DeKok and
Variations on Murder

by Baantjer

As has been her habit since the death of her husband, Mrs. Hasbergen does nightly rounds in the large office building where she resides. Her husband had been the building superintendent, and an apartment on the top floor came with the job. Having picked up some of her late husband’s duties, the president of the company has let her stay in the apartment.

During one of her nightly tours, she encounters Mr. Vredenburg, President of the Dredging Company, in the boardroom. Sitting in his large chair at the head of the table, she hastily walks up to him. To her horror, she finds him dead.

With the switchboard closed at night, Mrs. Hasbergen rushes up to her apartment to call someone, but who? The doctor? The police? Deciding it better to return to the boardroom to examine what exactly happened to Mr. Vredenburg, she finds the man, the dead man, gone. Is she crazy? Did she imagine it?

Wrought with worry and confusion, Mrs. Hasbergen learns from one of the secretaries that Mr. Vredenburg has left for a vacation in the Bahamas. Utterly dumbfounded, she can stand the burden of the night no longer and turns to Inspector DeKok, asking: “What happened to Mr. Vredenburg?”