'Let's go gentlemen,' Jolene commanded authoritatively.
The heavy security gate rolled back and the powerful car surged forward, turning right sharply and then bumping down the kerbside onto the boulevard of Korte Voorhout, crossing the lanes to turn left and head north to the main Malieveld junction before Oliver pressed the engine hard and the Audi accelerated swiftly to head west toward the coastal strip.
It was abundantly obvious to Dale that Jolene already knew the address of the Verker girl, regardless of the fact that he had not yet submitted his report concerning his previous visit. He had half expected this turn of events but it irked him that he was merely along to provide a familiar face to the unwitting young book seller they were on their way to meet, albeit entirely unannounced.
Jolene kept looking straight ahead but leaned over to Dale as the car threaded through the morning traffic.
'Once Verker tells us who she bought the book from, I'll go with Stanley and Oliver to speak with her contact. In the mean time, you can take her full statement. You've been trained to do that haven't you?'
'I think I can probably manage it,' Dale responded drily as he rolled his eyes, 'anyway, what is the hurry, why don't we all go and see the supplier together?'
Jolene shook her head.
'No, they may be in collusion. I don't want her making any external contact, warning anybody that we're coming. You keep her occupied and your eyes on her and we'll pick you up after we've finished.'
'Fair enough,' Dale shrugged, 'it's your party! What about downstream though, I mean, what about the person that bought the book? Have they been traced?'
'We're already onto that.'
Jolene's tone was dismissive but as she glanced at Dale she saw from his expression that she had been unnecessarily abrupt. She became conciliatory.
'It was a dead end. The eBay account had false details and the payer's bank account leads nowhere, it was all valid but the identity used to open it was false. We have no idea who made the purchase, not even the IP address they used to access the site is useful. The buyer was piggy-backing in on some guy's unsecured wireless internet here in The Hague. Of course he was checked out but nothing came up. Basically it's a dead end.'
'Well, surely that is a bit odd?' questioned Dale as he thought for a moment. 'I mean, why would somebody go to such lengths to hide their identity just to buy a book? I mean, it takes time to set these things up. You're telling me that they threw away an entirely valid shell identity, including the bank account, just to buy a book?'
Jolene's lips pursed and a frown appeared to crease her forehead.
'That is exactly what we thought,' she looked pointedly at Dale to emphasise her agreement, 'but that is already being followed up and depending on our own progress we may get involved in that investigation later.'
She looked ahead again and exhaled noisily through her nose as she sighed.
'You're involved Dale, don't think that I'm trying to exclude you. I can assure you that when the time comes I'll want you front and centre.'
She smiled quickly, glancing toward him before staring back at the road as Dale nodded slowly, considering the implications of what she had just said.
The car slewed to a stop outside the apartment block where Dale had waved off Inspector van Riel the evening before. Jolene requested Oliver to stay with the car as Stanley and Dale exited and made their way to the entrance door.
'51C,' Dale stated dourly as Jolene ran her eyes over the side panel containing the apartment labels and buzzers.
She caught his tone and glanced at him.
'Thanks. Would you mind introducing us? Tell her that we're FBI and have come back to gather more information for our investigation into the theft of the book.'
Dale raised his eyebrows.
'Oh, so you knew that I'd lied to her and said that it was stolen?'
Jolene stared at him as she pressed the apartment buzzer.
The same crackling sound emanated from the speaker that Dale remembered from his previous visit and he leaned forward to speak.
'Hi, Miss Verker - Gertrude. Its Dale Mallory here, we met last evening when I visited with Inspector van Riel. I wonder if I may speak with you again, I have a couple more questions.'
The voice was clear, even through the crackling.
'Now?'
Dale looked at Jolene in an accusatory way.
'Yes, please, it won't take long.'
There was a slight pause before the lock buzzed open and Jolene gave a quick tight smile to Dale as she pushed open the door. Standing back, she nodded to Stanley who immediately started ascending the stairs in an overly defensive manner.
'Dale?' Jolene prompted, inviting him in before she quickly fell into step behind him as he started clumping up the narrow staircase to Gertrude's apartment.
Halfway up the staircase, Dale heard a door open above them and as they alighted the landing Getrude was already standing in the hallway, wearing a heavy knitted black and red striped jumper and black jeans, from which protruded some fluffy white slippers.
'Oh, Dale, Mr. Mallory,' Gertrude stuttered, obviously taken slightly aback, 'I thought that you were alone.'
She glanced at the expressionless but heavily featured face of Sergeant Stanley and then gazed at Jolene, looking her up and down in one silent interrogative instant to form an assumptive impression of the woman standing before her.
'Who are these people?' she asked lightly, albeit with a hint of disdain.
'Err, yes,' Dale stammered, 'these are agents from our FBI, the Federal Bureau of Investigation.'
Jolene nodded and voiced a muted 'hi'.
'They wondered if they might ask you a couple of questions regarding the book you kindly returned to us yesterday.'
Gertrude looked at him but said nothing, prompting Dale to fill the silence the same way as he had felt compelled to do the day before.
'It would really help our investigation into the original theft; you'd be doing a great service for us.'
Gertrude pondered for a moment.
'Well, the last time I checked I had not received your payment into my account, but I guess I can help you, sure, come on in.'
She wandered through the gallery kitchen and turned right into the living room, although as she passed the percolator she did not offer coffee as on the previous occasion.
As Dale entered, Gertrude slumped onto the same sofa as before, waving her hand distractedly to indicate to her guests to sit down. Dale squatted onto the edge of the cushion nearest to her as Jolene perched next to him. Rather ominously, Stanley remained standing, one hand clasping the other as his arms hung before him, resembling a nightclub bouncer ready for action.
'So,' Gertrude said perkily, 'how may I help you?'
It was Jolene that edged forward slightly and Dale, sensing her movement, sat back to give her a clear view.
'Miss Verker, hello, I'm Jacqueline Lillard from the FBI, we really just wanted to know who you originally purchased the book from?'
Dale's eyes momentarily flicked sideways at the unexpected use of an alias but he still caught Gertrude pulling a somewhat confused face.
'Are you not working with Inspector van Riel?'
Jolene's brow furrowed.
'Why do you say that?'
'Well, I have already answered that question, last night.'
Jolene glanced at Dale.
'Our investigation is concerned with the US side of things and so we do things separately from the Dutch police. So Inspector van Riel has already spoken with you?'
'Yes, last night, after he picked the book up with Dale, Mr. Mallory. A couple of hours later the Inspector called me and asked me a few questions as part of the investigation.'
'I see,' said Jolene, pausing before evincing her appraisal with a forced but even tone, 'and what did you tell the Inspector?' She took a moment before laughing self-deprecatingly, 'We haven't received his report yet.'
'Well, I bought the book from Mr. Johann Janssens, he runs a book store specialising in rare imprints,
Gevonden & Geleverd
, that means 'Found and Delivered' in English. I have a card here somewhere -'
Gertrude scrambled to the far end of her sofa and leaned over, rummaging around in a shoulder bag that lay in a crumpled heap on the floor.
Jolene glanced at Stanley who had already pulled out a mobile phone and was quietly speaking into it.
'I see - and have you known Mr. Janssens very long?' continued Jolene.
Gertrude turned to look back over her shoulder.
'Oh yes, many years, ever since I was a little girl. My father was a collector of antiquarian books and knew him very well; he would often take me to the shop on his visits. Mr. Janssens has been very kind in helping me to get my business started.'
She turned back to searching through the bag.
'He gave me advice, taught me how to inspect books properly, he also helps me out with stock now and again. He sells me books way below their market value.'
Stanley caught Jolene's eye and nodded, flipping his cellular phone shut and pocketing it. Jolene smiled and turned to Gertrude who was still hunched over the arm of the sofa.
'Actually Miss Verker, I think that we have what we need for right now. I will go and visit Inspector van Riel and get his report directly, however, would you mind if Mr. Mallory stayed a few more minutes to ask a couple more questions, just for some background material?'
As Gertrude sat upright again, she held up a small white business card clasped between the first two fingers of one hand.
'Oh, sure, alright.'
'We won't bother you any longer,' Jolene said, standing up abruptly, 'we don't want to waste any more of your weekend.'
She put out a reassuring hand as Gertrude made to get up off her sofa.
'We can see ourselves out. Thank-you Miss Verker!'
Jolene nodded to Dale even as Stanley was already marching out to the front door of the apartment.
'We'll be back for you in a short while Mr. Mallory.'
Nodding curtly in acknowledgement, Dale watched Jolene turn and listened to the sharp percussion of her heels as she walked purposefully out through the kitchen. The front door to the apartment double-clicked closed and he was left alone with Gertrude.
'Looks like you were right about watching Verker's apartment, boss, what do you want to do now?'
Akosua turned to Rey who sat, rather pensive, in the driver's seat of their parked VW.
Rey looked up and down the street and back across at the tall brunette woman and the burly shaven headed man as they hurriedly climbed into a waiting Audi. Akosua had confirmed that the man she had tailed from the US Embassy last evening was still inside the building with the Verker girl. He sighed. The old man from the shop would not be found for a while; Rey's visit to the 'Found and Delivered' book store late last night had assured him of that. The question was, what to do right now?
'Alright, they won't be able to get anything further from Janssens' place, but this interest in the girl worries me. They must be US Intelligence; they already have the book and they're paying way too much attention to her. I can't believe that she can tell them anything useful, unless she spoke with Janssens in the mean time. Maybe he told her that he'd had a visit from a couple of guys looking for the book. Point is, we're damned if we intervene and we're damned if we don't.'
'So what do you want to do?'
Rey made a clucking sound as he pocked his tongue off the roof of his mouth.
'Let's take her. It might be overkill but if we have her then we might have some control over events even if it does take this whole thing to the next level. If she's gone then they can't ask her any more questions and at the very least, it draws their attention specifically to her, making them think that she knows more than she does. It might put them off balance and concentrate their efforts in the wrong direction. We must protect
Merkur
above all else.'
'Yeah,' Akosua chided, 'but it'll draw a lot of attention to us too.'
Rey looked at her and grinned.
'You've been after some real action for months. Now this is your chance!'
He leaned over into the back seat and grabbed the specially prepared medikit cushion that was laying there.
'We may need some zip-ties and there should be some in here, we might need a couple of other goodies too -'
Akosua watched as he rifled through the equipment laden stuffing of the cushion.
'Alright, so how do you want to play it?'
Dale had started writing up a brief summary of Gertrude's movements over the last few days when the door buzzer hummed noisily. They both looked up and Gertrude bounded off her sofa before bouncing though into the kitchen to the intercom.
'Hallo?'
An American drawl spoke quickly.
'We're coming up!'
Gertrude sang a light acknowledgement and pressed the button to unlock the main apartment door. She wandered back into the living room and settled back into her seat, tucking her long legs beneath her.