The Woman in Red: Chapter 19

19. The mole

‘I won’t be part of that, Katarina. I’m not a fan of these beat-and-humiliate-me-games. That’s a bridge too far.’ Jean-Pierre had put his glass on the furniture in front of him and was looking at Katarina for an answer to his protest. He wasn’t a coward or very sensitive to a certain degree of pain, no, it’s just a matter of principle. He didn’t identify sex with pain or humiliation and would certainly not be the victim of such practices. Jean-Pierre would personally never play the role of an SM-Master, he had too much respect for the human dignity.

            Katarina nodded encouragingly. ‘Don’t panic, dear, you’ll do nothing against your will. The ladies were just teasing you.’ To add force to her arguments, he received a sounding kiss from Helga and Irene on both his cheeks. They chuckled at his reaction.

            ‘Now tell me how you were brought back from the dead,’ Katarina asked to her savior in distress. Jacques had hardly followed their conversation and looked surprised.

            ‘Oh, yes. One of my amorous escapades was the reason I just disappeared for a while.’ He rubbed through his hair while he was searching for the right words.

            ‘A very rich lady on holidays on Ibiza couldn’t get over the fact that I had paid attention to her daughter. Especially when she caught us in her own bed, this had been the last straw for her. She banned me out of her house and put a price on my head. Her husband, I didn’t know it at that time, had connections to the organized crime and one thing led to another.’ He sighed before he continued his story.

            ‘After I had escaped in the nick of time to an assault on my life I got some help from the General who owned me one and I drowned allegedly on Ibiza. I disappeared from the screen and after a while, when things were safe again, I got a job from the General. I couldn’t go back to my old work due to the fact the circle of acquaintances of the Baroness was the same of my lady from Ibiza. So, now you know everything.’ He took a big gulp of his Chivas, he obviously had gotten a dry throat from telling his story.

            At that time Jacques’ cell phone rang. The looks on his face changed when he heard the voice on the other side of the line.

            ‘What… that’s impossible!’ Jacques’ eyes looked fierce and dangerous. ‘Who let one’s tongue get away with one? Do you have a name?’ He nodded a few times as if he agreed with the person on the other side. Jacques looked first at Katarina and then at Jean-Pierre while closed his mobile.

            ‘And…?’ Katarina asked. She felt something was terribly wrong. The silence around Jacques was baleful. Even the two hostesses looked a bit pale. Jean-Pierre was holding his breath without realizing. There was a certain tension in the air.

            ‘That was General Tavernier. He says there’s a mole in our organization,’ was the short announcement from Jacques. His eyes went again to Jean-Pierre, who had to swallow.

            ‘That’s ridiculous, who says so?’ Katarina was indignant, certainly because Jacques whit his gaze clearly showed that he didn’t trust Jean-Pierre.

            ‘You know that the General has his sources. These sources rarely are mistaken. Even you must know that, Katarina. There-is-a-mole! He only knows that the raid on the castle was the result of a phone call that has been done from the castle. However, he couldn’t say if it was a woman or a man. Some of our people are above any suspicion, but others…!’ He left his sentence unfinished and everybody knew what he was implying.

            ‘Jacques…’ Katarina started very softly and treacherously honeyed. ‘If you can’t prove, shut up and stop making these unspoken accusations to Jean-Pierre’s address. I see the look in your eyes, and I don’t like it. I’m a hundred percent sure about him. Do you understand or do you would you like to disappear again from the screen?’ She had a blush on her cheeks that went well with her red blouse.

            It had inspired with awe. Jacques went on drinking his whiskey and hold his tongue. His eyes kept looking at a point in the distance, and he was softly talking under his breath.

            ‘What are you saying, I can’t hear you?’ Katarina thought he still was mumbling something in the disadvantage of Jean-Pierre and came a step closer. Jacques looked up and for a moment he looked afraid.

            ‘I hope she doesn't talk, Katarina. The police actually have arrested your mother!’

© Rudi J.P. Lejaeghere

21/03/2015