Death of a Hawker by Janwillem van de Wetering

three, just after he had come back from Morocco. They couldn't wait. He had one before each meal. The first came before breakfast. She is a tourist guide and starts early but she had to have her sex first."
    De Gier wanted to whistle but rubbed his chin instead. "And he accommodated them all?"
    The pretty ones."
    "Were all his contacts as casual as that?'"
    "No. He would go and see Corin. She works at the university with me. I don't think he just slept with her although perhaps he did. Corin never discussed him much. Her name is in the notebook, I'll mark it. Corin Kops. You can find her address in the telephone directory." "Anyone else?"
    "Yes, a student, a very young girl. Studies medicine. I think he was fascinated by her or perhaps she just annoyed him. Wouldn't give in so easily. I'll mark her name as well. Tilda van Andringa de Kempenaar."
    "Beautiful name."
    "Yes, she is nobility, perhaps that's why she won't give in. Blue blood."
    "Copulation doesn't mean an introduction,'' de Gier said, and grinned. His sanity had returned, or rather, it was beginning to return. He still felt shaken. He closed his eyes and tried to think.
    "You aren't falling asleep, are you?" Esther asked. "You must be very tired. Shall I give you a blanket?
    You can sleep on the couch if you like. I'll wake you up at any time you say."
    "No, no, I have to go home to feed my cat. Thanks anyway. Business, that's what I wanted to ask. Do you have his business records here? I'd like to look through them. I am no expert at bookkeeping but I'd like to have some idea about the size of his transactions.''
    "Louis takes care of his books, he's got them upstairs. He is in now. Ill ask him if you like."
    De Gier had been hearing an irregular buzzing sound for the last ten minutes and a noise which seemed like scraping. It came from the floor above and he looked at the ceiling.
    "Is he making that noise upstairs?"
    She giggled. "No, maybe the killer has returned and is whirring his deadly ball. Why don't you go up and have a look?"
    He didn't feel like leaving the comfortable chair but he got up obediently.
    "Yes," Louis said, and looked up at de Gier who had opened the door. He was sitting on the floor and picked up a toy mouse, winding its clockwork. De Gier's mouth was half open. He hadn't expected what he saw. The floor was full of small tin animals—mice, birds, turtles, frogs, even moles and giant beetles. Most of them were moving. The mice stood up every two seconds and then fell down again, busily going on with their zigzag tours on the bare boards of the floor. The frogs jumped, the turtles ambled, the birds hopped and waved their tails, the beetles zoomed. Every now and then one of them would stop, and Louis would pick it up and wind the key. Some of them had pushed themselves against the wall and were burring aimlessly. A bird had been stopped by a small carpet and was jumping feebly, trying to pass the obstacle. A beetle had fallen on its side and its motor was whirring at full speed.
    "Samples," Louis said loudly. "Abe bought a few thousand of them and I took these from the warehouse. Most of them work. Crazy, isn't it?"
    "Yes," de Gier said. "How long have you been playing with them?"
    "Only started just now. It's amusing isn't it? I had them when I was a child but never more than one at a time. Businessmen can amuse themselves on a large scale as you see. No child will ever have a collection like this."
    De Gier had squatted down and saved the animals who had got stuck at the wall, by pointing them at the center of the room. "Hey," Louis said. "I didn't invite you to join me, did I?"
    "No," de Gier said, and wound up a frog.
    "Never mind. You can play if you like. Have the police made any progress in the case yet?"
    "No. The police are baffled."
    "It's human fate to be baffled," Louis said, and began to sweep up the toys, wrapping each animal in tissue paper, and replacing it in a carton.
    "I hear you kept Abe Rogge's books. Can I see