Father Agustin had a stressful day. Something was wrong. He could feel it. No matter how much information the police dug out on him, could they really just keep him here for the entire day? Not only that, but more than half the staff as well. What exactly did they find that was so compelling? He felt his gut tumble. It was never a good sign.
Did one of the staff members sell him out? Definitely not. Everything was so meticulously planned out. They've been preparing for this day ever since was a young aspiring lad. He personally knew everyone involved as well. He could still recall the countless hours that were spent going over and reviewing every single word to be said. They even had falsified documents ready. For just in case.
Did they miss something? Sure they went overboard a bit once they found the dungeon beneath the church, but they left it just how they found it, so it should be something trivial. Did they find some of the children's remains? Even if they did, it didn't matter. They can't prove who's it was nor how old it is. The church before the orphanage was extremely old. It had it's own graveyard before it was expanded. It's only logical to find a few bones around.
Father Agustin was thinking long and hard through all the possibilities, like little treads tied together. He was tracing every single possible outcome, but it seemed pointless. He's already done it before. In fact, he's trimmed and twisted every single tread himself, making every single possibility slide straight to a stop. He made absolutely sure that nothing could tie him down.
The only uncertainty were the children. He couldn't say with one hundred percent certainty what they would do. But he was sure that he raised them well. Even though some smart ones probably got suspicious as children vanished, they wouldn't link them to him. Even if they did, it wouldn't matter. The authorities aren't interested in the children. They'll try and rid themselves of their 'problems' by trying to push the older ones to the streets. They can't get away with the smaller ones though, the public is keeping a close eye on the investigation.
Father Agustin was racking his brain. What was it? What did he miss?
There was a click and the door opened. A woman and then a man followed through the door. Father Agustin's face changed rapidly as a big bright smile welcomed in the detectives. His shallow warmth radiated like the sun, straight through people's guards.
The man eyed up Father Agustin and snorted. He then stood further off leaning against the corner. The man had bright red hair and a nose ring. He didn't look like someone you'd want to bother. Even though he was wearing a police uniform, he wore it with such personality that it was practically screaming delinquent. You could just imagine him pulling out a cigarette and a lighter and start smoking.
The woman glanced at the man and shook her head. She sighed and pulled out a chair. Her hair was a mess, it's seemed like she has been working hard.
"You work with children. Do they ever grow up?"
Thankfully the old priest was experienced or the unexpected question would have stopped him dead. He smiled brightly
"It seems like you've been having problems. Don't worry the rebellious phase is simply a manner in which children express themselves. You shouldn't take what they say to heart. Thankfully it's usually a short phase, although some don't grow out of it."
The head priest paused and stole a glance at the man leaning on the wall. He didn't seem like a child, he looked to be in his early twenties. Father Agustin raised his eyebrows and continued.
"For those that don't grow out of it. It's just best to try and understand and tolerate them to the best of your abilities. After all, no one is perfect."
He smiled brightly at the woman like he was giving parental advice and doing her a great favour at that. Having a second look at the woman though he was surprised at how young she was. She was also in her early to mid-twenties. It was probably just a squabble of some sort between co-workers. Though the man did look a bit immature to be handling people. Was he being taught how to interrogate people? The police weren't taking his case as seriously as he thought that they would. Did he overestimate them?
The woman continued, "Sorry for our rudeness, I am officer Emma. We were just questioning the other suspects. You should be familiar with them."
The priest understandingly nodded, "They should be my dear colleagues. Are they ok?"
"O, I wouldn't want to worry you. They're fine. You'll be able to meet them once we are done with them. We have however found some strange, minor inconsistencies in their words".
The head priest raised his eyebrow again. "Inconsistencies?"
Emma smiled, "It's to be expected. Everyone experiences situations differently. We'll just, unfortunately, have to follow protocol and keep them here a little longer. Sorry for the inconvenience, it couldn't be helped."
"No, of course, I wouldn't want to interfere in your important work."
"Likewise."
The priest laughed and allowed Emma to continue her enquiries.
The whole process took some time, and the priest just answered the questions based on the script he prepared. It was pretty self-explanatory. The man in the corner only snorted and dropped a comment like, "yea right" every so often, to which the woman responded with a death stare and an apology. However as the questioning came to a vital stage, Emma started following up with hard questions.
"Are you aware of the potentially falsified children profiles?"
"Yes as of two days ago, the police let us know of the abundance of children's profiles and a lack in body count."
The orphanage had to create and submit a profile to the government every time they took in a new child. However the government would never increase the amount of funding the orphanage receives, so the orphanage can only take in a certain amount of children. But the children also had to reach beyond a certain number for the government to fund the orphanage in the first place. But the fact that the orphanage had the power to create profiles, gave them an awful lot of popularity among criminals and nobles.
"Are you aware of the current financial situation of the orphanage?"
"No, I was always under the impression that the government were not too keen on funding us. We survived mostly on donations received via the church."
"Are you aware of the dungeon beneath the church?"
"I do, it was built in before the orphanage even existed. I was made aware after one of my colleagues accidentally found it. It raised a few alarms, so I traced the church records and searched through a few blueprints and history books for information about the dungeon. I ultimately concluded it to be of no importance and did not feel the need to contact the authorities. The dungeon was probably not in use since it was built."
There was a moment of silence before Emma continued.
"Very well, since you are aware of all of these, I take it that I would not need to explain the next set of questions, is that correct?"
The priest nodded his head.
"Father Agustin, did you take part in the falsification of any children documents."
"Of course not, I do not handle the profiling procedures. I suggest that you question my colleague in charge of that procedure."
Quite frankly, Father Agustin was confused when they just brazenly asked that question. He already told them he was only made aware of the matter a mere two days ago. It didn't feel like the question was leading anywhere or had a goal in mind. Usually, the police would dance around the topic to find inconsistencies and lies before they would hit hard with the final question. It works by letting suspects limit themselves with their own logic. It was simply too brazen. Did the police really just send two incompetent detectives for this case? Did they really take his genius plans and preparations this lightly? Father Agustin felt a bit offended. He also felt a bit of regret that they immediately dropped the whole operation once the police poked them a little. He should have restocked the kitchens and rolled with it before the police inspected the place.
Emma didn't seem to realise the train of thought that Father Agustin just had. Instead, she just rolled out the questions.
"Father Agustin, do you know any of these children."
Emma laid out all 58 profiles in front of them. These were all the profiles of the children, including the 'falsified' ones. However, all the names were covered up.
"If you do know them please name them."
The head priest hesitated and considered his next course of action. Was this just a coincidence? This question seemed like it was a trap. Depending on what the police knows, he could get himself in trouble. In truth, non of the profiles were falsified. He and his colleagues were responsible for the lower body counts than the documents stated, not that the documents were wrongly stated and the body count was always the same.
Father Agustin's head was in shambles. Was this question really a trap? He experienced first-hand how incompetent these officers were. Unless the previously asked, seemingly pointless question was actually a setup for this trap. By asking him about whether he falsified the children's profiles, were they trying to make him think, that they think, that the extra children's profiles were falsified?
It's true that no profile has been falsified, but did the police really think the documents were falsified? If they did then he could get away by pointing out all the children currently still in the orphanage and excluding all the missing ones.
But saying that he didn't know the currently missing children was a loose end. The orphanage was not quiet. They were the only pagan church in the whole town. Of course a lot of people would know the children. Plus, he also knew that a lot of the missing children had some kind of social life outside the orphanage. Not to mention their social life with the other children in the orphanage. It would only be a matter of time before any competent cop would find that their falsified documents are not as falsified as they thought.
Unless the police already knew and they tried to convince Father Agustin that they didn't know the profiles were falsified. He could be painted as suspicious the moment that they could prove that the documents were not falsified. If the thought to be falsified documented children were real children in the orphanage, how could he not know the currently missing children, but can remember everyone else? That's suspicious.
But lying and saying that he wasn't close enough to the children to know their names or just a few, would create another loose end as well. He's called every single child at least once on their forename. Every religious person in town knows of his gracious and lovely character. He was someone that wouldn't hesitate to help and get to know everyone. It would be both out of character and risky.
Risky because he wasn't particularly picky of the places that he would call the children on their forename and show the world just what a great fatherly figure he was by showing off how close his relationship with the children were. And what about the children themselves? A single child could spoil everything by telling the police how 'close' their relationship was.
Previously Father Agustin thought that it wouldn't matter what the children knew. He thought that the police wouldn't be interested in the children, but they just proved him wrong. They even have every single profile prepared. Why would they take interest in the children? Was he really missing something?
Thankfully, Father Agustin's mind was only in shambles because he was unsure whether or not these detectives in front of him were genuinely good cops or was coincidentally asked a really good question just now. Not because he wasn't fully prepared for it. The format was a bit strange, asking him to point out the children he knew, but it didn't matter. You can't trick people telling the truth.
"I know all of them."
Emma was visibly stunned, looking confused, like it wasn't the answer she expected. Father Agustin grew even more suspicious. Was this cop just really incompetent and was surprised because she thought the document were falsified or was she surprised that he readily admitted that the documents weren't falsified? Or maybe something even deeper, like she thinks that they caught the culprit.
Father Agustin immediately capitalised on the situation. If she truly thinks that they just caught the culprit, he can both try to gauge whether or not she's competent and by the off chance his colleagues didn't follow the plans, try to save them. He knew the dirt his colleagues had on him. If she thinks that he is the culprit, she would let him yap on thinking that he is stupidly selling out his colleagues and if she's not she would either cut him off to continue questioning or get convinced and listen to him.
"Officer Emma? Why do you look so surprised? Didn't you ask my colleagues the same questions? Didn't they tell you the same answer? I apologize on their behalf, they are very prideful and care about the orphanage's reputation very much. You shouldn't take it too seriously, they love the children very much. Just tell them that it's about the children and they will understand. They will most certainly tell you the truth."
By now the shallow smile from Father Agustin's face disappeared and instead, it was replaced by a very genuine smile. One of ridicule and amusement. His eyes squinted in delight. He just wouldn't shut up. By now Emma realised something was wrong. She thought she got the old man with her clever question. At first, she was delighted. She thought she could completely crack him down now. She thought he trapped himself, after all, who would have thought that he would tell the truth straight of the bat. Did he just admit it without thinking? He admitted that he was close to the children. Why would he corner himself like that? There were no reports filled when the children went missing.
Father Agustin was in charge of the orphanage, Emma firmly believed there was some fraud going on. They were embezzling and stealing the money that the government funded them to raise the children, weren't they? It was quite common, but this one went completely out of bounds. The financial records were a mess, she saw it herself.
But as she got invested in the case, she grew suspicious. Children were disappearing left right and centre. It was too quick. First, she thought that someone paid a great amount of money to the priests to produce fake profiles. It was just the best way to create spies and clean records, but people knew the children. People met them, saw them, even interacted with them. It made this whole case blow up very quickly. She knows the priests are guilty. Children go missing and they don't notice? Really? Still, Emma couldn't think of any reason for why they did it.
Did they sell the children? Slavery has been illegal for a long time. Did they kill them? But why would they do that? It didn't make any sense. And when they did get their hands on one of the children, they refused to talk. It's like they were prepared. Did they really not know what was going on or did they just refuse to tell them? Why? Why would they do that? They are the victims.
Meanwhile, Father Agustin was just yapping on and on and on.
"You should question my colleague again. They were just shy. I'm sure they didn't mean what they said. You should tell them that it's for the children. Really you should. They'll tell you everything you want to hear then."
It was then that the man in the corner spoke up. Father Agustin and hopefully most of the audience completely forgot that he was there. It made his entrance much cooler.
"Quite yapping old man we have questions to get through."
The man's voice acted like a shock that brought Emma straight back to reality. She immediately followed up with her own comment.
"Yes Father Agustin, I'll have to cut you off, we wouldn't want your colleagues to wait here the entire day, now would we?
Father Agustin straightened his posture and smiled brightly again. He got what he wanted anyway.
"Yes, of course, excuse my ramblings, I'm just incredibly worried about my colleagues. I raised most of them. I hope you understand."
"Yes of course. I understand. I would just love to know how you know these fourteen children."
Emma pointed out fourteen children on the table.
Father Agustin sighed and started.
"That's Timmy."
Father Agustin pointed out a small little child between three and five.
"Timmy died of dysentery."
"I can still remember him flapping around in his own faeces. I had to clean that up you know. It was all gooey slush."
Father Agustin nonchalantly moved on to the next profile.
"That's Thomas."
"It's Timmy's brother. Died about a week later."
"Still dysentery."
Father Agustin seemed bored.
"That's Noah."
"Died right after Timmy. Dysentery."
"These five went missing. Two most likely ran away."
"That one was caught climbing out the window, he was startled and busted his head open on the ground."
Father Agustin paused.
"Should I stop?"
Emma looked terrified, she didn't speak.
The man in the corner spoke up.
"Continue."
Father Agustin eyed the man in the corner.
"Very well."