The Republic of Miracles

Chapter 47, in which Arnaud meets those through whom the scandal comes

It was dawn. Wisps of fog were thinning out, still clinging to the dilapidated buildings around. The sanctuary, now deserted, was bathed in a gray and wan light. Arnaud had just received the news of Maëlle's body's disappearance. Until then, soldiers had guarded the building, preventing the dwindling number of faithful from approaching. In the dead of night, with no one to watch them, they had taken their time loading the body into their vehicle and leaving the place. It was done in five minutes. Nothing remained except the metal barriers that had been used to contain the crowd.

"They put the body in a bag, threw it into the truck, and then took off. They even left with the basket in which pilgrims deposited alms. They didn't leave anything behind..."

The guy talking to Arnaud lived nearby. He came every day to walk his dog, rifle slung over his shoulder. He told Arnaud that he felt better since he prayed to Saint Maëlle every day and couldn't understand why so many people no longer believed.

Arnaud reminded him about the perfume incident, that the odor of sanctity was just a scam, a trick to fool the gullible. He replied that he didn't care, that "this saint, she's alright, she does good." He walked off with his dog, limping.

Arnaud wished he could talk to Father Mathias again. To have him explain why he had orchestrated this hoax, what interest he had in making this girl seem like a saint. Father Mathias had come to the morgue just minutes after the body was brought in. By spraying it with perfume, he had only set a risky mechanism in motion. Either nothing would happen, or people would start venerating Maëlle's body. This would result in preventing the pathologist from performing the autopsy...

Maybe that was all he wanted, to ensure the corpse would not reveal its secrets. To create a "miracle" out of thin air so that no one would dare touch a hair on Maëlle's head, under the threat of being stoned by an angry crowd. He couldn't have known that the autopsy would never take place anyway, the body having ended up there by mistake.

He imagined Father Mathias, learning that Maëlle's body was lying on a stretcher at the morgue, grabbing the first bottle of perfume he found. Then, rushing to sprinkle it on the corpse, thus giving birth to a new star in the firmament of Saints.

What had he been afraid of? That the pathologist would discover evidence of rape? DNA residues that could point to a culprit? But whom was the priest trying to protect? Unfortunately, Arnaud could not present his hypothesis to the main person involved or ask him his questions, since Old Quebec had become inaccessible due to the protests against Joseph's imprisonment.

"Hi!"

Julia was approaching, accompanied by Nadine Bourlamaque. The two were walking with confident strides, each with a weapon visibly strapped to their belt.

"Well, well!" said Arnaud, "You're up early."

"We heard the rumor and wanted to see for ourselves what's going on," Nadine replied.

"There's not much to see. They've taken everything."

"Yeah," Julia replied. "When Nadine told me about it this morning, I didn't believe her. But according to her, they don't have much choice but to try to hush it up..."

"...or at least try to control the message," Nadine added. "What's clear is that information is trickling out of Old Quebec. I've called all my contacts, at least those with phones, but no one knows anything. The bishopric even denies that anything unusual is happening! According to them, it's 'business as usual.'"

"They must have thought the best way to cover it up is to act like it never happened," Arnaud said.

"Well, they don't know me very well!" said Nadine.