Outsider in Amsterdam
( Amsterdam cops - 1 )
Janwillem Van De Wetering
Janwillem Van De Wetering
Outsider in Amsterdam
\\ 1 /////
The Volkswagen was parked on the wide sidewalk of the Haarlemmer Houttuinen, opposite number 5, and it was parked the way it shouldn't be parked.
The adjutant* had switched the engine off.
The adjutant hesitated.
He had arrived at his destination, Haarlemmer Houttuinen, number 5, and the high narrow gable house was waiting for him. He studied the gable house and frowned. The house had a body in it, a dead body, suspended. The body was bound to be turning slowly. Bodies, suspended by the neck, are never quite still.
The adjutant didn't feel like doing anything. He didn't feel like getting out of the car, running through the rain, watching a corpse move slowly, dangling, turning.
"Hey," said sergeant de Gier, who sat next to adjutant Grijpstra.
"Hey what?" asked Grijpstra.
De Gier made a helpless gesture. Grijpstra could explain the gesture, the waving arm with its connected stretched-out hand, as he wanted.
But he still didn't move and adjutant and sergeant listened, peacefully and unanimously, to the fat raindrops that pattered from the heavy juicy spring sky onto the tin roof of the Volkswagen.
"Yes," the adjutant said, and got out of the car. De Gier had parked the car on the edge of the sidewalk and Grijpstra was forced to step into the street, a main thoroughfare, busy at all times of the day and the night. He didn't pay attention and a large American limousine approaching at speed had to turn suddenly to avoid the door of the car. The limousine, suddenly indignant, honked its powerful horn.
De Gier laughed and shook his head. He got out of the car as well, on the safe side, and locked the door carefully while the rain hit him in the neck. In Amsterdam nothing is safe, not even a police car, and mis Volkswagen didn't look like a police car. No expert would recognize the VW as a means of transport reserved for officers of the criminal investigation department. Its radio set was hidden under the dashboard and the antenna was a mere twig, slightly rusty. No one would suspect that the back seat contained a well-oiled carbine, neatly wrapped in canvas, and complete with six magazines, or that the harmless nose of the car was filled with a complete collection of utensils that police officers think they need during the lawful exercise of their duties and including such items as a small suitcase full of burglar's tools, a powerful searchlight, a dredge, gas masks and a tape recorder.
But nothing was suspected and the officers looked as innocent as their vehicle. Grijpstra is a fat man, and de Gier neither thin nor fat, qualities they share with a large number of other men in Holland's capital. Grijpstra wore a badly fitting suit made of expensive English striped material, with a white shirt and a dark blue tie, and de Gier a made-to-order suit of blue denim, a blue shirt and a many-colored scarf neatly folded around his Adam's apple. Grijpstra's hair looked like a well-worn scrubbing brush and de Gier's curls were beautifully cut by a proud and highly trained coiffeur taking an almost personal interest in the glamor of his clients. De Gier's curls were so well shaped, in fact, that he could be mistaken for a woman, if viewed from the rear, and only his narrow hips protected him from attacks from that side.
A pedestrian, in a hurry to reach his parked car, bumped into Grijpstra and hurt himself against the large model service pistol that the adjutant carried under his jacket.
"Watch where you're going," the pedestrian mumbled ferociously.
"Yes sir," said Grijpstra kindly.
An ordinary car was parked on the sidewalk and two ordinary men ran through the rain until they reached the porch of number 5 and tried to catch their breath.
Their object achieved, a new period of inactivity began.
"Bah," Grijpstra said and read the sign on the door.
The sign said HINDIST SOCIETY.
Both men studied it. It looked neat, like the door. The text had been written in an unusual script as if the letter artist had tried to create a mysterious atmosphere. It seemed as if the letters had been drawn very quickly; the result was vaguely Chinese, far away.
De Gier produced a comb and arranged his hair while he looked about him.
The porch was old, and magnificent in its Golden Age splendor. It had been designed in the seventeenth century for a gentleman-merchant who specialized in expensive timber, imported from Africa and the Far East and stored in the first three stories of the tall house, while the merchant himself would have lived in the top three stories from which he could see the harbor and his vast stocks of cheaper timber, stacked in an area of perhaps a square mile. But that was long ago and the stones of the porch were cracked now and the beams supporting the gable house sagged a little. But the well-built house still retained a good deal of its original stately beauty and the present owner had kept it in reasonable repair.
A small window showed a number of objects and de Gier studied them one by one. Glass jars filled with health grains and brown and green tea and a substance that de Gier, after some thought, determined as seaweed. A sign in the window, showing the same sort of lettering as the main sign, informed the visitor that the Society went in for a variety of activities. Grijpsira grunted and read the sign in a loud voice.
"Shop, open from nine to four. Restaurant and bar, restaurant open to nine, bar open to twelve P.M."
He looked at de Gier but de Gier was still studying the display.
There were several small cartons filled with incense and a gilded Buddha statue sitting on a pedestal, staring and smiling, with a headgear tapering off into a sharp point.
"A pointed head," Grijpstra said. "Is that what you get when you meditate?"
"That isn't known as a pointed head," said de Gier, using the voice of his lecture evening, once a month, when he taught the young constables of the emergency squad the art of crime detection.
"Not a pointed head," de Gier repeated, "but a heaven-head. The point points at heaven. Heaven is the goal of meditation. Heaven is thin air. Heaven is upstairs."
"Ah," said Grijpstra. "Are you sure?"
"No," said de Gier.
"You can ring the bell," Grijpstra said. "You have a nice index finger."
De Gier bowed from the hips and rang. His index finger was indeed nice, well tapered, thin and powerful.
Grijpstra, as if he wanted to avoid all comparison, had hidden his hands in his pockets.
The door opened immediately; they had been expected.
Both men braced themselves.
"Suspected suicide," the police radio had said, a few minutes ago. "It seems that a man has hung himself." That was the message, and they had been given the address.
Grijpstra had repeated the address and had said that they would go there, and the female voice belonging to the constable first class of the radio room had thanked them and closed the communication.
And now they had arrived, but they knew no more than the radio had told them.
And now, of course, there would be a great commotion. Several people talking at once. White faces. Fearful eyes. Shouts and screams. Violence affects people.
But the face that looked at them, from the open space where the thick green monumental door had been, wasn't white but black, and it wasn't excited but calm.
The officers studied the man in the door.
"A Negro," Grijpstra thought, "a small Hindist Negro. Now what?"
De Gier hadn't drawn any conclusion. Like Grijpstra he had associated black with "Negro," but he was in doubt. The man was no Negro. "Who else is black?" de Gier thought but the logic line of his thoughts was interrupted by the inqui
sitive expression on the face of the dark man.
"Police," Grijpstra said and produced his wallet, a large leather wallet consisting of a number of plastic compartments and a notebook. He shook the wallet, the plastic compartments dangled and a small card hung in front of their host's eyes.
The man came closer and concentrated on the document.
"That's a credit card of the Amsterdam-Rotterdam Bank," the small man said.
De Gier laughed softly and Grijpstra looked at his colleague. It was a heavy look, full of criticism.
"I'm sorry," said de Gier.
Grijpstra dug in his wallet and after a while his square fat fingers found his police identification with its blue and red stripes and photograph of a much younger Grijpstra dressed in uniform with the silver button of his rank on both shoulders.
The dark man bent forward and read the card.
"H. F. Grijpstra," he read in a clear voice. "Adjutant. Municipal Police of Amsterdam."
He paused.
"I have seen it. Please come in."
"Extraordinary," de Gier thought. "Fascinating. That fellow actually read the card. It never happens. Grijpstra always shows his credit card and nobody ever notices anything. He could have shown a receipt from the electricity department and nobody would object, but this chap really reads the identification."
"Who are you?" Grijpstra was asking.
"Jan Karel van Meteren," the man said.
They were in the corridor. There were three doors on the right, heavy oak doors. One of the doors was open and de Gier saw a bar and several young men with long hair and one elderly man with a bald head. Everybody was drinking beer. He had a glance of another young man behind the bar, dressed in a white T-shirt and decorated with a necklace of colored stones. Van Meteren was leading the way and they followed obediently. A staircase at the end of the corridor, again made of oak and recently polished. The floor of the corridor was covered with slabs of marble, cracked but very clean. Near the staircase Grijpstra noticed a niche with an upright Indian figure, made of bronze, life-size and with the right hand raised in a gesture of solemn greeting. Perhaps the gesture symbolized a blessing.
They climbed the staircase and came into a large open space with a high ceiling made of iron, painted white and with a relief of garlands picked out in gold. This was the restaurant, occupying the entire floor. De Gier counted ten tables, six seating four persons and four seating six persons. Nearly every chair was taken.
Grijpstra had stopped while their guide waited patiently. He was admiring a statue, standing on a stone platform attached to the wall. It was a statue of a female deity, performing a dance. The noble head on its slender neck seemed to contrast at first with the full breasts and the lewdly raised foot and Grijpstra was surprised that this naked sexual figure represented divinity and that he accepted her divinity. Undoubtedly the figure was free, quiet, detached and powerful. Superior. The thought flitted through his head. Superior. And free. Especially free. The thought disappeared as he walked on. De Gier had seen the statue but hadn't allowed himself to be interested. He watched the guests without fixing any one of them in particular. A fixed stare is aggressive and invites attention. He didn't want any attention and didn't get any. The guests took him for another guest and thought he wanted tojoin them. One man took his hat and briefcase off a chair and made an inviting gesture. De Gier smiled and shook his head. He noticed that nobody seemed to talk, perhaps they were listening to the music that came from several stereo loudspeakers and was hitting the room in waves. De Gier liked the music; it reminded him of a performance in the Tropical Museum. The heavy rhythmical cords would come from a bass guitar and the dry sharp knocks from a set of drums; he imagined that the wheezing high notes setting the melody itself would be a flute, a bamboo flute probably.
They were moving again, still following van Meteren. He led them through the restaurant and into a long narrow kitchen; through its windows there was a view of a garden full of red and pink rhododendrons. Two girls in jeans were busily stirring pots on a large stove. There was a sharp but not unpleasant smell of weird herbs. One of the girls wanted to object to the presence of strangers but stopped herself when she saw van Meteren.
There was another narrow staircase and another corridor. White walls and several doors. They passed three doors and van Meteren opened the last, fourth, door.
De Gier had a feeling that they had now penetrated into the secret part of the house; perhaps the silence of the corridor motivated the thought. The music of the restaurant didn't reach this lofty level. Grijpstra entered the room and sighed. He saw the corpse and it moved, exactly as he had expected. It would be the draft, of course, all phenomena can be explained, but the slow ghastly movement chilled his spine. De Gier had now come in as well and watched silently. He noticed the small bare feet with their neat toes, pointed at the floor. His gaze wandered upward and recorded the protruding tongue and the wide open bulging blue eyes. A small corpse that had belonged to a living man. A little over five feet. A thin man, well dressed in khaki trousers of good cloth, nicely ironed, and a freshly laundered striped shirt. Some forty years old. Long thick dark red hair and a full mustache, hanging down at the corners by its own weight. De Gier moved closer and looked at the corpse's wrist watch. He grunted. A very expensive watch, worth a small fortune. He couldn't remember ever having seen a gold strap of such width and such quality.
Both officers froze and quietly looked around, noticing as many details as possible. Almost automatically they had put their hands in their pockets. They had been trained in the same school. Hands in pockets cannot touch anything. This silent room was bound to be full of indications, traces, tracks.
They saw a large room, again with a high ceiling but not made of cast iron but of plain sawn planks supported by heavy deal beams. There were several bookcases, well filled. There was a telephone in one of the bookcases, and an expensive TV set and a new complete encyclopedia. The furniture consisted of a low settee, a table and three chairs. There were some cushions on the floor, embroidered. The patterns were unusual. Eastern designs probably, de Gier thought. There was a typewriter on the table with a letter in it. De Gier bent down.
Dear Sirs:
I thank you for your letter of the tenth and have to inform you
No further text. The letterhead looked expensive. HINDIST SOCIETY, the address and the telephone number.
They saw a footstool, lying on its side, near the feet of the corpse. They saw a gramophone, a stack of records and a low bed covered with a batik cloth. The woven curtains were closed but allowed enough light to filter through to see every detail of the room.
"What's that?" Grijpstra asked, pointing at another low table, covered with red lacquer and serving as a seat for a fairly large statue, a rather fat bald-headed man sitting cross-legged and staring at them with glass eyes.
"An altar of sorts," de Gier answered after some thought. 'That copper bowl filled with sand must be an incense burner, and the brown spots in the sand are burnt-out incense sticks."
Grijpstra raised an eyebrow. "You know a lot today."
"I visit museums," de Gier said.
Grijpstra sniffed.
"Incense?" he asked.
De Gier nodded. The heavy sweet smell gave him a headache.
"Who discovered the body?" de Gier asked van Meteren, who was standing near the door.
"I did," van Meteren answered. "I had to ask Piet something and as he didn't answer when I knocked, I went back to my room. A little later I asked the girls in the kitchen if they had seen him and they said he had gone upstairs. I looked into the other rooms; one of them belongs to his mother, and another is the temple. He wasn't there. I thought he might be asleep and knocked again and then I opened the door and saw him hanging there. I telephoned the police and waited for you downstairs. Nobody knows anything yet."
"Why didn't you cut the rope?" asked de Gier.
"He was dead."
"How did you know?"
V
an Meteren didn't answer.
"Are you a doctor?" Grijpstra asked.
"No," van Meteren said, "but I have seen a lot of corpses in my life. Piet is dead. Dead is dead. I could feel it. A dead body has no feel."
"Did you touch it?"
Van Meteren shrugged his shoulders. "I don't have to feel a corpse to know it is dead."
"So why didn't you cut the rope?" asked de Gier again.
"I couldn't do it by myself," van Meteren said. "Somebody would have had to hold the body. Besides, I wanted you to find it the way it was. Perhaps it will give you a lead."
De Gier looked again at the corpse. He had an idea that he had seen the man before and searched his memory. De Gier's memory was well organized and he knew his way around his files. After a while he knew that he hadn't seen the man before but that the strong chin, the long hair and the heavy mustache reminded him of a portrait he had seen in a museum in The Hague. A portrait of a Dutch statesman of the sixteenth century, a statesman and a warrior, on his way to do battle. The warrior had been sitting on a horse and had a sword in his hand. A leader. Very likely this man had also been a leader, a boss. A little boss in charge of a small society. Discipline, de Gier thought. That's it. This house and this room reek of discipline. Everything is neat and clean. The girls in the kitchen are clean too, reasonably clean. Van Meteren is clean. There would be some connection between the corpse and van Meteren. Perhaps van Meteren is an employee of the Society. But why do I observe this? de Gier asked. The answer came immediately. He hadn't expected cleanliness when he had read the sign on the door. HINDIST SOCIETY. He had associated the words with a mess. The new wisdom coming from the East is a messy business. He thought of the dirty doped vague shadowy people he had arrested in the street and interrogated at Police Headquarters. Petty theft, drug dealing in a small silly way, runaway minors, prostitution. All suspects stank. He had made them empty their pockets before locking them up and had been appalled at the dirty rags, the broken trinkets, the lack of money. He had seen the photographs they carried around with them. Pictures of "holy men," "gurus" or "yogis." Skeletons with long matted hair and craay eyes. The masters preaching the way.
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