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Post by Marie Boogaart on Jun 3, 2015 8:41:32 GMT
"Never." She laughed dully. "Some of them should been more worried of being pushed."
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Post by Marisa Blanton on Jun 3, 2015 9:23:11 GMT
She chuckled. "I certainly would have been. In their situation."
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Post by Hugo Allbrass on Jun 3, 2015 11:11:00 GMT
Allbrass nodded.
There had been acts of defiance and resistance, and the occupiers had not had it all their own way. Strikes and pickets were soon broken up though. When the citizens of Amsterdam, to show their outrage for the imposition of the yellow star on their Jewish friends, all wore a daffodil on their coat in the same place they were threatened with prison. And when German soldiers visiting an ice cream parlour had been sprayed with bleach, the occupiers had used it as an excuse for reprisals. If it was hard being an occupying force, it was a damned sight harder being one of those occupied.
He led the way through the streets to a nondescript door.
"Her name is Rosemarijn Van Gaal," he said, "Widowed in the first days of the war. Became friendly with the deceased, Officer Hermann Raubal and... more than friendly. She may know something about his disappearance."
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Post by Marisa Blanton on Jun 3, 2015 11:19:21 GMT
"Mmmm, would she be willing to share it though. I imagine she'd want to distance herself from that, not remember it."
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Post by Hugo Allbrass on Jun 3, 2015 11:22:38 GMT
"It's important," said Allbrass, "We'll persuade her if we have to."
He raised his hand to knock, and paused.
"Start off softly though. One of you perhaps can lead the questioning."
Why he would think the women would be gentler than him was a mystery, he suddenly realised.
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Post by Marie Boogaart on Jun 3, 2015 11:29:05 GMT
She hmpfed again. "Some people would have called her a 'moffenneuker'." Not her though. She understood you did what you had to.
Oh who was she kidding? She already disliked Miss. Van Gaal.
"I'll question, and translate. She probably only speaks Dutch ... and German." She bit her teeth together. You did what you had to.
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Post by Mevrouw Van Gaal on Jun 3, 2015 11:33:05 GMT
The door opened and a small woman looked out. She was perhaps in her late twenties, but looked older around the eyes.
"Yes?" she said nervously, "Can I help you all?"
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Post by Marie Boogaart on Jun 3, 2015 13:26:19 GMT
Marie gave Hugo and Marissa one last look and put on her best official face. She'd had some practice in the last six years.
"Good afternoon madam. I know this may be a bit of a shock, but we were wondering if we could ask you some questions about a German officer named Hermann Raubal." Her disdain for this woman could not be entirely hidden in her voice.
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Post by Mevrouw Van Gaal on Jun 3, 2015 15:31:25 GMT
"Oh," the woman looked anxious. "I don't know much.. I can't..."
She sagged a little.
"You'd better come in." She stepped aside and led the way into a small and sparsely furnished living room. "Sit down, please. What do you want to know about Herr Raubal."
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Post by Marie Boogaart on Jun 3, 2015 15:35:27 GMT
She sat down and looked at Hugo. What did they want to know? "She asks what we want to know," she translated for them both, whic afforded her a bit of time to think.
"When was the last time you saw Mister Raubal?" She refused to refer to him by the German address.
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Post by Mevrouw Van Gaal on Jun 3, 2015 15:42:15 GMT
"Some years ago," she said. "I think it was in the autumn of 1943. He went to work, and he did not come back. None of them did."
she looked at Marie directly, a little defiance in her eyes.
"No great loss, you will say."
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Post by Hugo Allbrass on Jun 3, 2015 15:43:15 GMT
Allbrass sat forward.
"Wait. 1943?"
Three years... that deepened the mystery, added more questions.
"And the others? What others?"
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Post by Mevrouw Van Gaal on Jun 3, 2015 15:44:48 GMT
"The other police men. And probably soldiers too. It was a razzia. They were..."
Another shrug, another defiant look.
"...going about their business. There was no ambush, no explosion. They simply did not return. I answered many questions, many questions in the next few weeks you can be sure."
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Post by Marie Boogaart on Jun 3, 2015 16:15:41 GMT
"Oh business was it? Yes I'm sure they did." She turned her eyes away from the woman, needing a moment. Then she continued translating back and forth where necessary.
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Post by Marisa Blanton on Jun 3, 2015 16:16:15 GMT
Marisa looked between her companions, surprised. Ithe situation made even less sense than before "Could she tell us what she told...whoever?"
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