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As the plane banked steeply in a left hand turn to assume its Easterly course, Crump studied the shapeless flotillas of pleasure craft lying off the Miami shoreline, his excitement began to grow for a job to be done in places where he had not been before all expenses paid.

Retrieving the senator's list from his jacket pocket, Crump set about organising his schedule. Where to start? Usselo, the senator's home was the obvious place. From there he could pick up the addresses in Enschede, Hamburg and Sweden and then check out any government records in The Hague and Bonn. Perhaps, he thought, he could wrap it all up in one week and leave some time to spend in England look up those he had remembered as friends and see again his old home, paying a surprise visit on his parents. He could also look up Helen, the girl he left behind but then, he reflected, was that such a good idea?

With the plane making its descent into Schiphol, the lights on the Dutch coast became just barely visible through the dark mist. It was midnight Dutch time, after clearing customs, Crump made for the nearest hotel.

In the morning Crump headed East on Highway A1 towards Enschede. In a little over two hours he was approaching the outskirts of the town which was only four miles from the German border.

Usselo, located just beyond the town limits of Enschede, turned out to be no more than a crossroads around which were scattered a few houses, a church and village shops.

Number 4 Haaksberger Straat was an imposing country residence standing in its own grounds, shielded from the road by a row of tall trees. Crump pushed down the latch to the garden gate from which a path led to the front door.

The door was answered by an elderly lady whose diminutive figure was supported with the aid of a walking stick.

\"Ya?\" said she, stern faced, as she eyed Crump up and down.

\"Do you speak English, ma'am?\" asked Crump

\"A little.\"

\"Do Hetty Lammers or Paul Henke live here?\"

The old lady looked confused. \"No.\"

\"Do I have the right house? They lived here once?\"

\"Ya, ya, but that was a long time ago. Who are you?\"

\"I'm making some enquiries on behalf of the Henke family. Do you, by chance, know anything of them?\"

The lady shook her head. \"Very little.\"

\"Can you spare me some time? I would be most grateful.\"

She looked at Crump, undecided as to whether the intrusion was tolerable and adjusted her leaning position on the walking stick.

\"The last date I have when Paul and Hetty lived here was in 1944. Do you know where they went after then?\" asked Crump.

\"I didn't have much to do with the Henke's but I heard through a friend that Hetty was in a state retirement home that was five years ago.\"

\"And Paul Henke?\"

The old lady again adjusted her position. \"You had better come in,\" she said. \"I cannot stand for very long these days.\"

Crump was shown into a room off the entrance hall furnished in the style of the 1950s. The lady sat down in an armchair and indicated that Crump should do the same. Leaning forward, she crossed her hands over the top of the walking stick and looked intently at Crump.

\"Where are you from?\" she asked.

\"England originally but I live in the United States now.\"

\"What is it you asked?\"

\"Paul Henke - where did he go?\"

\"I don't know.\"

\"How did you come to know the Henkes?\"

\"My husband and I ran the general store in this village for twenty three years, up until 1954 when he died. I then bought this house from the Beek family for my daughter and myself but I live alone now.\"

\"What do you remember of the Henke family?\"

\"I knew Hetty. She came over to the shop sometimes with the son - I forget his name.\"

\"Stephan?\"

\"Yes, could be.\"

\"Paul Henke?\"

\"I saw very little of him. He was German,\" she said. \"He kept himself to himself, particularly during the war. There were rumours of a scandal in the Henke household but I never knew the details.\"

\"The Henkes had lived in Enschede but had moved to Usselo for some reason. I don't know why.\"

\"Do you remember Paul's wife, Lisa?\"

\"No,\" she said shaking her head. \"I never met her. Really you make heavy demands on my memory. As I said I had very little to do with them. It was a long time ago - I have told you all that I can.\" Giving Crump his cue to leave.

\"\"What were the rumours about?\"

Well, thank you for your time,\" said Crump as he rose from the chair. \"One last thing. Do you know where I may find Hetty?\"

\"If she is still alive and in the Enschede area, you can try the town hall and the social services department. They may be able to help you.\" Crump was shown from the house.

Strange, thought Crump, as he walked back down the path. With the general store being the centre of this small village, the lady and her husband would have known everything that went on but still, as she said, it was a long time ago.

Crump drove into Enschede, parked in the central market place, bought a street guide and looked for a cafe. The prosperity of Enschede, so read the guide's English text, with its population of 140,000 or thereabouts, was based on textiles and engineering. Much of the town had been rebuilt after the last war. Its close proximity to the German border had brought mixed blessings. The invasion of 1940 had seen the German division going North and South of the town leaving it unscathed but in the later stages of the war it was bombed by both sides, partly due to the allied planes mistaking it for a German town.

As Crump finished his coffee, he looked at the senator's list. There were three addresses in Enschede itself- for \"Prima\", Elsa and Georg Visser- Joseph's parents and Nicole Agten. He located the streets on the map, none were very far from the city centre. Prima was the closest. Richtersweg was on the perimeter of the industrial area. On the one side of the street were factories and offices and on the other rows of houses. Most of the industrial buildings were of recent construction but much older buildings broke up the line of new facades. Crump cruised up and down the street to see if there were any indications of where the company was located. He could find none. Crump then abandoned his car and walked the length of the street in the hope that a nameplate or some other detail would reveal itself. He chose the factory site first, scrutinising every doorway, sign and name board that could yield even the remotest clue as to the location of Prima. Having reached the end of the street, Crump crossed over and started back still looking over at the buildings on the other side hoping that the wider angle of view would reveal something - anything. Stopping to study one particular building of sufficient age, he took advantage of a low garden wall on which to lean while he absorbed the finer details of the structure. Such was his concentration that he did not hear the front door of the house behind him open.

\"Goedendag!\" Crump heard the exclamation but had no reason to suppose it concerned him.

\"Goedendag!\" This time it was more deliberate. Crump turned around to face a short portly man of advanced years. He realised that he had been leaning on the man's garden wall and assumed that by doing so he had some how caused him offence.

\"Good morning,\" said Crump politely trying to diffuse the situation. \"I'm sorry if ...\"

\"Ah, Engelsman!\" exclaimed the old man with a broad smile. \"I see you pass by on the other side and back again. You are lost?\"

\"No, I'm not lost. I am looking for a company which is or was on this street, but I can find no trace of it.\"

\"What is the name of the company?\"

\"Prima.\"

\"Prima? Prima? No I don't know Prima.\" As they were talking, Crump noticed the curtain being drawn back at the front window, out of which a face peered, then the curtain closed again.

\"Prima,\" explained Crump, \"was here during the last war but I don't know if it's been trading in recent times.\"

A lady, equal in years to the old man, came out through the doorway to stand by her man's side.

\"My wife, Magda,\" said the man. \"I am Hank.\"

\"Perry,\" said Crump completing the introductions.

\"This young man is looking for a firm called Prima,\" said Hank to his wife.

She shook her head, then said, \"Roul might know.\"

\"Ah, yes, Roul, he was here during the war.\"

At this Hank made for the door, retrieved a jacket hanging behind it and put it on as he walked towards Crump with an energy that defied his years. \"He lives just down the street come.\"

\"I don't want to put you to any trouble,\" said Crump following Hank.

\"No trouble - just a short way now.\"

They stopped outside an almost identical house to that of Crump's companion. Hank put his head around the door which was ajar. The ensuing conversation in Dutch was beyond Crump's understanding but he was shortly beckoned to follow Hank into the house. Seated around a kitchen table were two men, one as old as Hank and the other slightly younger. Hank and Crump were invited to join them at the table.

Following an opening by Hank, the ensuing debate, for that is what it quickly became, was accompanied by the nodding and shaking of heads together with hand gestures indicating both dissent and harmony. Hank, it seemed, found inspiration in pursuing Crump's cause. He vigorously questioned and challenged each statement made by the other two. As Crump listened the names of Prima, Henke and Visser were quite clear. The pace of the debate amongst the three gradually slowed as a consensus of opinion was formed. Hank turned to Crump.

\"Roul,\" said Hank gesturing towards the man seated on his right, \"remembers Prima. It was a small company which manufactured furniture and occupied part of the site on which the new dairy is located - just down the road.\" Crump remembered passing a dairy.

\"It was,\" Hank continued, \"owned and run for most of the time by the Henke family but closed down in the early part of 1945, around the time of the liberation. Roul,\" added Hank, \"delivered fresh milk to its canteen.\"

\"What do you mean - the Henke family ran it for most of the time?\" Hank hurriedly consulted Roul.

\"The Henke family,\" continued Hank, \"ran Prima until the spring of 1944, when Paul Henke and his manager, Joseph Visser, disappeared. One week later a German manager arrived at the factory, assembled the work force and announced that he was, from then on, operating Prima. In March, 1945, a few days before the liberation of Enschede, the German manager and his staff left. There were no supplies, no money, no customers, so the factory closed.

\"What was the name of the German manager?\" Hank relayed the question Roul?

\"Nordmann,\" came the reply.

\"Where did Henke and Visser go to?\"

Roul shook he head. \"Nobody knew,\" replied Hank.

\"Well, didn't anyone ask?\" said Crump barely concealing his impatience. Hank slumped back in his chair. This time he had no need to check with Roul.

\"Listen - young man,\" said Hank. \"In those days for people to suddenly vanish and not to be seen again was not unusual. Unless the person was a relative or close friend where concern overcame caution, no one asked where they had gone and especially when one of them was an officer in the German military. You may find it hard to understand, but that's the way it was in those days. You saw what you saw and you kept quiet.\"

\"Which one of them was in the military?\" asked Crump inquisitively. \"Henke. Major Paul Henke, Wehrmacht.\"

Crump fell silent as he absorbed the last revelation. \"There was a Mrs Henke?\" Crump then asked.

In his role as translator Hank again referred the question to Roul who appeared unsure as he answered.

\"Roul,\" Hank said, \"had occasionally seen Paul Henke with a young boy who he knew to be his son. It was known that there was a Mrs Henke but Roul had never seen her.\"

\"I heard there was some scandal in the Henke household. Does Roul remember anything about it?\"

Roul shook his head. \"Nee.\"

There was a knock at the door and Magda entered the room. From her brief comment to Hank, Crump gathered that she needed her husband at their house. As Hank rose from his chair, immediately followed by Crump, they both thanked Roul and his friend for their help and started back down the street.

\"Why do you want to know about Prima and the Henkes?\" asked Hank.

\"I'm making enquiries for part of the Henke family who now live overseas.\"

At Hank's garden gate, Crump thanked him for his help.

Crump returned to his car then drove back to the city centre and booked into a hotel.

That evening he reflected on the events of the day. The broad connection between Visser, Paul Henke and therefore his son, Stephan, was established, but that Paul Henke had been an officer in the German army - this surprised Crump, particularly so as the senator had not mentioned it. The figure of Lisa Henke, however, hovered like an apparition in the background. What was the scandal about? He pondered. Crump could do no more that day. Before he went to bed he again located on his map the street given as the address for Georg and Elsa Visser.

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