CHAPTER 105

CHAPTER 105

THE WOMAN, HER HANDS busy with cleaning utensils and maintaining a fragile balance, pushed aside the rusty gate that obstructed her passage with her leg. Every two weeks she did the cleaning in that little house on the outskirts of Padua. However, a certain fear took over his spirit when he entered that humble environment.

Not long ago, carelessly, when he was dusting, he had dropped a thick volume from the shelf. The book opened at her feet and some demonic engravings jumped out at her. A neighbor had told her that the resident, a silent French friar, dealt with spirits. She rarely saw him. When he arrived, the key to the back door was hidden under a vase.

Before he turned to get the key, he noticed that the door was unlocked. It didn't come as a surprise, because on two other occasions he had already found him meditating, bent over one of those sinister books.

However, upon entering the house, she realized that something was wrong, the furniture was overturned. The books she tried to avoid were strewn across the floor. Fear, however, was overcome by curiosity and, armed with a broom, she entered the house.

When he reached the bedroom door, he realized that the friar was lying face down and that there was a pool of blood around him. Quickly then he tried to help him, but when he turned him, his face was taken by fear and he let out a shrill scream of terror at what he saw.

THE POLICEMAN FELT NAUSEA at the gruesome scene. The man had been horribly tortured: his face was bruised, his fingers were torn apart, and his chest was deeply scored by a piercing instrument. It looked like someone had tried to force information out of them.

What secret hidden by that humble friar could arouse such violence?

The blood had already clotted, forming a smooth, reddish surface. Amidst that crimson surface, the policeman noticed a rough, blood-spattered design in the shape of an asterisk.