Into the Night: Inspector Rykel Book 2 (Amsterdam Quartet) (16 page)

Sunday, 9 May
19.23

The building was a seventeenth-century canal house, still standing strong after all these years, with tall elegant windows, all beautifully proportioned. It was bespoke, built for a wealthy merchant, just as all the buildings along this stretch were, and had been intended as a statement. Jaap wondered what the original owner had traded in; coffee perhaps, or spices or gold.

He also wondered what the original owner would think of the flickery neon sign which had been attached to the wall, a moving outline of a man thrusting back and forth into a woman, who was bent down, clasping her ankles, her head angled towards passers-by.

SHOW STARTS AT
20.00, said the sign on the railings lower down.

Jaap checked the door, but found it closed.

Blinker’s address was less than ten minutes’ walk away, so he headed there. He wanted to know why he’d been visiting Teeven in jail. And why Teeven had stopped seeing him.

Blinker lived in a houseboat on the quay leading up to the Nemo building, which jutted out into the IJ. The Nemo was a museum, and, judging by the clientele Jaap saw there in the day, it was for kids. But beyond that he had no idea what it was about, what was actually inside.

Guess I’d better find out
, he thought.
I could take Floortje there when she’s a bit older.

He loved seeing the look of fascination she got on her face when presented with something new. She was a bold baby, not scared at all, ever curious about the world around her. For a moment he was struck again by the fact that he had a daughter, that part of him had become a separate being. His job involved tracking down killers, people who ended life, and no matter how many of those people he caught it was never going to make up for the deaths they caused.

But now he had actually added something to the world, a life.

Jaap reached the steps leading to Oosterdok and went down, noticing a used needle near the bottom step. Kids came down here on their way to Nemo. He looked round for a bin, then kicked it into the water when he couldn’t find one.

On his left large yachts and barges – some converted into houseboats, some still seaworthy – floated. A man was scraping at a rust patch on the hull of one, just above the waterline, a cat sitting watching on the quay beside him. Jaap could hear the quiet friction of the man’s work. He suddenly felt a yearning for a simpler life.

Maybe I should give this up
, he thought.
Find a job which doesn’t mean I’m always chasing people, something which has normal hours. Spend more time with Floortje.

He found Blinker’s midway up, the Somni four-five-one. It was a barge, the hull above the waterline painted in a psychedelic array of colours; swirling rainbows, fantastical creatures and humanoid aliens with placid facial features and dark oval eyes.

Typical
, thought Jaap.
He’s a sex pest, and he’s into hippy shit.

A hand-painted sign gave times for ‘gatherings’, which were open to all seekers regardless of age, faith or sexual orientation. Someone had written below this in a much cruder hand, ‘Except fucking bankers.’

‘Please,’ said a voice from the stern. ‘Come on board.’

Jaap ascended the wooden ramp, which led at a steep angle up to the deck, and was greeted by Blinker, who looked different, and not only as he was fully clothed.

He’d cut his hair shorter for one, and was wearing clothes which made him look like a waiter in an expensive Indian restaurant, loose flowing trousers and a shirt which went down past his knees.

All white.

‘Inspector Rykel! I’m so happy to see you,’ said Blinker, his pale silver hair catching the light, sideburns sweeping down each jawline. ‘I’ve thought about you many times over the years, and I’ve been meaning to thank you for showing me a new way of living.’

‘I just arrested you for waving your cock about in front of women, didn’t I?’ said Jaap, surprised that Blinker remembered him.

Though at least more favourably than Teeven did
, he thought.

‘It was so much more. I believe that people appear when we need them most, only most are not lucky enough to recognize these meetings for what they are,’ said Blinker, showing Jaap an open palm and motioning him to the stern, where a table with five chairs was set out. Buddha heads competed with flower pots on deck, the effect ruined by several bags of fertilizer strewn about.

Jaap sat and looked at the floating palace on the far side
of Oosterdok, a massive Disneyesque interpretation of an oriental pagoda, which on its several floors served up a mismatch of pseudo-eastern dishes mostly drenched in the same gloopy MSG-laden sauce.

Tourists loved it.

‘So what, other than the long-overdue opportunity to thank you, can I do for you?’ said Blinker, sitting down on an armless chair and pulling his legs into a full lotus. The soles of his feet were dirty.

‘Thank me for what?’

‘Showing me what I was doing wrong. I didn’t see it at the time, but you arresting me, and getting me convicted, was the turning point, the fantastic moment which allowed me to pivot the fulcrum of my life towards more positive energy.’

Jaap knew that hallucinogenic mushrooms, usually imported from South America, had been banned in the Netherlands years previously after a young tourist took some and decided she could fly, testing her skill off the nearest canal bridge. Not only did the mushrooms not give her the power of flight, they apparently robbed her of the ability to swim.

Some must still be getting through
, thought Jaap.

‘Do you charge for these gatherings?’

Blinker looked momentarily uncomfortable.

‘I … Just a small donation, to help cover costs.’

‘I see,’ said Jaap. ‘And you’re not waving it about during them?’

Blinker put on a hurt look.

‘Inspector, I’m a changed man, reborn if you like, a chrysalis which has burst open with the full potential of
human life. Surely you of all people believe in the power of redemption?’

Jaap looked out at the water, a large patch of petrol marbling the surface with metallic colours. Having put countless people into the penal system, and seeing how many of them reoffended, he wasn’t sure he did.

‘Seriously? Come on, drop the act. I can see you’ve got something profitable going on here, so you just tell me what I need to know and I won’t feel compelled to delve into your set-up.’

Blinker sighed, uncrossed his legs, rummaged around in his clothing and pulled out a cigarette and lighter.

‘Look, I came out of prison and couldn’t get a job. I had to do something,’ he said as he flipped the cigarette into his mouth, cupped the lighter and guided the flame until the two met. ‘And I’m not hurting anyone, you know? Actually, I think I may have helped a couple of people.’

‘Quite coincidentally.’

‘Hey, help’s help, you know?’ said Blinker, blowing out smoke.

Jaap did know. Who was he to criticize? He’d spent all that time studying under Yuzuki Roshi in Kyoto, and there were plenty of people who thought that was downright strange.

‘Okay, let’s leave it. Tell me about Martin Teeven. I know you visited him in jail.’

‘Teeven … Yeah, I did, until the fucker stopped seeing me.’

A gull swooped down from the sky, hydroplaning webbed orange feet on to the water. Jaap watched the
ripples expand out. He thought about small actions with big consequences.

‘Why were you seeing him?’

‘It’s kind of complicated,’ Blinker said, fiddling with his cigarette.

‘I’m sure I can cope.’

Blinker looked out across the Oosterdok to the footbridge crossing the water like a taut bow.

‘We shared a cell for a bit, and despite the fact he was a total asshole we kind of struck up a relationship. And then we found out we’d both been busted by you. I tell you, he really hated your guts. Like serious hate, totally wound up over it.’

‘Did he ever talk about getting revenge?’

‘Are you kidding? He basically talked of nothing else. He was obsessed, really obsessed. Mania doesn’t do it justice.’

I guess I should be relieved he’s dead
, thought Jaap.

‘And the thing is,’ said Blinker, ‘it was sheer displacement, or whatever the word is.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean, the person he was really angry with was the one who he’d gone to jail for.’

A picture was starting to form; Jaap was getting the feeling he’d been wrong.

‘Bart Rutte?’ he asked.

Blinker looked surprised.

‘You know him?’

‘Not personally. So what did Rutte threaten him with?’

‘He never talked about it, there was just one night, he’d got into a fight and had a bunch of stitches. I think they
totally overdosed him with painkillers or something ’cause he was all slurred, and he mentioned it, right before going to sleep. Something about he was only there because Rutte had threatened to kill his mother. But he never said anything about that again. And the thing is, I heard his mother died a few weeks before he got out. Some cancer. Probably caused by the worry of her son being in prison, negative energy and stuff.’

Jaap could feel a tingle in his stomach. He’d been wrong, but it was now starting to come together.

‘So Teeven had worked for Rutte before?’

‘Am I getting paid for this or what?’

‘Had he?’

‘Yeah, Rutte had a drug thing going, Teeven was kind of like his right-hand man. Funny how these business relationships always go sour in the end.’

The tingle amped up from low to high.

‘So when did you last see Teeven?’

‘Has he gone missing?’

‘You’re not a news man?’

‘Why?’

‘Because Teeven was killed yesterday. Are you telling me you hadn’t heard?’

‘I … Killed? I don’t listen to the news. It’s all bad, you know?’

Jaap thought Blinker was telling the truth, he seemed genuinely shocked.

‘So when did you last see him?’

‘Hey, this isn’t going to come back on me, is it? I don’t want anything to do with …’

‘If you know anything I’ll keep your name out of it.’

Blinker peered out over the water, rubbing an ear lobe between thumb and forefinger.

He turned back to Jaap.

‘Couple of months back, I got a call out of the blue and we met up.’

‘What did he want?’

‘Well …’

‘He’s dead, right? So you need to tell me.’

Blinker went back to his ear lobe.

‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘You’re right. Okay, he came to offer me in on a job, but I turned him down.’

‘And I’m guessing this job had something to do with drugs.’

‘Seemed pretty dangerous to me. He said he knew all these houses where cannabis was being grown, and he needed a few people to help him break in and steal the crop.’

‘How did he know where the houses were?’

‘I dunno, I didn’t ask. But he did tell me they were Rutte’s. Not my kind of scene really. Flashing guns around and everything. I heard he hooked up with some people, foreigners, got them interested in it. Looks like it didn’t turn out so well.’

Sunday, 9 May
19.39

After the Coffeeshops Tanya suggested they go back to the station, and Kees had driven, in silence, and was now at his desk across the room from her.

She was feeling bad about snapping at him earlier.

But the fact was, he’d provoked her. And she was tired. Tired and frustrated and being pulled in so many directions she didn’t know which way to turn.

Which wasn’t fair.

But, as Staal had used to say, neither’s life.

And maybe it had been something to do with all the cannabis she’d inhaled second hand, opening things up. The effect, she had to admit, hadn’t been unpleasant in the end.

The cleaning logs were spread out in front of her. They’d arrived while she was out, and she’d started to look through them, too tired to take them elsewhere.

But she just couldn’t seem to concentrate, her head was still too spacey.

She covered them up and went down to the canteen. She grabbed an orange juice and took it back to her desk, the gunk they put in it to convince you it was made from real oranges sticking in her throat.

But it cleared her head, enough to get back to the logs.

A few minutes later she had her answer.

And she wasn’t sure she liked it.

Her phone rang, it was Jaap.

He was talking before she’d even got it to her ear.

‘Hey, slow down,’ she said.

‘Teeven and Rutte aren’t working together; Teeven was ripping off Rutte’s grow houses to get back at him.’

‘For what?’

‘Teeven went to jail years ago instead of Rutte. For murder. Rutte threatened to kill his mother so Teeven had no choice.’

‘We got something too, Teeven wasn’t just robbing Rutte,’ she said. ‘One of the Coffeeshop owners ID’d him. Apparently he was also selling on what he stole.’

‘Even more reason for Rutte to want him dead then.’

He gave her an address and told her to get Kees and meet him there.

She scribbled it down.

‘Hey, grumpy,’ she shouted across the room. ‘Let’s go.’

Sunday, 9 May
19.53

‘So what’ve you got?’ said Jaap.

He’d left Blinker and just as he’d dived into the red light district at Zeedijk his phone registered a call from Pieter.

‘More than enough. The Romanian basically gave up Rutte and the whole operation including addresses of all the current grow houses. Seems he and his cousin, that’s the one you shot, were in charge of all of them, they spent their time going from one to another making sure everything was growing right.’

‘And were any of their houses robbed?’ asked Jaap, silently thanking Pieter for the reminder that he’d killed someone.

‘Yeah, and that’s where you’re going to be interested. This guy claims they contacted Rutte – his cousin had been here longer and spoke a bit of Dutch – and told him they wanted protection for when they were doing their rounds. They were scared that someone was going to try and bust one of the houses when they were working there, and he told them not to worry as the problem was being dealt with.’

‘When was that?’

‘When was what?’

‘When did Rutte say that?’

‘Friday night.’

‘I’ll need the transcript,’ said Jaap before hanging up
and dialling Smit. Smit had been leaving messages for him, most of which seemed to be demanding a result before anyone else got killed, a point he reiterated when Jaap got through to him. Once Jaap had listened to the character assassination he explained what he had.

‘Okay, bring him in. I want this closed down as soon as possible.’

Sure you do
, thought Jaap as he hung up and turned on to Oudezijds Voorburgwal. He spotted Tanya and Kees up ahead, standing by the canal, slightly apart. Normally he’d not take two other people to an interview, but he wanted to put the maximum amount of pressure on Rutte. Shock and awe, the military called it.

‘Hey, you ready?’ he said as he reached them.

Kees took a large drag on a cigarette, flicked it into the canal, and threw his head back, shooting out a jet of smoke into the air.

‘Hell yeah,’ he said.

Tanya looked at Jaap and rolled her eyes.

They walked across to the building, just as Jaap’s phone started ringing.

He checked the screen.

‘I’ve got to take this,’ he said. ‘Go in and make sure he’s there. If he is don’t ask him anything until I get there. And don’t let him leave, either.’