‘I don’t understand what you’re asking.’ Gunter was confused.
‘What was he doing? Why did he found the Society of Jesus? What was the purpose? Do you have to take some special course to join the society? Is it enough to know someone? No one does anything for free, right, Jean-Paul?’
‘Nobody, Inspector.’
‘What was his deal?’ Gavache insisted.
Gunter didn’t know how to answer. It was a very strange question.
‘Saint Ignatius was a Spaniard and — ’ Jacopo was ready to give another history lesson.
‘Please, Mr. Jacopo,’ Gavache interrupted, lighting a cigarette and exhaling smoke into the holy air of the church. ‘We have a Jesuit here. I’d prefer some inside information, if you don’t mind.’
According to Father Gunter, Ignatius Loyola was born in 1491 in the town of Loyola, near San Sebastian, in Basque country. He became a soldier and was seriously wounded in the Battle of Pamplona, which occurred during the Italian War when Francis the First of France and Charles the Fifth of Spain were fighting over the Holy Roman Empire. This was in 1521. Loyola spent months recovering and began to read books about Jesus, saints, the road to God. These readings influenced him greatly.
‘Books have always been a bad influence,’ Gavache added, sending a cloud of smoke into the air.
When Loyola recovered his health, he secretly left his father’s house and dedicated his life to God. First in the Monastery of Montserrat, where he confessed over the course of three days. Then he abandoned his elegant clothes and decided to live a life of poverty in the monastery of Manresa. He wasn’t a monk; he only occupied one of the cells as a guest. He supported himself by begging and not eating meat or drinking wine, and visited the hospital, and brought food to those who suffered. He underwent tests of his soul, visions, and spiritual experiences. In 1523 he decided to ask permission from the pope to go to the Holy Land to convert the infidels. He obtained a pontifical passport and, once in Venice, headed for Jerusalem. He planned to live there, but the Franciscans would not permit it, so he returned to Europe, to Barcelona.
‘When was that?’ Gavache asked.
‘In 1524.’
‘How could someone so resolute, who asks for a passport from the pope and wants to live in the Holy Land, be convinced to return so quickly?’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘What I said. Deciding to live his life someplace and only staying a few months, simply because somebody didn’t want him there…’ He let the question hang over them. ‘Not a good story.’
‘That’s your opinion.’
‘Why didn’t the Franciscans want him there?’
‘We don’t know.’
‘Well, then.’
‘He entered the University of Alcala de Henares on the outskirts of Madrid, founded by Cardinal Cisneros in the sixteenth century and known today as the Complutense of Madrid. He studied Latin, but his preaching and begging brought him to the attention of the Holy Inquisition.’
Gavache smiled at the mention of the Holy Inquisition.
‘He was a prisoner for a month and a half, but they found nothing bad in his writings or what he preached. They freed him, but he was forbidden to preach and had to dress better. He appealed to the archbishop of Toledo, who upheld the prohibition, but let him enroll in the University of Salamanca. Again, he was arrested by the Inquisition. He decided to leave for Paris, where he entered the university in 1528. He studied theology and literature, becoming a teacher in 1533. In 1534 he founded the society with six followers. The intention was to go to Jerusalem, but first he needed the permission of the pope. Paul the Third approved his voyage and consented to ordain them priests. The war that broke out between the Papal States, Venice, and the Turks delayed the journey to the Holy Land, so Ignatius remained in Rome. Paul the Third, who needed missionaries for the Americas and the Orient, verbally approved the new order on September 3, 1539, and a year later confirmed it with the papal Regimini militantis Ecclesiae, which contained the statutes of the Society of Jesus. Thus it was officially born.’
‘And what happened to the saint?’
‘He was named first superior general of the Society of Jesus. His work continued. He founded the Roman College, on donations alone, with the purpose of offering free education. Paul the Sixth made his life a little difficult, and he found himself in economic difficulties, but Gregory the Thirteenth, twenty-five years after the death of Loyola, maintained and supported the project, and that’s why today we call the ancient Roman College the Pontifical Gregorian University. Ignatius died in Rome on July 31, 1556. He left one thousand Jesuits in one hundred and ten places with thirty-five colleges. He was canonized in 1622 by Gregory the Fifteenth.’
Gunter was like a student nervously reciting a report and afraid to make a mistake. Gavache was silent, looking at the floor.
‘That’s the official history. What about the secret one?’ Gavache finally said.
‘Excuse me?’
‘The secret one. The history you don’t tell anyone, but pass along secretly.’
‘I assure you this is the history of Saint Ignatius. There are no secrets, and we’re talking about a saint from the sixteenth century. He did not commit the crimes against Zafer and Hammal,’ Gunter joked, though he sounded serious.
Gavache didn’t challenge the remark. Actually he ignored it completely. ‘We’ve got too many nationalities now.’
Gunter shrugged. What did the Frenchman mean by that?
‘Someone killed the Turk, a German, and maybe a Spaniard. The Vatican sent me two Italians who brought me to a German in French territory to see if the murderer belongs to a society of another Spaniard who lived in the sixteenth century. What a lot of shit — ’
‘If you’ll permit me, Inspector,’ Gunter interrupted, ‘I don’t think we have anything to do with this.’
Gavache blew a puff into the air. ‘A lot of pieces are missing in this puzzle. And I need to find out if Zafer and Hammal knew each other. Worked together. If they ever saw each other’s faces.’ He looked at Rafael. ‘I need you in this department.’
Rafael agreed. There was something about Gavache that made him want to help. Perhaps his iron will to find the killer of his friend.
At that moment a cell phone rang. It was Gavache’s, and he took it out to answer. He listened and said a few phrases in French in his nasal, firm voice. When he disconnected, he looked at them with wide eyes.
‘The lab managed to decipher part of the recording. There’s a name.’ He looked at all of them at the same time, as if wanting to capture their reactions simultaneously. ‘Does Ben Isaac mean anything to you?’
Gunter prostrated himself on the floor of the church. Rafael showed no reaction. Jacopo looked at Gavache openmouthed.
‘God help us,’ Jacopo said, sitting down in the nearest pew.
‘It’s never too late to start believing,’ Gavache offered ironically.
21
Francesco couldn’t imagine making the trip to Ascoli without Sarah. To make the scene more troubling, he didn’t know what had happened to her. They were supposed to be going the next day to meet his mother. It was important.
‘Not even a phone call to let me know you’re okay?’ he sighed to himself, annoyed. Had something happened to her?
He pressed his cell phone to his ear with his shoulder while holding the hotel phone in his other hand. Someone must know something.
‘Sarah, let me know if you get this message. I’m getting really worried.’
He shouldn’t have let her leave without finding out where she was going. He’d looked out the window and seen her get into an imposing Mercedes. They went up Via Cavour and were lost to sight. From there they could have gone anywhere. She wasn’t coerced. She got in willingly. Still, he’d tried to read the license plate, but he was too high up to make it out.
This had happened five hours earlier. Five hours was a long time. Enough to cross the entire continent. He hung up his cell and took the earpiece from his ear. He laid his hand on the other phone to give his shoulder a rest and continued to wait.