well, there you are.’
‘Yes, yes, of course. Naturally.’ He had no idea what he was saying. He
seemed to become aware that he had been holding and shaking her hand for an
unconscionably long time for he eventually and reluciantly released it.
‘Remarkable. Quite remarkable.’ He didn’t say what he found remarkable and
didn’t have to. ‘You cannot possibly live in this city. Little, my dear,
escapes the notice of a Chief of Police and I think it would be impossible
for you to be overlooked even in a city of this size.’
‘Rotterdam.’
‘Well, that’s not your fault. Peter, I have no hesitation in saying that
there car, be no more stunningly beautiful lady in the city of
Amsterdam.’He lowered his voice a few decibels. ‘In fact I would come right
out and say that she is the most stunningly beautiful in the city, but I
have a wife and two daughters and these restaurants have ears. You must be
about t1w same age as my daughters? May I ask how old you are?’
68
‘You must excuse the Colonel,’ van Effen said. ‘Policemen are much given to
asking questions: some Chiefs of Police never stop.’
The girl was smilirig at de Graaf while van Effen was speaking and, once
again, van Effen could have been addressing a brick wall. ‘Twenty-seven,’
she said.
‘Twenty-seven. Exactly the age of my elder daughter. And Miss Anne Meijer.
Bears out my contention – the younger generation of Dutchmen are a poor,
backward and unenterprising lot.’ He looked at van Effen, as if he
symbolized all that was wrong with the current generation, then looked
again at the girl. ‘Odd. I know I’ve never seen you but your voice is
vaguely familiar.’ He looked at van Effen again and frowned slightly. ‘I
look forward immensely to having dinner with you, but I thought – well,
Peter, there were one or two confidential business matters that we had to
discuss.’
‘Indeed, sir. But when you suggested we meet at seven o’clock you made no
exclusions.’
‘I don’t understand.’
The girl said: ‘Colonel.’
:Yes, my dear?’
Am I really such a hussy, a harlot, harridan and ghastly spectacle? Or is
it because you don’t trust me that you want to speak privately with Peter?’
De Graaf took a pace forward, caught the girl by the shoulders, removed one
hand to stop a passing waiter and said: ‘A jonge jenever. Large.’
‘Immediately, Colonel.’
De Graaf held her shoulders again, stared intently into her face – he was
probably trying to equate or associate the vision before him with the
creature he had met in La Caracha – shook his head, muttered something to
or about the same nameless deity and sank into the nearest chair.
Van Effen was sympathetic. ‘It comes as a shock, I know, sir. Happened to
me the first time. A brilliant make-up artist, don’t you think? If it’s any
consolation, sir, she also fooled me once. But no disguise this time – just
a wash and brush-up.’He looked at her consideringly. ‘But, well, yes,
rather good-looking.’
69
‘Good-looking. Hah!’ De Graaf took the jonge jenever from the waiter’s
tray and quaffed half the contents at a gulp. ‘RaVishing. At my age,
systems shouldn’t be subjected to such shocks. Anne? Annemarie? What do
I call you?’
‘Whichever.’
‘Anne. My dear. I said such dreadful things about you. It is not
possible.’
‘Of course it’s not. I couldn’t believe Peter when he said you had.’
Van Effen waved a hand. ‘A loose translation, shall we say?)
‘Very loose.’ Wisely, de Graaf did not pursue the subject. ‘And what in
heaven’s name, is a girl like you doing in a job like this.’
‘I thought it was an honourable profession?’
‘Yes, yes, of course. But what I meant was – well
‘What the Colonel means,’van Effen said,’is that you should be an
international stage or screen star, presiding over a Parisian salon, or
married to an American oil millionaire – billionaire, if you like – or
a belted English earl. Too beautiful, that’s your trouble. Isn’t that it,
Colonel?’
‘Couldn’t have put it better myself.’
‘Dear me.’Anne smiled. ‘Doesn’t say much for your Amsterdam girls. You
mean you only employ ugly girls?’
De Graaf smiled for the first time that evening. ‘I am not to be drawn.
The Chief of Police is famed for his powers of recovery. But you – you
– among those dreadful Krakers and dressed like a – like -‘
‘Harlot? Hussy?’
‘If you like, yes.’ He put his hand on hers. ‘This is no place for a girl
like you. Must get you out of it. Police iis no place tor you.’
‘One has to earn a living, sir.’
‘You? You need never earn a livina. That, Anne, is a compliment.’
‘I like what I’m doing.’
De Graaf didn’t seem to have heard her. He was gazing at some distant
object out in space. Van Effen said to the girl.
70
‘Watch him. He’s at his most cunning when he goes into a trance.’
‘I am not in a trance,’ de Graaf said I coldly. ‘What did you say
your surname was?’
‘Meijcr.’
‘You have a family?’
‘Oh, yes. The usual. Parents, sisters, two brothers.’
‘Brothers and sisters share your interest in law and order?’
‘Police, you mean. No.’
‘Your father?’
‘Again police?’ She smiled as a person smiles when recalling someone of
whom they are very fond. ‘I couldn’t imagine it. He’s in the building
business.’
‘Does he know what kind of business you are in?’
She hesitated. ‘Well, no.’
‘What do you mean, well, no? He doesn’t, does he? Why?’
‘Why?’ She seemed to be on the defensive. ‘He likes us to be
independent.’
‘Would he approve of what you are doing? And that was no answer you gave
me. Would he approve of his darling daughter mingling with the Krakers?’
‘Is this what it’s like to be a suspect, sit, and to be grilled? Am I
supposed to have done something wrong?’
‘Of course not. Would he approve?’ The entranced Colonel of a few minutes
previously could have belonged to another world.
‘No.’
‘You put me in a quandary. I don’t like you being in this. You,
apparently, do. Your father wouldn’t. To whom should I listen – you or
your father?’
‘The question hardly arises, sir. You don’t know my father.’
‘Child!’
‘What does that mean. I don’t understand.’
‘I know your father. Very well. We’ve been friends for over thirty
years.’
‘Impossible! You can’t know him. You’ve only just met me and you didn’t
even know me.’ She was no actress and was visibly upset. ‘This is – this
is a trick of some kind.’
71
‘Annemarie.’Van Effen touched her arm. ‘If the Colonel says he’s a friend
of your father, then he is. Come on, sir.’
‘I know. When next you write or phone, Anne – if you ever do – give my
warmest regards to David Joseph Karlmann Meijer.’
Her eyes widened. She opened her mouth as if to speak, closed it again and
turned to van Effen. ‘I think it’s my turn for a jonge jenever.’
De Graaf looked at van Effen. ‘My old friend David – we’ve gone sailing,
fishing, skiing, hunting over the years – we were even up exploring the
Amazon before this young lady here was born – owns a huge construction
company. He also owns one of the biggest cement factories in the
Netherlands, oil refineries, tankers, an electronics firm and God knows
what else. “One has to cam a living, sir,”‘ he mimicked. ‘Earn a living!
Cruel, cruel landlord throwing the poor orphan out into the snow. Ah!’ He
turned to look at the maitre d’at his elbow. ‘Good evening. The young
people will choose for me. But, first, another jonge jcnever.’He looked at
Annemarie. ‘Must have something to cry into. They say gin is best.’
After the orders had been taken and the maitre d’ and his minions departed,
van Effen said: ‘You have a scenario, sir, and you don’t like what you
see.’
‘I don’t like it at all. Two things. If anything happens to this young lady
– well, David Meijer’s wrath is fearful to behold -and it’s considerably
worse to be the object of it. Secondly, disguise or no disguise, Anne’s
identity may be discovered. It can happen, as you know all too well, Peter:
a slip of the tongue, an unguarded reference, some careless action, there
are too many possibilities. What a windfall for a penniless Kraker or even
worse, a professional kidnapper. Her father would pay five, ten million
guilders to get her back. Do you like it, Peter?’
Van Effeu made to speak, then glanced at the waiter who stood by his side.
‘Lieutenant van Effen. Phone.’
Van Effen excused himself. De Graaf said: ‘Well, do you like it?’
‘Not the way you put it but – I don’t want to seem impertinent, sir, to
ds~gree with my boss, but I think you put it too