After the Silence: Inspector Rykel Book 1 (Amsterdam Quartet) Read Online Free Page B

for driving people hard, mainly so he could advance his own career. Behind his back most of his staff referred to him simply as the eel, slippery and with sharp teeth. And not without irony, given his size.
    ‘Rykel,’ came Smit’s voice after a few moments. ‘I have some, uh, bad news for you. Get into the station now.’
    Jaap’s heart detonated in his chest.
    ‘What’s going on?’
    Kees and the forensics looked at him all at once.
    ‘Inspector Kees Terpstra can take over, just get back here now.’
    Jaap stepped away towards the stairs, checking that Kees was out of earshot, lowering his voice, ‘He’s notexperienced enough, this isn’t straightforward. Is this about Andreas?’
    ‘It’s … uhmmm … yeah, it is.’
    Jaap felt the room start to sink and twist out of shape, as if he’d just stepped into a Dalí painting. A bird flapped past the window, flickering a shadow into the room.
    ‘And?’
    ‘He’s been shot.’

5
     
    Monday, 2 January
09.58
     
    Tanya was standing in what she figured had been the living room.
    The fireman, crouched down next to her sifting through the ash, was humming a tune she half recognized.
    ‘So what caused it?’ she asked.
    ‘Not faulty wiring,’ came the reply, his voice a rough whisper.
    He picked up a few small fragments of metal, and handed one to her, still warm to the touch.
    ‘These are bits of a canister, like the ones you buy petrol in.’
    Tanya looked at them.
    ‘Are you sure? I mean, these could be anything, couldn’t they?’
    The fireman shook his head.
    ‘I found some more over in that corner as well. Accidental fires always start in one place, but if you’re trying to burn something down you’ll set several ignition spots, gives it a better chance of taking off before anyone can stop it.’
    Tanya handed the metal back to him.
    ‘Is this how the other fires have been started, with those same cans?’
    He tossed it back, the metal disappearing into the ash with a small puff.
    ‘Mostly, but to be honest this is how they’re always done. Not original thinkers, arsonists.’
    They turned to the bodies, blackened flesh like jerky, smudged bones poking through.
    ‘And there’s no sign of a child?’
    ‘Not that I’ve found, and I’ve been through it thoroughly.’
    ‘Maybe they’d get burnt up completely?’
    ‘No,’ he pointed to the nearer of the two bodies. ‘See how much of them is left, even having been right in the middle of the blaze?’
    He started brushing away more ash, moving up the shin towards the knee. Tanya opened her mouth to say something but caught a flake in her throat, making her cough.
    I hope that wasn’t from one of the bodies
, she thought.
    Too grim to even consider, but she couldn’t shift the idea. She went back to her car, feeling her breathing quicken, which only made it worse. There was a bottle of water she’d left there a few days ago and eventually her fingers touched the cold plastic, jammed under the front passenger seat. She pulled it out, gulping down the last few mouthfuls, the water tasting flat, stale.
    She’d felt something else down there as well and put her hand back in to retrieve it. Her ID card, the police logo on the back.
    But when she flipped it over the picture wasn’t her.
    It had her name, but the image was of a woman in bondage gear, crudely cut out and plastered on top of herown. For a moment she was too stunned to think who could have done it. Then it came.
    Inspector Wim Bloem
, she thought,
what a bastard.
    They’d never got on, and despite working in the same department for several years she’d for the most part managed to keep out of his way. As one of the three Inspectors he chose his underlings, and Tanya wasn’t one of them. Unless there was a particularly shitty job he needed doing.
    And they had occasional verbal sparring contests, name calling, snide comments about her red hair. But just recently the run-ins had become more frequent, the sarcasm more cutting.
    He