Chapter 38 – The drug lord

Noa, Jean Paul and Marc accompany Danni to the drug lord. Danni has to give the money himself, Frits said, because otherwise the drug lord won’t trust it and will continue to follow him. And the housemates don’t trust Danni with their money, so the men all go along.

Marc stays at the beginning of the street to keep an eye on the proceedings. When they arrive at the laundry, Jean Paul walks on to do the same further on. Noa hands the money case to Danni.

“Go on, inside,” says the former team leader. He pushes him through the door and follows him closely.

Inside, they are received by a gorilla of a man who frisks them. Noa thinks he is also a former mercenary. The man with a gold chain around his neck points them to the door at the back of the room, whereupon both men enter the next room. The gorilla follows them and stands with his arms crossed at the door. It turns out to be a small office. Behind a desk sits a man in a spotless orange suit with a green shirt underneath. Where normal people would wear a tie, the man has two gold chains hanging. In one of his ringed hands he holds a fat cigar.

Diagonally behind the man stands Frits with a stern face. He also has a gold chain on that he didn’t wear earlier in the café. Maybe it’s a sign that he belongs to this gang, Noa thinks. He deliberately doesn’t let his gaze rest on him for long and looks back at the man behind the desk. He holds out his hand and beckons to Danni.

Nervously, the former mercenary places the suitcase on the worktop, opens it and turns it around so that the man can see the money. He puts his hands in the suitcase to start counting. At that moment, the door behind our friends opens with such force that the former mercenary is pushed aside. A police officer enters, dressed in a normal uniform, followed by a detective in plain clothes.

“Hands in the air,” shouts the officer.

Noa and Danni immediately follow the order, taking a step back.

The drug lord stands up and wants to flee through the back door, but Frits blocks the door.

“Move aside,” the man shouts and wants to push him aside.

Frits remains standing. With a straight face, he calmly takes his police badge out of his trouser pocket, at which the drug lord starts cursing.

“You are arrested,” says Frits and is handed a set of handcuffs by the officer. “Turn around,” he orders, at which the man turns around in defeat.

Both criminals are taken to the police station.

Frits starts rummaging through the desk. He pulls out all kinds of important papers. As the drug lord’s right-hand man, he knows exactly where they are. Together with the testimonies of Noa and Danni, it will provide enough evidence against the gangster to put him behind bars for a long time. They are asked to tell their story at the police station. Preferably now while it is still fresh.

In the twilight, Jean Paul and Marc stand as close as possible and call out to Noa when they see him. After a chat with Frits, he is allowed to go to them for a while, while Danni is already put in the back of a car. Noa briefly tells how it went.

When Noa leaves next to Danni in the car, both men rush home so that they can tell everything at home. The girls were quite frustrated that they were not allowed to join in.

Flora is sitting next to Lana at the kitchen table waiting. It is already dark outside. From the moment her sister called to make an appointment with Frits, she feels that something is wrong. In the meantime, she has heard the whole story from her sister, Mimi, Claire and Lisa.

“I am so happy that you now have a boyfriend who is good,” Lana says for the umpteenth time, while she hugs her younger sister.

“And I am happy that Mimi is safe and sound,” says Flora, while she looks at the dancer. Mimi nods reassuringly.

“That Danni, I would not have expected this from him. He always seemed so calm and collected, as if he had everything under control,” says Flora thoughtfully. Then she looks at her sister with a painful look. “I hope Frits still wants me and that he did not enter into a relationship with me to get closer to the boss.”

“Closer than the boss’s manager?” Claire asks in surprise. “I don’t believe that.” “According to Marc, Frits is also afraid of losing you now that the truth is coming out,” Mimi says with a smile. “There is still hope for you.”

The conversation falls silent while waiting for the men to return. The tension slowly builds. Lana has already reprimanded her sister several times when she bites her nails.

Everyone is startled when the kitchen door opens and Jean Paul and Marc enter. Lisa and Lana jump up in relief for a hug.

“How did it go?” Lana asks as she runs towards her boyfriend. Laughing, he catches her and gives her a kiss.

Together with Marc, he tells the whole story while Lana sits on his lap.

After an eternity, the door opens again. Noa and Danni enter tiredly with Frits behind them. Frits and Flora stand there quietly looking at each other for a moment. Then they carefully take a step forward, a smile appears on their faces, which becomes radiant as they run towards each other. Flora puts her arms around his neck. Frits grabs her waist, lifts her up and spins her around. When he puts her down again, a long kiss follows.

At the same time, Mimi has flown towards Noa. “Are you okay?” she asks softly.

He nods and presses her against him. “I was so scared of you,” he mumbles softly into her hair.

“Me too,” she says.

The housemates wait quietly until everyone has finished hugging. When Claire has had enough, she clears her throat. It works.

Frits looks at her sheepishly for a moment. “I have something for you,” he says and disappears outside. A moment later he returns with Mimi’s computer case.

Claire unconsciously lets out a cry of surprise.

Lana cheers. “Our money is back!” she exclaims.

Frits nods. “I had to talk like Brugman, but I did it. You have your money back.” He puts the case on the table in front of Claire and takes a step back. Flora crawls back into his arms, satisfied.

Everyone is happy, because this adventure has ended well.

Danni sits alone at the table and looks at all those happy people. He feels defeated and sees his future bleakly. He slowly gets up and wants to quietly disappear through the door.

Lisa sees him. She squeezes through the others and puts a hand on his arm.

“Where are you going?”

“Away,” he says softly. “I can’t stand all those happy hugging people.”

Lisa laughs softly. “There are more of them. You’re staying with us for the time being,” she says firmly. “You have to stay close by to testify in court, don’t you?”

Danni nods briefly. He would rather forget the whole thing. Lisa is standing so close to him that she can hear his stomach growling.

“Oh, it’s Christmas Eve,” Claire suddenly exclaims. She puts her hands in front of her mouth in fright and looks at Marc. “Do we have anything to eat in the house?”

He shakes his head. “Enough, but it takes a lot of time to make something of it.” He rubs his stomach. “It made me hungry.”

Everyone nods in agreement, except from Mimi. She is already full of apple pancakes.

Lisa looks at her best friend. “Shall we get pizzas? Then we’ll see what else we can make tomorrow.”

Claire nods. “Good idea.”

“You guys stay home and set the table.” The seamstress looks at Danni. “Come on, let’s see if there’s a pizzeria open.”

After a long time they come back. Danni puts a huge pile of pizza boxes on the now set table. Everyone is waiting hungry.

Lisa holds up a pizza cutter. “Look, we got that for free because it’s Christmas Eve.”

“Oh finally food,” Noa grumbles, at which Jean Paul chuckles. The pizzas are quickly distributed.

“Enjoy everyone,” says Claire.

All’s well that ends well.

Merry Christmas to everyone and see you in 2026 with a new adventure about DNA research and identity fraud.