The Square of Revenge (34 page)

“Daniel suffers from Marfan syndrome, doesn’t he?”

She was surprised that Van In knew. “We found out five years ago,” she said. “The eye problem was treatable, but then the doctors discovered that Daniel’s condition had created a thinning of the aorta wall and that it was inoperable. It is a death sentence.”

“And that was the last straw,” said Van In. “The plan to give everyone their just rewards was hatched just five years ago.”

She nodded.

“Aquilin worked everything out to the tiniest detail. He wanted the beast to know who was punishing him. He wanted to make the beast and his brood pay for what they had done to his daughters and his grandson. The beast had to die, and Ghislain, Charlotte, and Benedicta had to suffer for their silence.”

“You knew that the authorities wouldn’t cooperate if Degroof had been faced with a cheap gossip campaign, so Aquilin arranged so much media interest that no one could overlook the facts, at least if they were made known at the appropriate moment.”

“Nathalie passed on all the details to the press on Monday evening,” she said.

I was right
, Hannelore thought.
She was part of the plot after all
.
That was why she got so angry when I threatened to have her locked up.

“Aquilin wasn’t afraid of the consequences. Even if the plan backfired and the police arrested him, Daniel had nothing to fear. In his condition, there wasn’t a jury in the world that would convict him. And my sweet Aquilin: he knew his life was coming to an end. His only ambition was to allow his grandson to witness and enjoy his act of revenge as a privileged observer.”

The baroness spoke with vigor and conviction.

“And I regret nothing. The beast’s children chose him over their mother and made my life a hell.”

Silence filled the room. Time passed. Hannelore fidgeted awkwardly with her rings. Van In stared through the green stained-glass windows.

Sator rotas opera tenet.

But only he and Charlotte knew the truth. When the doctors diagnosed Marfan syndrome, they didn’t say that it was a hereditary condition that often was passed on as a result of incest.

There was something Sophoclean about it all.

Elisa and Aquilin had only one child together: Nathalie.

Aurelie was really the daughter of the beast.

Van In looked at Hannelore and at the old baroness. He had no intention of telling them.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 Pieter Aspe

Translation © 2013 Brian Doyle

Cover design by Angela Wilcox

978-1-4532-3974-2

This edition published in 2013 by Open Road Integrated Media

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