I walked down the street, around the corner, down the street and around the corner once more. About halfway, I stopped. Number 21. This had to be it. I studied the doorbells of the apartment building. J.P. was written on the upper bell. Before I could change my mind, I rang the doorbell. A few moments later, a buzzing sound could be heard. I pushed against the door, which opened immediately. The door has been opened, a mechanical female voice announced.
Once I was standing in the elevator, I felt my heart pounding more and more quickly. This is not a good idea, echoed through my head. In God’s name, what are you doing? Go back.
The elevator door opened and I looked straight into the apartment where J.P. lived. The door was completely open. Carefully, I walked down the hallway. I remained standing in the doorway. The living room was empty, apart from a couple of paint pots and a decorator’s table. Amazement won out over fear and I walked into the apartment. There was a strong smell of paint. I walked towards the window. My worst assumption was confirmed: the window offered a beautiful view on the houses across the street, including my own. I had a full view of my small courtyard. I could even see my table!
A creaking plank made me look around. A short, thick-set man had appeared in the doorway to one of the bedrooms. ‘Good afternoon, miss Cuypers. You’re early, but that’s all right. I’m sorry for the smell.’ He opened a window. ‘The painters have only put on the last layer yesterday afternoon. I hope you like the colors. If not, you can always paint them yourself, but we would like to ask you to talk about it to us before doing so. In the bedrooms we’ve made an accent wall with wallpaper. That’s really trendy nowadays.’
Only now did I see the bundle of papers he had in his hands. I recognized the logo of one of the largest real estate offices of Antwerp. ‘Follow me, please, so I can show you the two bedrooms.’ I followed him to the bedrooms. The windows of the biggest bedroom offered a good view of my house. The broker did not seem to notice my dismay and continued looked around him, smiling contently. ‘More spacious than you would expect, isn’t it?’
I just nodded a bit and followed him to the kitchen.
‘Someone still has to come and take a look at the dishwasher, but apart from that, the kitchen is first-rate, as you can see. The owner had a new kitchen and bathroom placed here three years ago and the previous tenant took great care of it.’
‘The previous tenant? Do you mean J.P.?’
The broker looked at me, a surprised look on his face. ‘Do you know him?’
‘Yes, he’s a –‘ I hesitated for a moment. ‘An old acquaintance.’
‘I see.’ The broker looked at me with sparkling eyes. ‘The world is small times, is it not?’
‘You have no idea.’ I looked at the window of the living room, which offered such a magnificent view of my little house. ‘It’s crazy to think that he lived here until recently and that I might be moving in here now. Do you by any chance know where he went?’
The broker frowned his eyebrows. ‘No idea. Shall I show you the bathroom?’
‘Yes, go ahead.’
He disappeared as he made his way towards the bathroom. Just as I was about to head after him, my eye fell on something lying in the corner of the room, partly hidden under a plinth. It was a playing card. A joker. With shaking hands, I picked it up. Something was written on it in handwriting so small that I had to strain my eyes to be able to read it.
Now it’s your turn.
There was no reason at all to assume that this message was meant for me. And yet, that was the only thing I could come up with.
The face of the broker appeared in the doorway. ‘Didn’t you want to see the bathroom?’
Quickly, I stuffed the joker in the back pocket of my black jeans trousers and forced my face to show a neutral expression. ‘Of course I do. Is there a bath, or only a shower?’
The first thing I did when I arrived at home was shutting the curtains at the back of my home. I browsed the web again, looking for the online telephone directory and scrolled through the list of names. Maybe I had overlooked something. My breath faltered when I reached the J.P. again, whose apartment had a view on my courtyard. There was now a different address than earlier. It was an address that I knew really well. That is, because I had been living there for ten years.