Death of a Hawker by Janwillem van de Wetering Page A

them?"
    Louis pointed at the desk. "It's all there, you can take them with you if you like. I have kept the books up to date, the accounting is simple. Most purchases are covered by invoices and they are all paid. Our sales were mostly for cash and they are entered in a cash book. And there's some wages-administration; only Abe and myself are on the payroll."
    "Your warehouse is full of goods, I hear."
    "Yes."
    "All paid for."
    "Yes."
    "How much do you have in stock?"
    "In money?"
    "Yes."
    "A hundred and twenty thousand guilders and something."
    "That's a lot," de Gier said, "and all paid for. Was Abe financing his own deals?"
    Louis laughed. "The bank wouldn't give us a penny, they don't back hawkers. Abe borrowed from friends. Mostly from Bezuur, his oldest and best friend."
    "So he has friends," de Gier said and nodded. "Very good."
    Louis looked up from his packing. "The police would suspect friends, wouldn't they? Friends are close and friendship can change into hatred. Two sides of the same coin."
    "Yes, yes. Who is Bezuur?"
    "A rich man, a very rich man. He and Abe went to school together, to school and to the university. They both dropped out. They studied French. They also traveled together, mostly in France, of course, and in French North Africa. They also traded together but Bezuur's father died and left him a big business, earthmoving equipment. He's a millionaire."
    "And he lent Abe money?"
    "Yes, at bank interest. Eleven percent we are paying now. The firm owes him sixty thousand, to be repaid in three months' time when we have moved the stocks in the warehouse, maybe earlier. Abe was planning a long holiday and I was supposed to go with him."
    "North Africa again?"
    "No, we planned to sail a boat to the Caribbean."
    "And what happens now?"
    "I'll sell the stocks. I phoned Bezuur about an hour ago to tell him about Abe's death. He said I can go on with the business if Esther lets me, for she will inherit it. And I can repay the loan as planned."
    "Did you speak to Esther?"
    "Not yet."
    "And what will you do when you have moved the stocks?"
    "No idea. Find a partner maybe and go on as before. I like this business, especially the irregularity of it."
    "And if Esther won't let you go on?"
    Louis shrugged and smiled. "I don't care. Bezuur will sell the stocks and get his money back and the rest will go to Esther. I'll just leave. Nobody depends on me."
    "Detached, are you?" de Gier said, offering a cigarette.
    Thanks. Yes. I am detached, lb hell with it. But I am sorry Abe died, I enjoyed being with him. He taught me a lot. If he hadn't taught me I would be very upset now but you find me playing happily with clockwork animals. And I am not pretending. Any more questions?"
    "Was Abe close to anyone else? Any enemies?
    Competitors?"
    Louis thought, taking his time. "He slept with a lot of girls," he said in the end. "Perhaps he stepped on somebody's toes. I am sure some of those girls had lovers, or husbands even. He behaved like a stud bull at times. And he insulted people, of course. Insulted them by not caring. They could go blue in the face and blow steam out of their ears and he would just laugh, not offensively to annoy them, but because he didn't care. He would tell them they were balloons, or stuffed lifeless animals."
    "But he included himself, didn't he?"
    "Oh yes, he refused to see any value anywhere."
    "So why did he make money then?"
    Louis got up and put the carton in a corner of the room. "If nothing matters you can laugh and you can cry, can't you?" De Gier looked blank. "Abe preferred to laugh, with a full belly and a cigar in his mouth and a car parked in the street and a boat in the canal. I don't think he would have minded if he hadn't had any of those things, but he preferred having them."
    "Ah yes," de Gier said.
    "You don't understand," Louis said. "Never mind."
    "You really admired him, didn't you?" de Gier asked viciously.
    "Yes, copper, I did. But now he is dead. The balloon has burst. More