Vledder nodded willingly.

"You're right," he said. His face and his voice were serious. "There are indeed plenty of problems. Too many, if you ask me. There seems to be little progress. Things don't compute. We've been at it for four days already and we're almost as far as we were in the beginning. It's disheartening."

DeKok raised a hand in protest.

"I don't agree with you there. We just haven't yet figured out how the various pieces fit together. That's about it. It still looks very much like a jig-saw puzzle and so far we only have a few pieces in place. But I'm confident that we'll solve the mystery before long. We're a lot closer to the guys that committed the robbery, for instance."

Vledder looked at him with bewilderment.

"Why do you say that? We know where they used to hang out, at Farmer's Alley. But that's all."

DeKok smiled.

"This morning, more or less under duress, Little Lowee told me that he knew them."

"But that's great."

"Perhaps. But he wasn't about to reveal any names. He admitted that he knew about the warehouse and he admitted that he supplied them with food and drink. The whiskey bottle, for instance, came from his bar."

"And what else?"

"What do you mean ... what else?"

Vledder made a peevish gesture.

"Surely you tried to get him to talk?"

DeKok sighed.

"Of course I tried, d.i.c.k. I tried just about everything to get him to talk. I even forced him to come to Pete's funeral in the hope of weakening him. Lowee is a pretty sentimental guy, you know. But nothing worked."

"So, now what?"

DeKok shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know," he answered hesitantly. "There's something strange about Lowee's att.i.tude. You see, a robbery is a robbery. But murder is a different kettle of fish altogether." He paused, gathered his thoughts. "Especially in Amsterdam. Among the regular crowd of criminals, murder is taken very seriously, indeed. I don't mean to include the drug trade, you know. No, among the robbers, the burglars, the petty thieves, in short, among the common criminals murder is almost unheard of. And when one of their own is killed, the whole underworld is against them. Lowee must really feel very strongly that the robbers had nothing to do with Pete's killing."

"How does that follow?"

"Well, I don't think that Lowee would have taken care of them, otherwise, or that he would have kept it a secret from me if he had even the slightest doubt about their innocence. Lowee is an old-fashioned crook, so to speak."

Vledder laughed scornfully.

"Three million is a lot of money."

DeKok's eyebrows rippled in earnest this time.

"What do you mean by that remark?"

Vledder shrugged his shoulder.

"Nothing," he said reluctantly, unable to tear his gaze away from DeKok's forehead. "Nothing. I just mean to say ... that ... a lot of people have done worse for a lot less money."

DeKok looked intently at his protegee.

"You're rather cynical, all of a sudden."

Vledder sighed elaborately.

"Ach," he said, obviously irritated. It was not quite certain with what, or with whom he was irritated. "You're probably right. Lowee is indeed an 'honest' crook. After all, you know him a lot better than me. But the whole case bothers me, that's all. I just can't see an end to it. It's all so vague, so, so ... circ.u.mstantial. If the perpetrators of the robbery aren't guilty of Pete's death, who is?"

DeKok did not answer. He stood up from his chair and started to pace up and down the detective room. Every once in a while he would look at Vledder who remained seated with a rebellious look on his face. The younger man stared obstinately into the distance. DeKok wondered if, perhaps, he had not given him enough to do, or maybe he had given him the less important role. Possibly he had done his younger colleague an injustice, not shared enough with him.

He stopped in front of Vledder.

"You were in Haarlem. Has Thornbush surfaced yet?"

Vledder shook his head.

"No, he's now been missing since last night and Mrs. Thornbush is getting more and more worried. She looked worried. Apparently she was awake all night. Even before I showed up, she had already called his office three times. But Thornbush hasn't appeared there, either."

DeKok nodded slowly.

"Then what did you do?"

"I took as accurate a description from Mrs. Thornbush as she could give me. She also gave me a photo. I added the facts we already know. Then I prepared an APB and had it transmitted from Haarlem. I requested location and apprehension."

DeKok nodded approval.

"Nothing much else you could do, under the circ.u.mstances." He paused and pulled on his lower lip. There was a pensive look in his eyes. Then he said: "Yet, the mysterious disappearance of Thornbush is a remarkable coincidence. I don't believe in coincidences. We'd do well to keep a close eye on that development." He rubbed the bridge of his nose with a little finger. "I wonder where the man can be?" he added.

The phone rang at that moment. DeKok lifted the receiver.

"I saw you at the cemetery." Despite the whispering tones, DeKok immediately recognized Flossie' voice. "I half expected that you would have a cup of coffee with me after the funeral." She laughed without humor. "As a sort of compensation for the coffee you didn't drink at my place."

"I ... I ran out of time. As you know, I'm also investigating a murder."

"Any news?"

"No."

"Oh."

For a long time it remained silent on the other end of the line. Then she said: "Did you know that Thornbush has a long-standing affair with Bent's young wife?"

15.

"h.e.l.lo ... h.e.l.lo!"

DeKok threw the receiver back on the hook.

"She hung up."

"Who?"

"Flossie. She wanted to know if I had any news and when I answered in the negative, she asked if I knew that Thornbush had an affair with Bent's wife."

Vledder grinned.

"The Secretary and the wife of the President."

DeKok nodded.

"Indeed, an interesting twist on an almost cla.s.sical situation."

Vledder's eyes lit up.

"Perhaps Mrs. Bent is 'Second Ticket'?"

DeKok pushed his lower lip forward.

"She could also have been the woman who sent us to Schiphol last night. In any case, as long as he doesn't show up, it may be a good idea to keep an eye on the women around our elusive Secretary. One of them probably knows where he is."

Vledder looked at him.

"Do you think that the disappearance of Thornbush means little more than that he's stepping out on his wife?"

Inspector DeKok pulled a serious face and shook his head.

"It's more. It means a lot more than that. The disappearance of Thornbush is important to the case as a whole. I firmly believe that Thornbush really planned to flee the country last night. It would be interesting to know what prevented him."

"Perhaps he picked a different escape route at the last moment."

"Possibly, but then there had to be something that caused him to change his original plans. I wonder what that could have been."

They remained silent for a long time. DeKok pulled his legs up and placed them on top of the desk and leaned comfortably back in his chair. His forced march on the cemetery was having its effect. Vledder was the first to break the silence.

"But you know what I don't understand? Why would Thornbush run off? We have no proof at all of his complicity, either with the robbery, or with Pete's killing. To flee like that would only make sense if he had the loot."

"And?"

"What ... and?"

"And why shouldn't he be in possession of the loot?"

Vledder looked stupefied.

"You forget about the guys that did the actual hold-up. After all, they didn't do that just for amus.e.m.e.nt."

"You mean, they wouldn't just hand over the proceeds?"

"Exactly."

"And if there was fraud as well?" asked DeKok thoughtfully.

Vledder creased his forehead, the closest he could come to frowning in DeKok's inimitable manner.

"Aha, you're starting to take our theory serious! You believe there may very well be a difference between the reported amount and the actual amount. Insurance fraud seems more possible to you?"

"Yes."

Vledder shook his head.

"Well, you see, I have problems with that. At least in connection with Thornbush. I just don't think it would be all that easy for him to set something like that up all by himself."

DeKok gestured.

"Even so, he could have possession of the loot. You understand, even with the connivance of one, or more of the other members of management. After all, if it is a matter of fraud, the accomplices would hardly start to divvy up the loot at once. Thus it would not be at all unusual if Thornbush had been appointed to take care of the money until the spoils could be divided. No, not unlikely at all, at all."

"Then, why don't we arrest the whole bunch?"

DeKok grinned wickedly.

"For the same reasons as last night. In fact, nothing has really changed."

Vledder looked at him for a long time, deep in thought.

"Do you think...," he began after a while, hesitantly, looking for words. "Do you ... eh, think that Thornbush on his own, last night ... I mean, without telling his accomplices ... that he might have attempted to take off with all the money? And that ... eh, maybe that became known somehow?"

DeKok nodded slowly.

"Something like that ... yes."

Vledder swallowed.

"B-but ... but," he stammered, "in that case, in that case the disappearance of Thornbush means something entirely different. Then..." He stopped, confused.

DeKok nodded encouragingly.

"Go on," he said.