuit. Aside from the disturbing effect he had on everyone, he took his activities to be no less than normal and everyday. “Yes. I have been told of the benefits you have bestowed upon sufferers and I am fully aware of the effect you have on people. However, in my view, and in the view of any sane person, your wrongdoings far outweigh the good.”

“Are you saying I am mad, Inspector?”

Graham paused before answering. “No, Brother Saviour. I do not regard you as insane. I think you have been fully aware of your actions and fully in control of yourself when carrying out the deeds.” That was particularly for the tapes. There could be no plea for “balance of the mind being disturbed” or anything of that nature at a later date.

Immediately returning to the subject, Ignatious began again to talk about the murders. “I relieved the poor girl from her suffering. The girl, Debbie, in the lovely Penn. She was grossly unhappy until she met me. I put her mind at rest, gave her confidence and then allowed her the greatest experience of all; I sent her to her Maker.”

Ignatious went on to describe the meeting with Debbie, the words he had spoken to her and how he had carried out the killing. Admitting to having performed sex with the girl, he said that she needed the act in order to restore her self-esteem and to feel truly fulfilled. At the time she was ‘dispatched,’ as Ignatious put it, she was at the very height of contentment and perfect for the Lord. In reply to the next, obvious question, he had replied: “No, Detective Inspector, it was not from any sexual urge on my part. I merely granted her desires and carried out my duties to the Creator.”

Without prompting, the Jesuit then moved on to his next victim, the unfortunate teacher, Lawrence Maddigan. By chance, he had overheard a group of schoolboys, lounging outside the school premises, chatting and giggling. The object of their attention had been Maddigan. One of the group had openly admitted having performed sex acts on him in return for a five, or ten-pound note, dependent on the act performed. Although Maddigan had tried to persuade him with the promise of more money, he had refused to ‘go all the way.’ The boys broke up on seeing the teacher coming from the school building.

Ignatious approached Maddigan as he left the school gates and told him of the children’s conversation. Explaining his profession and the mission upon which he was engaged, Ignatious arranged to meet the teacher on the following day, to go for a stroll into the countryside where he would offer words of comfort and advice. He liked the man. He appeared as a genuine, warm-hearted person who had been saddled with an unnatural affliction and who was deeply troubled by it.

On meeting as arranged, they had found a secluded spot where Ignatious poured out his wisdom, offering solace and encouragement, reassuring the man in his tortured mind. Finally, Ignatious had acceded to Maddigan’s request and secured him, naked, between two saplings. He had then fashioned a birch-type lash from the surrounding vegetation and proceeded to scourge the sinner until he was near to unconsciousness.

The beating had been administered to the entire length of the body, front and back, including the genitals, causing deep lacerations and removal of some of the skin and flesh. As Maddigan slumped, groaning, Ignatious had decided that the teacher had been completely purged of his sins and so was ready and fit to meet the Lord. The body was so damaged that the insertion of the ‘needle’ into one of the lacerations, gave no sensation whatever. However, the poison, named by the Jesuit as Gelsemium, caused a short but spectacular reaction and Lawrence Maddigan hung dead in his bonds, at peace forever.

“Was the attack brought about because the man was of a homosexual nature, rather than at his request?” asked Graham.

Saviour looked surprised. “Why, no. A person’s sexual orientation means nothing to me.”

“It didn’t bother you, then, that he abused little boys?” The hint of sarcasm could not be kept from Graham’s voice.

“Yes. It did. However, it is not for me to judge and the man did seek advice. He was not happy with his urges. Same-sex activity is against the Lord’s wishes and intentions, of course. He created Man to procreate so that, with the numbers increasing throughout time, amazing developments could come about — as they indeed have — and an awareness of the Greater Being would become fully integrated into the soul.

The nature of things is so designed that the female is attractive and acquiescent to the more dominant of the species — the male — and will bear him children. Males are designed by the Lord to impregnate as many females as is their wish, whilst females are designed to seek out as many males as they desire with the sole purpose of producing offspring. It is the development of various cultures and the unworthy dominance of many religions that have resulted in modern-day restrictions.

The sexual act is engineered to be highly pleasurable and there is no wrong in using the act for that purpose, whether productive or not. Same-sex activity is brought about by flaws in the genetic make up, sometimes merely a psychological problem, and is therefore a mistake in nature and against what is normal. As such, it is, by definition, a perversion and an impurity, which the Lord cannot accept into His Kingdom.”

“Do you believe, then, that genetically imperfect people cannot be received into Heaven?”

“No. The good Lord will cure all, in the hereafter. That means, upon death, the soul of the afflicted is purified.”

The interview was again slipping into a sermon and, interested though Graham was in the priest’s beliefs, he wanted to keep to the matter in hand. However, it gave an insight into the next murder, that of Mary Stewart.

This time, the Jesuit related the events without slipping into any rhetoric. The woman was troubled, he’d calmed her, given her self-belief, then sent her to the Holy Virgin by injecting liquid Opium into her arm. He seemed to derive some pleasure from describing in detail the movements of the victim after the dose had been administered. On the question of the sexual activity, it had been as before; merely pandering to the sinners wishes, bringing to her “The Staff of God.”

Thomas Singleton was, indeed, a sinner. A wretched man who had deserted his wife and daughter for another woman — his wife’s best friend! He had further sullied himself by indulging in sex in the marital bed. However, the death of his daughter had made him re-think his life and given him the notion that, had he stayed at home, she would now be alive. This was very hard for him to come to terms with and he suffered immensely from it. At the same time as bringing him contentment, Ignatious had decided that punishment was also due and so the poison given caused a more prolonged death, stage by stage.

The silence of the other persons in the small room was total, all listening with fascination to the calm, controlled Jesuit as he described the murders. It was as though he was presenting a report to the Annual General Meeting of some multi-national company. Whenever Ignatious’s stare fell upon any of those present, whether the PC at the door, McArdle or Clive, they had the immediate urge to fall to their knees and beg forgiveness! Deliberately avoiding the Jesuit’s eyes, Graham managed to keep a clear head and was able to put the relevant questions at the proper stages.

Finally, Ignatious reached the thirteen-year-old Emma Fairweather. Her mistake that day was to be a pleasant and pretty young girl. She qualified for God’s bosom on that alone. He had been so nice to her, so concerned and caring, and yet he had ended her life as easily as buttering bread. He’d even fixed her bike after she was dead! As with each victim, death had been administered by poison, but this time the substance was unknown, one that he had discovered when in the Amazon.