Page 30 of Who We Think We Are

B ack in her room, Kate curls up in a chair, takes a sip of the tea she brought up from the lobby, and calls her family.

“Hi, Mom,” says a sleepy Paige. “Hang on, I’ll get Dad and Kelli.” A minute later, Jake and Kelli are on the line.

“I had a very nice conversation with the Canadian Ambassador, Jonathan Knight!”

“The literal and actual ambassador?” asks Kelli.

“Yup, the very one. Only your mom was too stupid to know who he was until after she left.”

“Oh God, Mom,” says Paige, laughing, “That’s classic. Hopefully, you were nice to him.”

“Yes, I was. He gave me good customer service.”

They all laughed. “Or he would have heard about it,” says Paige. “No one escapes the wrath of Mom getting poor customer service.”

“That’s right! I don’t care if he is the ambassador. But seriously, here is what he told me.” She tells them all about the conversation.

“So, what now, Kate?” asks Jake.

“I am going to find Oma’s daughter.”

“How?” asks Paige.

“I don’t know yet. But I’ll start with the Arneson Archives. They …” Kate stops. That is who scanned my passport!

“What, Mom?” asks Kelli.

“Oh, nothing, sweetheart. I just remembered something. They told me to contact them this week to see if they found anything. Don’t worry, I won’t go there. I’ll call them.”

“How do you know they aren’t the ones after you?” asks Paige.

“Because they’re an archive, darling. They want the truth to see the light of day, not hide it. And Jonathan told me that this is not a conspiracy. If there is someone who doesn’t want their secret to surface, it’s an individual.”

“An individual with enough power to put a flag on your passport,” says Jake. “If you won’t come home, I’m coming over there.”

“No, Jake. I appreciate your gallantry; I really do. But you would be bored and hovering over me, and we both know how that would go.”

“I’m not being gallant, Kate. Don’t be dismissive. I love you, and I want you to be safe.”

“I know, Jake. Thank you. I love you, too. I will be very careful. I’ll be here in The Hague doing research, mostly in my hotel room on my computer.”

“Mom, I’ve been thinking,” says Kelli. “I think you should get a Dutch cell phone and turn your cell phone off.”

“That’s a good idea, Kelli. I’ll do that as soon as I’ve slept. I’ll turn my phone off as soon as I hang up, so email me if you want to talk to me, and I’ll call you. And I’ll text you from my new phone so you have the number. I’ve got to get a new hotel tomorrow, too.”

“You stay where you are, Kate,” says Jake. “I like you being across the road from the Canadian embassy.”

“No, Jake. It’s too expensive. I got laid off.”

“I know,” says Jake.

“How do you know? I found out after I talked to you this morning.”

“Bob’s been calling here, trying to find out how to reach you,” says Jake.

“There are a few other hotels on this block. I’ll find a cheaper one. I’m going to go now. Go back to sleep, and don’t worry. And Jake …”

“Yes, Kate?”

“Thanks for not reaming me about getting laid off.”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart. You’ll get hired back. Bob can’t run that place without you. Have a good sleep.”

“I will. Love to you all, and good night!”

Kate turns her phone off and says to the empty room, “Except I don’t want to go back to being chief control officer at Canamine International.” But she doesn’t want to say anything about it yet because it is too new a thought. Besides, what else would she do? Something that matters …

Kate tries to think about her conversation with Carole Messer at Arneson Archives and the contact information she gave. But she’s too tired. She closes the blackout curtains, peels off her clothes, and crawls into bed.

When Kate wakes up, light is peeking in around the blackout curtains.

Is it morning already ? No, it’s 4:00 p.m. Kate’s stomach is growling, and she realizes that she hasn’t had anything to eat since that croissant in Belgium.

She opens the room service menu and orders a chicken Caesar salad, fries with mayonnaise, and a gin and tonic.

She sees that there is a laundry service, and she orders that, too.

Her clothes will be returned by morning.

Got to take advantage of these luxuries while I have them because tomorrow, it’s back to reality.

Kate puts on the hotel bathrobe and stuffs every article of clothing she has in the plastic laundry bag provided. The young woman who brings Kate her dinner takes the laundry bag with her. Kate gives her a tip and deadbolts the door.

After she eats, Kate opens her laptop and, first things first, books a hotel a few doors down with a check-in date for tomorrow.

It’s nice enough and a third of the price of this one.

Then she opens her email and sends a message to the family that she’s awake, and if they want to chat, they can email her, and she’ll send them a Zoom link.

Then she emails Mikelia and tells her the same.

Kate has two new emails that catch her attention. The first is from Fatima Ali, the vice chairperson of Grandma’s Table.

Dear Kate, I’m sorry, but …

Kate skims over the blah blah blah to get to the point.

The board has unanimously decided to suspend you … and for the protection of the organization, we must distance ourselves from you at this time.

“Wow, Suze,” says Kate. “You didn’t waste any time. Fine. You do what you need to do, and so will I, and we’ll see where we end up when all of this is over.”

Kate types out a short email:

Thanks for letting me know, Fatima. I completely understand. I’ll be in touch when I get home. Let me know if you need any help with anything.

Kate sends the email to Fatima and cc’s all the board members, but doesn’t cc Suze.

I’m entitled to be a little passive-aggressive.

Getting fired from my job and my own nonprofit on the same day has to be a record.

Good to have loyal people around. Kate won’t admit, even to herself, how badly her feelings are hurt. “Now, on to the next thing.”

The second email that catches her attention is from the historian Cobus Janssen:

Hello Kate,

Today, I visited the National Archives and researched your family for you. It was very interesting.

Tomorrow I will send all the information to you. But I must say that you made very good notes when you did your research.

Anyway, I hope I can add something to the information you have.

Best regards,

Cobus Janssen

Perfect! I want to talk to him . Kate sends him an email:

Hi Cobus,

I am so glad you went to the archives. I am in The Hague. Would it be possible to meet for coffee tomorrow? I would like to get your advice on a few things that I have confirmed since I did the research. I would rather not discuss it by email. Of course, I will pay you for your time.

Thank you,

Kate Hathaway

Dr. Janssen replies immediately:

Hi Kate,

Yes, that would be lovely. I have an appointment in the afternoon, but let’s meet for brunch at the Vlaamsch Broodhuys at 11:00.

Cobus

In the morning, Kate gets her clean clothes back, packs her bag, and stows it at the front desk because she can’t check in at the next hotel until 4:00 p.m. On her way to meet Cobus, she buys a Dutch cell phone and texts Jake, Kelli, Paige, and Mikelia so they have her number.

Kate gets to the restaurant first. It’s the type of cozy bakery so typical of Europe.

Old and new world combine into an ancient brick building with antique wood tables and chairs and an ultramodern display case with all the cakes and pastries.

Kate breathes in the nostalgic fragrance of freshly baked bread and cookies.

A few minutes later, a tall man enters the restaurant, and she waves at him.

She chuckles to herself because if she had to describe what a historian would look like, it would be him: tall with disheveled hair and round spectacles, complete with a tweed jacket with suede elbow patches.

The only thing not true to type is that he is wearing a navy turtleneck and jeans.

Kate stands up and shakes his hand. “Thanks for meeting me, Cobus.”

“Nice to meet you, Kate.”

They order their meals: eggs benedict with rookwurst (smoked sausage) for her and an omelet for him.

“Your family is so interesting, Kate,” says Cobus. “I am curious to hear what else you have learned.”

Kate tells Cobus what she learned about Oma’s daughter and everything that has happened since she gave the information to Carole Messer at the Arneson Archives.

“It sounds like you have poked a bear, Kate. Someone really doesn’t want you to know who Oma’s child is.”

“Is this normal?”

“Of course not. You’re not dealing with Nazi Germany. This is one person doing this. A person with a lot of power.”

“That’s what Jonathan Knight at the Canadian embassy said. I forgot to tell you about my conversation with him.” She fills him in on that conversation, too.

“I agree with him; the person has power in Germany but not in the Netherlands.”

“I’ve been thinking; my great-uncle, Oma’s brother, Cornelius Van Dijk, has tried to block me at every step. And no one knows what he did for a living. He’s retired now—he’s eighty-seven—but we were never allowed to know what kind of work he did. He still won’t talk about it.”

“I can research him if you want. But remember, he is Dutch. We’re looking for a German.”

“When I went to the Arneson Archives, I gave them my passport as ID and left my name, cell phone number, and email address with them.

“The archives have nothing to do with your troubles. They wouldn’t even know a trace was put on your information request.”

“When I physically went to the archives, I didn’t have enough information for them to do anything for me.”

“But when you called them and gave Oma’s baby’s birth name, date of birth, and the name of the Lebensborn home, the archive’s staff entered that information in the national database.

That must have been what created the flag on your passport.

The original flag was on Anneke Van Dijk’s record. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“Thank you. I’ve been racking my brain. But when you describe the process, it does make sense.”

“I have a colleague and friend who is a historian and uses the Arneson Archives to research concentration camp survivors,” says Cobus.

“Her name is Ursula Lehmann. We were in a PhD program together. I trust her completely. She will know who to trust at Arneson Archives. With your permission, I’ll text her now and ask her who I can trust in a delicate and highly confidential matter.

I’ll tell her I want to speak with the staff member on the phone, not by email, and preferably on her home or mobile phone, not the archive’s phone. ”

“That would be great, thank you!”

A few minutes later, Cobus’s cell phone rings, and he has a conversation in Dutch. When he hangs up, he says, “Ursula told me that Carole Messer is the person she trusts and who is in a role to help you.”

“Carole Messer is the woman who helped Mikelia and me and took my contact information. Is Ursula sure we can trust her?”

“Yes. Remember, Arneson Archives is innocent in this.”

“You’re right. I must keep remembering that. This is good because Carole will remember me.”

“Ursula said she will invite Carole to her house in the morning. They are friends. We can have a phone call with them at 8 a.m., before either of them is due at work. Can you be at my office by then? We can take the call there.”

“Absolutely.”

Cobus scratches his address on his business card and hands it to Kate. “Do you still want me to research your great-uncle?”

“No, I suppose not. If this has nothing to do with him, we’ll leave him alone. I’ve always been curious about what he did for a living, the snarly old dog. But he has his reasons for keeping things private, so I’ll respect that.”

When Kate gets to her new hotel room, it is clean and modern, and most importantly, it has a kitchenette, a comfy bed, and a soaking tub. She sits at the desk, opens her laptop, and sends Grandad an email:

Hi Grandad,

I hope you’re feeling better. I’m sure Jake or the girls have filled you in on my adventures. I want to let you know I’ve got a Dutch cell phone to use while I’m here. I’ve sent you a text, so you have the number if you want to call or text me.

Apropos of nothing, do you know what Oom Cor did for a living? It has nothing to do with anything I’m doing, but I’ve always been curious.

I met with Dr. Cobus Janssen, the historian, today, and he was super helpful. I’m making headway. The sooner I get this done, the sooner I can get home and visit you.

Lots of love,

Kate xoxx

A few hours later, Kate gets an email back from Grandad:

Hi Katie,

I don’t know what Cor did for a living. He would never talk about it. I hope you find what you’re looking for. Hurry home. I miss you.

Love,

Grandad

Kate’s Dutch cell phone rings. It’s Mikelia.

“Hi, Mikelia. Hang up and check your email. I’ll send you a Zoom link right now. Using this phone is too expensive.” Kate hangs up without another word, sends Mikelia a Zoom link, and logs on. A few seconds later, Mikelia appears on the screen.

“Hi, Kate. How are you doing? What’s happening?”

Kate catches Mikelia up on her conversation with Jonathan Knight.

They have a good laugh when Kate tells her about him being the ambassador, and then Kate tells her about the meeting with Cobus Janssen.

Kate feels positive and doesn’t feel like talking about getting fired from her job and nonprofit.

“I’m having a call with Carole Messer from Arneson Archives tomorrow morning at Cobus’s office.”

“Let me know how that goes. I’m dying to find out.”

“I will. Stay tuned.”