Sleepless Summer by Bram Dehouck

Author:Bram Dehouck
Format: epub

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‘There. That’s where he was.’ The man pointed to a spot opposite the boat. Officer Hauspie saw a vague brown stain, with flies circling above it. He did not require closer inspection to know what it was.

‘Tell me exactly what happened, Mr. …’

‘De Graaff. Well, the man squatted right there, did his business and showed his genitals to my daughter.’ The man pointed to a girl of about six, with adorable blonde curls. She looked up at her father as only little girls of six can. ‘Go on back inside, Lara,’ instructed De Graaff. The child obeyed.

‘Can you describe the man?’ Officer Hauspie asked.

‘I didn’t get a good look at his face, but I think he had dark hair.’

‘You were too distracted by his other body parts,’ Officer Hauspie quipped. Huyghe, standing off to the side, tried to suppress a laugh.

‘I hope you’re not planning to make light of this! That pervert sat there naked in front of my boat, in full view of my daughter, and you’re cracking jokes? What kind of country is this? I demand a full inquiry!’

‘Don’t you worry, sir. What was the man wearing?’

‘He was dressed totally in blue.’ De Graaff shot Hauspie a threatening glance, as though to warn him against tossing in another wisecrack.

‘In blue,’ the policeman repeated.

‘And on his T-shirt was a red and white emblem, from a distance it looked like the Tommy logo.’

‘Tommy?’

‘Tommy Hilfiger,’ the man sighed. ‘The designer.’

Officer Hauspie nodded and made a note in his memo book: Tommy Hillfinger.

He walked along the water’s edge. De Graaff followed him. Hauspie turned and his eyes were drawn to the white giants. If he looked at them long enough, they might hypnotize him. He turned away; they made him nervous.

‘You are going to take a specimen, aren’t you? As evidence?’

Hauspie scrunched his nose. Not a chance. The sight alone of the humming swarm of fat flies turned his stomach.

‘That won’t be necessary, for the time being.’

‘But that shit’s full of DNA! You’ll be able to identify the culprit!’

‘Take it from me, we’ll find him. And once we have, he’ll be charged with public indecency. If you like, you can file a complaint as the injured party.’ Hauspie caught himself assuming a Limburg accent, and found that he was getting awfully tired of this windbag De Graaff.

‘You bet I will. Right now, if I can.’

‘I’ll have to ask you to come around to the station this afternoon. We’ve got all the necessary forms there to process your complaint.’

De Graaff made a face. ‘Well, all right, I’ll gladly give up my afternoon to catch that scumbag.’

‘I’d like to thank you for alerting us. I’ll let you know if we find him.’

‘Seems to me the least you can do.’ He climbed onto the deck of his boat and disappeared into the cabin. End of conversation.

Hauspie smiled at Huyghe, and let her lead the way up the bank to the street.

‘Take a specimen, who’s he kidding?’

‘I don’t think it’s such a bad idea, Roger,’ Huyghe laughed.

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