“What?” I asked. “How do you know?”
“He told me when we were looking around the house together. His situation and mine were similar, both of us coerced into working for them because of old family connections.”
I glanced over at Nouwen, but he was wearing that neutral expression I’d come to recognize, one that gave nothing away. Last night, Alex had told Nouwen about her role in all of this. It seemed unlikely that she’d be charged with anything. She’d lied to Sam and me, but she hadn’t committed any actual crimes.
“Pieter went along with Eline’s plan to sell the house, intending to take the money and disappear,” Alex continued. “But Bleeker wasn’t going to let that happen. He sent Max after Eline and intended to deal with Pieter himself. Then things escalated when you three discovered the vault and the office.”
She looked up at Nouwen. “For decades, Zeckendorf had certain police officials on their payroll, who made sure that any attempts at investigating them were blocked.”
He nodded. “We know.”
There was a long silence between us. I heard the clink of china, the banging of trays, the chatter of the cafeteria staff that I couldn’t understand. Alex knew a lot more about Zeckendorf than she’d admitted to us. For a moment, that made me mad, but I realized I couldn’t let it bother me. She had risked her life to help us. And I was sure that her feelings for Sam were genuine. Maybe they would both be able to move on from the events of this week. I hoped so.
“And Martin Eyghels?” I asked. “He’s not real, is he?”
“He was an associate of Jacob Hals and also worked for the Dutch East India Company,” Lange said. “His name was used over the centuries whenever Zeckendorf needed a false name on a document. It became sort of an inside joke.”
“None of this is a joke,” Nouwen muttered.
“Zeckendorf goes back that far?” Karen asked.
“All the way back to before the house was built. The co-founders were Jacob Hals, and several others who worked with him.” Lange grabbed a paper napkin and scrubbed at her fingers. “Hals went on to build the house, and a Zeckendorf member has lived there continuously ever since construction was completed, apart from that period of fifty-plus years starting in the 1960s. The house was an important part of the identity of Zeckendorf.”
Poor Eline. She’d had no idea what dangers she would unleash by putting the house on the market.
“Pieter should have warned her somehow, or just refused to put it up for sale.” Karen’s voice was angry. “But he was only thinking about the money.”
“It wasn’t really about the money,” Alex said. “His desire to escape Zeckendorf clouded his judgment. He should have known they wouldn’t let him go that easily. Very few people ever get out.” Her blue eyes welled with tears. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to phone my mum. I’ll be back soon.”
“Has anyone spoken to William Moresby?” I asked when she’d gone.
Nouwen shook his head. “Not yet.”
Mr. Moresby would wake up to learn that his Amsterdam assignment was over. He’d been so determined to see it through, but there was little chance now that his company would relocate here. My vision of light-filled conference rooms and bustling offices would never come to pass. It had only been four days since I’d arrived, excited about the design challenge ahead of me. But the house had fought back, a hostile and malevolent enemy. Its vast spaces would remain dark and empty for the foreseeable future at least. Nouwen had already told us it would be the center of their investigations for months to come. The crypt in the cellar would be emptied, the remains interred in a proper cemetery. The cabinet room was expected to yield a trove of detailed information about the workings of the organization, and the police had already carried away the damaged computer server. Someone from Zeckendorf had taken the sledgehammer to it in an attempt to cover their tracks, but Nouwen was hoping his tech experts could retrieve some of the data that had been stored on it. Zeckendorf operatives had also removed some of the red boxes we’d seen in the vault, all of which apparently contained diamonds. Maybe they’d managed to haul away some of the gold bars, but not many. Nouwen said the vault had been secured with much of its treasure intact.
I hoped that, one day, the magnificent building would be put to good use. It had plenty of potential. But for myself, I’d be happy to never set foot in the place again.
As if sensing my thoughts, Lange leaned towards me. “I hope you won’t go back to London thinking the worst of Holland,” she said. “It’s a beautiful country and its people are good, most of them at least.”
“I know that, and I intend to come back to enjoy it all very soon.”
Karen had already invited me to bring Josh over for a weekend.
And then I remembered something.
“Vincent!” I exclaimed. “We can’t just leave him there.” Seeing the confused expressions on Nouwen’s and Lange’s faces, I explained about the cat. “Sam loves him,” I said. “It would be okay, wouldn’t it, for us to find him and adopt him? I can work out how to get him back to England.”
Nouwen’s features relaxed for a moment. “I can help with that. Give me an hour or two.”
Karen smiled at me. "That will be a lovely wake-up present for Sam.”
THE END
For James, Madeleine and Charlotte
With Love
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Acknowledgments
First of all, special thanks to my multi-talented husband and co-conspirator, James, for reading every single word, providing constructive criticism and making awesome suggestions. This book, as with the others in the series, is so much better for all your help. Here’s to many more books and years together.
Thanks and gratitude as always to Diana Corbitt, Maryvonne Fent, Sue Garzon and Gillian Hobbs. We’ve been doing this for years now. I love your stories and I love how you help with mine. Friendship, fun and moral support. You’re the best.
And thank you, of course, to Julie Smith and Mittie Staininger for everything you do.
Also by Carrie Bedford
NOBILISSIMA: A Novel of Imperial Rome
The Kate Benedict Paranormal Mystery Series
THE AURA
DOUBLE BLIND
THE FLORENTINE CYPHER
THE SCOTTISH CONNECTION
ASSIGNMENT IN AMSTERDAM
About the Author
Born and raised in England, Carrie Bedford is the author of the award-winning Aura series of mysteries, along with the Nobilissima historical novels set in Ancient Rome. After graduating with an Honors degree in English and French, her first job was as translator for a growing technology company. She went on to work in marketing for companies in Silicon Fen (Cambridge, England) and Silicon Valley for the next thirty years. She and her
American husband have two wonderful daughters, a yellow Labrador and a calico cat who assists with edit cycles by taking random walks on the keyboard.
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