and said: ‘Comments, gentlemen?’He was a remarkably calm ‘It’s outrageous, disgraceful and dastardly,’ Dessens said, loudly and predictably. Now that the need for action and decision-making was over, he was all fire and fury. ‘The good name, the honour of the Netherlands lies in the dust.’
‘Better, perhaps, than that its citizens should lie under the floodwaters,’Wicrinp said. ‘Colonel?’
‘You had to consider the balance of probabilities,’ de Graaf said. ‘Your decision, sir, was not only the correct one: it was the inevitable one.’ ‘Thank you, Colonel. Lieutenant?’
‘What can I usefully add, sir?’
‘Quite frankly, I don’t know. But, according to the Colonel — and it is, I must say, a most handsome admission on his part — you are closer to those villains than anyone else in Amsterdam.’ He smiled. ‘I do not, of course, use the word “closer” in a pejorative sense.’ ‘Thank you, sir. I’d hoped not.’
‘You’re not really very forthcoming, are you, Lieutenant?’ ‘A certain uncharacteristic diffidence, sir. I may be the senior detective-lieutenant in the city, but I’m pretty junior in this exalted company. What do you want me to be forthcoming about, sir?’ Wieringa regarded the roof and said, almost inconsequentially: ‘I had to make a pretty important decision there.’ He dropped his gaze and looked at van Effen. ‘Did you believe Riordan?’
Van Effen picked up his glass and considered it without drinking from it. He was obviously marshalling his thoughts. Then he said: ‘Four points, Minister. There are two things I believe about Riordan, one point I’m not sure whether to believe or disbelieve and a fourth where I definitely disbelieve.’
‘Ah! Hence your cryptic remark fifty-fifty?’
‘I suppose. First, I believe he is definitely not IRA.’
‘You do, Lieutenant? In that case, am I not entitled to ask why you pushed him?’
‘Confirmation. But I was sure before. That speech of his — that impassioned and violent denunciation of the IRA and all its methods. You’d have to be an exceptional actor to get that amount of hatred into your voice: but you’d have to be an impossibly good one to have a pulse beat like a trip-hammer in your throat.’
‘I missed that.’ Wieringa said. He looked at de Graaf and Dessens. ‘Either of you gentlemen — ‘ He broke off at their mute headshakes. ‘Secondly,’ continued van Effen, ‘I believe that Riordan is not the leader, the driving force, the man in charge. Why do I believe that?. I can’t give a shred of evidence, of proof. But he’s too fiery, too unbalanced, too unpredictable to be a general.’
‘You wouldn’t fight under him, van Effen?’ Wieringa was half-smiling, half curious.
‘No, sir. There’s someone else. I’m certain it’s not Agnelli. I would take long odds it’s not O’Brien — he’s got sergeant-major written all over him. I’m not saying it’s Samuelson. He’s an enigma, a mystery. But his presence is totally unexplained and when any presence is as inexplicable as that then a very big explanation would seem to be called for. ‘Where I’m uncertain whether to believe his story or not, is about Northern Ireland. Riordan said his only aim was to eliminate the monsters. His voice did carry what might have been regarded as the authentic ring of sincerity and, as I’ve said, I don’t believe he’s all that good an actor.’ Van Effen sighed briefly, shook his head and sipped his brandy. ‘I know this is all rather confusing, gentlemen. Let me put it this way. I believe that he believes what he says, but I don’t believe that what he believes is necessarily true. It’s one of the reasons why I’m convinced he’s not the king-pin. Two things. He was caught outright in a flat contradiction yet appeared to be unaware that any such contradiction existed. Then he seems to be unaware that there could be three sets of fanatics around — the extremist Protestants, the extremist Catholics and the Mediators. That’s them. The Mediators could be the most irresponsibly dangerous of all. To achieve the final solution, the Mediators are prepared to drown a million. One could imagine what the final solution would be like in Ulster. No. Let me rephrase that. I can’t imagine that.’ ‘The same thought was in my mind.’ Wieringa spoke very slowly. ‘The very same. Although not so clearly formulated. In my mind, I mean.’ He smiled. ‘Well, that should be enough for a day — but you did mention that there was something you didn’t believe.’
‘Yes, sir. I don’t believe his threats. His immediate threats, that is. His long-range threats are a different matter. But the ones he mentioned here tonight — and the ones outlined to Colonel de Graaf earlier this evening — I do not believe, with the exception of the threat to Helystad in Oostlijk-Fllevoland. The rest I believe to be bluff. Especially the threat to destroy the Palace.’
‘If you say that, Lieutenant,’Wieringa said, ‘I’m damned if I don’t believe you. Why do you say that?’
‘Because I don’t believe they have any mines laid inside the Palace. They were concerned that the explosion inside the Palace tonight would be heard over a considerable area to convince you that they had, indeed, the ability to carry out their promise.’
Wieringa regarded him with a puzzled expression. ‘You sound fairly sure about this, Lieutenant.’
‘No, sir. I’m certain.’
‘How can you be so sure?’
‘I have inside information.’
Wieringa looked at him in a speculative fashion but said nothing. Not so Dessens. He had been totally out of his depth all evening but now he thought he was on secure and known footing and that it was time to assert himself.
“What were the sources of your information, Lieutenant?’ ‘That’s confidential.’
‘Confidential!’ Whether the source of Dessens’ immediate anger was due to the reply or the fact that van Effen had omitted the mandatory ‘minister’ or ‘sir’ was difficult to say: he probably didn’t know himself. ‘Confidential!’
‘I’m trying to be discreet, sir, that’s all. I don’t want to divulge my sources because it may cause acute and unnecessary embarrassment. Surely you can understand that — it’s so commonplace in the police world that it’s hardly worth the mentioning. Why don’t you just take my word for it?’
‘Understand it! Commonplace! Take your word!’ Dessens’ mottling complexion was rapidly assuming the hue of a turkey wattle. ‘You arrogant — you arrogant — you — ‘He made a visible effort to ward off the onset of apoplexy. ‘I would remind you, Lieutenant’- he put a heavy accent on the word ‘Lieutenant’ ‘that I am the Minister of Justice’- he put a very heavy accent on that, too — ‘whereas you are only a junior officer in the force which I personally — ‘
‘That’s unfair, sir.’ De Graaf’s voice was impersonal. ‘Next to me, van Effen is the senior police officer in the city of — ‘ ‘Keep out of this, de Graaf.’ Dessens tried to let ice creep into his voice but his temperature control had slipped. ‘Van Effen! You heard me.’ ‘I heard you,’ van Effen said, then added ‘sir’ almost as an afterthought. ‘I know what I’m talking about because I’m the person who placed that charge in the cellars of the Royal Palace.’ ‘What! What!’ Dessens’ complexion would now have made any turkey-cock look to his laurels. ‘Good God! I can’t believe it.’ He was halfway out of his chair. ‘My cars deceive me!’
‘They don’t. Sir. I was also the person who pressed the button that detonated the explosives.’
Dessens said nothing, not immediately. The shocked horror of this threat to the safety of the royal family, this dreadful majesty, held him in thrall. Van Effen returned to his brandy and made no attempt to keep his opinion of the Minister of Justice out of his face. ‘Arrest this man, de Graaf,’ Dessens shouted. ‘This moment’ ‘On what charges, sir?’
‘On what charges! Have you gone mad as well as — as well as — Treason, man, treason!’
‘Yes, sir. This raises problems.’
‘Problems? Your duty, man, your duty!’
‘Problems, sir. I’m the city’s Chief of Police. All other policemen in Amsterdam are junior to me.’ Every century of de Graaf’s aristocratic lineage was showing. ‘Nobody in Amsterdam has the authority to arrest me.’
Dessens stared at him, his anger gradually changing to bewilderment. He shook his head and said nothing.
‘What I mean is, sir, that if Lieutenant van Effen is to be locked up on a treason charge, then you’d have to lock me up, too, because I’m as much a traitor as he is.’ De Graaf considered. ‘More, I would say. I am, after all, his superior; moreover, I personally authorized and approved every action the Lieutenant has undertaken. ‘Inconsequentially, it seemed, but probably to give Dessens time to readjust, de Graaf turned to van Effen and said: ‘You forgot to tell me that you personally had detonated those explosives.’
Van Effen shrugged apologetic shoulders. ‘You know how it is, sir.’ ‘I know,’ de Graaf said heavily. ‘You have so much on your mind. You seem to have told me that before.’
‘Why have you stepped outside the law, Colonel?’ There was no reproof in Wieringa’s voice, only a question. Wieringa had remained remarkably unperturbed.
‘We did not step outside the law, sir. We are doing and have done everything in our power to uphold the law.
