by Pieter Aspe
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From Bruges with Love
A Pieter Van In Mystery
Pieter Aspe
Translated by Brian Doyle
FOR MY PARENTS
Qui craint de souffrir,
il souffre déjà
de ce qu’il craint.
—Montaigne
1
Mommy, Mommy!”
The elongated shriek was sharp and piercing. It easily drowned out the screech of the electric drill. Hugo Vermast turned, annoyed. His daughter, Tine, was on the other side of the meadow waving a twig. She looked for all the world like a dazzling ghost in a sea of gold-green grass.
“Mommy, Mommy!”
Even Joris looked up for a second. His sister was dancing about as if she’d just been stung by a hornet. She did that a lot when Mommy didn’t come running right away, so Joris paid no attention and continued counting screws. The box said there should be a hundred.
When Tine didn’t stop screaming, Hugo unplugged the drill. He rubbed the layer of dust from his eyes with both hands, leaving stripes of grime on his cheeks. They made him look like an American marine in a low-budget war movie.
Now he could see her better. There didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. He knew his daughter was a hyperactive child. It wasn’t the first time she’d screamed blue murder because she hadn’t gotten her way.
Hugo’s wife, Leen, was on a lounger soaking up the sun and listening to Bart Kaëll on her CD player. Bart was her favorite crooner. Tine’s third shriek reached her between songs. She yanked the headphones from her head and raced to the scene of the calamity.
Hugo shook his head at the sight of his wife running barefoot through the stiff grass. Next thing, she’ll stand on something sharp and I’ll get the blame as usual, he thought. Whenever she hurt herself, he would first curse under his breath and then fetch the disinfectant and a bandage. Fifteen years of marriage had made him docile. She liked that sort of subservience. An armed truce was always easier to live with than a grueling war.
He had no real reason to complain. There were plenty of men worse off than him. Leen was thirty-eight and still darned attractive for her age. She looked a picture in her tight swimsuit. A couple of pregnancies had barely left a mark on her figure, and her colleagues weren’t above a twinge of jealousy.
“Mommy, look what I found.”
Tine wielded the bone as if it were a drumstick. She had seen people do the same at the fair. She was proud of her trophy. Leen peered in horror at the shinbone and the pit beyond. She grabbed Tine and tried to worm the bone from her hand.
“It’s dirty, Tine. Come, give it to Mommy.”
“No, it’s mine.”
Like so many other modern mothers, Leen didn’t insist. She took hold of Tine and dragged her back to the house. “Daddy isn’t going to be happy.”
The girl started to cry. She knew that meant Daddy wouldn’t speak to her for the rest of the day.
Hugo recognized the hullabaloo. Leen’ll take care of her, he thought, give the little piglet a good scrubbing. He plugged the drill back in as Joris handed him a screw. Hugo winked at his son. All that commotion over a twig! They had better things to do with their time.
Guido Versavel found Van In lunching in the police station’s brand-new kitchen. The building dated back to the 1970s, and the policy makers called it modern. After four reluctant petitions from the rank and file, the powers that be finally decided to install a kitchen. That was six months ago. It didn’t amount to much, just a cheap microwave and a secondhand refrigerator, but that was all they were prepared to offer to keep up the police force’s morale.
Van In spooned the remaining chunks of his fruit salad into his mouth. He didn’t look very happy.
“Enjoy,” Versavel said with a grin.
Van In pushed the empty Tupperware box to one side. “And there’s cod on the menu for tonight. Boiled fish. Jeez … doesn’t bear thinking about.”
“You should be happy Hannelore’s looking after you. If you ask me, you’ve lost at least ten pounds.”
Van In pulled his baggy shirt tight. The last three months had been hell: cornflakes, fish, vegetables, fruit, water, and every now and then a glass of wine. She had even rationed his cigarettes. And she was the pregnant one! Van In ferreted a precious cigarette from his breast pocket.
“Save that for the car,” said Versavel, feigning sympathy. “They just called in a Code One.”
Van In waved his words aside and carefully returned the cigarette to its place of safety as if it were made of solid gold. “Why didn’t you tell me that five minutes ago and spare me from having to eat that miserable crap?”
“I could have,” said Versavel with a cynical grin. “But you know I don’t like disturbing you at mealtimes.”
They headed downstairs. For once, Van In wasn’t out of breath when they arrived at the lobby.
It may be bursting at the seams, but even a city like Bruges can boast the odd patch or two of unspoiled nature. There are places between Sint-Andries and Varsenare, for example, that the project developers seem to have missed. The Vermast family’s restored farmhouse was one of those oases. To reach it, Van In and Versavel had to turn down a dirt track with a sign reading private road. The rusty-brown tiled roof was barely visible above the lush hawthorn hedge that bordered the domain with a square of green.
The gate was open, so Van In drove onto the property and parked. The setting was rustic-romantic, to say the least: sandblasted brick, antique tiles, whitewashed walls, and the smell of a thousand pigs drifting over from the farm next door. There’s hardly an overworked mortal these days who isn’t dreaming of his or her own little plot in the country. Tastes change. In the 1960s, when everyone was into concrete and aluminum, goat sheds like this usually fell foul to merciless demolition contractors. Nowadays, there were smooth operators all over the place ready to help you cocoon. It was even trendy. Modern folks needed isolation, a place to be themselves, to let their hair down. A hovel with a puddle in the basement was advertised as a unique country property with spring water. Leaking roofs and rotting woodwork were styled authentic. Versavel and Van In approached the man standing outside the house.
“Mr. Vermast. You made the call I presume.”
Hugo nodded. The contrast between his pale skin and the black stripes on his face made him appear angry, forbidding. “I did, Detective. My wife’s too upset.”
“Did you find the skeleton?” Van In inquired offhandedly.
Versavel sized up the gaunt figure. Vermast was wiry enough, shame about the hollow back and collapsed chest.
“My daughter dug up the bones,” he explained, and pointed to the other side of the meadow. A pile of earth marked the spot. “We’ve been renovating the house, and she always wants to help Daddy out. You know what kids are like. They mimic everything.”
Vermast laughed nervously, or perhaps neighed would be a better description of the gurgling sound that came out of his mouth. Van In didn’t react. The idea that he was soon to be saddled with a little smartass of his own didn’t bear thinking about.
“And you’re sure they’re not just sheep bones?” Van In asked.
It wouldn’t have been the first time one or another townie had sounded the alarm after digging up a pile of animal bones in the garden.
Vermast gasped for an answer like a fish out of water. “Don’t think so …”
Van In and Versavel e
xchanged a knowing glance. “So you’re not sure?” Van In pressed the point.
“My wife’s a nurse. She was pretty certain …”
“That answers my question, Mr. Vermast. I imagine your wife knows the difference between human bones and sheep bones.” Van In tried to sound sure of himself, but he wasn’t. He’d heard the craziest things of late from the medical ranks.
Vermast heaved a sigh of relief. Imagine getting the police out because your daughter dug up a dead sheep.
“Personally I’d have preferred sheep bones,” said Van In. “The paperwork is a lot less complicated.”
Vermast concurred with a stoic smile. You had to be careful with the police at your door.
“So let’s just confirm what we’re dealing with, Mr. Vermast. I suggest we take a closer look at the corpus delicti.”
Vermast hesitated. “Corpus delicti, Detective?”
“The skeleton, Mr. Vermast,” Versavel affably explained.
Hannelore Martens tore onto the property like a rally driver run riot. But her delicate Renault Twingo was on its best behavior. The souped-up soapbox screeched to a halt less than two yards from Hugo Vermast and her colleagues. Hannelore pulled on the hand brake and jumped out of the car in a single fluid movement. She was wearing a white sleeveless summer dress and flat running shoes without socks. Van In still found it hard to believe that she was already more than five months pregnant.
“Afternoon, gentlemen.”
Hannelore embraced Van In. Her kiss made him tingle. Jesus, she felt glorious, sparkling. She then kissed Versavel on the check. The sergeant accepted her kiss with a smile. There were times he wished he was straight.
“Is he behaving himself?” she asked Versavel.
Vermast stared at the threesome, a little perplexed.
“The fruit salad was delicious, and he can’t wait for tonight, right, Pieter?”
Van In grunted. Versavel was worse than his mother-in-law. The sergeant didn’t waste a chance to help Hannelore realize her satanic plan. Love is eating what she eats, Van In thought. At that moment he would have sold his soul for a burger and fries.
When Hannelore realized that Vermast was staring at them wide-eyed, she introduced herself.
“Hannelore Martens, deputy public prosecutor. I’m in charge of the case.”
Vermast wiped his sweaty hand dry on his grimy shorts. “Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”
“We were just about to take a look at the remains,” said Van In. “Mrs. Vermast is sure they’re human.”
“OK,” said Hannelore.
The prospect of a confrontation with a skeleton filled her with disgust, but she was determined not to let it show.
Leen Vermast was sitting on a bench in front of the farmhouse with the children, a glazed expression on her face. After a series of threats and pleas, she had managed to pry the shinbone from Tine’s hands. The scrawny bone was lying on the ground in front of her. Tine was sulking, her eyes red from crying. Joris was still counting screws. The shinbone didn’t interest him. The box was two short of a hundred and that was enough to absorb his complete attention.
Hannelore smiled at Leen. Vermast’s wife was clearly in a state. The thought of a body buried in her garden must have horrified her. Hannelore was certain she was close to collapse.
“I’ll be right there,” she shouted as the men crossed the meadow toward the sandpit and the dug-up bones.
Van In noticed that Hannelore was concerned about Vermast’s wife. Not a bad thing, he thought.
“Clearly not a sheep.” Versavel pointed at the skull half-buried under the sand. Vermast nodded eagerly. The older policeman seemed quite friendly. Van In said nothing and jumped into the pit. Amazing what a child with a spade can do, he thought. The hole was at least four feet deep.
“Did your daughter do this all by herself?”
Vermast neighed a second time, apparently the way he laughed when he was nervous. “Of course not, Commissioner. I needed sand to make mortar, and it’s all over the place around here. I dug the hole myself, but as you’ll have figured by now, kids like to play with sand.”
The improvised sandpit had been a gift from God. Tine spent hours playing in it, and it kept her out of mischief.
Van In got to his knees and brushed the dry sand from the skull like an expert archaeologist.
Versavel frowned. “Leo’s on his way,” he said, unable to disguise his concern. “We should wait for him to take his photographs.”
Van In halted his excavations. Versavel was right. This was a job for the experts from the judicial police. He hoisted himself carefully out of the pit. The onion-yellow skull glowed in the blazing sunlight. Van In wondered if anyone would ever be likely to look at his skull from that angle.
“Shall I have the grave taped off?” Versavel asked. He used the word grave deliberately. It might have been old-fashioned, but he thought the dead deserved respect.
“Do that, Guido. Otherwise we’ll have the public prosecutor’s cronies on our back.”
Versavel made his way to the police car. Like Hannelore, he seemed to be immune to the blistering summer temperatures. There was barely a trace of perspiration on his crease-resistant shirt. Van In, on the other hand, could feel his boxers clinging to his balls, and he didn’t like it one little bit.
Now that they were alone, Vermast seemed slightly ill at ease, unsure if he should say something or keep his mouth shut. Van In wasn’t exactly reveling in the silence either.
“A remarkable discovery, don’t you think?” said Van In. “I hope for you it’s not your mother-in-law. If that’s the case, we won’t have far to look for the killer.”
This time Vermast didn’t neigh. Killing his mother-in-law would be plain stupid. The bitch was paying half his mortgage.
They all arrived at once: Leo Vanmaele, the police photographer; Rudy Degrande from forensics; the police physician, Alexander De Jaegher; and four police officers from the station in Bruges. Vermast’s front yard suddenly looked like the parking lot of a busy supermarket.
After exchanging the obligatory politenesses, Leo got down to business. His Nikon buzzed like a bee in a field of jasmine. The short and chubby police photographer took forty shots in less than ten minutes, then the police physician clambered down into the grave.
De Jaegher was more than just a familiar face in Bruges, or at least that’s what he thought. The man had a busy social life in and around the city. He was chair of several cultural organizations and promoter of the local carnival association. De Jaegher was thin and bony, a profile that didn’t square with the image of exuberant bon vivant he was determined to assume, whatever the price. He sought recognition in a world that wasn’t his own. His reputation as a doctor was nothing to write home about. The College of Physicians had almost dropped him fifteen years earlier after a serious professional error. A career with the prosecutor’s office seemed like a meaningful alternative at the time. There was much less chance of making a second mistake on a diet of dead bodies.
Van In focused his gaze on De Jaegher’s bald head. One skeleton examining another, he thought, amused.
“Human remains, irrefutable …” De Jaegher declaimed, his tone professorial.
He lifted the skull in both hands and held it up to his audience as if it were a cheap trophy. Versavel looked the other way. In spite of his years in the trade, the police physician still didn’t have a clue about forensics. Such lack of professionalism had rendered important evidence unusable more than once. Small wonder the public had little faith in the courts and the judiciary. Rudy Degrande appeared to share Versavel’s thoughts. He comforted the sergeant with a wink.
Van In reacted to Hannelore’s poke in the ribs with a suppressed squawk. De Jaegher was clearly annoyed by the interruption, but when he caught sight of Hannelore, a broad smile glided across his lips.
“A
ha, Deputy Martens. I had no idea you were already here.”
Hannelore maintained a safe distance from the pit. Corpses weren’t her forte. “Can you say anything about the cause of death, Doctor?”
De Jaegher wasn’t much more than five foot three, and with his lower half in the pit he looked like a moving plaster bust. “No, ma’am.”
De Jaegher placed the skull on the edge of the pit. Hannelore had the creeping feeling that its hollow sockets were staring at her. Or was it De Jaegher peeking under her skirt?
“I’m afraid there are no de visu indicators that would allow me to formulate a proper conclusion. Further analysis will have to determine whether the victim died a natural death or not.”
Van In made a crooked face. Versavel concealed the beginnings of a smile behind his hand.
“You mean I’m going to have to wait for the autopsy report.”
“Precisely, ma’am.”
“And when can I expect it, Doctor?”
This was probably the first time anyone had asked De Jaegher such a question. The poor man gasped for breath. How dare she, he thought. “I’m going to need a few days, ma’am. What about early next week?”
“But today’s Monday,” said Hannelore, clearly disappointed.
De Jaegher looked around and said resignedly and with a wilted grin: “I’ll do my best to complete the postmortem by the end of the week.”
Hannelore rewarded him with a radiant smile. “That’ll do nicely, Doctor.” She turned abruptly and headed back to the farmhouse. Even Van In was a little taken aback.
“What time is it?”
Versavel looked at his watch. “Four twenty.”
Van In sipped at his mineral water and made a face. To add to his woes, it was flat. The glass had been standing for more than fifteen minutes in the blazing sun. Hannelore and her diet can fuck off. He raised his hand and the sharp-eyed waiter responded immediately. Van In and Versavel were his only customers.
“Another two Perriers?” the outdoor café waiter asked eagerly.
