Death of a Hawker by Janwillem van de Wetering Read Free Book Online Page A

don't get them as I used to get them. It's Japanese now and they make me work." *
    A majestic woman, tall and wide-shouldered, with long red hair framing the green slanting eyes. De Gier could feel her strength. The strength of a voluptuous snake.
    "Who is your friend, Grijpstra?"
    "Sergeant de Gier," Grijpstra said.
    "Nice. Very nice. I don't often see handsome men nowadays; they are getting scarce." The green eyes became innocent.
    "Careful," Grijpstra said. "He has a way with ladies."
    She giggled. "Don't worry, Grijpstra. I prefer your type, warm and heavy and fatherly. Handsome men make me nervous. They don't really need me and I hate it when I am not needed. Well, gentlemen, what can I do for you?"
    "Let me use the phone," Grijpstra said.
    She pushed the phone across the counter of the small bar and suddenly leaned over and kissed him full on the mouth. Grijpstra returned her kiss and reached out and patted her buttocks. De Gier looked away.
    * The ranks of the Dutch municipal police are constable, constable first class, sergeant, adjutant, inspector, chief inspector, commissaris, chief constable.
    * The ranks of the Dutch municipal police are constable, constable first class, sergeant, adjutant, inspector, chief inspector, commissaris, chief constable.

THE BELL RANG AND DE GIER WENT TO OPEN THE door. The commissaris came in, followed by the doctor and the fingerprint man.
    "Evening," the commissaris said brightly.
    Grijpstra was rubbing his lips with a crumpled handkerchief. "Nellie's bar, sir, only place we could find. Very quiet."
    "Your ears are red," de Gier said.
    Grijpstra mumbled through his handkerchief. "Introduce me to the lady," the commissaris said, and climbed on a bar stool.
    Nellie smiled and extended a hand. "A drink, commissaris?"
    "A small jenever, if you have it."
    Nellie poured six glasses.
    "I thought you didn't serve straight drinks," de Gier said and looked at the woman's breasts again. He wasn't the only one who looked. The commissaris was fascinated; so was the doctor, so was the fingerprint man.
    "Cleavage," the doctor said. "Lovely word, isn't it? Cleavage?"
    The others grunted their agreement.
    "Yes," the commissaris said and raised his glass, "but it isn't good manners to discuss a lady's anatomy in her presence. Cheers, Nellie. * '
    The glasses were raised, emptied and plonked down on the counter. Nellie grabbed the bottle and filled them again.
    "Lovely," the doctor said stubbornly. "As a doctor I should be immune perhaps but I am not. There is nothing more beautiful in the world. There are sunsets, of course, and sailing ships in a strong wind, and a deer running in a glade in the forest, and flowers growing on an old crumbling wall, and the flight of the blue heron, but nothing compares to the female chest. Nothing at all."
    "Right," the fingerprint man said.
    Nellied smiled and a slow ripple moved her bosom, a delicate ripple which started almost imperceptibly but gathered force gradually and ebbed away again.
    De Gier sighed. The commissaris turned his head and stared at de Gier.
    "She charges a hundred and seventy-five guilders for a bottle of champagne," de Gier explained.
    The commissaris inclined his small head.
    "And then she takes off the top of her dress, sir, there's a zipper at the waist." De Gier pointed at the zipper.
    Grijpstra had put his handkerchief away and was fumbling with a black cigar which he had found in a box on the counter. "What do you want the commissaris to do?" he asked gruffly. "Order champagne?"
    The commissaris smiled and scraped a match. "Here," he said mildly. "It isn't the right night for champagne."
    Grijpstra inhaled and glared at de Gier. The smoke burned Grijpstra's throat and he began to cough, pushing himself away from the bar and upsetting a stool. The smoke was still in his lungs and he couldn't breathe and he was stamping on the floor, making the glasses and bottles, lined up on narrow shelves attached to a large mirror, touch and