Not wishing to interfere too much in the work of the fire and police forensic teams, Pieter nevertheless felt it was necessary to see the bodies in situ for himself.
The first one lay on the hall floor just ahead, at the foot of the staircase. Three or four people, clad in their white forensic get-up, were clustered around the burnt husk of a human body, and Pieter and officer Groot carefully stepped over the debris towards the small knot of figures.
They were just rolling the corpse over onto its back, not easy as the body and clothes had partially melted into the floor, and parts of the flesh and hair came away. Pieter cringed inside, but Kaatje seemed totally unfazed.
The corpse’s face was mostly unburnt and it was easy to recognize the features were that of a female of the right kind of age as Elise Bakker. Formal ID would still be required, as standard.
Standing there and looking down at the victim Pieter had a sudden flashback to his dream, of a figure on a beach engulfed in flames, and he metaphorically batted the image away.
Stepping back, he glanced down at Kaatje, who was hungrily taking in all of the details.
She was certainly keen, just as he had been when he’d first switched to the murder squad, but he wondered how long before she became jaded and then disillusioned, her nights beset with bad dreams.
“Where is the other one?” he asked her.
His voice drew her concentration away from the corpse, and she pointed behind them. “Through there,” she responded.
Pieter stepped across to the doorway she’d indicated. Beyond was what looked to be a living room, filled with the charcoal remnants of furniture and tables and a cabinet by the door. Kaatje came up alongside him and nodded towards an arched opening in the opposite wall. She had one hand up over her mouth, and when she spoke, there was a slight wheeze to her voice, sounding like an accordion that was going down. “He’s just behind the corner through there. That’s the dining room. He’s lying on the floor near the telephone. I took a quick look sir, and noticed something a little strange.”
“Oh yeah?”
She coughed. “Yes. He had something sticking out of his chest. It was all burnt and everything, but it looked like a small knife, from what I could tell.”
Well, well, Pieter considered. That changed things.
“Come on, let’s get back outside,” he said, deciding it wasn’t necessary to see the second body, under the circumstances; if they lingered here any longer they’d both soon be in the back of an ambulance, suffering from smoke inhalation.
They turned to go, but just then his foot caught something, and Pieter glanced down. Amidst all of the wreckage on the floor, his eye caught sight of a tiny yellow object, because it stood out so much from all of the blackened pieces of wood. Strange that it hadn’t been burnt like everything else. One of the oddities that occurred in house fires occasionally, he assumed.
Bending down for a closer look he immediately recognized it for what it was. The plastic cap off a syringe.
Back outside, they breathed in deeply, trying to rid themselves of the fumes and smell from the fire. His head throbbed madly.
Kaatje was looking at him with an earnest expression on her face, no doubt itching to help him crack the case. Sadly, he had to disappoint her. As a rookie, her main job was to guard the premises and to keep an eye on who was coming and going. Besides, he was actually heading home. There was nothing to be achieved in him staying here as there would be no results or conclusions to draw until forensics came back with their initial findings. Plus, the firefighters still had to find and recover the body of the child, and that could take a while. He didn’t want to feel like he was in their way, certainly not after the brusque way the mealy-mouthed firefighter had been earlier.
“Well, I’d best get on,” he told her, and he turned away from her crestfallen expression.
Walking down the driveway, stepping over hosepipes, Pieter paused and looked back.
“Perhaps I’ll see you at the station tomorrow?”
She grinned and nodded enthusiastically.
He went through the gates and was about to head back down the street to his parked car when a loud voice drew him to a halt.
“Van Dijk!”
“Fuck,” he whispered to himself when he saw who was bellowing.
Parked right in the middle of the busy road and drawing annoyed looks from the fire crews was a large black car with blacked-out windows. One of the windows at the back was wound down, and a big, fat face was scowling out at him. His boss, Huijbers.
Huijbers liked to be driven around town in his brand new American SUV, with a small security detail and his very own driver. He also liked to wear a silly baseball hat and a Kevlar vest, because he wanted to look important.
Now he was calling Pieter over and from the look on his face it wasn’t for a friendly catch-up.
Pieter reluctantly dragged himself over and stood waiting.
“Van Dijk, whoever gave you this case must need a fucking lobotomy,” he snarled. “It’s a travesty that you are still on the murder team, never mind having a big one like this falling into your lap.”
Pieter thought about mentioning how he was here purely by chance, not by choice, but he was too deadbeat to explain. He just wanted to get
