“The devil likes to hide behind a cross”

“The devil likes to hide behind a cross” is Igor’s parting accusation after Apollo Kagwa buys a valuable book from Mrs. Grabowski for far less than a potential customer might pay. Its force comes from the transaction immediately preceding it: Apollo recognizes the widow’s hardship and dignity, yet still uses a dealer’s tactic to secure the purchase cheaply. When he calls his conduct business, Igor answers with an image of evil sheltered by the outward signs of goodness. The line does not settle every question about Apollo’s motives, but it makes the gap between his sympathy and his actions impossible to ignore.

The Transaction Behind the Expression

Apollo finds a true first edition of James Webb’s Fields of Fire in Mrs. Grabowski’s cluttered house. Its jacket is not discolored, its board edges are not faded or rubbed, and Apollo thinks a regular customer in Virginia might pay two hundred and fifty dollars for it. He also sees the circumstances surrounding the book: the house is a rental, its contents are in disarray, and Mrs. Grabowski is trying to clear it with little help from her son, Igor.

Apollo’s response is not simply predatory indifference. He thinks Mrs. Grabowski has retained her dignity by refusing to participate in Igor’s plan, and her hard work reminds him of his mother. He considers paying what the book is worth, or at least enough to make a material difference to her. That recognition makes his eventual bargaining harder to dismiss as ignorance: he understands both the book’s likely value and the seller’s need.

He nevertheless uses a dealer’s stratagem. A second book, a battered and unremarkable thriller, makes the valuable Fields of Fire seem less conspicuous. Apollo learned the tactic from older dealers, but dislikes employing it. He tells himself that he is doing it for his unborn child, a justification that soothes his conscience without changing the price he offers. He gives Mrs. Grabowski fifty dollars for both books, not the much higher sum he believes the first edition might bring from his customer.

The Accusation and Its Immediate Context

Igor returns holding his phone and accuses Apollo of “Cheating an old widow?” Mrs. Grabowski folds the bills into her fist and hits her son with her closed hand. She objects to his accusation, saying that this is more money than her husband gave her in years. Her response complicates the scene: the payment is inadequate in relation to the book’s possible resale value, yet it is also money she accepts and regards as significant. Apollo’s purchase can therefore be understood as both a profitable bargain and a real, if limited, benefit to her.

Apollo does not answer Igor by explaining the book’s condition, disputing its value, or acknowledging the difference between his offer and its possible resale price. Instead, he says, “It’s business,” and insists, “I’m just doing business here.” The wording converts a moral challenge into a claim about professional conduct. It identifies what Apollo is doing, but does not resolve whether the practice is fair. Igor’s expression supplies the rebuttal: business, like a cross, can serve as a respectable-looking cover for something less defensible.

Meaning and Narrative Function

The cross in Igor’s line evokes an outward sign associated with virtue, while the devil represents the wrongdoing concealed behind it. In this scene, Apollo’s own explanation provides the most immediate cover. He has felt sympathy for Mrs. Grabowski, imagined how the money could help her, and framed the purchase as a sacrifice made for his unborn child. Those feelings are present, but they do not prevent him from using his knowledge to obtain the book at a low price. The expression thus points not to an absence of conscience but to the possibility that conscience itself can be recruited to excuse an advantageous choice.

The saying also sharpens the contrast between the characters’ positions. Igor exposes the financial imbalance, but his accusation comes from a son whom the narrative shows scrambling beneath a couch for his phone and whom Mrs. Grabowski has just struck. Mrs. Grabowski, meanwhile, is neither merely helpless nor simply satisfied: she has refused her son’s plan, accepted the money, defended her need for it, and is left counting the bills as Apollo departs. The scene does not grant Apollo an easy moral victory, but neither does it make Igor’s condemnation a complete account of the exchange.

As a closing retort, the expression condenses the scene’s unresolved judgment. Apollo leaves with both books and the defense of business; Mrs. Grabowski remains at the doorway with the cash, and Igor shuts the door after speaking. The phrase lingers over that physical separation, making the ordinary mechanics of a sale carry a question of moral concealment: a person may recognize another’s hardship, and even feel for it, while still arranging the encounter to his own advantage.