Roy moves to block Vincent’s access to the van’s back door. He’s gritting his teeth, his eyes are wide open and darting from side to side, the pupils huge and black and glittering.
Christ, Vincent thinks warily, he’s already tripping. He gestures at Roy to move, but the guy just stands there, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.
“Please,” sighs Vincent. “Would you please let me through?”
Roy grins and steps aside, motioning Vincent forward. “Glad to oblige, Mr. Van Galen,” he says with exaggerated politeness. “I wouldn’t want to hinder you in the swift completion of your appointed rounds.”
Vincent doesn’t trust this, but he leans into the van and slides out two stacked crates of Heineken, the tourists’ idea of Holland’s finest. As he turns to the kiosk, the three boys close in around him. With the van at his back, there’s nowhere for him to go. He doesn’t know what they’re planning — he doubts they’re clearheaded enough to even have a plan — but they’re obviously not going to let him through.
Roy suddenly takes a step back, opening a path. Vincent starts forward, and Roy sticks out a leg and trips him.
Vincent falls, and the two crates of beer go flying, crashing down on the asphalt. His palms sting, and there is shattered glass everywhere, though he doesn’t seem to be bleeding. He looks up into the grinning faces of Roy, Marco, and Tommy from his hands and knees.
“Vinnie fall down, go boom?” says Roy, the picture of innocence, while his droogs giggle idiotically.
“Fucking assholes,” Vincent mutters under his breath as he examines the smashed beer crates.
“You oughta be more careful, pal,” grins Marco. “I think your shoelace came untied. That’s dangerous.”
“Dangerous,” Tommy echoes. “You better tie your shoelace.”
Picking carefully though the beer-splattered mess, Vincent sees that most of the bottles have broken. Shit, shit, shit. He gets slowly to his feet. “You stupid bastards,” he says. “You’re gonna have to pay for all this—”
Roy’s hand whips around behind his back and snakes something out of his rear jeans pocket. There is a metallic snick, and Vincent sees a long blade glitter coldly in the starlight. “Your fuckin’ shoelaces trip you up,” he says slowly, “and you think we’re gonna pay for it?”
Vincent puts out a hand to keep his old friend at bay, seemingly unaware of the broken bottle he is holding.
But Roy sees the threat and lunges toward him. Vincent jerks to the side, his hand flashing forward defensively.
There is a sudden scream, and for just a moment it is unclear which of them has made the sound, but it is both of them who have cried out, both who have been wounded.
They stand there in the Museumplein beneath the blanket of stars, swaying from side to side, Marco and Tommy looking on in dumbfounded horror.
A spray of arterial blood gushes from Roy’s throat, and there is hot pain on the side of Vincent’s head.
Roy drops his switchblade and crumples to his knees, clutching his neck in both hands, before toppling over.
“Holy shit,” Marco breathes. “Come on, Tommy, let’s get out of here.”
As if by magic, the two of them disappear, leaving Roy and Vincent behind.
Vincent gingerly touches the left side of his head, where blood streams from a deep gash left behind by Roy’s knife.
“You cut me!” he whimpers. “You fucking cut me!”
He collapses to the pavement and lies there weeping as Roy’s body trembles violently for a long moment and then grows still.
The two of them remain there, side by side like a pair of lovers, until Vincent hears the wail of approaching sirens through the starry, starry night.
About the Contributors
Karin Amatmoekrim (Paramaribo, 1976) is the author of six novels, including the best seller Het Gym (2011) and De Man van Veel (2013), a historical novel about the life of Resistance hero Anton de Kom. A documentary about her sixth book, Tenzij de Vader (2016), was broadcast on Dutch television in May 2017. She also writes short stories and essays, and is currently working toward a PhD in modern literature.
René Appel (Hoogkarspel, 1945) published his first thriller, Handicap, in 1987, and has written twenty more, two of which have received the Golden Noose, the annual award for the best Dutch-language crime novel. In 2017, Joyride en Andere Spannende Verhalen, a collection of his short stories, was published, and English translations of his stories have appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and several anthologies.
Abdelkader Benali (Ighzazene, Morocco, 1975) is a writer, documentary filmmaker, and photographer. He emigrated to The Netherlands from Morocco at the age of four. In 2003, his novel De Langverwachte won the Libris Literature Prize, the most important literary award for Dutch fiction. His work includes novels, plays, poetry, and travel essays, and he has written extensively about Tangier, Henri Matisse, radicalism, and Marcel Proust. Today he lives in Amsterdam and Tangier.
Michael Berg (Heerlen, 1956) worked for almost twenty-five years for Dutch public radio as a host, director, documentarian, and manager before moving to France and becoming a full-time writer. In 2013, he won the Golden Noose for Nacht in Parijs, and his Het Meisje op de Weg was the highest-ranked Dutch-language entry on Hebban’s list of the best international thrillers of 2016. In 2017, he moved back to The Netherlands.
Hanna Bervoets (Amsterdam, 1984) is a fiction writer and essayist. She has published six novels and is the recipient of numerous literary prizes, including the Opzij Literature Prize for Lieve Céline and the BNG Literature Prize for Ivanov. In 2017, she was awarded the Frans Kellendonk Prize for her full body of work. Translation rights for several of her books have been sold in the US and Germany. Her most recent novel, Fuzzie, has received glowing reviews.
Theo Capel (Amsterdam, 1944) has reviewed crime fiction in addition to writing it himself. After ten novels about Hank Stammer, who runs a collection agency in Amsterdam, Capel (writing as Erik Bolt) began a new series featuring Amsterdam policeman Felix de Grave; to date, there are two books in that series. “The Red Mercedes,” a short story about Stammer, appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine in 2004 and was reprinted in Passport to Crime in 2007.
Maria de Bruyn (Utrecht, 1949) has had a varied professional life, beginning as operations manager of a translation bureau, working as a desk and copy editor, and progressing to a career as a policy advisor, trainer, and writer after becoming a medical anthropologist. Her nontechnical translations have included a children’s book and a comic book. She fills much of her time now with wildlife photography and blogging about nature.
Simon de Waal (Amsterdam, 1961) writes novels and scripts. Cop vs. Killer, Pentito, and Nemesis were nominated for best crime novel in The Netherlands and Belgium, and Pentito won Belgium’s Diamond Bullet. De Waal’s script for Lek won the Golden Calf, and he wrote and directed a film version of Cop vs. Killer. He has worked for the Amsterdam police since 1979, including as a detective-sergeant in the homicide division since 1986.