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

Again she broke away. “Trop vite, contrôle le cheval!” She threw up her hand in despair.

“Tragedy?” Kaatje prompted.

“Yes, the accident. In the stables. One of our horses, a temperamental young thing, it kicked out at Elena while she was cleaning the hay. Its hoof caught her right in the eye.” She winced at the memory, and shook her head.

“Was she hurt badly?”

“Not really, but it damaged her eye. A detached retina, or something, I’m not too sure what exactly. But it required surgery. Her father, he was not a wealthy man but he must have provided his family with very good health insurance, something to do with his job I think. Anyway, it was enough to pay for her treatment. But something went wrong during the operation, some silly medical negligence that could have been avoided.”

“What happened exactly?” Kaatje could feel a small flutter in her stomach.

“Well, she lost the sight in her eye, the injured one, and the vision in the other eye was severely impaired. How that happened I do not know, as they did not even operate on that one, just the one where the horse kicked her. It should have been a routine operation, but apparently something unforeseen occurred. It was so sad. And afterwards she just changed completely. She could no longer work here of course, and I do not know all of the details, but rumours spread quickly here and it seems that she was so, so deeply affected that she suffered badly from depression. Her whole future, all of her plans, everything changed. And she struggled to cope. Then, shortly afterwards…”

Kaatje felt a lump form in her throat.

“Shortly afterwards, Elena took her own life.”

Madame Benoit hobbled over to the balustrade and leaned back against the stonework, gazing at Kaatje intently.

“A tragedy,” she repeated in a sad little whisper. “It caused a lot of upset with the staff and the pupils naturally, but especially with Nina Bakker. She had lost her best friend, her only friend here. Plus she felt guilty of course.” Madame Benoit shrugged her narrow, bony shoulders.

Kaatje shook her head, a little confused.

“Guilty? How so?”

“For two reasons. Firstly she had been riding the horse just before the accident. It was a feisty young thing as I told you. Strong-willed. Too much for Nina to handle, with her inexperience at the time, but her parents insisted that she continue riding her.”

“You said she felt guilty for two reasons. What was the second one?”

“Her father, Christiaan Bakker, he was the surgeon who carried out the operation. At the new eye clinic he runs out in Osdorp.”

Johan Roost watched through the windscreen of his car as the young policewoman came striding out through the arched entrance to the riding school. He’d hired a second vehicle as the first car was still parked up outside Van Dijk’s house, scanning for mobile intercepts, and he followed her from her home this morning, curious as to what she was playing at: a young rookie officer conducting important police investigation work on a major case, alone and when off-duty.

Johan tutted to himself and shook his head in admonishment. Silly young thing, he thought, a small smile playing across his lips.

When she pulled away from her parking spot Johan followed her through the busy weekend traffic.

Kaatje arrived back at the Vrije Geer Eye Clinic in Osdorp a little before midday, and after smoking a quick cigarette in the car park, she soon found herself in the reception area, talking to Julian Visser once more.

“Look, I have nothing more to say to you, ok?” he said harshly, yesterday’s polite charm completely gone now, replaced by undisguised anger. “Your visit yesterday caused me a lot of upset, the nature of the questions you and your colleague were asking were, quite frankly, vile to say the least.”

He looked over her shoulder towards the sliding doors behind her.

“Where is Inspector Van Dijk anyway?”

“He’s busy. He sent me to continue with our inquiries.”

“Really?” Visser said haughtily. “Because when I spoke to your superior yesterday by telephone, he assured me that this line of inquiry was most definitely at an end. He was very apologetic. Yet here you are again, asking me more questions of a personal nature. It vexes me.”

“All I asked was if you could give me details of the operation carried out on Elena at this clinic. What the procedure was exactly, and what went wrong?”

“And as I told you a moment ago, I cannot answer your question. For two reasons. Firstly because of patient confidentiality, and secondly because I wasn’t present at the time. Doctor Bakker carried out the surgery.”

“But you could check the files. Give me a broad outline. Or if you are busy, perhaps your lovely receptionist could do it?”

Kaatje glanced over to the girl sitting behind the counter in the foyer, who glared back at her.

“Only if you have a court order requesting the release of the paperwork.”

“You told us yesterday that the Director of the clinic was due back from her conference today. Could I see her?”

“Not unless you have an appointment. She is very busy. Now could you kindly leave?” He indicated the exit. “Or do I have to call security?”

Kaatje looked at him hard, and gave a slow, lazy blink. “No, that won’t be necessary.”

She turned to go, and then with an afterthought turned back.

“Could I use your toilets, please? It’s a long drive back through the traffic.”

Sighing dramatically, Visser pointed his finger towards a door near the seating area marked Ladies and then stomped off. Returning the receptionist’s glacial smile, Kaatje pushed through the doorway.

The toilets were spotlessly clean and very modern, and there was piped music coming from somewhere. Kaatje quickly checked that all of the stalls were unoccupied, and then slipped inside one of the cubicles and shut the door. Closing the toilet lid she sat down and took out her mobile, and for about thirty seconds considered whether to call Pieter and tell him where she was.

After