Lisa stayed near Margreet after breakfast. They did the daily work at the guesthouse together, but now deliberately together. They were both aware that at least Lisa might not be safe, and that did not make them feel comfortable. After work, they walked together toward their homes, watched by Marcel, who had taken it upon himself to keep an extra eye on them. Only when he saw Lisa go inside did he let go.

Marcel grabbed his cell phone and dialed Martin's private number. He explained to him who he was, what he had seen at Lisa and Sjaak's house the previous evening, and that he had promised them to see what he could do to arrange police protection for them. Martin, who was fairly familiar with the situation, immediately sensed the need for protection. Even though he had a day off, he decided to stop by Marcel's right away to discuss with his colleague what was needed and what the options were. He did not have to explain to Elly what it was about, she had heard enough to understand. She decided to go with him to see if she could keep Lisa company.

Marcel and Janny were already waiting for them in the parking lot of the guesthouse. The acquaintance went smoothly. While the men discussed the situation businesslike, discussing what was needed, what the difficult points were and what should be possible, Janny told Elly that Lisa was now alone in the house and that she was probably working on some kind of diary about the situation she had gone through.

"I think we'd better leave her alone so we don't distract her, but ideally I'd like to sit with her on the couch. The idea that someone might come after her again." Janny shook her head, "Bah, that very idea!"

"But those guys don't know that she's preparing a lawsuit, do they?" Elly wondered. "My understanding was that Lisa assumed that none of them knew that what they were doing was being recorded."

"That's true, but they've put their wishes in writing every time, at those rituals. They can figure out, Lisa will find those papers one day. And then a cesspool will open up around their sexual exploits. They won't be waiting for that! Now I didn't hear Lisa mention that she had already found those papers, but they must be somewhere."

Elly responded, "I’ve understood that Lisa has hired someone to sell the furnishings of the house through an auction. The man who organizes that will surely come across it. You'll be staying here for a while huh? Would you ask Lisa sometime, if she knows where those papers are? Maybe she'd do well to tell that auctioneer about it, too."

"We could also drop by her place now... a good reason to see how she's doing," suggested Janny.

Elly burst out laughing, "Just what I thought!"

She walked over to the men, briefly informed them of their plan, and then joined Janny in going over to Lisa. As they walked past the living room, they saw her sitting there. Lisa looked up, waved and got up. She unlocked the front door and let the women in.

"You two together? Do you know each other?" she asked in surprise.

"Yes, since a few minutes," Elly laughed and shared that she had come with Martin when he had been called by Marcel. "Those M&M guys of ours are at the guesthouse discussing how best to help you with security. And so we had a little time to get acquainted and wonder if you found those papers from the rituals too."

"M&M guys?" asked Lisa in surprise. "Oh yes, Marcel and Martin hahaha! Those papers, no, I didn't find them, but I didn't look for them either. I actually only took some personal stuff and Henk’s laptop and USB sticks. And that's where I found all the recordings. Only then I discovered those rituals. And after that I didn't go back to that house. So no, I don't have those papers, they're still there in his little office, I think. Or they took them home, but I can't imagine that. Then I should have seen it, it seems to me. And Henk has been far too careful for that, I think. I don't expect he risked giving them those papers. I wouldn't even be surprised if he had a safe somewhere in his little office where he stored everything safely."

Lisa's brain was spinning at full speed. "They have to be in there somewhere," she whispered, more to herself than to Janny and Elly. "The realtor picked up the keys to the house from Marcel, if all went well, so he could take pictures for the sale of the house, after the auction. Then he would make sure the auctioneer got those keys, so he could organize the auction. And that auctioneer, he's going to put everything together, I think. Good chance he'll come across the papers, or a safe. I have to call his wife tomorrow, who is my lawyer. I'll mention it to her right away, that he might come across those papers. And another thing, maybe it's dangerous too, him going to work there. I mean, those guys won't want those papers to end up in the wrong hands. I'll check with her first thing tomorrow!"

She looked from Janny to Elly and thanked them for thinking along.

"And if you don't mind, I'll get back to my diary for the trial."

"Even if we did mind, we're going to get out of here again, Lisa, you just need the peace and quiet to focus on this. Good luck and will you lock the door behind us again?" Elly looked at her questioningly.

"Sure thing, for now I'm going to make that a standard habit, even though I don't really feel anxious about it," Lisa reassured them.

"That's nice to hear," said Janny.

"Bye Lisa, we'll see you later!"

.

Pleasantly chatting, as if they had known each other for years, Elly and Janny walked back to the guesthouse at their leisure. Martin and Marcel had just finished thinking of ways to protect Lisa and making arrangements. They had also exchanged their personal information so that they could keep in touch and possibly look each other up during the period of the trial. As friends, they said goodbye to each other.

"Very special," Janny said to Marcel, "it immediately felt familiar with Elly. And it seems you had the same with Martin, is that right?"

"Yes, as if we had known each other for years. We exchanged what we knew about the situation with each other, talked about possible security and exchanged our addresses. I wouldn't be surprised if Martin and Elly also showed up at the trial, if only to stand behind Lisa. Martin is going to discuss the possibilities with a colleague later on. We also talked about the dark side of the police, how people can be infiltrated there to achieve just the opposite of what is intended. In the past it has happened that police security officers turned out to be traitors, so that victims could still be taken for a ride by the perpetrators. Martin talked about listening to your heart, and found it a challenge to work with that in this situation as well, to try and feel if he could get the right people in the security team. Brave guy! I don't think I can do that yet, but I do want to go in that direction."

Marcel smiled at Janny. "What do we do, shall we use the rest of the day to explore the area?"

"Yeah, seems like fun. The shops might be closed because it's Sunday, but we can always peek through the windows."

Marcel laughed, "Shops? I hope they're closed, I hate shopping so much!"

Janny chuckled, "We do confirm the commonly known rule that women like shopping and men don't! Well, I don't have to go shopping either, but I do like looking at shop windows."

"Then that's what we'll do," said Marcel with a broad smile, after which he put his arm around her and they walked away together in the direction of the village.

To chapter 166. Simon's work furniture

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