Bon Bini Beach: A Thriller

by Suzanne Vermeer

  Grinning, he looked at her practically naked body. “No need to be such a prude now: it’s not like I haven’t seen those boobs of yours before!”

  She felt the blood rush to her cheeks in shame. “Did you … Did we …”

  He shook his head and smiled, got up, and stretched out. “No, don’t worry. All I did was put you to bed. You weren’t able to do that by yourself.”

  “Was I really that drunk?” she asked, deeply embarrassed, still covering her breasts with her hands.

  “Yes, but that’s totally understandable. After everything you’ve been through.”

  “Thank you for bringing me home. That’s so nice of you.”

  “Of course. But, uh … maybe you should go and put on some clothes. This conversation is a little awkward this way.”

  Grateful, she went back to her bedroom. She walked faster than she had planned.

  A moment later, she reappeared fully dressed.

  “I really must eat something first. I’m dying of hunger!”

  She quickly ate some bread and fruit and noticed his smiling face and asked:, “What?”

  “Oh, nothing Do. I was just thinking that you’re probably the strangest girl I’ve ever met.”

  “Well, thanks a lot. You want something to eat, too?”

  “Sure.”

  After they took a seat at the table a few moments later, she was afraid to make eye contact with him.

  65

  They were just clearing off the table when her phone went off again. Because she could see it was Lilian’s father, she answered it quickly.

  “This is Do.”

  “Hi, Do, it’s Henk.”

  “Is there any news?”

  “Not really. They’re still interrogating Leroy and that American boy. They both insist that they have nothing to do with the kidnapping.”

  “To be honest, I don’t think they do, either.”

  “No, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. If I knew for sure that one—or maybe both of them—had anything to do with it, then all they would have to do is leave them with me for fifteen minutes, and I would beat it out of them.”

  She looked seriously at Dave, who tried to follow the conversation in what was a strange language to him.

  “We’re not getting anywhere this way,” Lilian’s father continued. “According to Snellen, they don’t have a single clue at the moment. Not in either kidnapping case.”

  “So we still don’t know a thing about Lilian.”

  “Exactly—this is all just really horrible.”

  Dominique couldn’t agree with him more.

  After she ended the call she told Dave the latest update.

  “Really weird,” he said. “That would mean someone just decided to kidnap Lilian at random.”

  “Or they came up with the idea after they met us. But then I still don’t understand why they chose to kidnap Lilian and not me.”

  They talked and ate for a while longer, and then Dave announced that he needed to get back to the hotel. “If all goes well, I can pick up an extra shift this afternoon. Either way, I need to check in with the guys. Will I see you tonight?”

  She loaned Dave one of the scooters from the garage, and before he left, she hugged him awkwardly. She walked him to the security gate and sent him on his way.

  Back at the condo, she plopped down in a chair and looked at her phone. No messages. Then she remembered the photocopied pages from Lilian’s diary. Quickly, she grabbed the stack of folded pages and continued reading where she’d left off.

  There wasn’t all that much left to read, she noticed. The remainder only covered the period right before their trip and the last few summer parties.

  It didn’t take long before she found herself reading the pages, her heart in her throat. Lilian described that she wasn’t feeling well a few weeks after she’d slept with AT. That she had done a pregnancy test and that it turned out to be positive.

  Dominique couldn’t believe her eyes. Why had she not noticed anything? Lilian wrote she was too scared and embarrassed to talk to anyone about it. She didn’t want to bother AT with it, because they weren’t in a real relationship—they had just slept together a few times. She couldn’t imagine sharing this with her parents and her best friend, Remi, who was far too busy partying, talking about parties, or planning the next party.

  She was shocked to read that Lilian had not known what to do and that in the end she had decided to have an abortion. She would inform AT before leaving for her vacation and tell him what had happened. She would inform Remi during their stay in Aruba.

  So she had had an abortion! Lilian had been pregnant, had had an abortion, and had not seen an opportunity to tell her about it.

  Dominique began to cry, overcome by a feeling of utter frustration, anger, and disappointment in herself. Was she really such a selfish bitch that she didn’t even notice when her best friend really needed her? How was it possible that she could be so blind? Suddenly, she understood what Go to ab. cl.?, Call AT, and Inform R meant on Lilian’s to-do list. She intended to go to the abortion clinic before the vacation and to call AT to tell him she had been pregnant. In Aruba she would tell Remi—meaning herself—what had happened.

  She couldn’t take it anymore. In the kitchen, she splashed some water on her face and then left. She needed to get away from that house!

  She drove out of the garage with the second scooter and headed for Oranjestad. The wind made her eyes tear.

  66

  In an attempt to clear her thoughts, Dominique rode along the big boulevard right through the center of Oranjestad. She followed the road along the coast until she saw the airport. There, she used the roundabout to turn back in the direction from which she’d come.

  Back in the city center, she hesitated over what to do next. It made no sense to go back to the police station, because if there were any new developments, Lilian’s parents would have let her know. Shopping or wandering through the city did not appeal to her at all. She could go to the Enlightenment Hotel, but Dave and the others were probably working.

  Eventually, she decided to go to the police station anyway—so as not to appear insensitive toward Lilian’s parents. Those poor people had been waiting there all day.

  While she was locking up her scooter at the bike stand in the parking lot, she saw a familiar face.

  It was Pepe, and he was in his Jeep, talking to a young woman in long slacks and a police uniform shirt. She wore her sunglasses on top of her head.

  When Dominique raised her hand to greet him, Pepe said a quick good-bye to the young woman, who then made her way into the police station quickly. He slowly drove his car to the bike stand. He stopped there.

  “Long time no see!” Dominique said.

  She had totally not planned to talk to him, but thought it was rude not to say hello.

  “Our business is done, isn’t it?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Fernandes did what he promised.”

  “Well, my friend is still not back, so …”

  The rugged man looked around for a moment to make sure no one else was listening.

  “And now an American girl has been kidnapped, right?”

  “You’re well informed.”

  “I have my sources. But you know what Fernandes said: you need to look for a Dutch man.”

  She looked at him inquisitively. “So you’re saying those two kidnappings have nothing to do with each other?”

  He locked eyes with her but did not answer.

  Dominique swallowed. “Does Fernandes know where my girlfriend is?”

  Pepe made an angry gesture. “Have you even been listening? What did I tell you? Fernandes said that that girl will never leave the island.”

  A cold chill went down Dominique’s spine.

  “The security cameras clearly show that the four of us went to Enlightenment Island together. Three of us came back, only Lilian did not. Where else could she be? Because she’s not on that is
land.”

  “Those security cameras show you what you are looking for, but also the things you are not looking for. You have to know what to look for.”

  Irritated, she screamed out, “If there is something you want to say to me, just say it already! Why don’t you just tell me what you know? I paid more than enough money for that information.”

  “Calm down! Be quiet!” the rugged man looked around worriedly, but nobody seemed to pay them any mind. “Fernandes kept his promise. He gave you what you asked for. Besides that, we also took care of that man who tried to rape you.”

  “Felix? I meant to ask: Did you … ?”

  “No, we didn’t. But he had to end his vacation abruptly. Sudden health issues.” Carefully, he panned the area again. “Fernandes always looks out for his friends. And girlfriends.”

  The front door to the police station opened. Lilian’s father appeared and called out Dominique’s name.

  “I have to go,” Dominique said to Pepe.

  He nodded. “See you later.”

  “Sure.”

  Pepe drove off without looking back.

  Dominique quickly walked over to Lilian’s father.

  “Any news?”

  “No–who was that?”

  “Just a man I know.”

  They walked inside, where Dominique was greeted by Lilian’s mother with a kiss on the cheek.

  After they talked for a while, Dominique carefully asked, “What if the police are wrong and the two abductions are not related to each other?”

  “What do you mean?” Lilian’s mother asked.

  Dominique hesitated. For a moment she considered telling them about Pepe and Fernandes, but decided against it.

  “You know—just thinking out loud.”

  She thought about what she had found out that morning and carefully asked, “Did you have a chance to read Lil’s diary yet?”

  Lilian’s mother smiled sadly. “I thumbed through it and read a little here and there. I didn’t understand most of it, what with all those abbreviations and stuff. But that’s not what matters anyway; somehow it feels like she is close to me, when I read what she wrote. Then it doesn’t even matter what it says exactly.”

  “She hasn’t even allowed me to read it,” Lilian’s father said. “She’s not letting that notebook out of her sight.”

  Dominique had noticed that Lilian’s mother constantly let her hand slide into her bag, as if she wanted to make sure the little black notebook was still there.

  She simply couldn’t bring herself to tell Lilian’s parents about the abortion. First, she needed to find out who this AT was.

  67

  Deep in thought, Dominique stumbled through the center of Oranjestad. The cheerful people, the sun, and the music blaring from the bars were making her cranky.

  After her little chat with Pepe, she wasn’t sure what to think anymore. Yes, Fernandes’s main man had told her look for a Dutch man. And about Lilian, he had said: “That girl will never leave the island again.” She was horrified by the thoughts this conjured up.

  She was totally inside her own head when she heard someone call out her last name. A little surprised, she looked up. Two young men, wearing sunglasses and baseball caps, were seated across the street from her. One of them waved to her and called out once again, “Hey, Werner!”

  Somewhat unsure of the situation, she crossed the street.

  “How are you doing?” the guy who had been calling her name asked. “What are you doing here?”

  “Probably the same thing you are?” she answered automatically. Only then did she recognize them. Jeroen van Zanten and Rudy Berghuis had attended her high school. They were a few years older than her. Dominique and Lilian had been sophomores when the two seemingly inseparable boys were first suspended and later removed from school because they were dealing soft drugs. Since then, she had heard that they had expanded their business to Amsterdam.

  “Well, I’m not so sure about that,” Rudy said, laughing. “Little Jeroen and I come here quite often. Well, mainly Curaçao. You know that we didn’t finish school. This is a good place for two high school dropouts to look for work.”

  Cocaine was the last thing she’d heard about these two. You could score it from them in some of the dingier bars in Amsterdam.

  “Yes, I’m sure it is.” She looked inquisitively at one and then the other. “I know damn well how you make your money. And it’s not like you’re poor, or you wouldn’t be here to begin with. You’re not going to tell me you’re smuggling now, are you?”

  “Nah,” Jeroen answered. “Far too risky. Security is tight. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to get things done around here.”

  “Hey, take it down a few notches, you!” Rudy hissed, suddenly looking very serious. He gestured toward the tables around them.

  Jeroen nodded. “Perhaps you’d like a drink?” he asked Dominique.

  She noticed two large mugs of beer on the table and pointed. “I’ll take one of those.”

  Rudy beckoned one of the working students who was serving on the terrace and ordered three large beers.

  “So, what about you? Recovering from all that studying or just from all of those fun parties during the last few weeks?” Jeroen said to Dominique.

  “What would you know about that? Besides, who says I’m still in school?”

  He chuckled. “You students are some of our best customers. You’d be surprised. Experiencing studying stress? Just put some powder up that nose. Something to celebrate? Bam, powder goes up it again. Especially in the summer. Big business. Not a party goes by without Rudy or me getting a call to supply the proper snowflake effect.”

  “Exactly,” Rudy added. “We love students so much that we’re even considering going back to school to get our degrees. Only then we’d do it online—at the University of Hawaii.” He snickered at his own joke.

  “We really raked it in this summer,” Jeroen continued, grinning. “Party here, party there. I saw you at a few of those, too. Sadly not as a customer, but you know you’re always welcome.”

  Dominique didn’t answer right away. A feeling of dread came over her.

  “So, have you guys been here long?” she asked, trying to sound neutral.

  “Almost a week,” Jeroen answered. “It’s beautiful here, really.”

  Rudy nodded. “Diving and Jet Skiing—it’s awesome. Of course, this dickhead doesn’t want to do any of it.”

  He pointed to his friend and business partner with his thumb.

  Jeroen made an apologetic gesture. “I can’t swim.”

  “Why don’t you learn how?” Dominique asked, surprised.

  “Don’t feel like it. All that water stuff is not for me. Dipping my toes in the water is enough. A little boat ride once in a while. But I prefer the beach.”

  “That’s why he is so tanned.” Rudy got up. “I need to go and recycle some beer.”

  “Yeah, right!” Jeroen said, chuckling. “He is off to go score some more chicks.”

  Dominique waited until Rudy was out of earshot. Then she leaned into Jeroen.

  “By any chance did you see Lilian de Groot at any of those parties?” she asked, barely containing her shaky voice. “I’m here in Aruba with her. We also arrived about a week ago.”

  He looked at her for a moment. “A hot chick like Lilian is hard to miss, right?”

  She hesitated for a moment. “Did Lil … Did you ever speak with her before we went to Aruba?”

  Jeroen looked at her inquisitively. “Could be. Why?”

  Just then Rudy returned from the bar. While he made his way in between the tables, the three mugs of beer they ordered were served. Jeroen had the new beer supply put next to the half-empty mugs already on the table.

  “Those mugs are, in fact, already empty,” Rudy said jokingly. “They just haven’t realized it.”

  “Oh, no,” Jeroen said. “Those beers know damn well what’s happening to them!”

  Rudy took a big gulp
and looked to his side at two middle-aged women, who were talking as they passed the terrace. Both wore oversized floppy hats and matching thin, bright-pink jackets.

  “Unbelievable—look at them!” Rudy said, grinning.

  “They look like those stupid birds at Flamingo Beach,” Jeroen, agreed laughing.

  Dominique looked at them, deeply affected by the innocent comment. “You guys went to Flamingo Beach? So are you staying at the Enlightenment Hotel?”

  “We always do,” Rudy confirmed. “Nice place. A lot of Americans there, too. That’s good for business.”

  “I wouldn’t want to stay anywhere else in Aruba,” Jeroen said.

  “However, usually when I go out and party with Rudy, we stay in separate hotels. Then I don’t have to see that ugly mug of his across from me at the breakfast table every morning.”

  “Hey, take it down a few notches, pal. It’s not like you’re Holland’s next top model.”

  Dominique took a sip of beer. Out of the blue, she said, “Lilian was kidnapped there.”

  The two looked at her with surprise.

  “Say what?” Rudy asked.

  “Lilian de Groot, my friend, she’s been kidnapped,” she repeated, paying very close attention to their reaction.

  Jeroen looked at her inquisitively.

  “Here on Aruba?”

  She nodded. “This week. We were both on Enlightenment Island. She disappeared there.”

  “Unbelievable!” Rudy called out. “You see those missing persons posters around town, with these missing chicks. But now we know one personally.”

  Jeroen remained focused on Dominique’s face.

  “Are her parents planning on paying the ransom?”

  She kept her eyes on his.

  “I think so.”

  “That’s the smart thing to do,” Jeroen said. “Otherwise, those kidnappings usually do not end well.”

  “That’s some serious stuff. Would you like another beer?” Rudy offered.

  Dominique got up.

  “No, thanks. I need to get going.”

  She said good-bye quickly and left. She brushed off Rudy’s offer to have dinner together and said she already had dinner plans. She took a right, a left, right, and another left to get away from those two as quickly as possible. She needed to think first.