"Good. He can have us driven home."
They walked slowly, Asta in the middle.
"See?" Asta said, pointing at a disorderly heap of feathers. "This is where the Chinese throws out his garbage, and there's nothing we can do about it. It isn't just feathers, there's blood and meat too."
"Good for rats," Grijpstra said, steering her around a temporary fence. "This part of town'll never get organized. What are they blacktopping this area for? What's wrong with cobblestones?"
Asta tried not to limp. De Gier supported her elbow.
"You realize that we are still nowhere," Grijpstra said. "So Herr Miiller is a drug dealer and we can prove it. That's nice. But drugs is not our department. That the Hamburg police will be pleased has nothing to do with us either. First we had a murder and no corpse, it added up to zero. Now we have a corpse and no murder. Zero equals zero."
De Gier grinned. His arm slipped around Asta's shoulders. "There's nothing more glorious than zero, adjutant. You can multiply it at will, you can divide it at will, and it will always be the same. We can lose ourselves in nothing and go as far as we like; we'll never hit the other end of it."
The adjutant hadn't thought of a reply yet when Sergeant Jurriaans welcomed his guests with outstretched arms, beaming at the bedraggled group that reluctantly entered his small office.
7
"You look tired," Jurriaans said. "Are they overworking you already?"
Asta lit a cigarette. Her hand trembled.
"No, I fell and hurt my knee; otherwise I'm having a good time."
"How do you like de Gier?"
De Gier reached for the match Grijpstra was about to strike; he put it in his mouth.
"This is not a social call, colleague. Please come to the point."
Asta smiled. "I love him. I love you too. My soul is torn."
Jurriaans nodded. "I'd advise you to lean his way, even if he's short-tempered. Married men are easy to deal with, but they've lost their spunk; the stress of the home situation takes its toll. Married men also carry guilt which clogs up the atmosphere. Take him and come to me for comfort. I'll always be around for I can't get away."
De Gier's teeth snapped through his match and he took another from Grijpstra's hand. Grijpstra gave him his matchbox and took Jurriaans's lighter. He lit his cigar and slipped the lighter into his pocket.
"Why are we here?"
"You're here because your chase has come to an end. I've liberated you. If you like, I'll tell you about it, after you return my lighter, of course."
Grijpstra replaced the lighter.
Jurriaans sat back. He cleared his throat.
"Well, where shall I start? I can't start at the beginning, for I don't know where it is. My interference came so much later, and it wasn't even mine, for Karate saw him. He saw the Prime Punk, and we subsequently arrested him. About two hours ago I tried to get hold of you, but I couldn't trace you. I wanted you to hear the Chief Punk confess, but he'll repeat his performance if you like, and if you don't, I have his signed statement."
"Who?" Grijpstra asked.
"He is a mugger and he robs cars. He's quick and sly and an expert, but Karate was quicker. Karate and I were driving about tonight; with Ketchup on leave and Asta in the higher spheres I'm even more short-staffed than usual and besides I was bored. A bit of active duty cheers me up sometimes. We drove through the Red Mill Alley, and Karate braked and raced out of the car and confronted the Punk. He is twenty years old and leads the other Punks, the second best gang of the district. The best gang is the Black Jackets and I'm sorry we didn't catch their chief for he specializes in perfidity. The Punks will break your bones, the Black Jackets will suck the marrow. They're bad and they're black. This is a racist station and we tend to identify the two ideas. That is a mistake, I know it. I know that the percentage of criminals of our black fellow men is only slightly higher than the white percentage. I'm also aware that the blacks are recent immigrants and are learning to deal with a new environment, but I don't always practice my knowledge."
De Gier selected a fresh match. "You arrested the Prime Punk?"
"I did. He was breaking into a car. Karate caught him red-handed; the Punk was using a wonderbar. A wonderbar is a metal tool and he hit Karate with it. Karate thereupon attacked the Punk and I couldn't stop him in time. The Punk was in a bad state afterward. I admonished Karate for a few minutes and interrogated the Punk for an hour. I said that it was about time that we caught him and that I would make sure that he would receive the maximum punishment. I thereupon appealed to his sense of logic. I implored him to confess all his crimes so that he would only be punished once and not repeatedly. The Punk has never been arrested yet and we don't have his fingerprints. Knowing that he works without gloves, I told him that we found fingerprints on a silver-colored Mercedes with a Hamburg registration yesterday. I said that, if the fingerprints matched his, he would be in more trouble than he was now, but that he could improve his position by confessing right now."
Grijpstra no longer reclined in his chair. De Gier's match broke again, but he didn't take another.
"Ah," Sergeant Jurriaans said, "I see that I have your attention. Yes, my friends, it was him, him and an unidentified helper."
Grijpstra sighed. "He didn't kill Boronski. Our corpse died of natural causes. We'll never break the doctor's statement. A large duodenal ulcer, no human hand. What did the Prime Punk say about Boronski?"
"He said that he and his helper, whose identity he can't remember, hot-wired the Mercedes in front of the Oberon and drove it to the Gentleman's Market. They parked the car and pried the trunk open. There was nothing in the trunk. They closed the lid and got back into the car, intending to go for a joy ride, when the trunk's lid popped open. Because they had forced the lid, it no longer closed easily. They got out to close it again, when a man came staggering along. It was around midnight and there was nobody else about."
"They didn't rob Boronski," Grijpstra said.
"No. They may have intended to, thinking the man would be drunk and helpless. As they approached Boronski, the man doubled up and vomited blood. He took a few more steps and held on to the trunk's lid. He fell into the trunk."
"As I thought," Grijpstra said. "As I thought all the time."
"Did he fall in altogether?" de Gier asked.
"No, but a patrol car passed on the other side of the canal. The constables in the car weren't paying attention, but the Prime Punk didn't want to be seen with a bleeding drunk. He expected the patrol car to come back on his side of the canal. He pushed Boronski into the trunk, slammed the lid, and walked away. He thought that the man would sleep in the trunk and that there would be enough air, because the lid didn't close properly. He expected the man to be found in the morning."
"Death by guilt," Grijpstra said. "You have a charge. The doctor said that Boronski could have been saved if he had been taken to hospital straightaway."
"The charge has already been laid. Now for the Prime Punk himself." He picked up his phone.
Within a minute the suspect was brought in. The young man's face was made up and his jacket carried a number of gaudy brooches, a bottle opener that had been unscrewed from a bar counter, a framed photograph of Alain Delon, and a German Iron Cross. His short hair was dyed with henna. His fingernails were painted orange. He didn't say anything. His jaw was bruised and bis left ear bandaged.
"You can take him away again. Remove his ornamentation so that he can't hurt himself." The elderly constable accompanying the Prime Punk saluted.
"End of the case," Sergeant Jurriaans said when the door closed again. "I didn't mean to fish in your water, I just happened to be around when the fellow could be caught."
"Another cow catches another rabbit," de Gier said. "Here's money." He counted seven twenty-five guilder bills. "How much did you get, Grijpstra?"
Grijpstra put another sev6n bills on Jurriaans's desk.
"You're not paying me, are you?"
"No, we mugged two
muggers. Black Jackets. They were in our way and if we hadn't acted serious, they might have hung about. You probably had a complaint at this station tonight. Somebody must have lost the 350 that the Black Jackets split among themselves. I hope it was only one robbery. If this is the total of several felonies, you may have complications."
Jurriaans laughed. "You must have shaken them. It so happens that I do have a complainant who lost that amount tonight, a parson from the provinces who happened to stray into one of the bad streets around here. Do you remember what your fellows looked like?"
"Perhaps this little matter shouldn't be pursued," Grijpstra said. "Just return the venerable sucker's money, will you?"
"I will," Jurriaans said and tucked the bills into an envelope which he licked carefully. "Perhaps the parson doesn't want to pursue the matter either. He's a married man and the street where he was caught has a prostitute behind every window." He looked at his watch. "Are you free now? I am, and I live close by; I can go home and change. We could meet at Beelema's."
Grijpstra got up. "No, I've been there twice already tonight, and it is a place I'm trying to avoid. We still have some work to do. Some other time, Jurriaans, at another cafe, and thank you."
"The pleasure is mine."
They met Karate at the door. He looked at Asta. "How're you doing?"
"She's fine," de Gier said.
"I'm not," Asta said. "My knee hurts and needs a compress. A wet towel will do. I should lie on a bed. Do you have a towel?"
"He'll have a bed too," Karate said.
De Gier turned on the small constable. "Just for that, you can drive us to Headquarters and pick up my bicycle on the way, and you can drive me home, too, after we're done."
Karate opened the side door of the minibus.
"Be my guest, sergeant."
Grijpstra sat in front. He pushed away the partitioning between the driver's compartment and the rear of the bus and tapped de Gier on the shoulder.
"Rinus?"
"Yes?"
"We have no murder."
De Gier smiled. "Are you sure?"
"No."
The bus drove off.
Asta's hand slid into the sergeant's. "You mean it isn't over yet?"
"No, but we'll have to start all over again and in a different way."
"Good," she said, "I need more time with you, and my knee hurts."
"I have a towel at home," de Gier said and looked at a window where a tall black woman in white lace underwear stared back at him. She smiled; the mauve neon lighting of the small room made her teeth light up. She pulled a hidden string and her bra opened for a moment, displaying a perfect bosom.
Asta's elbow hit the sergeant's chest.
"Uh."
"Did you like her?"
"So-so."
"Did you like me in the bath today?"
"Yes."
"Good," she said. "Let's not spend too much time on Herr Muller." She tapped on the partitioning and yelled at Karate. "Let's go!"
The minibus's faulty siren howled hesitantly, worn gears ground painfully, a profound rattle shook the vehicle. Karate, jaw set, bent down over the wheel and mumbled encouragingly; the car picked up some speed.
It stopped again for some drunks who tottered from sidewalk to sidewalk in the narrow street.
"Sorry," Karate said, "only civilians can speed in Amsterdam."
"Yes," Grijpstra said, "or no. Never mind. Maybe I see it now, but I don't see all of it."
"Beg pardon, adjutant?"
"A chaos."
"It sure is, adjutant. See that respectable lady over there? With the hat in her eyes? A schoolmistress or a welfare worker. Drunk as a coot. How the hell did she fall into sin?"
"I've never accepted the chaos," Grijpstra said. "Perhaps I should. Turn up that siren, constable, we've got to get out of here."
8
"But look here," Grijpstra said, "you were seen opening your case, taking out a small plastic bag, and pulling back your arm with the obvious intention of throwing the bag into the canal. We subsequently searched the case, which you closed again when you were arrested and managed to kick into the water. The case contained plastic bags, and each bag, according to our laboratory, was filled with a quarter of a pound of first-class cocaine. All in all, you had four pounds of high-priced junk in there. True or not?"
Muller's chins moved convulsively in a fluid movement upward until his thick lips trembled slightly. Grijpstra wasn't sure how to interpret this facial agitation. "Are you smiling, Herr Mtiller?"
"I am."
"Why?"
"Because you're wrong."
"You weren't about to throw the cocaine into the canal?"
The fat man's hands shifted slightly on his belly, which was pushed up obscenely and ready to flow over the edge of Grijpstra's desk.
"Your facts are correct but your explanation isn't The case belonged to Boronski. He left it in my room; perhaps he planted the case on me, I don't know. Boronski was a sick man. He chose my car to die in; perhaps that desire was intentional too, again I don't know. We weren't getting on well; I was displeased with the quality of his shipments. I told him that I might find another supplier. He wasn't in his right mind, he was hallucinating, he was causing trouble in the hotel."
"Really?" Grijpstra asked. "So why would you destroy the cocaine, why didn't you give it to us?"
Miiller's face appeared to become more solid. A crafty light flickered in his protruding eyes.
"Tell me, Herr Muller."
"Because you are the police. The police here are no good. The food is no good either. Nothing is good here."
There was a newspaper on Grijpstra's desk. The adjutant glanced at the headlines. Further moves in drug scandal. He had read the article earlier that day. The paper claimed that charges would be pressed against several highly placed police officers.
"Yes," Muller said. "I'm from Hamburg, our dialect is similar to Dutch. I can read your newspapers. What would happen if I gave you four pounds of cocaine?"
"It would be confiscated and in due time destroyed."
"Nein."
"Nein?"
"Nein. It would disappear. It would make you rich. I don't want to make you rich. Cocaine is bad. It would still reach the addicts. I decided to do some good work. I'm an honest merchant, I deal in lumber. My material goes into homes and furniture. I protect society. I took the risk to do away with the poison myself, but you prevented my service to society."
Grijpstra nodded pleasantly. "You could also have burned it, or flushed it down the toilet."
"I'm not a chemist. Perhaps cocaine explodes when it bums. Perhaps it does not dissolve easily. I did not want to clog up the hotel plumbing. I thought I was doing the right thing, but you interfered."
Grijpstra got up. "Fine. I will now take you back to your cell."
Muller got up too. "I want some cigarettes and matches."
"But of course. We will get them from the machine on our way to the cell block. By the way, Herr Muller, there's another charge against you. You resisted arrest and attacked an officer. You hurt her knee."
Muller smiled triumphantly.
"This way," Grijpstra said.
He came back a few minutes later, sat down, and dialed.
"No," a female voice said, "the teletyper is in use by your chief."
"My chief is at home."
"He's here."
"Here? Doing what?" Grijpstra looked at his watch. "It's two in the morning."
"He's using the teletyper."
Grijpstra looked at the telephone.
"Will that be all, adjutant?"
"No. Get me the Hamburg Police Headquarters, Inspector Wingel, drugs department. He won't be there, but they'll know where to find him. I'll wait here for his call."
"I don't speak German," the girl said.
"Then just get me the number."
It took twenty minutes before Wingel was on the phone. His voice sounded sleepy but became clipped when he unders
tood what he was told. "Yes," he said. "Yes."
Grijpstra yawned. "I thought you might be interested."
"I am. I'll be right over."
"Here?"
"There. I'll leave now and bring a colleague. There won't be much traffic. We'll be there in three hours."
"Very well," Grijpstra said. "I'll wait for you." He let the telephone drop back on its hook. He yawned again. He picked up the phone again.
"Who is the commissaris talking to? Not to the German police, is he?"
"No, adjutant. To Colombia. It took us forever to make the connection. He's got himself set up in the other office. He's been there for more than an hour; he's speaking to our embassy out there."
Five minutes later the adjutant was asleep, his head against the wall, his feet on his desk. The remnants of a grin eased his face and he burbled placidly through pursed lips. De Gier was asleep, too, at the edge of his bed to give room to Tabriz who had stretched herself on a wet towel. She had come in late and nudged Asta's body aside patiently, pushing the girl with her nose and soft paws. Even Muller was asleep, snoring heavily while he fought shapeless fiends that tore at his lies. Boronski was dead, more dead than when the detectives observed his stiffening features. Perhaps his spirit was about, but the attendant Jacobs no longer cared. He had built his transparent insubstantial egg and sat within it, peacefully puffing on his battered pipe, studying a Hebrew text through his little round glasses.
Only the commissaris was awake, waiting for the teletyper to rattle again and reading through a stack of paper with torn edges that recorded his conversation so far.
9
The commissaris had gone home that afternoon and limped up the cracked cement steps to be embraced by his wife, stripped out of his clothes, and lowered into a hot bath. In his bath he was without pain, for his rheumatism was eased by the steam and the swirl of minute soapy waves, as well as the coffee, and the cigar that his wife brought and lit ceremoniously, before placing it carefully between his lips. She hovered about while he read the paper, skipping over the headlines and the editorial and concentrating on two items. Astronomers, an article tucked away into the far corner of an inside page told him, had discovered a new galaxy; it was about the size of the Milky Way and would, therefore, contain the same number of planets that were the size of the earth, at about the same distance from their suns, at more or less the same state of development; approximately a million. The commissaris chuckled. The other item informed 190 him that a Gypsy child on the outskirts of the city died that morning. She had, somehow, fallen into burning rubbish. The identity of the child had not been established; she was about three years old.
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