‘Thank you, Miss Detective.’ He smiled at her. ‘I think I understand but what can we do? There’s nowhere to go, like I said, it’s a dead end.’
‘I’ve no idea, it’s your turn now, I’ve done my bit of deduction.’ She smiled back at him.
Irene joined in the smile.
He got to work at four and told Jos about their investigation and what they had learned from the paperwork.
‘There’s still a lot to do, we’ve only looked at one of father’s customers, it seems he had others even while we were in hiding. They’re all possibles for betraying us.’
‘I know the old bugger in the bar on the Looiersgracht corner, maybe I can get some more out of him or ask him to make enquiries for us, especially if he’s owed ten guilders, he’s a mean old devil.’
‘Is there anyone you don’t know, Jos?’
He thought for a moment. ‘No, not really.’ He laughed and lit another disgusting cigar.
‘Do you think it’s possible to contact Theo Visser again? I need to ask him if he knew whether his brother-in-law delivered anything from my father as well as taking food to him.’
‘I think he’ll be away at sea again by now. You can go and ask the dreadful Mevrouw Visser if you’re brave enough. I’ll ask at the office for you. If he’s on a short sea vessel like they said he should be back in the country every few days, it all depends on where in the Netherlands the ship is running from.’
‘Did you find out anything about the man in the car yet?’
‘Give me a chance, I’ve got a contact in the police. I haven’t seen him yet, it’s only been two days and I have to cross his palm and loosen his tongue a bit to get him to check for me.’
‘I’m sorry. Did you find out anything about the old banknotes or the gold yet?’
‘Bloody hell lad, you don’t want much, do you? I have spoken to someone about changing the notes, he’s, how can I put it, keeping a low profile at the moment, but I knew where to find him, and I saw him this morning. He’ll change them but I’m afraid it’s three for one because they’re such large denominations. He won’t be able to just spend the money, it’s not actually legal tender anymore after last week but if someone could get it paid into a bank account then they could draw it out as clean new money, if you know what I mean. If you don’t want to do that, he’s willing to change it for some nice gold trinkets but you’d have to keep them for a while for them to cool down.’
‘Cool down? What do you mean?’
‘Oh dear Simon, you have a lot to learn. It’s still quiet, just these three drunken old sods. Pour a couple of beers and I’ll get her upstairs to come down here for a while, and we’ll have a chat in the cellar. We need to work out if it’s best to take the new guilders or the slightly dubious jewellery.’
‘I’m not sure I like the jewellery idea, it’s not exactly legal, is it?’
‘Not exactly, no.’
‘I hope it didn’t come from looting and robbing Jews.’
‘I can’t be too specific, but you have my word that is not the case. This stuff came from very rich gentiles who, shall we say, forgot to close all the windows.’ He laughed at his own joke as usual and, opening the connecting door, shouted up to his wife.
‘She’s coming down, we’ll get out of her way and try to decide what you should do. You haven’t even counted the cash yet, and I didn’t like to do it without you. How much there is will decide whether you go for cash or jewellery.’
‘I really need money now, I couldn’t afford to keep the jewellery until it was safe to sell it, and anyway, would I get its full value?’
‘There, you see? You’re learning fast, we’ll make a villain out of you yet.’ He laughed loudly, downed his beer and reached for the jenever.
‘Shift those crates, you know where, so you can get to my little under-floor hidey hole. I’ve put your cash, the coins, the watches and your mother’s jewellery in there for safety. Your father’s box with the tools is over there, near the spirits cupboard.’
‘Think about it, 10,200 guilders, change it for new notes and it’s still nearly 3,500. You’re a rich boy.’
They sat in silence just looking at the money. The peace was suddenly shattered by a screech from the bar upstairs.
‘Jos van Loon, get your lazy fat arse up here.’
‘She’s obviously had enough already, it’s still very quiet up there by the sound of it. She just wants to go back upstairs and put her feet up. Go and relieve her will you, before she drives away the few customers we have got. Maaike will be here soon and it won’t get busy just yet. I’m staying here.’
He managed the bar quite easily on his own. It filled up in the hour before Maaike arrived, but he was becoming quite proficient at managing a number of customers’ bills at once while chatting to the regulars. They were getting to know him too and he felt quite at home gossiping with them. In many cases, he even knew what they wanted as soon as they came in the door.
Maaike arrived exactly on time at six to the delight of those sitting at the bar, who clearly found her company far preferable to his. She settled on her stool while he collected glasses from the tables and washed them. He wanted to tell her how much money there had been in his father’s box and how much Jos had said he could exchange it for but couldn’t while there were six pairs of ears at the bar.
Jos emerged from the cellar in a cloud of cigar smoke, clearly the worse for wear and jenever. ‘Maaike! Hello beautiful, you look wonderful tonight as usual, how are you?’
‘Tired, Simon had me up half the night looking at his father’s papers and we had a long walk this morning.’
‘So I understand. You have some interesting theories I hear, quite the little detective, I understand.’
‘Don’t tease me Jos, I just thought it through that’s all, it proves nothing and we are no nearer to finding out who betrayed Simon’s family.’
‘Give it time girl, you’ve only just started. Right, if everything down here is under control I’m off upstairs. I’ll be down about nine and if it’s still quiet we’ll close up and talk then. I know Simon here has something to tell you.’
Everyone fell silent and all ears were tuned in, awaiting the verbal explosion that would signal Jos meeting his wife in their living room above the bar. They were not disappointed; a tirade of abuse and, by the sound of it, crockery, clearly headed his way. Everyone smiled and ordered more beer.
The bar got busier than expected, and he didn’t have a moment all evening to speak to Maaike. Jos came down, saw there were still a number of customers, and instead of closing disappeared into the cellar. Eventually he emerged, ushered the last few hardened drinkers out of the door and locked it.
‘Can you two help me to clear up a bit? It’s the brewery delivery in the morning and I’ve put in a larger order than last week now all that money business is sorted and people have got funds to spend again, so we need to tidy up tonight.’
Simon helped Jos with the ashtrays, sweeping the floor and wiping the tables, while Maaike finished washing and putting the glasses away. He and Jos brought up six cases of bottled beers and re-stocked the shelves, then they moved the crates of empties and two empty barrels towards the cellar hatch, ready for the next morning.
‘Right, that’s sorted, thank you both. Let’s have a drink unless you want to get away?’
He had a small beer and Maaike had lemonade while Jos had his usual beer and jenever. He told Maaike how much money there was and what Jos had found out about changing it.
‘That sounds wonderful, but is it legal?’ She looked at Jos. ‘I don’t like the sound of it.’
Jos grinned. ‘Changing the money is not illegal as such, after all it’s not black money or stolen money, but because Simon doesn’t have a bank account and his identity is still unresolved then opening one with such a big amount, and in old, large denomination notes as well, is certain to prove difficult. My man has a way of doing it but it costs him and Simon doesn’t want the money frozen by a bank, he needs
it now. That’s right, isn’t it, Simon?’
‘Yes, I need clothes, a dentist, somewhere to live maybe, just a few personal possessions. One thing’s for sure, the jewellery route most definitely isn’t legal, but I don’t want to go for that option anyway. Three for one doesn’t sound good, I agree, but I trust Jos to get me the best rate.’ He looked at him and said, ‘After all, he has experience in this area.’
Jos laughed and playfully punched him in the shoulder. ‘Cheeky young sod, how do you put up with him, Maaike?’
She touched his arm. ‘Actually he’s quite nice. Whatever you do, it’s still a huge amount of money, more than I have ever dreamed of, and you still have the gold, the watches, the insurance policies and the house. You’ll be a rich man, but you certainly deserve it after what you’ve been through.’
He reached across and held her hand. ‘It’s a new start for both of us, we deserve it.’
Jos noticed the interaction between them and smiled inwardly. ‘Well, I hope I’m not going to lose you two when you’re a rich couple.’
Maaike blushed and Simon nearly choked on his beer. He asked Jos about his ID card, the insurance company and how to approach repossessing the house.
‘That’s three more jobs for old Jos on top of the gold, the car we saw at Kromme Palmgracht, Theo and the owner of the bar on Looiersgracht. The things I do for you, or should I say you two?’
She blushed again.
‘So can I go ahead with changing the cash for you?’
‘Yes, please, and can you keep the money for me with everything else in your special place? I’m worried it will still be too large an amount for me to open an account without lots of questions. I can take money out as I need it.’
‘Another job for me then. I’ll find out about a bank account for you as well while I’m at it. Get off home, you two.’ He winked at Maaike. ‘And no canoodling on the way.’
They walked slowly along the canal.
‘It’s all very exciting, I’ve never seen so much money. Did you mean it when you said it was a new start for both of us?’
‘Of course, Maaike.’
Thursday 18th October 1945
‘You two were late again last night.’
‘We were so busy right up to eleven. I was there at ten in the morning for the brewery delivery but the driver was an hour late and Jos had to get into the centre of town, so he was delayed too. I had to work with his wife all afternoon. It was hectic from four until six then Jos, Maaike and I worked all evening.’
‘Where was Jos all afternoon? Out drinking, I suppose?’
‘No, no, it was business, the bank and things.’
He didn’t tell her that Jos had been out meeting his contact to change the old notes before making enquiries at the bank about opening an account for him and asking at the shipping office about Theo Visser.
There was, as they feared, a problem about the bank, they had told Jos that to open an account the account holder had to go in personally with identification documents. His old ID card would apparently suffice, but they would need proof where the money, if it was over a thousand guilders, had come from. There was however good news; Jos had managed to get 3,700 new guilders in exchange.
The Ned Lloyd office had told Jos that Visser was currently on a small vessel trading up and down the English coast, but would be back in about a week.
Jos had of course been for a drink, but he claimed it was while making enquiries on Simon’s behalf about Berger at the Looiersgracht bar and at another bar on the Spui, the Hoppe, where he had met his police contact about the mystery man’s car. He said he had made no progress on either, but that his police contact was ‘working on it’.’
‘I didn’t really get anything done at all yesterday. I wanted to find an overcoat, it was cold and wet late night, and I wanted to talk to Bart and the Red Cross people over in the Jodenbuurt.’
He didn’t mention visiting any more of his father’s customers from the 1942 invoices in case she wanted to come with him, and also because he hadn’t had a chance to look at the papers again although he knew Maaike had found a few more things out.
‘If you’re seeing Bart, don’t go drinking with him again, remember what happened last time. You’ve got work at four, don’t forget, and if you’re going to Waterlooplein for a coat make sure you don’t end up with rubbish, the women over there will eat a young lad like you for breakfast.’
He called in to see Maaike on his way out. ‘I’m trying to make up for lost time yesterday, so I’m going to see Bart to ask if any of the customers replied to father’s invoices by post or even sent money to the Peperstraat address, or if Gerrit ever picked letters up there for him. Then I’m going to the Red Cross to tell them my search for mother and Esther is over and I’ll take advice about my ID if they can help, I’m sure I won’t be the first not to know what to do. I’m going to look for a coat too, I was wet and cold last night.’
She laughed. ‘Lucky I cuddled up to you then. But why are you going to the market, you’ve got money now to buy a new one. There are places you can get them without coupons now. By the way, I’ve looked at your father’s invoices again.’
‘Can we look at them when I get back, unless there’s anything about David Meijer? I thought I might go to see him, he’s just around the corner from Peperstraat. And I haven’t got any of my money yet, we were so busy last night I forgot to ask Jos so a new coat is out.’
‘Never mind, it’s pay day tomorrow for us normal hard-up people. As far as Meijer is concerned there’s the sales invoice we found the other evening, and one of the last purchase invoices I found was sent from him to your home on Dijkstraat in June 1942, so he knew your father had stopped trading at Peperstraat. I suppose it’s possible your father never actually received the goods or paid it before you were all…’
‘Arrested, you mean? It’s alright, don’t be upset. David will know, if I can find him.’
He went straight to Waterlooplein, resisting the urge to browse the book stalls knowing he would not find a decent coat if he was late yet again. He arrived in time to turn over a pile of overcoats with only minimal competition from the usual housewives, finding a reasonably smart dark blue top coat among the still unsold pile of ex-army items.
The Red Cross office was quiet. Most of the returning survivors had already arrived and all those still in displaced persons camps were, presumably, now accounted for. He explained he had met an eye witness to the deaths of his mother and sister and that their names would no doubt eventually appear on the list of victims and not, sadly, on that of survivors. Their advice about his ID card and other official matters was to contact either the registry at City Hall or the relevant government department. They also suggested the Jewish Registration Office, which he was already registered with, might be better placed to help with such problems.
Unable to make progress he set off to Peperstraat where Bart was hard at work over an intricate piece of jewellery.
‘Simon, welcome, come in. I won’t be a moment and we can go for lunch and a beer.’
‘I can’t stay, I’m sorry, I have so much to do today and I have to work at four. I have just called in to ask you something.’
‘Just ask, I’ll help if I can. Is there any news on your family yet?’
‘Sorry, I forgot I haven’t seen you since I heard. Mother and Esther are both dead, I met a woman who was with them in the camp—she saw their bodies. I already knew father was dead as we were in the same hut. Now I know about mother and Esther. It’s as I feared, there is no one left.’
‘I’m so sorry, I don’t know what to say to you. Your father was a wonderful man, we were neighbours in here for years. I often called down to see him and he came up to see me. We would have coffee and put the world to rights. I usually arrived as he was at a delicate point on a watch or clock and he always seemed to turn up as I was mounting a stone. I remember your mother calling here too, she was a lovely lady. So sad, damn war. Now what can I do for you?’
‘Where to start. My father left a box behind with lots of tools, photos and other stuff. There were piles of purchase and sales invoices, you know what a hoarder he was when it came to business records.’
Bart nodded. ‘Go on.’
‘It appears he continued trading after he closed down here, in fact he continued even after we went into hiding and he bought and sold things and issued invoices. I’m checking all the people he had dealings with after we went into hiding in case one of them somehow betrayed us. I’m trying to work out how father paid them, how they paid father and how they got their watches without them knowing about our hiding place.’
‘I don’t see how they could, but you know some of your father’s dealings were, how can I put it, dubious’
Simon nodded, ‘Did anyone ever call here to pick up mail, for example?’
‘Not as far as I know, and I assume your father handed in the keys so only the landlord would have access. I certainly didn’t see anyone.’
‘Did anyone ever try to deliver or collect items?’
‘I remember a well-dressed, middle-aged, military looking man who came looking for your father, but he had already closed down here so I sent him to Dijkstraat, did I do wrong? I didn’t know where you all were, so I didn’t give you away.’
‘No, no, not at all. If we were still at Dijkstraat it would have been alright and if we had already gone into hiding he would have found Dijkstraat empty, or full of those Dutch people who moved themselves in.’
‘Yes, I heard about that, the bastards, it’s been happening all over the Jodenbuurt, what’s left of it, that is.’
‘Does the landlord come to father’s old workshop often?’
‘He came a few times in the months after your father left, but then he boarded up the windows on your father’s floor and I haven’t seen him since, he hasn’t even emptied the place.’
‘Do you think there might be mail lying there?’
‘I can’t see how, since I became the only occupant that side door is locked so mail is just put through the outer box, and it’s all for me anyway. I wasn’t here every day in the war, even the Germans couldn’t find a job for a sixty-seven-year-old jeweller thank God, but the postman wouldn’t have been able to get in to go up to your father’s door and I never found any mail for your father in my box.’
Mendelevski's Box Page 14
