Black Widow

But now wasn’t the time for this type of thinking. Save it for later, when she opened the wine. ‘How the hell did you get up here?’ she demanded.

Gus shrugged. ‘Trade secret, Detective Inspector.’

‘Get out,’ Tanja instructed.

‘A few questions first?’

Tanja turned to Pieter. ‘If Meneer de Groot is not outside these premises in thirty seconds, arrest him.’

‘On what grounds?’ de Groot spluttered, as he tried, and failed, to poke his head round the door. He was stopped by Pieter, who effortlessly blocked his path with a well-judged dip of his shoulder. And also a glare, which seemed to take even the unflappable journalist by surprise.

‘Interfering with a crime scene, perhaps?’ Tanja answered. ‘I will doubtless think of something, if necessary.’

Muttering and dragging his heels all the while, Gus was steered away. Tanja looked up at Pieter. Maybe he would prove to have the odd use.

Chapter 3 (#ulink_4f1352e6-aa13-5d46-a1df-2a4902b0de23)

The Binnengasthuis complex was largely comprised of old hospital buildings, interspersed with remnants of medieval monastic gardens, and cute little houses. For all that the city’s bustle was all around, pools of near pastoral liquid, serenity were to be found within its walls, lapping at the brick built monoliths as if intent on coaxing a smile. At the lower level there were flea markets, and loose ensembles of street musicians, churning out a mixture of jazz, and traditional Dutch levenslied, which loosely translated as ‘songs of life’. Every third person was a tourist or an organ-grinder; the remainder were mostly students. The whole thing was overseen by the Universiteit van Amsterdam. It was a fine place to study.

Not that Ursula Huisman really cared about such things. She listened, absently, as her professor droned on about some interminable detail of the Cartesian Principle (Ithink therefore I am? A lie, when applied to men; men didn’t think at all), but most of her attention was given over to her flatmate. Maria was anxious. And Ursula knew why.

Mikael Ruben hadn’t called. And now she was terrified that he’d abandoned her. It would be better if he had, Ursula considered.

Maria wound a finger into her long auburn hair, which to Ursula’s mind wouldn’t have looked out of place on an old-fashioned gypsy. One of the many Dutch travellers who had been sent to Auschwitz, perhaps, never to return. To complete the effect, Maria wore a long, peasant-style skirt of deepest burgundy, decorated with flower designs of white lace; and boots of dark patent leather, which caught the light of a hundred reflections, even though the lecture theatre was mostly cast in darkness. Her eyes were green, the pupils set wide against the gloom like jungle clearings; whilst her cheekbones rose high and glossy above the low arc of onyx earrings. She was soft and resolutely trusting, feminine without being too sugary. She was the most beautiful person that Ursula had ever seen, or even dreamed about.

‘Why hasn’t he called?’ Maria whispered, for the fifth time that hour.

‘I don’t know,’ Ursula answered. ‘But I’m sure he must have a good reason.’

Maria nodded. ‘Yeah, you’re right. I’m being silly. Maybe he’s out in the country somewhere. Maybe he can’t get a signal.’

Ursula kept her silence for a moment. ‘It’s a shame he couldn’t have found the time to be there for your opening night, though.’

Maria slumped in her chair. ‘He’s very busy. You don’t have any time, when you run your own company.’

‘I suppose,’ said Ursula.

Maria forced a smile. ‘At least you were there, Ursula.’

‘I was,’ Ursula affirmed, even though this wasn’t actually true. The thought of Maria parading about for the benefit of a hundred strangers had maddened her. She knew the lines as well as Maria, from the precious, late-night rehearsals in their room. Why share that with so many others?

So, on the occasion of last night’s premiere, she’d found something else to do. Something constructive. And her efforts had borne fruit. Overripe, treacherous fruit, swinging black and fermented on a man-tree of withered limbs.

‘And you’re sure I was okay?’ Maria fretted. ‘Only I was a little worried that my timing was off, and you know, I’m really a bit too young to be playing Nora, but there was no one else willing to take her on, and, well –’

Ursula wanted to take Maria by the shoulders, and shake some sense into her; to say, It’s only a fucking play. Why don’t you devote your energies to real life. To me?

‘You were great,’ she said.

‘Thanks!’ Maria gave her a grateful pat on the arm. ‘So where did you go afterwards?’

‘Oh, I went out for a walk. I ended up in a bar.’

‘On your own?’

‘God, Maria, this is the twenty-first century. We don’t need to be escorted everywhere.’

‘Well, I don’t think I could do it,’ Maria stated.

‘Well, you and I are a quite different, aren’t we? It’s why we work so well together.’

The lecture finally drew to a close, and Ursula shepherded her friend outside. She’d recently discovered a pretty little arbour, set in the cleft of the old hospital kitchen, which would be a perfect spot to spend time together. The butterflies flitted about her stomach at the thought of it.

‘Maria.’

It was their tutor, Dr Bleeker. A paternalistic fool. The last thing she needed was the interference of a self-appointed father figure. Especially now.

‘You need to come with me, Maria,’ he said, wringing his hands all the while. ‘It’s the police. They want to speak with you.’

The blood drained completely from Maria’s face. ‘Mikael?’ she stammered. ‘Is it Mikael?’

‘Please, Maria, follow me,’ was all Bleeker would say.

Maria did so, Ursula a pace behind. They moved along hitherto secret corridors, through a portion of the Binnengasthuis which, in darker days, had resounded to the cries of the mentally ill.

Two faces drifted into view. She saw a middle-aged woman, of somewhat less than medium height. She was soberly dressed in a dark skirt and light blouse, but there was a sense that a fit body lurked beneath. There was a haunted quality to her expression, whilst the lines on her face told the tale of some past trauma, albeit in a language which eluded Ursula’s powers of translation. Her eyes were the colour of burnt terracotta, or Tuscan sunsets. Such heat, when everything else about her was set cold.

Her hair was short, and dark, and all in all it was a look which might have conveyed some other connotation, if not for the aura of obvious and pained heterosexuality which surrounded her. Ursula was skilled at spotting the signs; she knew a slave to that hateful convention when she saw one.

There was a man, too.

‘This is Maria,’ Dr Bleeker said. ‘And her friend, Ursula.’

‘I am Detective Inspector Pino,’ the woman introduced herself as Bleeker left. ‘And this is Detective Kissin. I’d like to ask you a few questions, Ms Berger, if I may. Concerning Mikael Ruben.’

‘Can Ursula stay?’ Maria asked tremulously.

Detective Pino nodded, her expression conveying what might almost have been compassion. ‘For the moment. So, the first question concerns your whereabouts yesterday evening.’

‘I was at the theatre,’ Maria replied. ‘I’m a member of the Theatrical Society. It was our opening night of our play.’

‘What time did the play finish?’ Pino asked.

Maria placed her head in her hands. She was starting to shake. ‘About ten o’clock, I think.’

‘And where did you go afterwards?’

‘To a party. At the director’s house, on Linden Straat. He gave me a lift.’ She looked to Ursula for support. But Ursula could only stare.