De Gier peeped around the curtain. 'Okay, they must be inside. Stay close to the wall. You're coming in from the east?'
'Never know where's east,' the portophone grumbled. 'I'm coming from the right side. I won't pass their windows. Open the door.'
De Gier slipped into the corridor and pulled the rope that followed the stair railing down to the door's lock.
'More coffee?' Mrs. Jongs whispered when Grijpstra, no longer in his overalls, tiptoed into the room.
They raised their cups. Mrs. Jongs sat on a straight chair, Grijpstra and de Gier on a sagging couch.
'Tell us about Himself across the road,' de Gier said, 'who replaced your TV. Can you see that far?'
Mrs. Jongs opened the cupboard again and showed him a pair of dented brass binoculars. 'Bob looks through them at me and the other girls, when we work down in the street. They're sharp.'
'Nice guy?' Grijpstra asked. 'Your Bob?'
'No,' Mrs. Jongs said. Her dentures snapped shut.
'But the lizards got him,' de Gier said.
Mrs. Jongs passed him the binoculars. 'I always tries to shoo them out.'
De Gier trained the binoculars on IJsbreker's house. 'What did you see there, Mrs. Jongs?'
She cackled and clapped her claws.
'Nice?'
'Oh yes,' Mrs. Jongs said. 'Nice underwears. I never have none. Just regular blue cotton pants I has. Bob saves on clothes.' She pointed across quays and canal. 'Them stockings and them panties, bras and all, and they takes that off, and Himself with the champagne, and the sniffles.'
'Sniffles?' Grijpstra asked.
'Off the table,' Mrs. Jongs said. 'All of them on their knees.'
'Good times, Mrs. Jongs?'
'Oh yes, the sniffles makes it last. On and on and on. For hours. Three of them sometimes, and Himself, busy with everything, he has two hands.'
'I see.'
'So does I,' Mrs. Jongs said. 'I sees it all. For hours.'
'But you didn't see Himself die?'
'That's the thunder night,' Mrs. Jongs said. 'First them noises and then the thunder too, and me with the fears.'
'Did you see the paintings in Himself's house?'
'They takes them,' Mrs. Jongs said.
'Who, Mrs. Jongs?' De Gier's nostrils quivered.
'The junkies?' Grijpstra asked patiently.
She nodded. 'Must have. They takes everything. Jimmy must have took my TV. The black guy gets my bag, in the street. But the cops here don't see nothing.'
'And Cahcarl helped rob Himself?'
She shook her head. 'Not him. Cahcarl never gets sick. The others do, then they need the cash. Oh, that poor lady, she comes here and I makes coffee but she always stays cold and then she goes into the alleys and hustles again. The lady takes Himself's paintings.'
'You saw her take IJsbreker's paintings?'
'No. She must have, though. And Jimmy, and the black guy too.'
'Not Cahcarl?' De Gier's eyes shone.
'No.' Mrs. Jongs held her head to the side, looking at de Gier.
'Yes?' deGier asked.
'You got Bob's eyes.'
'Aha,' Grijpstra said.
'I fight,' de Gier said, trying to shake himself from Mrs. Jongs's steady gaze, 'in the light.'
'The lizards gets Bob,' Mrs. Jongs said, 'them lizards with them scratchy hands.'
DZJAAWOOHOOo-ooo…
De Gier fell into threadbare cushions on the couch, covering up his ears. Mrs. Jongs's chair jumped off the floor. Grijpstra rose slowly. The floor seemed to come up. The nails that Grijpstra had pounded back into the floorboards popped their heads free again. Amplified guitar jangles tore at the walls and the ceiling. Drums banged and rumbled, making the windows rattle. Mouse danced in the cupboard, delicately, on spindly wooden legs. Pots and pans clanged in the kitchen. De Gier thought he saw Bob's lizards, scratching on glass surfaces with long bony nails. Their fiery tongues rasped through his mouth into his brain. He staggered to the door, pushing Grijpstra ahead of him. Together they tumbled through the corridor and slid down steep stairs into the street, still holding their ears. De Gier tore his gun free and banged the butt on the door leading to the downstairs apartment. Grijpstra leaned against the bell. The cacophony was less loud in the street. It stopped just before the door gave way. The fat youth whom they had seen before gaped at them. His heavy-lidded eyes seemed glazed.
Grijpstra pushed young Fernandus aside. De Gier ran inside. A tall young man tried to stop him. De Gier ran the obstacle down, yanked him up again, turned him around, pushed him into a wall, forcibly pulled his arms together behind his back, and clipped his wrists together with handcuffs.
Grijpstra thumped young Fernandus in the belly. 'You're under arrest.' He slapped his face. 'Turn round.'
'What?' mumbled Fernandus, his face pushed against the wall. A second pair of handcuffs snapped shut.
Grijpstra faced de Gier, breathing deeply. Heul turned around. De Gier pulled back his fist. 'That's enough,' Grijpstra shouted. 'Don't, Sergeant.' De Gier's fist trembled and dropped.
'It's all right,' Grijpstra said. 'You got him.' He closed the door behind him with a careless kick of his heel. 'Lead the way, boys.'
Fernandus and Heul stumbled into the room.
'Sit down.'
'What?' Fernandus snarled. 'What's this for? That's breaking and entering. You got a warrant?'
'My father is on the City Council,' Heul squeaked. 'Huip's dad is an attorney. You can't treat us like this.'
'Police,' Grijpstra said. He looked around the room. 'All this gear is confiscated. You've been harassing a helpless old lady.'
'She poured water on us,' Fernandus said. 'You told her to do that? That's harassment. You're illegal. I want to phone Dad.'
'I'll get the van,' de Gier said. 'We'll throw all that stuff in.' He walked around the room. 'Where do these wires go?'
'Up,' Grijpstra said. 'Check them out.'
De Gier ran out of the room and up the stairs. He came back in a moment. 'They've got loudspeakers screwed against Mrs. Jongs's floor. Nice charge, Adjutant. We can prove intent.'
'Let's prove more,' Grijpstra said, pushing the fat young man back into his chair. 'What's your full name?'
'Huip Fernandus, my fathej is Willem Fernandus. He'll have your ass for this.'
'Let's see some dope,' de Gier said. 'You're both full of pot. Huip, give us the dope or we'll tear the place apart.'
'I want to see your warrant,' Heul squeaked. 'We've got rights. My father is on the City Council.'
Grijpstra unfolded a paper and held it in front of Heul's eyes. 'Okay. Where's the dope?'
'There's the phone,' de Gier said. 'Go ahead.' He picked up the receiver. 'Here.'
Young Fernandus dialed slowly.
'Busy,' Huip Fernandus said. 'Let me try again.'
'Phone my dad,' Heul squeaked.
Huip dialed again. De Gier held the phone to Huip's ear. 'No answer.'
'They're out,' Heul said. 'I forgot.'
