At lunchtime, Margreet had not yet returned. Apparently the ladies had gone on longer than they had expected.

Huib walked cheerfully to the guesthouse and saw that quite a bit of laundry had already been hung in the drying room. When he came through the laundry room into the hallway, he smelled the delicious aroma of pancakes. Upstairs he heard the voices of the girls, he heard them laughing and talking. Huib decided to check on them.

They looked up in surprise when he poked his head around the corner at the guest room where they were busy.

"Hey Huib! We're almost done you know," Margreet said.

"Oh, come on, we're going to have a nice lunch! Then we'll just do the last bit of work afterwards."

Lisa threw her cleaning cloth into the bucket of water and looked at them questioningly. "Are you coming?"

She didn't have to ask that twice. The smell of pancakes was strong enough to lure them downstairs. Smiling, they entered the kitchen, where Sjaak was already sitting at the table. He had just discussed his plans for the guesthouse garden with Annerieke and Simon.

Simon looked at Lisa: "That guy of yours, he's not only a best guy, but also an awesome gardener. He just told me about his plans for the garden around here. That's really going to be an amazing visiting card for the guesthouse. I think the guesthouse looks neat already, but it's really going to get much nicer!

Lisa smiled and wrapped her arms around Sjaak, looking at Simon. "I have no idea what his plans for that garden are yet, but I'm sure I agree with you, Simon, this man is a winner! My ticket out of the lottery!"

Sjaak smiled at her and promised, "I have a drawing at home, I'll show it to you later. I'm very happy with it myself. I can just see it for myself how it's going to be!"

"Nice one! I'm curious! Margreet and I will finish our work after lunch, so we don't have to do much for the rest of the week. Then I'll come home and see what your plans are. Okay?" She looked at him questioningly.

"Of course sweetheart, of course that's okay." Sjaak smiled at her, after which he proceeded to spread his pancake.

As they ate, Huib told that he had managed to get everything set up on social media.

"I’ve placed the website link, also on your accounts and Elly’s," he told Margreet. "Now it's important that we quietly start sending out some friend requests on Facebook, and follow some acquaintances on Twitter. Maybe we can also add people who have stayed here."

Margreet thought that was a useful idea. "They already know us, have at least seen something of your work. I'm sure they'll enjoy keeping in touch a bit. Can we put personal things on it, too? Not that I would want to put much on it, but if there is something to share. Maybe some photos of the renovation or something. Just something."

"Feel free to do so, but consider per post whether you want what you share to be visible to everyone, or only to your friends and followers. I think you can set that per post. We'll have to try that out some more to find out how it works."

Margreet thought deeply for a moment, eating from her pancake. "If everything were open to everyone, my parents would also be able to see what I share. Oh well, I don't have to worry about that at all, they don't have a computer at all!"

Huib laughed: "And if they ever get the idea to buy a computer, chances are they're not even going to sign up on Facebook or Twitter. And if they do find your posts and start responding... you won't have to reply. And if they do write crap things, I suppose you can block them. You'll be fine girl!"

Margreet relaxed, noticing that it had cramped her a bit unnoticed.

Annerieke saw it happen and smiled at her, "Another layer of shit cleared up, Margreet."

Margreet's eyebrows shot up. With wide eyes she looked at Annerieke in surprise: "Now that you mention it... I was indeed going through something for a while. To be honest, I really don't want to meet them again, not even through the computer!"

"You don't have to, you can set your own boundaries." Annerieke nodded at her kindly.

Simon had followed the conversation and looked from one to the other. It touched him every time, that they could get along with each other like that, that they did not hesitate to go into depth with each other and let each other look into their souls. It made him grateful!

.

Lisa admired the drawing of the boarding garden that Sjaak had made. "How colorful, so many different colors. Funny, by the way, that you colored that with colored pencil. It does give a good idea of what you're up to!"

She felt her mobile vibrate and opened the email that had come in.

"An email from Alexander. That auction was yesterday. Let's see what he writes about it..."

She read through the message quickly. Her eyes got big as saucers. "Well well, unbelievable, the auction brought in over 165,000 euros! I knew it was fancy household goods, but that much..."

"He had quite a few artifacts, paintings, maybe there was a lot of bidding on those," thought Sjaak. "Does he write anything else?"

"Yes, he's going to handle everything in the next few days. And as soon as everything has been moved and paid for, he will transfer the total amount to our account. And the candle and the letters from the rituals he found and gave to Ellen, so she can take them with her to the trial."

At that moment there was a knock on the front door. Sjaak opened the door and saw, to his surprise, Ellen standing there.

"How nice, we were just talking about you!" he said, asking her in with a hand gesture. "Lisa had had an email from Alexander about the auction. And that he had given the candle and letters from the rituals to you."

"Yes, that's right. That was a beautiful candle by the way, with special signs on it. I don't know what they mean, but I'm sure it's not just a decoration. Hey Lisa, I wrote out the reporting and if you find it in order and sign it, I'll deliver it to the court in person on Monday."

Lisa took a very deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Now it's getting very serious."

She took the papers from Ellen and sat down on the couch with them. Sjaak went to make coffee while Lisa read through everything Ellen had written. It was short but to the point. She referred to everything Lisa had shown her.

Lisa told Ellen: "I put everything I showed you on two USB sticks, including my diary. One is for you and one for the judge. Then you can give those with it as the source you refer to. I'll get them right away."

A moment later, Lisa returned with both USB sticks and handed them to Ellen.

"Great, with a clear label on them. Thank you!"

While Sjaak passed the coffee around, Lisa grabbed a pen and put her signature on the reporting. She handed Ellen the papers, which she shoved into a large envelope along with the USB sticks.

"I'll take them to court immediately on Monday. The secretary will then give me a proof of receipt and then the process will be set in motion. I'll also send Johan a message then, that the report is with the court, so he can try to get your case right away. As soon as I know more, I'll let you know immediately."

Ellen took a sip of her coffee and continued, "Alexander told me about the auction yesterday when I got home. He hadn't added up the amounts at that point, but he was pretty overwhelmed by what had been bid. He had also recognized two of the perpetrators among the bidders. He had alerted the security people, and they kept an extra eye on them. But fortunately it went very quietly. He was so surprised that during dinner he started adding up all the amounts. I've never seen him do that before! Had he already mailed you the amount?"

"Yes, more than 165,000 euros, I couldn't believe my eyes!"

"I can imagine. It's an incredible amount. The furniture went away for fairly high prices, barely below the new price, but there was especially good bidding on the artworks. And that has driven up the total amount. I expect that he will be able to finalize everything in the coming week. Then he'll probably send you another message."

Ellen thought for a moment about what else to report about the lawsuit and continued, "One more thing about that reporting to the court...I'm going to try to convince the court right away of the need for remand before the perpetrators realize that there is a case against them. I'll let you know how that turns out. And I will also keep Marieke informed of everything, because everything can be important for her work. Do you have any questions?"

"Yes, do you have any idea from when those security guards will be here?"

"No, I only know that Marieke would go after them immediately. I actually expect them to come as early as next week. But if you have any concerns or questions about it, feel free to email or call her, she won't mind. Do you have any other questions?"

Sjaak and Lisa both shook their heads.

"Then I'm heading back home! I promise you I'll send a message as soon as I know more."

"Fine, I think it's getting exciting now," Lisa said.

Ellen nodded at her encouragingly, "I understand that, it's no small thing. But you are not alone and your preparation has been perfect. Keep up your courage Lisa!"

With a friendly wave, Ellen said goodbye and headed home.

.

"Shall we walk past Huib to tell him he can go after that property soon?"

Lisa looked at Sjaak in surprise: "Good idea of yours!"

Together they walked to the work shed. They immediately saw that Huib had already assembled the first part of the hobby cabinet. He was now working on a fine job: decorating the frame that he would attach to the fronts of the side walls. He looked up when he heard them arrive.

"You come at a good time," he said happily. "That cabinet is basically ready to move to the hobby room. Would you guys like to help carry it?"

"Of course," said Sjaak, "and the message we came for, we'll tell you at home, then Margreet can hear it right away too."

Huib looked at him in surprise: "Okay, you're making me curious man, let's get that cabinet inside then!"

When they had put the cabinet in its place, Margreet asked if she could fill it in later that day. Huib didn't think that was a problem. He could also attach the decoration trims to it when she had already put the stuff in.

"Then I'll go to Action to buy some nice baskets."

Lisa immediately jumped at that, "Do you like it when I go with you? I'm expecting the security guards to start next week. I probably won't be able to leave the grounds then."

"Sure, nice if you come along! Do you really think you won't be allowed off the grounds? Well, I can imagine that too. Do you have any idea how long it will take?" asked Margreet.

Lisa shook her head, "I suspect until the perpetrators are convicted. And if they're not convicted... then I don't really know how to proceed!"

Sjaak saw how she suddenly became uncertain, threatened to panic. He put his finger to his mouth to silence Huib and Margreet. He left Lisa for a while in the unpleasant feeling she had ended up in. Only when he felt it begin to subside did he place his hands on her shoulders and gently ask how she was doing.

"Better," Lisa whispered, "but it was really intense for a while, just so terrifying. But it's subsiding now, thankfully."

She looked at Huib, suddenly lucid again. "Just something completely different, which we had come to you for. We got an email from Alexander, about the auction. It raised over 165,000 euros. Ellen expects that he will transfer the money next week. When we have it in our account, you can go after the property, if you still want it!"

"That much..." whispered Margreet bewildered, "unbelievable!"

"That's quite a lot indeed," agreed Huib. "And then that property, another step further. I would love to buy it! If that can go through, then after the hobby closet I'll just have to start working on some smaller things, so I can at least put something in the display case."

"I don't have a problem with it if you put those other two hobby cabinets there for now. Then just put a card with 'Sold' on it."

Huib shot into laughter, "What a genius idea! If you don't need them yet... Elly also needs some time to paint the walls, so I don't have to fill the building right away! Little things are more important for the first few days."

He turned to Lisa again, "What good news, Lisa. I'm really happy about it. Do you want to put on paper what arrangements you want to make?"

"Ah well, that's not necessary, is it? We know each other well enough to arrange it so verbally," Lisa thought.

"I can understand that, but I'd still like it, for my administration. How else can I account for buying a property and paying money back later from the profits?"

Lisa nodded, "Oh yes, that's right, you're right, I just have to see it in business terms. That feels a little weird towards you. I'll make an outline for it next week so I can use that for everyone we're going to help in this way."

To chapter 190. Blockade

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