Falling for Jennifer Ch. 03

"And if it was of a criminal nature?"

The Archbishop steepled his fingers and examined David pensively for a moment. "I assume you are going to tell me something about Bishop Tobias?"

"I am, but first I wish to know how a serious complaint will be handled."

"We would first establish beyond reasonable doubt whether it had any basis - and then, assuming it did, we would refer the matter to Rome."

"And how long would that take?"

The churchman shrugged. "These things have to be done thoroughly." He smiled disarmingly at his visitor. "Why don't you tell me specifically what your complaint against Bishop Tobias is? Perhaps then I can give you a more accurate assessment of what might occur, if it is indeed a serious matter."

"Are you familiar with him?"

"If you mean do I know him, then yes. As I said, he is one of my Auxiliary Bishops so I work with him on a regular basis."

David opened the envelope and withdrew a sheaf of large photographs. "I'm afraid these will be distasteful, Your Eminence, but they will serve to show you the kind of man Tobias is. When you have examined them, I will tell you more about what he has done."

The Archbishop examined the first image and David saw his mouth twist in disgust. It was razor sharp, and showed Tobias standing naked with his erect organ buried in the throat of a young woman kneeling before him. His eyes were on her face and his mouth was open, as if he was emitting a sound of pleasure.

"Look at his face, your Grace," David said. "Is that Bishop John Tobias?"

"I think it is." The voice was hushed.

"Then please examine the remaining photographs." David had extracted the still images from the video, choosing different scenes to graphically demonstrate the Bishop's appetite: his cock about to plunge into her wet vagina; her tongue lapping at the glans, and, in a particularly explicit shot, the moment he ejaculated into her gaping anal chasm. In each photograph his face was clear.

"These were taken just under two weeks ago at an apartment in Melbourne," David said quietly.

"Who is she?"

David shook his head. "Does it matter? He believed her to be a member of his congregation."

"But she was not."

"As a matter of fact, she was. She'd attended a number of services at St. Patrick's Cathedral, coincidentally on days that Tobias was officiating. He singled her out after one of them and suggested they meet." David nodded at the images. "In effect, he preyed upon a member of his congregation, and that's what happened three weeks later."

The archbishop sat back in his chair and examined the crucifix on the far wall for a few moments, as if seeking guidance. "How do I know that these are genuine?" he asked at length.

David laughed in disbelief. "Are you suggesting I have doctored this evidence to falsely accuse Tobias?"

"I don't know, Mr Griffiths. But I do know that in this digital age photographs can be manipulated to show whatever you want. We would not want to falsely accuse a senior member of our faith without considering every option."

"I can show you the written testimony of this woman, if you don't believe your eyes," David said hotly. He paused for a few moments to calm himself. "But first let me tell you a little more about Bishop Tobias. Fifteen years ago he was a Parish Priest in the Dioceses of Sandhurst. While he was there he reportedly had sexual congress with a number of female parishioners, and was extorting others for money or other favours. That is a matter which the church may wish to investigate, but of more concern he attempted to blackmail another young woman into having sexual relations with him. She refused, and over the next few weeks he conducted a vendetta against her, culminating in a serious physical assault. She was lucky to escape with her life."

"Did she press any charges against him?"

"She did not. The police wanted to intervene but she simply wished to move to a safe place - and did, for fifteen years. But recently Tobias found out where she lived, and he has resumed that vendetta. I believe he means to harm her."

The archbishop observed his visitor shrewdly. "And this woman is a friend or relative of yours?"

"I know her." David said carefully.

"And you have hired someone to produce these filthy images to discredit him."

David felt the hot tide of anger consume him. "I have brought you irrefutable evidence of the moral degradation of Tobias," he replied crisply. "It is proof of his utter disregard for the sanctity of his office, the sacred vows he has taken, or the welfare of anybody other than himself. I have also warned you that he is likely to perpetrate an act of extreme violence on another woman, and I will hold you responsible if she comes to harm." He stared at the Archbishop angrily. "So far you have done nothing but defend this man -" he gestured at the image of the Bishop on the desk, "and you have shown no concern for what he is doing in that picture, nor for the safety of an innocent woman in danger from him."

"I have not yet decided what to do, Mr Griffiths," the Archbishop raised his hands in defence, "but as I said earlier, we must be reasonably certain that the allegations are valid."

David flung a thumb drive on the desk. "Here is the full video of your boy having sex. I hope you have a strong stomach, Your Grace, because it runs for nearly an hour, and he has a voracious appetite." He stood up. "You have 24 hours to tell me what you intend to do about him, and the threat he represents. If not, I can assure you that the photographs will find their way to the Media."

"If you do that you would be leaving yourself open to litigation, Mr Griffiths. I don't advise -"

"Don't you think I would welcome that, especially so soon after our Royal Commission into sexual abuse in the church?" David leaned over the desk, his eyes like steel chips. "Perhaps you have forgotten there is a Cardinal of the Catholic Church in an Australian goal right now for abusing two choir boys twenty years ago. And he's still on your payroll - the Church has steadfastly refused to acknowledge his crimes, even though he is a convicted paedophile. So, bring it on, Your Grace, and I will see both you and Tobias in court - I'm sure the general public will enjoy reading of how little you have learned."

The older man rose to his feet and watched his visitor storm from the room. When he agreed to see David Griffiths it had crossed his mind the matter might be serious, and so it was - but not irrevocable. He sank back into his chair and, after a few minutes thought, picked up the phone and began to talk. He doubted if Griffiths would carry out the threat, and perhaps this matter could be solved simply by moving Tobias to another place.

*

"Jesus H. Christ!" The expletive boomed around the back garden of the comfortable home in uptown Melbourne, causing several of the neighbours to stop in dismay.

The voice was that of Bishop Tobias, who didn't normally blaspheme, but today was an exception. He let loose with another string at only slightly less volume, but it did little to appease him. "Holy Mother of God! Fuck! Fuck!"

The cause of his consternation was the newspaper on his table, a respected publication which he liked to read early on Saturdays. He had settled down on his verandah and had a spoonful of cereal half way to his lips when his eye fell on a front page that literally stopped his heart for a moment.

The banner headline seemed to leap out of the paper in letters a foot high: 'BISHOP OF SHAME', and Tobias felt the shock of them like a punch to the belly. Below it was a photograph of a girl kneeling on a bed, her face pressed into the mattress and hands clutching the rumpled sheets in tight little fists of pain. Behind her was the figure of a man, both hands grasping her hips and his loins thrust against her buttocks in an unmistakable act of copulation. He was staring at the camera with an expression of dark rapture on his face, and his features were as clear as day. Below the image his name was printed in large, bold letters: Bishop John Tobias.

Having vented his first emotion, Tobias read the story with a hollow feeling in his gut: how a senior member of the church had been uncovered as a fornicator, with details of his tryst. It went on to hint at his past, too: of allegations of blackmail and theft, coercion and adultery. There was a picture of his house and the question of how his modest salary could afford it, and images too of Marie Sheldon and her sordid tale of how the Bishop of Bunyip had bullied her into sex, and the things he did to her. It was all there, laid out for the world to see.

He was interrupted by the telephone ringing and with trembling fingers he read the screen: Cranbrook, David. He was Archbishop of Sydney and was the ranking official of the catholic church in Australia. He was also known as an uncompromising man who did not tolerate fools gladly and was one of the few who frightened him.

Tobias pressed the phone to his ear. "Have you seen the news this morning?" The voice was hard. No salutation, no pleasantries.

"I have, your Eminence. There is not a shred of -"

"That is to be determined, Bishop Tobias. In the meantime I have just been instructed by the Vatican that your case is to be investigated. You are therefore stood down from all your duties and are to make yourself available to these officials, or their agents, to get to the bottom of these vile accusations. You are not to set foot in any church or cathedral in your Diocese or any other, until this matter is concluded. Do I make myself clear?"

"But I am innocent."

"Then you have nothing to fear. In the meantime, the guidelines contained in the Holy Father's apostolic letter will be followed. You are familiar with those?"

"A little, your Eminence."

"Then read them carefully." There was a moment of silence and Tobias thought the conversation had ended, but the voice continued. "I suggest you remain in your home, out of sight. Do not speak to anybody about this matter, and especially members of the media. I expect they will be at your door as we speak."

"And if there is a miscarriage of justice and these accusations are upheld?"

"Then you will be excommunicated from the Church."

Tobias set the phone down and walked in a daze to the front of the house. There was a sharp knock on the door and without thinking he opened it to be confronted by a young woman with a microphone in her hand. For a moment he stared at her. She was young, clad in a dress that displayed her cleavage, and her eyes were bold.

She thrust the microphone towards his face. "Bishop Tobias?" she asked, "what do you have to say about the allegations in the papers this morning? Are they true? Do you know Marie Sheldon?" Behind her were a dozen others and he shrank from the flash of their cameras and the clamour of their questions.

He slammed the door and stood back, his heart hammering. God Jesus, it was a nightmare. The face of the reporter was etched in his brain like a strobe in a darkened room, her mouth twisted as she hurled vile questions into his face. And the pack behind her, baying like rapid dogs, screaming out his name, shoving their cameras forward to intimidate him, to capture anything they could use against him. These were not normal people - they were godless barbarians, uncaring of the truth or of his moral righteousness. These were people who stop at nothing to tear down his life. He thought of all that he had amassed: the beautiful cars, the house he now stood in, the secret bank accounts. All that would go, and he would have nothing.

He scurried to the lounge and flicked on the television, cringing as his face appeared. A newsreader was mouthing something, her scarlet lips moving she spoke. The image cut to historical footage of himself as a young priest and then forward to his ordination as a Bishop in the cathedral, dressed in liturgical vestments and smiling to the congregation as he led a procession through the Nave; and then it cut to Marie being interviewed outside her shabby house.

Tobias turned up the volume just in time to hear the question. "And do you think you are the only woman he has done this to?"

"No. He often spoke of others, when we were...doing it. He liked to boast, to show that he had power over people." Her voice choked and was silent for a few moments, her face stricken. "Uh, you know, women like me, who had trusted him."

"And what did he make you do?"

"Everything. He said it would be a mortal sin if I didn't do what he wanted."

"So he had sex with you?"

"Yes," Marie whispered, "when the baby asleep in his crib next to the bed."

The camera cut to a close up of her face, the red-rimmed eyes, the shattered expression, and Tobias was filled with a scalding flood of loathing. The bitch! Hadn't he given her succour when others would not? Hadn't he ordered the catholic primary school to take her snotty kids for nothing? And to give her a sense of worth he'd even endured her flabby body - but this was what she did in return.

The television image switched to the room where he'd fucked Millie Cardoza, showing two bodies writhing naked on the bed. Their faces were obscured but the context was clear, and Tobias' anger flared to white-hot incandescence. It was her - the other whore who had set out to trap him, to take away everything he had earned, to bring him to nothing.

He crossed quickly to the hallway and unlocked the corner cupboard to lift out the shotgun, tearing open a box of cartridges with frantic fingers to stuff them in his pocket. In his mind he could see the twisted, painted faces of the two whores who sought to bring him down and he was filled with resolve to smite them. "It is mine to avenge, Lord,' he whispered and broke open the gun, the empty breeches like two dead eyes staring up at him. "...and I will repay." The shells slid in smoothly, blood red against the cold black metal, and he snapped the gun shut with a metallic click and giggled as he competed the quote: "And their doom rushes upon them."

Through the curtained windows he could see the cameras, the lights, the paparazzi spilling over his driveway and lawn. It reminded him of a pack of hungry sharks and his anger blazed like a wildfire in a gale. These were godless men and women uninterested in the truth, and they deserved to fall.

The Jaguar was in his garage and he climbed behind the wheel, starting the engine and engaging gear. He waited until the door was just open and floored the accelerator, scattering people like broken puppets as he burst through them. The car screamed into the road and he laughed shrilly at the bodies littering the driveway behind him, correcting the oversteer and roaring through the street. It was good. It was right they should suffer. What had the Lord God said? 'Vengeance is mine'...but He was not here and so it must fall to his agent, and he was doing it well.

The lock of Marie Sheldon's door burst open at the blast, and she cowered in the kitchen as he faced her. She saw his pale, sweating face and his lips moving, cursing; spittle on his chin and his eyes wild with madness. The muzzles of the gun seemed huge as he thrust it towards her...and then there was nothing.

Tobias dipped his fingers in the pool of blood and wiped them on the doorframe, left and right and above. "And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses," he whispered, and laughed at how cleverly the bible guided him. He broke open the gun to reload it and strode to the car scowling at the neighbours peering over the fence, and a picture of Millie Cardoza entered his mind. And I shall burn thine house with fire and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou shalt give no hire any more.

The car shot forward and he giggled, a little high pitched sound as he contemplated what he would do to her.

*

David Griffiths was in his kitchen when the telephone rang. He glanced at the screen and smiled.

"Hi Rose."

"Get out of the house, David! Get Jennifer and get out!"

"What? Why? What's hap-"

"Tobias might be coming for you with a gun. Ring me when you're clear."

"All right. Call the police."

David raced upstairs to the bedroom and flung open the door. Jen was sitting at her dressing table naked, and she turned in alarm as he burst in. "We have to leave, right now," he said.

"But I don't have any -"

"Now, Jen! We are in danger." He seized her shoulders and shook her. "Now! Get dressed, quickly - shorts and top only. Meet me in the garage in one minute."

The engine of the Mercedes GLE Coupe was already running and David watched as she flung open the door and climbed in. She glanced at him. "What's happening?"

David pressed the garage remote and spoke quickly as the door began to open. "Tobias might be on the way here. He's armed."

"How do you know?"

"Rose called. She said to get out if we want to live, so I guess it's -" His eyes fell on the driveway ahead. "Oh, Jesus!"

A cream Jaguar had appeared at the far end of the driveway, travelling fast, and in a moment of absolute certainty David knew it was him. "Get out!" he shouted. "Hide in the cellar and call the cops. I'll hold him off." He waited until Jen had scrambled free and floored the accelerator.

In the moment before the collision David saw his face. He was grinning, his lips drawn back, teeth bared and eyes wide and staring - black, lifeless orbs that bridged the narrowing gap as the two cars roared towards each other. The collision was immense and David was flung forward, the air bag punching him hard in the face and chest, and the car was filled with white vapour. He heard the hammer blow of the impact, and then silence save for the ticking of cooling metal, and his hands scrabbled for the seat belt release to get out, to get to the other car before Tobias could pick up the gun.

The bag had deflated now and through the windshield he saw Tobias moving, mirroring his own efforts to escape. His door was jammed and David saw him struggling to open it but it was hopelessly twisted. I'm safe, he thought. He can't get out, and the police will be here soon.

For a few moments the two men stared at each other only a few feet apart, and then Tobias reached beside him and raised the shotgun. The first shot punched a hole through the Jaguar's windscreen and frosted his own, and he knew the second would follow. He flung himself sideways as it struck, showering him with glass and plastic, and the car rocked with the impact of the shot as it tore through the structure.

In the sudden silence he heard the snick of the opening gun, and Tobias' high pitched giggle as he fed two new shells into the breech, and he wriggled though the gap between the two shredded seats to fall into the floor well as he fired again.

"You are an abomination," the Bishop shouted. "A fornicator, who must be sent to hell." He giggled again, and broke the gun to reload.

David felt pain in his back where ricocheting pellets had struck him, and he knew he must get out. He reached up and flung open the back door, waiting for the impact of the next two rounds before wriggling forwards over the lip and onto the ground. He glanced quickly at the Jaguar, seeing the barrels emerge though the shattered windscreen, and he ducked and ran, travelling sideways to afford a moving target as the shotgun boomed again.

The impact was immense and it flung David sideways across the driveway and into the flower bed. He lay there for a moment staring up at the two cars, watching the barrels try to seek him out - but Tobias could not traverse the weapon far enough. A monstrous pain seized him and he screamed, his fingers clutching at the shredded flesh of his leg, but he knew he must move and so dragged himself away from the vehicle to leave a scarlet smear of blood on the earth below.