The Rattle-Rat ac-10

by Janwillem Van De Wetering

  "That deserter," Sudema said. "He sails a nice boat. Made it himself, I believe, a copy of an antique flat-bottomed sloop. Must have nosed past the islands one dark night and darted in and out before disappearing with the loot."

  A patrol boat of the Water Police came by, sinister and low in the water, with a sharp prow like a warship and painted light gray, with large white numbers.

  "Well armed, I suppose?" de Gier asked.

  "Not as far as I know," Sudema said. "A carbine, maybe. We own a few too, but they stay in the barracks."

  A larger vessel came by, of the same gray color, again with square white numbers.

  "Navy," Sudema said. A cannon without a barrel stood on the foredeck of the boat.

  "Does that work?" de Gier asked.

  "Used to," Sudema said. "But they lost the barrel years ago. I sometimes ask the sailors about it, but they prefer not to discuss the matter. The barrel cracked during an exercise. They're trying to replace it, but so far nothing seems to fit very well."

  The warship crossed the wakes of Water Police and Military Police vessels.

  "Quite a show of strength," de Gier said. 'To what purpose, do you think? Any smuggling here?"

  "Only on weekends," Sudema said, "but we aren't around then. The harbormaster of Ameland reported a suspicious boat some weekends ago, when he was out here fishing. He phoned, and one of us happened to be in the barracks and he might have wanted to go out, but he couldn't raise the skipper. Wouldn't have been any good anyway. Smugglers use flat-bottomed craft so that they can operate outside the channel."

  "So you did nothing?"

  "We did something," Sudema said. "Our man phoned the alarm stations and an Air Force helicopter went out to take a look. Couldn't see anything. By then the fog had come in.

  De Gier rubbed bis eyes. "Yes," Sudema said, "I noticed it just now. You have a nervous tremor in both eyelids. Should watch that, you know. When I had that, it was diagnosed as stress; a week's leave and it got much better."

  "Stress?" de Gier asked. "You were working too hard?"

  "That too," Sudema said. "Long hours, but I think it was my engagement. Aunt Gyske had her birthday, and Jymke and I were invited to the party. Uncle Sjurd kept going to his tomatoes in the greenhouse, and Aunt Gyske kept dancing with me. She had this record, slow blues, and the stereo was switched to automatic so the tune kept coming back at us. Jymke got bored and went home, but I didn't notice."

  "End of the engagement?"

  "I did take her some tulips," Sudema said, "from Aunt Gyske's garden, but she didn't want them, it seemed. Wouldn't come to the door."

  Ameland showed as a thin yellow line, dotted with green. De Gier practiced deep breathing on the after deck. A soldier came to fetch him to have coffee in the skipper's cabin. The other soldier was in charge of the bridge. The skipper and Sudema were waiting at the table.

  "An exciting life," the skipper said. "I'm due to retire next year, but they won't get me to stay at home. I'm building my own boat on weekends. I'll just keep going."

  "Here?" de Gier asked.

  "Where else?" The skipper pounded the table. "This is where I belong. I'll be here until doomsday."

  The harbormaster welcomed the ship, telling the skipper that he came in too fast again.

  "Can't go any slower," the skipper said. "If I did, I'd be in reverse."

  "That bow wave of yours is mining my dock."

  "Next time I'll come straight through it."

  "I'll report you to your boss."

  "Why don't you?" the skipper asked. "You'd do me a favor. I don't think I have a boss, but if I have, I would like to meet him."

  "We brought some very nice fresh tomatoes," Private Sudema said kindly.

  The soldiers carried two cases of tomatoes ashore and walked back lugging a crate filled with sole.

  "Your own catch?" de Gier asked.

  "No time for that," the harbormaster said. "You have no idea how busy they keep me here. The fishermen bring in the sole. Undersized, but each fishing boat can bring in two crates, by permission of the Fishing Inspection."

  "Are they around here too?"

  "Not in their own boat," Sudema said. "They're using a NATO vessel now, temporarily registered with our Navy."

  Two State Police officers drove down the jetty and parked their Land Rover near the harbormaster's office. The harbormaster invited them in for coffee. There was time for conversation, on the subject of tennis. The State Police officers played a lot of tennis on weekdays, they said, for they were off duty over the weekends.

  "Do you close down your station during weekends?" de Gier asked.

  "Yes," said the officer in charge, "but we could still be reached by phone through headquarters ashore. Headquarters could then call us at our homes, and if there was some urgency, let's say, we would probably be able to go see what might be going on."

  "As long as it doesn't happen too often," the subordinate officer said. "Listen, we've got some forty square miles here, and there are only seven of us. There's a lot of overtime already. All sorts of things to do."

  "I hear you allow nudism on the beaches," de Gier said.

  "Yes," said the officer in charge. "We used to look at them a lot when nudism was still new-some nice ladies around-but you get used to what they have on show. I prefer birdwatching now. More variety. I check them in my birdbook, and as soon as I identify them I cross them off."

  The harbormaster excused himself. A boat approached the jetty.

  "Shall we go?" the officer in charge asked.

  The trip didn't take long, although there were two interruptions. A cyclist had strayed from the path reserved for cyclists and had to be spoken to, and a man who was cleaning his ashtray above a garbage can provided by the authorities, but who had dropped two butts on the way, was criticized politely. Both lawbreakers apologized profusely.

  "Got to pay attention to everything here," the subordinate officer said, once they had reached their station. "Coffee, Sergeant?"

  "No thanks," de Gier said. "I'm suffering from a little stress. Coffee makes it worse."

  "Should try some fishing," the officer in charge said. "We have been told to fish in lieu of expensive therapy. Fishing for eel is most recommended. We put out our trap and pull it in after six hours. Meanwhile we wait." De Gier was shown the eel traps that were drying on lines in the yard. A motorcycle leaned against a wall. "Dirt bike," the subordinate officer said. "I enjoyed it for a while, but it's for sale now. Good rough tires. Will take you across any dune, but the movement is too hectic, gives you a pain in the kidneys."

  "The sergeant used to serve with die Amsterdam motorcycle brigade," Private Sudema said.

  "Be my guest," the officer said. "Take her out, once you've made your arrest. The deserter is home, I caught a glimpse of him this morning."

  "Couldn't you have grabbed him?" de Gier asked.

  "I?" the officer asked. "A State Police official? Bother a military subject?"

  Private Sudema coughed behind his hand.

  "I'm sorry," de Gier said.

  "We do try to help our colleagues at times," the officer said, "but we don't mind their business, that's something else again."

  The house that Sudema pointed out was surrounded by rosebushes. "I'll ring the bell," Sudema said. "He might not want to come out, in which case he'll probably leave by the door in the rear."

  "Should I hang around in the back?" de Gier asked.

  "Why not?" Sudema said. "Wish him the time of day. He's supposed to be a pleasant fellow. Easy to talk to, I'm told."

  De Gier squatted behind the fence and peered through the roses. In the garden, a cat had stretched itself out to enjoy the sun. Crows conversed slowly on the roof. A peewit tumbled about in the sky. Ducks flapped their wings on their way to the sea. A young man came out of the kitchen door and picked up a rake. He raked the path to the barn, left the rake against a doorpost, and went inside. In the barn a motorcycle started up. De Gier jumped up and waved. "Hel
lo?"

  The young man on the motorcycle raced through the open gate.

  Sudema strolled around the house. "That was our friend."

  "Too fast for me," de Gier said.

  "Gone now," Sudema said. "Pity, in a way. Well, there's always another time."

  "Got to talk to the subject," de Gier said. He ran back to the station. The officer couldn't immediately find the key to the motorcycle. De Gier jogged around the yard. "Here," the officer said. "In the tray for pencils and ballpoints. We're too disorganized. It's driving me bonkers."

  De Gier kicked the starter and manipulated the gears with his foot. The bike climbed a dune with ease, jumped, bounced down, and was off again. De Gier increased speed on the beach. The wheels hissed across the moist sand left by the ebbing tide. De Gier switched the engine off and applied the brake. He listened.

  A growl, far away, ahead.

  He kicked the engine back to life. The speedometer heeled over. An island, de Gier thought, has an end.

  The dot ahead had reached the end and would have to come back. De Gier maneuvered. The motorcycles turned around each other, in decreasing circles.

  Cat and mouse.

  If you like, Mouse, de Gier thought. Tell you what. I'll give you a break. Go on, escape.

  The mouse sped away, but the cat cut him off, speeding through a mean short curve. The mouse fell over and no longer moved.

  "Hurt yourself?" de Gier asked.

  "Pulled a muscle," the deserter said. He jumped to his feet. The deserter was a slender boy with whitish-blond hair, muscled legs, and long, mobile arms. He hopped up and down, waving his fists. "Are you ready?"

  De Gier brushed sand from his mustache. "Not really. I'd rather have a cool drink. Hot day today. You know the way around here, don't you? A good cafe" with a view?"

  "You a military cop?"

  "De Gier, Municipal Police, Amsterdam. I'm not after you. I only have a few questions."

  "The officer who rang the bell was a military cop."

  "I won't tell him," de Gier said, and smiled.

  The young man kept hopping up and down. "Can't trust policemen."

  De Gier raised a hand. He pressed it to his chest. "You can trust me. I'm a tourist, a foreigner, visiting your lovely land."

  "You're putting me on," the deserter said.

  "May I never eat fried sole again," de Gier said, "if my word can't be trusted."

  The young man righted his motorcycle. "Follow me."

  On the cafe's terrace, peacefully staring at the barely moving sea, across sand castles built by German tourists, disturbed only by children grabbing french fries from each other's paper bags, distracted only by a fairly young mother and her almost-full grown daughter who had taken off their blouses to rub suntan oil on their breasts, the deserter complained. Life in the Air Force did not agree with him. He explained the routine: getting up before sunrise to start another day, during which there would be little to do except pull an airplane to a specified spot. Once there, it had to be taken elsewhere. Back again, maybe a couple of times. The airplane never flew; it was parked. Malfunctioning, perhaps? Could be, nobody knew. Maybe the airplane didn't work. Let's pull it back. The plane is in the way. You, would you mind placing it over there? Who put this plane here? Please, private, take it away. This is the wrong plane. It should take off from the other strip. The pilot is waiting. There's no pilot waiting? Let's find a pilot. No, not you, you're the one who pulls the plane.

  "Please," de Gier said.

  "That's the way it goes," the deserter said. "I've got a lot to do, but they drafted me anyway. I have to finish my new boat so that I can rent it out and make some cash to fix up my other boat. I've got to go to Fiji."

  "Why Fiji?"

  The deserter had read about Fiji. His father had been away too, but not that far away. 'They got bones through their noses out there, and when the ladies want you to love them, they take off their blouses. Got to be careful, though. Sometimes they take off their blouses because they want to dive for crayfish. But they take off their blouses in a different way then. You got to study their ways and then you'll be all right."

  "They take off their blouses here too," de Gier said.

  The deserter looked at the fairly young mother and her almost-full-grown daughter. Mother and daughter smiled at him.

  "They don't have bones through their noses," the deserter said. "And they don't do any diving. I really have to go to Fiji."

  The deserter put his glass down. De Gier ordered refills. "Your solution is simple."

  "Not now. I'm about to be arrested. So far I've outrun them, but they keep coming back."

  "Quite," de Gier said. "Don't get caught. That's the easy way and also the least pleasant. Why don't you go the clever way? Take your boat and sail for the mainland. Go to the airbase. Climb the fence. Go straight to the commander's office, knock on the door, and present yourself."

  "You think I'm retarded?"

  "Not at all," de Gier said. "You're tough and you're intelligent. Explain to the commander that you don't want to be in the Air Force anymore."

  "They'll put handcuffs on me."

  "Never," de Gier said. "You'll be sent home."

  "Why?"

  "Because you don't want to join them. They don't like that. Most military people are group-oriented. The individual frightens them."

  "They think I'm crazy."

  "You are," de Gier said. "One of the happy few. Tm crazy, but I'm very discreet. You should be discreet too. Tell them their life doesn't suit you, that you can't figure out why. Say you're sorry. Then go back to your island, finish your boat, and sail for Fiji."

  The deserter thought. "You sure you're crazy too?"

  "Ssh. Don't tell."

  "You want to go to Fiji too?"

  "I'm bound for Papua New Guinea," de Gier said. "That's about as far as you're going. I've been taking my time. My urge grew slowly. You're lucky. It's better to go when you're young."

  The deserter grinned.

  "Now tell me," de Gier said, "about the copper."

  "You're after me for that?"

  "I'm not after you at all," de Gier said. "Please put that out of your head. An intelligent man shouldn't have to repeat himself. Go on, what about this copper? Is that why you were in Dingjum? That time you escaped again?"

  "Yes," the deserter said. "But I didn't sell it to the fence. I'll bring it all back if you like. It seemed like a good thing, in the middle of the night, three shacks filled with expensive copper, gathered by those silly soldiers, but once I had it the fun was gone."

  "You planned to sell it to Douwe Scherjoen?"

  "Nasty little man," the deserter said. "He thought he had me. The copper was just the beginning. He had other plans and I didn't like them at all."

  De Gier sipped his soda.

  "You know what he was up to?" the deserter asked.

  De Gier rolled a cigarette.

  "I don't go for that sort of thing," the deserter said.

  "But you don't mind stealing copper?"

  "That was fun." The deserter laughed. "And part of Scher- joen's plan was fitn too. Meet some rusty tramp under the eyes of all the patrol boats and pick up some cargo. You've no idea what snoops around here. Water Police, Military Police, Navy, Water Inspection…"

  "I've been told."

  "But I didn't like the cargo."

  "You refused?"

  "Of course," the deserter said. "They give that stuff to schoolkids for free, and once they're hooked, they make them wallow in the filth of Amsterdam. Why should I have anything to do with that? Not me, never."

  "What did Scherjoen say the cargo would be?"

  "He didn't."

  "What sort of vessel will bring it in?"

  The deserter shrugged.

  "When is the tramp due?"

  "Soon, but I refused straight off. Wouldn't have anything more to do with Scherjoen. I never gave him the copper. I'll take it back to the shacks if you like."

  "Th
at's a good idea," de Gier said.

  They rode off together. De Gier returned the dirt bike to the police station. "You'd never catch him," the officer in charge said. "He knows the island inside out. Did you get to see him?"

  "I heard him," de Gier said. "Never got close. Well, I tried."

  The skipper telephoned. It wasn't that he was in a hurry, but it was getting late and he thought he might be going back to the mainland.

  "Been catching any eels lately?" Private Sudema asked.

  The subordinate officer brought two fat eels and wrapped them separately. "We smoked them for you, too."

  Sudema and de Gier thanked their hosts.

  The Military Police vessel was ready to leave to make space for the State Police patrol boat. The Navy ship was expected any moment too. Two helicopters roared across the jetty.

  "CIA," the harbormaster said, "cooperating with our Security Service. There's an East German fishing boat offshore, loaded with electronics, to snoop on the NATO exercises that are going on again. The helicopters will be Army, I guess, but they could be Navy too. Air Force pilots, probably."

  "And what will they do to the spy ship?"

  "Maybe fly around it?" the harbormaster asked.

  "Should be our job," Private Sudema said, "but we haven't got the right ship. The Kraut will be in shallow water, outside the channel."

  Jet fighters drew cloudy lines in the sky.

  "And what would they be doing?" de Gier asked.

  "Making hours," Sudema said. "The Air Force is always making hours. They have a different system from ours."

  The soldiers brought folding chairs, and de Gier and Sudema settled on the after deck. Sudema lit a pipe. The soldiers brought tea and a dish of fresh-baked cookies on a tray. Seals frolicked in the vessel's wake.

  "Seals have the good life," Sudema said. "Nothing to do but enjoy themselves. Makes a man envy dumb animals. Just look at them."

  De Gier thought he saw the biggest seal wink.

  "You're too right," de Gier said. "All we ever do is work."

  \\ 15 /////

  The Commissaris's Citroen slid past the veranda of Scherjoen's last known address. The Land Rover that had been leading the way parked, and the sergeant and his mate got out. The commissaris shook their hands. "They sort of smirked," the commissaris said, climbing the steps. "Did you notice? I don't really like that. Guides who pretend to know everything better, and this is my own land."