Osewoudt withdrew his hand and patted the back of her hand.
‘So what happens to the kid afterwards?’
‘I get off the train at Amersfoort, and there our ways part for good. Yours and mine I mean. The child stays with me.’
Then he said: ‘Have you ever met someone—’
He was going to say ‘called Dorbeck’, but she cut in.
‘No no, I haven’t met anyone! Not anyone! Ever! Remember that!’
Of course she hadn’t met Dorbeck, he thought, because if she had she’d have been startled when she saw me, someone who looked exactly like him.
‘Do you know my name, by the way?’
‘No, what is it?’
‘Filip van Druten. And yours?’
‘Oh, there’s no point telling you, really. Just carry on addressing me as “you”. Just say “Hey you!” when you need me.’
At the exit of Lunteren station they saw the other Youth Storm leader. The genuine one! Carrying her travelling bag! She’d been on the same train! Got off in Lunteren, same as them!
‘See that girl?’ he said.
‘Doesn’t mean a thing. Lunteren’s crawling with that lot, didn’t you know? Perhaps she’s come to make the Leader’s bed for him — he holds rallies here all the time.’
When they came out of the station the other youth leader was about thirty metres ahead of them.
‘Which way?’
‘Same as her.’
They followed the railway embankment up to the level crossing. The other youth leader was already on the other side. If she happens to look left now she’ll see us, Osewoudt thought. But she didn’t look left.
They too went over the crossing, and came to a wide road lined with boarding houses and the old-fashioned country homes of retired gentry.
‘Is it around here?’
‘No, much further on. God forbid, if it were here we’d have all the neighbours coming to the rescue. They do that sometimes. Did you know?’
‘Yes, so I’ve heard.’
‘A lot of people working for the Krauts have neighbours who take them for good patriots.’
‘Naturally.’
‘You know, the Germans don’t even like using party members to do their dirty work, because then everyone would be forewarned.’
‘Stands to reason.’
The other youth leader was still ahead, and had now increased the distance between them to fifty metres. But Osewoudt still had a clear view of her shapely legs in their black silk stockings, and of her trim waist in the custom-made uniform. He looked from her to his dowdy companion and thought: won’t anyone seeing the first one go by, and then this one, think there’s something fishy going on?
They came to a complicated intersection.
‘This way?’
‘Yes, we stick to the asphalt.’
The other youth leader had taken the asphalt road too. A greengrocer on a horse-drawn cart came towards them. When he was close by he made a filthy noise in his throat and spat on the ground. He glared at Osewoudt and his companion by turns, then half stood up on the box to look back at the other youth leader.
Further down the road the buildings petered out. On either side were stands of trees, interspersed here and there with an old country house set in a garden.
‘How far do we still have to go?’
‘Another fifteen minutes or so, I think. See that letter box over there?’
He saw the shiny red letter box on a short post further along the road. Next to it stood an old-fashioned gas street lamp.
‘Past there we turn left across the heath.’
To his consternation he saw the lovely, genuine youth leader turning left at almost the same instant.
‘Where the hell is she going?’
The girl began to laugh, took his arm and pressed it to her side. She smelled of Lux bath soap.
‘I believe you’re a good sort, Filip. But shall I tell you what I think? She’s going to the same address as we are!’
‘To the same address? So what does that mean?’
‘Isn’t it obvious? She’s going there to collect the little boy and take him to a safe place.’
‘What about you then?’
‘Well, things might get a bit awkward. We can’t very well seize the boy from her by force. That would be overdoing the child-protection act a bit.’
‘What do you think would be best then?’
‘I don’t know, that’s for you to decide.’
‘But you’re the one who set the whole thing up! You did the recce! It’s your plan!’
‘I … I … That’s a bit much. I didn’t plan it all on my own! Besides, the order to liquidate Lagendaal came from London. To be honest, that girl’s going to complicate matters. At least that’s what I think. I was actually counting on her arriving on a later train, by which time we’d have gone.’
They too now reached the road branching off on to the heath. It was sandy and little more than a dirt track along a ditch, and apparently hard going for the other youth leader because she was closer than before. There were no houses along this road, although it was lined with telegraph poles. The poles carried only a couple of wires.
‘If that’s the way things are,’ said Osewoudt, ‘what did you reckon on doing with the kid?’
‘The father has to go, the mother too if you can’t help it, but the boy mustn’t come to any harm.’
‘But he’s bound to scream if we snatch him off the youth leader!’
‘Can’t we think of some way of stopping her from getting hold of him in the first place?’
‘Of course. Otherwise there wouldn’t be any point in you having dressed up as a Youth Storm leader. Come on, let’s get a move on, we need to catch up with her.’
Just then the other youth leader looked back; it was the first time she had done so. She even stopped for a moment, no doubt stunned by what she saw.
Then she walked on. Faster than before? Had she realised?
Osewoudt took Hey You by the hand. At first they looked like they were speed-walking, but soon they broke into a run, their feet landing awkwardly in the soft sand. The other youth leader glanced over her shoulder again, but apparently suspected nothing because she walked on. Osewoudt let go of the girl’s hand and raced ahead. A smell of pine trees and manure penetrated deeply into his nostrils. His eyes were fixed on the youth leader. He saw her smile faintly, then her mouth open, but before she could scream his hands were around her neck. He was so quick that his forehead collided with hers and they fell to the ground almost as one. In falling he grabbed the hair at the back of her head so that she fell on top of him, but his feet, close together, were already planted against her stomach. He kicked out his legs without letting go of her hair. She swung through the air and came down with a thud behind his head.
By the time the other girl came up, Osewoudt was back on his feet, patting the sand off his coat, stooping to retrieve his hat. The youth leader still lay on her back, legs flung wide, coat and skirt rucked up over the tops of her black stockings. Her cap was caught in her hair. Her eyes stared upwards through half-closed lids, her tongue lolled out of her mouth. Her bag lay at the side of the track.
The girl picked it up and looked inside.
‘Empty! For the little boy’s clothes, I expect. Is she unconscious?’
‘No, not exactly. Come on, we can’t leave her here like this.’
He looked about, nobody in sight. What did catch his eye were his spectacles, snapped in two. He picked up the pieces and pocketed them. The girl put the bag down again and helped him drag the youth leader’s body away. Fortunately there was a stand of trees to one side of the track, but it didn’t extend very far and the undergrowth was thin and sparse.
‘She’ll be found eventually, we just want to postpone the discovery.’