‘That will do! Take him away!’
Roorda was dragged out of the room by the handcuff, like a dog.
‘So you see, Osewoudt, we know everything. Why go on pussyfooting around? Let’s get down to business. Then I shan’t trouble you any more. It won’t take long, half an hour and we’ll be done. After that you can have a nice long sleep.’
‘I don’t know that man.’
‘Not a thought of your mother, then?’
‘I have never been to that address in Haarlem, I didn’t do anything! I’ll tell you something else, though. This evening I saw—’
‘What did you see?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Yes you did. You were in the cinema! We know exactly what you saw! You saw yourself on screen, larger than life, that’s what you saw! 500 guilders reward, it said! Your name too. And what did you do? You ran off! You left the cinema although the film had barely begun! Is that normal behaviour for someone with a clear conscience?’
‘It was so smoky in there, I didn’t feel well, I needed some fresh air!’
‘Quatsch! It was not smoky in the cinema. Smoking is forbidden in cinemas for the duration of the German occupation! See? Pussyfooting around again.’
‘I’m saying as little as I can!’
The German stood up.
‘You forget that we have every means of making you talk.’
Not wanting to draw attention to his judo, Osewoudt did not duck this time. The blow landed on his cheek.
‘Ach!’ exclaimed Wülfing. ‘What’s this I feel? Such soft cheeks! Wie ein Mädchen!’
With the back of his hand, he felt the cheek he had punched, from chin to ear.
‘Well I never! A nice bit of crumpet for Obersturmführer Ebernuss! Ha, ha! Like a girl!’
Osewoudt heard a rattling noise, then felt cold metal on his wrists as his hands were clamped together behind the back of the chair. The German sat facing him again.
‘Let me give you some advice. When Obersturmführer Ebernuss arrives, stick a champagne cork up your arse, or you’ll live to regret it! But what I was going to say is: we’ve been chatting for the past hour without getting anywhere. Who ordered you to go to Kleine Houtstraat 32 in Haarlem? We know everything; if you refuse to talk the consequences will be unpleasant only for you, not for us. We have plenty of time.’
‘I have never been there.’
‘Be sensible, boy. Obersturmführer Ebernuss will be here in an hour, because then I’ll be taking a nap. And if you won’t say anything to Obersturmführer Ebernuss, Obersturmführer Galovsky will take over eight hours from now. He will stay for another eight hours. And if you still haven’t said anything by then it’ll be me again. And so it will go on, day in day out, for as long as it takes. We have plenty of time, we’ll be getting all the sleep we need, but you won’t. No food for you either, for he that does not toil shall not eat, in other words, he that does not cooperate goes hungry. We could use the stomach pump for starters, but we’re too kind. Nothing to drink either, no need for that, for he that keeps his mouth shut is not thirsty. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Where was I? Ah yes, tell me where Elkan is.’
‘I don’t know anybody called Elkan.’
‘Don’t you now?’
When Obersturmführer Ebernuss came in, Osewoudt was lying on the floor. The handcuffs had been removed, but he had no idea when. He held his stomach with both hands, there was blood pouring into his eyes from a gash in his left eyebrow, and he kept spitting out the blood trickling from his nose on to his lips and chin. He could no longer open his eyes fully, nor could he shut them because of the pain. Ebernuss was a ghostly presence pacing the floor. Osewoudt thought: at least I haven’t said anything.
Ebernuss switched off the desk lamp. Beyond the windows the sky was no longer pitch-dark. Dawn was beginning to break.
Then Ebernuss squatted down by Osewoudt’s head and said: ‘Look here, dear boy, I dare say you honestly don’t know where Elkan is. How unkind of them to slap you about like this. Can you stand up?’
He smelled of violets.
Osewoudt shook his head, without stirring his limbs, without demonstrating his inability to stand up. I can, he thought, but I’m damned if I will.
‘He can’t even stand up!’ cried Ebernuss, rising. ‘Shocking, that is.’ He switched the desk lamp on again, lifted a telephone and waited, holding the receiver to his ear.
At last Osewoudt was able to get a good look at Ebernuss: a pale face like his own, but much plumper, and no doubt he had a beard, a black one, since his hair was black, but he was remarkably clean-shaven. He’s the biggest villain of them all, Osewoudt thought. Someone came on the line and Ebernuss began to speak into the phone in an affected voice, albeit with a menacing undertone. Then he replaced the receiver and picked out two cards from the papers on the desk. He put them on top of each other, held them side by side. One was the identity card made out to Filip van Druten, the other was the German police card bearing the same name and photo. Ebernuss unfolded the identity card and held it up to the lamp, then did the same with the police card.
Two policemen came in with a stretcher, which they put down beside Osewoudt. Then they grabbed him by the shoulders and feet and laid him on the stretcher. As they carried him away, Osewoudt saw Ebernuss place the two cards on the desk with an air of bemusement.
No one asked where I got those papers from, thought Osewoudt as he floated down the corridor on the stretcher. Why didn’t Ebernuss ask about that? Why beat me to a pulp to find out what I know about Elkan, someone I’ve never met in my life? Why wheel out that Roorda fellow to say he knew me? What do they hope to achieve with that? And not a word about my forged papers!
The policemen rested the stretcher on a bench in the vestibule. One of them stepped outside, leaving the door ajar so that Osewoudt could see him look about in the gathering light, as if expecting a car to arrive any moment.
All at once Ebernuss was standing over him again.
‘Osewoudt …’ Ebernuss said in a low voice, almost whispering. He bent down low, his face no more than a hand’s breadth away from Osewoudt’s. The scent of violets was unmistakable.
‘Osewoudt … don’t you worry about a thing. You’re going to hospital now, you can have a nice rest. It’s a scandal the way they’ve manhandled you. I shall report the matter to Berlin at once, you can count on that. I am ashamed of my colleagues, please accept my sincere apologies. And while you’re in hospital I advise you to think about the questions we’ve been asking. Consider how much easier things would be if you made a clean breast of everything. What have you got to lose? The game’s up, you know, it’s all kaput. Why not be sensible so you don’t go kaput yourself? Come, shake my hand, and the best of luck to you.’
Osewoudt kept his arms quite still, but Ebernuss reached for his hand, drew it out horizontally by the fingers and patted it amicably with his free hand before turning to go. Just then a car pulled up.
No sooner had Ebernuss left than the two policemen hoisted the stretcher and went outside, dumped it on the pavement, and bundled Osewoudt into the back of the car. This was more painful than anything he had endured yet. Nevertheless, he took care to notice the view from the window as the car moved off. He could tell they were at Binnenhof, by the Parliament buildings, although he didn’t recall actually having seen them before. To think he had posed as an agent working for the German police headquarters in this very place!
Where was the First Chamber? And where the Second? He thought: if only the old codgers from before the war were still here, deliberating for the public good. That would have saved me a lot of grief. Grief? Pain, rather. Gingerly, he flexed each limb in turn. All he longed for at that moment was for someone to wash the crusts of dried blood from his face. Cold, wet air blew into the car, and his teeth began to chatter. What had become of Marianne? Had she stayed in the cinema until the end of the film? He couldn’t remember where he had said he was going. In any case, by now she would have gathered what had happened. She would have simply gone back to Leiden, to her room over the hairdresser’s. She would have stayed up late, hoping to hear from him, but she hadn’t. What would her reaction have been like?