Chapter 47 – Jan S Again

Finally, Danni gets his first paycheck deposited into his account. It has been a long time since he had any money in his account. He walks to a bookstore and buys a lottery ticket for Lisa, as consolation for the loss of her money. He knows better than anyone what it is like to have nothing.

Danni hopes to win her heart. He has been madly in love with her for a while now, and his eyes follow her everywhere she is near him. Unfortunately, she doesn’t notice. He has already taken the ticket out of his pocket three times to give it to her. Every time, something gets in the way or he doesn’t dare. Finally, he pulls her alone into the living room and pulls the envelope out of his pocket. He quickly holds out his arm.

“I bought something for you,” he says. “I hope you win something so you can top up your balance a bit.”

“A a lottery ticket?” She looks at him gratefully. “You really didn’t have to do that!”

JP walks into the kitchen and looks at the mail that was taken out of the mailbox today. He opens the envelope delivered to him and is terribly shocked. It is a hefty bill from an online store. He turns to the table.

“Just look at this!” he exclaims and slams the letter onto the table. With his calm nature, he is rarely angry, but now he really is.

Lana places the tea towel on the armrest of a chair and stands beside him with a hand on his strong shoulder.

“How is that possible? You never order anything online,” she exclaims.

“No, never,” he confirms, “I have to see and feel things before I buy anything.”

“You will have to report this,” his girlfriend advises. “Go to Ken at the police station. Hopefully, he is in the office.”

JP leaves immediately.

When he returns, he tells Lana that fortunately Ken was at the counter and the fraud report was processed immediately.

Out of frustration, he starts building the walls for the new extension, even though the building permit has not yet been received. For days, he hauls bricks and mortar. He is often helped by Noa and Danni, who lift the heavy bricks with ease. Frits comes to help regularly, as it is also a good way for him to vent his frustration. The investigation into his alleged fraud is proceeding slowly.

When he is off duty, Marc also helps with the new wing. Although he is not a burly guy like his housemates, he turns out to be surprisingly strong and can get a lot of work done.

Unlike Lana. Within an hour, she knows she cannot keep this up and would be better off doing something else. She continues with the new room for Mimi and Noa. She has already cleaned it. The walls are now dry after an intensive scrubbing and can be painted.

The construction of the new kitchen walls is progressing so smoothly that they are already standing before the approval comes in.

When the expected mail from the municipality arrives, it isn’t put in the kitchen cupboard but is opened immediately by Mimi.

She runs through the house shouting: “The building permit has arrived!” Then she flies out the back door to tell JP the good news.

That evening, they celebrate the approval with a dinner in the still-too-small kitchen. During dinner, the friends and Elise discuss the strange events of recent times.

“I have a proposal,” says Claire. “I would like us to finance the construction ourselves. So many nasty things have happened, and we have had so many problems that weren’t caused by us. It seems safer to me not to ask a bank for a loan.”

“I think that is very sensible,” says Elise. “In my day, we didn’t rush to a bank to ask for money either.”

“I think it’s a good idea,” says JP. “If we run out of money, we can take longer if necessary. Preferably not, of course, because it is tight here.”

Everyone agrees, and so they decide to go ahead with it. “I have some news,” says Frits.

“What is it?” asks his brother.

“Ken and I have discovered that that gangster boss from last year is behind all our trouble,” he explains.

A brief silence falls at the table. Everyone seems to realize at the same time that their problems are far from over.

“Jan S is pulling the strings from prison,” Frits continues. “He is now venturing into a completely new field, namely the world of fraud. His accomplice Charles is imprisoned with him, but the others were released after questioning. They carry out everything on Jan S’s orders. We just don’t know yet how he gets his orders out of prison.”

“Maybe he bribes a guard,” suggests Claire.

“Yes, probably. I have another appointment with Ken tomorrow at café De Brave Hendrik.” He looks at Marc and Noa. “Do you remember that we were there?”

Both men nod. “Of course.”

“Maybe I’ll know more after that,” Frits concludes.

He often meets with his colleague at that café. Ken helps Frits with the investigation alongside his work. Flora and Lana occasionally help Frits with surveillance of Jan S.’s accomplices.

“And one more thing,” says JP. “I’m going to demolish the kitchen’s outer wall soon. We’ll have to move in a bit.”

“What?” asks Claire, surprised. “How?”

“I’ve ordered the beams for the ceilings. They’re being delivered tomorrow. Once those are in place, the shell construction will be practically finished and we can move on.”