Pentimento

Chapter 13 - Connie saves the day

Marjorie had two days to teach her pupils everything she knew about spying on criminals and on Tuesday they left the house, all three wearing a version of the same black outfit.

In Connie's car, her dark blue Suzuki was the best dark car they got, they waited in front of the garage Headley rented.

"The one with the pink door? Are you sure?"

"Maybe he likes pink?"

They looked at each other.

"Could it be that we..." said Connie.

"Absolutely not, you were there! What other garage could they possibly mean."

"Play that recording again," said Connie, after she had made sure all the roads around them were empty. Slightly annoyed that her detective work was questioned, Marjorie pressed play.

"There! Didn't they all have a garage?"

"No, Hilko didn't."

"But the rest, they all had a garage?"

"Yes."

"Then why is he saying the garage?"

Rose and Marjorie looked at Connie, what was she trying to say?

"Could he mean THE garage? The café? It's on the outskirts of town!"

Marjorie googled it, Connie was right. On the outskirts of Rotterdam there was a café called 'The garage' with an abnormally large hidden parking lot. Exactly the type of parking lot where shady things are handed off to shady figures, thought Marjorie while she started the car.

Traffic in the city was a nightmare. Unbearable now. "For the universe's sake!" yelled Marjorie. She hit the steering wheel.

"Take a left there!"

"Go, go!"

Marjorie bolted through the streets. They were small, but Marjorie had done this before. Connie and Rose held on to whatever they could grab. They kept yelling encouraging words until Marjorie slowed down. She looked at the time, it was a minute past one. She tried not to catch anyone's attention while she drove onto the parking lot.

"These trees are pretty nice," she mumbled, trying to calm her nerves. The others agreed, feeling the nerves racing through their bodies like Marjorie had just raced through the streets.

"I think I see something there! Two vans, that must be them!" From the backseat, Connie tried her best not to point to the two shadows in the distance. Marjorie maneuvered the car into a spot a few meters and several trees away.

It felt like hours that they sat there, but it was only five past one when they finally got to see a shadow move a painting-like rectangle into the other van. Rose covered her mouth with her hands. Marjorie called the police.

"Hi, can we get a police car out to café The Garage? There are two men exchanging stolen paintings in the parking lot."

Marjorie did her best to explain to the operator what was going on. Rose thought the whole story sounded insane; Marjorie sounded insane!

Suddenly, after staring into the dark for a while, the parking lot got lit up by several cop cars, all putting on their blue and red lights at once. They had silently surrounded the vans, there was no way for them to go now.

"This is the police, step away from the vehicle," a voice said sternly through a megaphone.

In the corner of her eyes, Rose saw Sebastian getting arrested, a few meters from the vans. Two officers gestured at her to open her windows.

"Are you the witness? Can we escort you to the police station?"

"Yes, thank you," whispered Rose.