A State Of Sin Amsterdam Occult Series Book Two, Mark Hobson [notion reading list txt] 📗

could see Tobias, hunched over and pulling something along the roadway. Hovering above him silently, she watched.

He was dragging a body towards the grass verge, huffing and gasping with the effort and looking nervously around to make sure the way was clear, completely oblivious to the invisible observer floating overhead.

Lotte saw him roll the corpse into a waterlogged ditch at the roadside – she had no idea of the circumstances as to why he happened to be doing this, and she watched curiously and unalarmed. There was a quiet splash as the corpse disappeared below the surface of the water.

A few moments later and he threw in a crushed and misshapen bicycle, which also sank out of sight. With any luck the water in the ditch should freeze over overnight, sealing the corpse in and hiding all evidence, hopefully for a number of days. Which would be long enough. At least he was staying calm and not panicking, Lotte thought to herself. Then Tobias was straightening and wiping his hands on his trousers and getting into his van.

Minutes later, having turned around, he drove quietly away into the night.

Lotte snapped back into full consciousness, finding herself safely back in her physical form at the old courtyard.

She went inside to see how her Uncle Johan was getting along.

Chapter 12

Kaatje

Madame Benoit was the Centre Manager at Hollandsche Manege, the prestigious riding school on Vondelstraat. She was short and very gaunt, and Kaatje guessed she was in her mid-fifties. She sported a colourful scarf around her neck to hide the first signs of aging, and she walked with a prominent limp and used a cane walking stick, perhaps as a result of some injury that had cut short her horse-riding dreams. They stood side by side on a balcony on the second floor overlooking the large riding hall below, where several horses and their riders, led by instructors, were trotting in slow, lazy circles. Behind them was a fancy tearoom. At 10am it was already getting busy, and soft chatter drifted through the open door.

It was a Saturday and was Kaatje’s day off. Still frustrated at yesterday’s unnecessary censure from Huijbers, she had resolved to do a little bit of her own private snooping regarding the Nina case, but only when off-duty to keep things low-key. Not that Madame Benoit needed to know that she was off-duty.

During their visit to the eye clinic yesterday, while Pieter had been poking about and causing trouble she had chatted with the receptionist. From their brief discussion Kaatje had learnt about Nina Bakker’s recent enrolment at Hollandche Manege, and so had decided this was as good a place as any to start with her little clandestine investigation.

Driving over from home, she had turned off Vondelstraat and down the short side street to the large and ornate entrance to the riding school. Climbing out, Kaatje could see the large spire of the church just around the corner: The Bakker’s house was a handy five-minute walk from here.

Parking up, she had walked through the arched entrance and along the red carpeted passage leading to the main riding hall, the strong smell of manure making her nose tickle. Catching a member of staff and flashing her police badge, she’d asked to see whoever was in charge, and five minutes later was escorted up a wrought-iron spiral staircase to the balcony, feeling like a member of the common rabble allowed an audience with royalty.

They talked in English, as Kaatje’s little bit of French was too rusty and Madame Benoit had shamefully not learnt to speak Dutch despite having lived in Amsterdam for twelve years.

“Ah yes, Miss Bakker, our sweet little Nina,” she was now saying. “What a lovely girl. Yes, I knew her, and her parents.” She pouted and gave a little shake of her head, her thoughts staying private.

“So she was a member of the equestrian school then?”

“Oh yes, but only at an intermediary level. She enrolled about a year ago now.”

“How often did she attend?”

“Two or three evenings a week initially, less so during the colder weather. We take the horses across into the park, and the younger riders aren’t so enthusiastic when the conditions outside are inclement.”

“What was she like?”

“Nina? She showed a lot of promise as a rider, she had a lot of natural ability. And she was always very polite. But very shy, unusually so for a twelve year old. Some of our girls can be very precocious and bossy, and they like to gossip, especially about each other. But Nina tended to keep to herself most of the time. I think she felt a little overwhelmed at times. And of course the other girls noticed this, the way girls do.”

Kaatje nodded. “Was she picked on at all? By the others?”

“Oh no, nothing like that. I would not allow any bullying whatsoever. No, they just mostly left her alone. Although she did befriend one of our girls.”

Madame Benoit broke off for a moment and went over to the balcony’s stone balustrade.

“Tenez votre dos bien droit!” she shouted down into the hall, banging her walking stick hard onto the floor. Tutting to herself, she came back over.

“Who?” Kaatje asked.

“Sorry?”

“Who did Nina make friends with?”

“Oh yes. It was one of our stable hands, a young lady called Elena.”

“Were they very close?”

“Yes, quite so. Elena was two or three years older than Nina, which I think was part of the attraction. Elena was very sophisticated, you know, quite mature in her outlook, and Nina seemed drawn to that. Perhaps she liked having an older friend.”

In the tearoom, some kind of gathering was taking place, a party by the sounds of it, and there was a burst of loud laughter and applause.

“Could I speak to her, this girl Elena? It would only be an informal chat, nothing more, with her being a minor?”

Madame Benoit’s eyebrows drew together in a pained expression. “I only wish that was possible. But after what happened last year, the whole