The Square of Revenge by Pieter Aspe

Author:Pieter Aspe [Aspe, Pieter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9781453239742
Publisher: Pegasus
Published: 1995-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

11

HANNELORE CALLED VAN IN ON Friday morning at seven forty-five, startling him, but fortunately he was at least awake.

“Hello, Pieter. It’s me. Hope I didn’t wake you.” She sounded excited. “I can’t say much on the phone. Somebody passed me an important tip yesterday. I’m following it up as we speak. I’ll see you tonight.”

“What do you mean?” asked Van In, astonished.

“Sorry, Pieter, this is one I have to take care of on my own. Trust me. Bye!”

“That’s nice,” he grumbled as he hung up the phone. I should have seen this coming, he groaned. It wasn’t the first time he had been dumped. Deep in thought, he grabbed a Duvel from the refrigerator despite the early hour and installed himself outside in his garden chair.

The grass was wet and cold, but he hated wearing slippers. All sorts of strange ideas lurched through his mind.

Had he allowed himself to be taken in by an ambition-crazed magistrate? Was the conspiracy real or imagined? And if it was real, wasn’t it all a bit far-fetched? Why was Degroof senior so afraid of an investigation? What was he trying to hide? If he had let the investigation run its course, no one would have paid the slightest attention to what happened with his son, but his meddling had raised a huge red flag. Did the one have anything to do with the other? Did Degroof expect further actions? Three Duvels and a hundred questions later, Van In dozed off in his garden chair. The sun caressed him like a satisfied baby and he had a Robin Hood-themed dream. He was Friar Tuck, waiting on the bank of a fast-flowing stream for his merry-men brothers, in the company of a hogshead of ice-cold Rhine wine.

Hannelore sipped a Campari-and-soda. A young woman sat opposite her mechanically stirring a cup of coffee. She had classical elongated features and her hennaed hair was tied up in a bun. Her skin was deep brown and she was wearing a short beach dress without a bra. She wasn’t particularly pretty, but she had so little on that most passing men couldn’t resist a stealthy peek.

“No one gets on with my father,” she said in a toneless voice. “He dominates everyone. That’s why I ran away. My mother doesn’t have a life. I hate my father.” The bluntness of her words did not mask the rawness of her emotions.

She placed her spoon on a napkin and took several hasty sips of coffee.

Hannelore smiled gently but didn’t interrupt her.

“No wonder my sister entered a convent. She couldn’t take any more. Charlotte … she was the lucky one. She was a good student so my mother sent her to boarding school. When she was studying in Leuven she came home three or four times a year, no more. Otherwise he would probably have taken her too.”

“Are you saying that your father mistreated Benedicta?”

Nathalie lifted her head and sparks of hatred flashed in her gathering tears.

“He tried to rape her,” she sobbed.

“And did he succeed?” Hannelore asked.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.