Chapter 9 : the amsterdam connection

I ran up the stairs to my room and locked the door behind me, breathing heavily. I guessed
that this guy had been outside the hotel, watching me , waiting for his chance . I took a whisky
from the mini bar in my room and drank it quickly . I went to bed , but I slept badly.

The next day I planned to go to see Ronnie , elly is friend at kanters. But before I could leave
my hotel room, I got another surprise. Elly came to the hotel on her way to wprk. The
Amsterdam police had got the results of max is postmortem. A friend of hers in de vries is
team had told her about it.

They are saying he definitely died of the knife wounds , she said. He lost a lot of blood and it is
ninety five percent certain that he died there , in de pijp.

Yes, she said. Although they have not found the knife.

I told elly what bert had told me. Elly just looked at me.

She didnt have to say anything. We both knew that it was more than possible that bert was
telling lies just to get money.

What about the time of death? I asked her.

They are not complety sure, but it was somewhere between midnight and 3:30 in the morning
, said elly.

I didnt tell elly anything about what had happened the night before. She left to go to work and
I left to go to kanters. Outside the hotel I looked around me and then stopped a taxi. From now
on I had to be careful.

At the kanters office I asked to see Ronnie. A young woman led me into a back office where
Ronnie sat working at a computer. He just carried on staring at the computer with just a small
window at the back. Ronnie was a thin little man of about forty, with almost no hai. His skin
was white and he looked unhealthy. I guessed he spent most of his time working in this dark
room. I explained what I wanted.

I cant give you that type of information, he said, without looking up.

I said elly is name. it worked . he turned round, looked me up and down, then closed the door
so that no one from the front office could hear us. I dont know what he owed elly, but it was
obviously something big.

Come back in an hour, he said in a low voice.

I went out,bought a newspaper and went into a caf. I looked at the sports pages. There was a
report about tonight is match and I read what I could . I looked out og the window, drank
mycoffe and thought.
If max had been knifed somewhere else, as bert said, what about the blood? The blood would
be in the car, everywhere. That meant a bloody car left somewhere, or a big clean up.

I went back to see Ronnie, who by now had the information on his computer screen. I had told
him that I was looking for a big bet, a large amount of money on leiden to win the match
against Rotterdam.

Everybody expected Rotterdam to win, said Ronnie. They were the favourites. Leiden were six
to one. That means that if you bet a guilder, you got six guilders, he explained.

I smiled. Oh really? I said. Sometimes it was best to let people believe that you understood
nothing.

Here we are, he said suddenly. Here is something that might interest you. Some big bets on
leiden. There are three bets of half a million guilders. That was almost 200000.

I went round to look at the computer screen. The bets had been placed by a betting syndicate,
or group, and there were no names of people. The bets had been placed in Amsterdam, leiden
and Rotterdam. The name of the syndicate was the Amsterdam connection.

The name meant nothing to me.

Wow! I said Ronnie, it is not that common, but it does happen. And it is allowed. We never ask
questions it is not our job.

The Amsterdam connection were probably very happy that no one asked questions. At six to
one, they had made about 3000000 ! not bad for a night is work.

I asked Ronnie for a list of all the bets placed by the Amsterdam connection in the past year.
He said it would take him a day. I said id be back next morning, early.

Oh , and tonight is match too. I want to find out if there are ane large bets on Barcelona, I said
as I left.

I went back to the hotel and lay on my bed to think. I turned on the TV. There was a football
match on. I did not know who the teams were, but I watched for a while. A blond haired striker
had the ball. He went past three men and shot at goal.the goalkeepet went to his right to save
the ball but missed. The blond guy had scored a fantastic goal and jumped up and down.

The goalkeeper..wondered. I turned off the TV and smiled to myself.

Captulo 9: la conexin de amsterdam

Sub las escaleras a mi habitacin y cerr la puerta detrs de m, respirando pesadamente.

Supuse que este tipo haba estado fuera del hotel, observndome, esperando su oportunidad.
Tom un whisky del mini bar en mi habitacin y beb rpidamente. Me fui a la cama, pero
dorm mal.

Al da siguiente plane ir a ver a Ronnie, elly es amiga de kanters. Pero antes de que pudiera
salir de mi habitacin de hotel, tuve otra sorpresa. Elly lleg al hotel en su camino a wprk. La
polica de Amsterdam haba obtenido los resultados de max es post mortem. Una amiga suya
en el departamento es el equipo que le haba contado.

Dicen que definitivamente muri de las heridas de cuchillo, dijo. Perdi una gran cantidad de
sangre y es noventa y cinco por ciento seguro de que muri all, en el pijp.

S, dijo ella. Aunque no han encontrado el cuchillo.

Le cont lo que me haba dicho. Elly solo me mir.

No tena que decir nada. Ambos sabamos que era ms que posible que Bert estuviera diciendo
mentiras slo para conseguir dinero.

Qu pasa con el momento de la muerte? Yo le pregunte a ella.

No son complety seguro, pero era en alguna parte entre la medianoche y 3:30 en la maana,
dijo elly.

No le cont nada acerca de lo que haba pasado la noche anterior. Se fue para ir a trabajar y
me fui a ir a kanters. Fuera del hotel mir a mi alrededor y luego detuvo un taxi. De ahora en
adelante tena que tener cuidado.

En la oficina de kanters le ped ver a Ronnie. Una mujer joven me llev a una oficina donde
Ronnie estaba sentado trabajando en una computadora. Simplemente sigui mirando la
computadora con slo una pequea ventana en la parte de atrs. Ronnie era un hombrecito
delgado de unos cuarenta aos, casi sin hai. Su piel era blanca y pareca insalubre. Supongo
que pas la mayor parte de su tiempo trabajando en este cuarto oscuro. Le expliqu lo que
quera.

No puedo darle ese tipo de informacin, dijo, sin levantar la vista.

Dije elly es nombre. funcion . Se dio la vuelta, me mir de arriba abajo, luego cerr la puerta
para que nadie de la oficina pudiera ornos. No s qu le deba elly, pero era obviamente algo
grande.

Vuelve en una hora, dijo en voz baja.

Sal, compr un peridico y entr en un caf. Mir las pginas de deportes. Haba un informe
sobre esta noche es partido y le lo que pude. Mir por la ventana, beb mi caf y pens.

Si Max hubiera sido apualado en otro sitio, como dijo bert, qu pasa con la sangre? La
sangre estara en el coche, en todas partes. Eso significaba un carro sangriento que haba
dejado en alguna parte, o una gran limpieza.

Volv a ver a Ronnie, que ya tena la informacin en la pantalla de su computadora. Le haba

dicho que yo estaba buscando una gran apuesta, una gran cantidad de dinero en Leiden para
ganar el partido contra Rotterdam.

Todos esperaban que Rotterdam ganara, dijo Ronnie. Eran los favoritos. Leiden eran seis a
uno. Eso significa que si apuestas a un florn, tienes seis florines, explic.

Sonre. Oh enserio? Dije. A veces era mejor dejar que la gente creyera que no entenda nada.

Aqu estamos, dijo de repente. Aqu hay algo que podra interesarte. Algunas grandes apuestas
en Leiden. Hay tres apuestas de medio milln de florines. Eso fue casi 200000.

Fui a mirar la pantalla del ordenador. Las apuestas haban sido colocadas por un sindicato de
apuestas, o grupo, y no haba nombres de personas. Las apuestas haban sido colocadas en
Amsterdam, Leiden y Rotterdam. El nombre del sindicato era la conexin de Amsterdam.

El nombre no significaba nada para m.

Guauu! Le dije Ronnie, no es tan comn, pero sucede. Y est permitido. Nunca hacemos
preguntas, no es nuestro trabajo.

La conexin de Amsterdam probablemente estaba muy feliz de que nadie hiciera preguntas.
De seis a uno, haban hecho alrededor de 3000000! No est mal para una noche es el trabajo.

Le ped a Ronnie una lista de todas las apuestas hechas por la conexin de Amsterdam en el
ltimo ao. Dijo que le tomara un da. Dije que volvera a la maana siguiente, temprano.

Oh, y esta noche es partido tambin. Quiero saber si hay grandes apuestas en Barcelona, dije
cuando sal.

Volv al hotel y me acost en mi cama para pensar. Encend la televisin. Haba un partido de
ftbol. No saba quines eran los equipos, pero lo observ por un tiempo. Un delantero de
pelo rubio tena el baln. Pas por delante de tres hombres y dispar a la portera. El
guardameta se fue a su derecha para salvar la pelota pero fall. El rubio haba marcado un gol
fantstico y salt arriba y abajo.

El portero ... qued maravillado. Apagu la televisin y me sonre.