you after all. Aren't you the commissaris who's often mentioned in the paper? Will you be arresting my nephews here?'
'I'll catch them at Wo Hop's,' the commissaris said. 'By the way, about Mr. Wo Hop…'
Mr. Wang shook his small, smiling head.
'No?' the commissaris asked. 'Would I be overreaching myself?'
'Yes,' Mr. Wang said.
'A pity,' the commissaris said. 'And to think that I'm fighting on the side of Good.'
'Maybe that's why.'
The commissaris looked about him. Mr. Wang pointed out a green dragon that had been painted on the wall above the bar. The dragon was nuzzling his own tail.
'That's Wo Hop,' Mr. Wang said. 'Give him time. He'll eat himself.'
'He's rather a long beast,' the commissaris said. 'And he hasn't even taken his first bite.'
'Soon,' Mr. Wang said.
'Westerners aren't known for the exercise of patience,' the commissaris said. 'What would you advise me to do in the meantime?'
'Drink lots of tea,' Mr. Wang said. He got up and walked to the bar. He came back with a can. On the can, a picture had been painted showing a turning wheel. At the center a cock, a pig, and a snake were turning spokes.
'My present to you,' Mr. Wang said. 'There's good tea in the can. Patience tea. You can accept the present. It's worth only a few guilders, and you did rid me of the nephews.'
The commissaris studied the picture. 'The wheel of life,' Mr. Wang said, 'moving because of the powers of pride, greed, and mean behavior.'
'Will it turn forever?'
'It'll break by itself,' Mr. Wang said. 'Won't take long now.'
The commissaris paid the check.
Mr. Wang walked him to the door.
\\ 27 /////
It was snowing. The Commissarislooked out his window. He was rubbing his leg. De Gier stood next to him. 'Slithering-about weather,' the commissaris said. 'Pluggedup-noses weather. We'll have a whole winter of it again. Thaw, quick freezes, mud, I don't feel like putting up with it again. Cheer me up, Sergeant.'
'Hylkje?' de Gier asked. 'Do you remember the young lady?'
'Yes.' The commissaris smiled. 'Such a lovely woman, and that huge motorcycle, the Frisian adventure, Sergeant. Some of our better hours.'
'She was here for the weekend, sir.'
'Aha,' the commissaris said. 'I'm glad to hear that. You'd better look into that aspect of your life, Rinus. Soon you'll be old and you'll be complaining. She might want to listen to your complaints.'
'I can't visualize that,' de Gier said. 'She can, but I never see it.'
'Take her to New Guinea,' the commissaris said, 'in a flat-bottomed sailboat. Share your great adventure. I waited too long, but you could replace me.'
'She told me about Adjutant Oppenhuyzen,' de Gier said. 'He's cured of his disease. Do you remember the Chinese doctor that you said he should visit?'
'No?' the commissaris asked. 'True? That's great. I'm very pleased. I thought that might work out. The doctor is supposed to be brilliant. He was recommended by my medical friends when I was looking into the possible source of the pain in Adjutant Oppenhuyzen's cheeks.'
'Yes, sir. It seems that the adjutant had a chronic infection of the jaw, of which the neuralgia was symptomatic. Symptomatic neuralgia can be cured if the infection is taken away. The doctor had Oppenhuyzen's teeth pulled, then he scraped his jawbones and prescribed antibiotics. The neuralgic pains didn't come back.'
'Then he can fix up his house,' the commissaris said.
De Gier scratched his bottom.
'That's an irritating habit you have there,' the commissaris said. 'What's up now?'
De Gier looked out the window.
'You want the adjutant to be punished?' the commissaris asked. 'You're not playing guardian angel, are you now?'
'A man commits murder,' de Gier said. 'We've all agreed that's bad. We've made up laws to punish murder. We've appointed hooligans like me to catch murderers. So why is murder suddenly all right?'
'We've also agreed,' the commissaris said, 'that we will not convict a man on his own confession if there's no proof that he committed the crime. Cops don't run around catching cops-that's another agreement we made.'
'You could have turned the hounds of Central Detection loose, sir.'
'Hmm,' the commissaris said.
'So where will this all end?'
'In a bad place,' the commissaris said.
'I don't see that, sir.'
'You see what you see, Sergeant.' The commissaris dropped into his desk chair and made it turn all the way around. 'And what does the adjutant see, when he shaves his painless cheeks every morning, the good adjutant?'
'He sees a killer,' De Gier said. 'Can he live with the killer?'
'He'll kill him, I think,' the commissaris said.
\\ 28 /////
De Gier admired the fresh young leaves of elm trees, on the other side of the window. Grijpstra leafed through a file of recent reports. 'Spring,' de Gier said. 'Unbelievable, but it's here. The winter died. Spring will be dying too. Everything does go away after a while, you noticed that, Adjutant?'
'Wo Hop went away,' Grijpstra said. 'Read this.'
De Gier read ''Hop, Wo, born in Singapore…' blah, blah, hm, '…found lifeless on the pavement of Prince Henry Quay…' hm,'… six bullets in chest…' hm, twenty-two-caliber again, Magnum, right.' He turned the page. 'Ah, here. 'According to witnesses, Wo Hop was approached by two young male Chinese, dressed in sports shirts, caps…' hm.'
'A professional job,' Grijpstra said. 'Shoot the mark down and keep walking quietly, around the corner, gone. We'll never catch them. They were flown in for the contract and immediately afterward raced out of the country. Probably left from Frankfurt or a French airport. They'll be home in Hong Kong by now.'
'And who'll take over Wo Hop's Triad?'
'That we'll know soon enough,' Grijpstra said.
'Your Chinese is weak,' de Gier said.
'I'll pick it up,' Grijpstra said. 'Frisian was easy enough. Morning, Jane.' Grijpstra got up. 'The most beautiful cop on the force.' He sat down again.
'I don't like that,' Jane said. 'I'll be complaining about you. You're committing sexual harassment. I am no more than a female colleague, very intelligent too, and I wish to be treated as such. Your flirtatious attitude insults me.'
'You're so right,' de Gier said. 'What did you do with your hair?'
Jane turned around. 'You like it better this way?'
'It makes you look mysterious,' de Gier said.
