VV:
Your name?
UF:
Ulriche Fischer.
VV:
Age, place of residence and occupation?
UF:
Forty-one. I live in Stamberg and work in the Pure Life church.
VV:
Doing what?
UF:
Various things, mostly practical chores.
VV:
Are you married?
UF:
No.
VV:
What are your tasks here at the camp?
UF:
We share all the work. Cooking, washing up, laundry and cleaning. We assist Yellinek, of course.
VV:
Do you partake in the teaching of the girls?
UF:
Yes, at times.
VV:
In what way?
UF:
I’ve no intention of talking to you about that kind of thing.
VV:
Why not?
[Five seconds of silence.]
VV:
Has Yellinek forbidden it?
[Silence.]
VV:
How long have you been a member of this sect?
UF:
I’ve been in the Pure Life since 1987.
VV:
Are you in a sexual relationship with Yellinek?
[Silence.]
VV:
If you continue refusing to answer my questions, I’ll take you away from here and subject you to an entirely different kind of cross-examination.
UF:
That’s up to you, Chief Inspector.
VV:
Is it true that you dabble in driving out devils?
UF:
Those are your words, not mine.
VV:
What the hell do you mean by that?
UF:
I’d be grateful if you didn’t swear in my presence.
VV:
Yellinek was found guilty of indecency and illegal compulsion six years ago. What do you have to say about that?
UF:
It was an unjust verdict. There is a higher authority.
VV:
Can you explain this principle of purity?
UF:
I don’t think you would be receptive to my teaching.
VV:
But your little girls are receptive?
[Silence.]
VV:
Is it not the case that Yellinek’s ideas are so infantile that they are most suited to children and the mentally retarded?
UF:
You are insolent. I had expected more correct behaviour.
VV:
Now listen here. Your church is based upon three principles. Prayer, self-denial and purity. I ask you to explain one of these principles, and you choose to remain silent. What the hell do you expect me to think?
UF:
You can think whatever you like. It’s up to every individual to decide how to deal with the big questions, and what to make of their lives.
The chief inspector reached out his hand and switched off the tape recorder.
Why do I lose control so quickly? he wondered.
Is it just the heat and the feeling of impotence, or is there more to it? He pressed fast forward; the rest of the conversation with Ulriche Fischer had proceeded with neither of them trusting the other, he was well aware of that, and nothing had emerged that could support the theory that a girl had disappeared.
It took him some time to find the right place on the tape. Before continuing he finished his simple meal and lit a cigarette. Adjusted the pillows and leaned back in order to concentrate better on the conversation with Mathilde Ubrecht. It was a bit more fruitful, he suspected. But perhaps not so much.
It depended what you were looking for, of course.
MU:
My name is Mathilde Ubrecht. Thirty-six. I work for the Pure Life church.
VV:
Thank you. Do you know why I want to talk to you?
MU:
I think so.
VV:
The police have been tipped off that a girl has disappeared from the camp. Do you understand that we have to investigate that information?
MU:
Yes. But nobody has disappeared.
VV:
You’re sure of that?
MU:
Yes.
VV:
May I ask you a hypothetical question?
MU:
Please do.
VV:
If it was in the interests of your church, would you feel able to tell lies in a police cross-examination or in a court?
MU:
I don’t understand the question.
VV:
All right, I’ll re-word it. If Oscar Yellinek urged you to say certain things to me, would you do so even if you knew they were lies?
MU:
I don’t believe that Yellinek would do such a thing.
VV:
What do you think of Oscar Yellinek?
MU:
He’s a great man.
VV:
What do you mean by that?
MU:
He is in contact with Eternal Life and the One True God. It is a blessing to be in his vicinity.
VV:
Do your fellow sisters think the same way?
MU:
Of course.
VV:
I see. And your confirmation candidates?
MU:
I’m sure they do. You notice it as soon as you come into close contact with him.
VV:
Really? Can you give me an idea of the form the teaching takes?
MU:
Yellinek talks to the girls. We pray together. We try to cast out evil thoughts and purify ourselves.
VV:
How?
MU:
In various ways. By means of certain exercises. By prayer. By letting ourselves go…
VV:
What do you do when you let yourselves go?
[Silence for a few seconds.]
MU:
I don’t want to talk about this with outsiders. It’s easy to misunderstand. You have to be initiated in order to see it in the right way, it needs training…
VV:
Do you make love to Oscar Yellinek?
MU:
We live in intense harmony and intimacy.
VV:
Even sexually?
MU:
We are biological beings, Chief Inspector. We don’t impose the same limits as you do, that’s the difference between the Pure Life and the Other World.
VV:
The Other World?
MU:
The world you live in.
VV:
What have you to say about Yellinek being in prison for indecency and other crimes?
MU:
Jesus Christ was crucified to redeem our sins.
VV:
Do you compare Oscar Yellinek with Jesus Christ?
MU:
Of course.
[Another, quite long silence, apart from a noise that sounded like a heavy stone being pushed over the floor. It was some time before Van Veeteren realized that it wasn’t a stone, but a groan. Coming from him.]
VV:
Do your confirmands also live in intense harmony and intimacy with Oscar Yellinek?
MU:
Of course not. Not in the same way.
VV:
But the girls are sometimes naked in his presence.
MU:
It’s not the way you think it is, Chief Inspector. We are surrounded by ill will and slander, just like…
VV:
Like what?
MU:
Just like the first Christians.
VV:
So you compare yourselves to the first Christians?
MU:
There are a lot of similarities.
[Silence. Then the scraping sound of a chair. A match being lit and then blown out.]
VV:
Thank you, Miss Ubrecht. I don’t think I have any more questions to ask you.
‘For Christ’s sake!’ muttered the chief inspector, hopping over the conversation with Madeleine Zander, the woman he had spoken to the first time he visited Waldingen. I can’t face the same drivel all over again! he thought. The only things about her that were different from the others were that she had been a member since the very start, and that she had been married. Madeleine Zander was the eldest of the three – forty-six years old – and she had a grown-up daughter from a marriage that presumably lasted just long enough to conceive her and bring her into the world, the chief inspector thought.