The Jackal murders the Brussels forger

The Jackal murders the Brussels forger after the man tries to turn the documents behind his assumed identity into leverage. The episode begins as a negotiation over a driving licence and photographs, but ends with the forger dead inside a trunk of theatrical clothes and make-up. Its decisive consequence is not merely the removal of a blackmailer: The Jackal takes pains to erase traces of the killing, preserve the appearance of an ordinary disappearance, and protect the time he needs to continue his preparations.

The documents and the attempted bargain

The forger says he has kept the original front page of the driving licence, bearing what he believes is The Jackal’s real name, in a private bank deed-box that only he can open. He presents this custody as insurance in a precarious business. The other materials he claims to control are the developed plates and negatives of photographs he took of The Jackal, as well as a quickly made picture of him beneath the arc lights without make-up. In the forger’s calculation, these items could cause trouble if they reached the British or French authorities.

The proposed exchange is framed as a single sale rather than an ongoing demand: the entire package of documents for a sum above the £150 previously discussed. The Jackal asks what the forger wants, but gives little away in expression or tone. When the forger coyly tests whether his visitor is interested, the negotiation acquires the quality of a performance: he has rehearsed his indirect hints, while The Jackal regards them as clumsy theatrics. The distinction the forger insists upon between blackmail and a one-time trade does not alter the substance of his leverage. He has made himself a potential source of exposure by retaining evidence that could connect the false identity to its bearer.

From apparent laughter to violence

The turning point is concealed within a moment of apparent ease. The forger laughs as he reassures The Jackal that the studio is private and that nobody enters unless invited. He explains that he also uses the place for discreet tourist photography, illustrating the sexual nature of that sideline with a crude hand gesture. The Jackal grins and laughs along. He then claps his hands against the forger’s upper arms and tightens his grip on the man’s biceps, holding him steady while the gesture continues.

The laughter stops when The Jackal drives his knee into the forger’s testicles. The man collapses, first trying to roll onto the floor and then falling to his knees. The Jackal lets him descend before moving behind him, placing one hand around his neck and the other against the back of his head. A short, forceful twist breaks the neck. The forger’s body contracts once and goes limp; his face lies turned to the side, his hands still beneath his hips, and his eyes remain open. The scene changes abruptly from bargaining and joking to a close, deliberate killing. The Jackal’s use of the victim’s apparent relaxation gives the encounter its central reversal: the private room and the friendly laughter offer no protection once the visitor has decided to act.

Concealment in the studio

The Jackal immediately checks that the curtains are fully closed, then searches the dead man’s pockets for the keys. In a far corner stands a large trunk used for props and make-up. After trying several keys, he opens it and spends ten minutes emptying its contents onto the floor. He lifts the body by the armpits and places it inside; the limbs fold into the available space. He calculates that rigor mortis will soon stiffen the corpse in that position, making it harder to remove.

He rebuilds the trunk’s contents around the body rather than leaving the corpse exposed. Wigs, women’s underwear, toupees, and other soft items fill the spaces between the limbs; make-up trays, jars, clothes, a dressing-gown, and black fishnet stockings cover it above. The lid takes pressure to close, but the hasp catches and the padlock shuts. The ordinary contents of the forger’s working space thus become concealment, while the trunk’s familiar function as storage helps hide what has been placed inside it.

The Jackal also limits the traces he leaves. He handles pots and jars through a piece of cloth, wipes the lock and the trunk’s outer surfaces with his own handkerchief, and wipes the bundle of five-pound notes left on the table before putting it back where it had stood. He switches off the light and waits in a chair until dusk, smoking and keeping the used cigarette stub inside its empty packet. These details show the killing as an operation followed by a second, equally controlled task: reducing the chance that the scene will immediately point to him.

Departure and the time gained

The Jackal considers how the disappearance might be interpreted. He reasons that someone in the underworld might avoid going to the police, assuming the forger had fallen foul of a gangland figure. He also judges that a customer interested only in pornography would be unlikely to hide a body so carefully. Eventually, however, the police would have to be informed, and a photograph might be published. A barman could remember the forger leaving on the evening of August 1st with a tall blond man in a check suit and dark glasses. The Jackal weighs this risk against the fact that he had not spoken to the barman and that the waiter who served him two weeks earlier would need an unusually strong memory to recall his slight foreign accent.

He estimates that an investigation would take time to reach the deed-box, even if it were registered in the forger’s own name, and believes he has at least a month. At 9:30, after dusk has fallen, he leaves the studio quietly and locks the outer door. Half a mile away, he drops the unidentifiable keys into a street drain and hears them fall into the sewer. He returns to his hotel for a late supper.

The next day he shops in a working-class suburb of Brussels, buying hiking boots, woollen socks, denim trousers, a checked woollen shirt, and a haversack, along with foam rubber, twine, a hunting knife, paintbrushes, and tins of pink and brown paint. He uses his new driving licence, now matching his passport in the name Alexander Duggan, to arrange a self-drive hire car and a weekend room overlooking the fishing harbour at Zeebrugge. The murder therefore clears an immediate vulnerability while the false identity remains usable: the forger’s threat has been silenced, and The Jackal moves directly into further practical preparations.