by Willow Rose
"Well, if you're so sure, then why do you feel the need to call me and tell me all this?"
Per Egon went quiet. "I'm just trying to save you from being publically humiliated. But if that is what you want, Lisa Rasmussen, then by all means, be my guest. But I tell you there is no chance in hell you'll ever get my seat."
"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you," Lisa said, staying calm and fighting every urge to yell at the man.
"Oh but I am."
Lisa forced a loud laugh. "Well I guess the fight is on, then."
"Oh, it is on."
Then he hung up. Lisa threw her phone on the table. The back of it fell off.
Bastard. Prick. Who the hell does he think he is? Doesn't he know who I am? I'll show him and this whole damn town.
Lisa picked up her phone and put the back on. Then she turned it on. It still worked. The cookies were done just as Amalie came through the door. Lisa put on her best and most gracious smile. Amalie looked at her mother with the cookies in front of her, then she rolled her eyes.
"Don't you know how many calories there are in those?" She scoffed and ran upstairs.
Lisa felt the anger rise, but kept it inside with a forced smile. Like so many days before this, Lisa swallowed her rage and smiled. She kept smiling the rest of the evening when Christian came home with Jacob and all the way through dinner. She even smiled when her husband told her that she was being stupid for spending all this time and his money on this foolish election and then took off to go to the pub and hang out with his friends, while she had to put all the kids to bed by herself.
But when midnight came and she snuck out of bed, she smiled no more.
27
November 2013
"YOU LOOK LOVELY."
Officer Morten Bredballe smiled when I opened the door. I blushed. "Do you like the hair? I had it done this morning."
"You look stunning," he said. "But you always do."
"Aw, that's such a nice thing to say," I said and grabbed my jacket. "I'm leaving now Maya," I yelled.
"Okay," she yelled back.
I shrugged. "That's about the most she speaks to me these days," I said with a smile and closed the door behind me.
"Sounds familiar," Morten said as we started walking. "Jytte hardly ever utters an entire sentence to me anymore. It's mostly grunting and mumbling. But I'll take what I can get, you know?"
I laughed. The icy wind bit my cheeks on our way to his car. It was getting really cold now. I drew in a deep breath when he opened the door and held it for me. I liked the fresh air here on the island. It was really different than in the city. Colder and definitely more windy, yes, but it had this rawness and freshness to it that I had never experienced before. I enjoyed it a lot even when it got colder. I felt healthier and stronger here. And I felt like my kids were too. I was still very happy to have moved here even with all the bad things that had been going on. I had a feeling things were going to shape up soon, I thought and looked at Morten when we were in the car. He wasn't a handsome man, but he had such nice eyes and the best smile. I loved making him smile and laugh. One thing I had learned on our trips to Eastern Europe was that he had a great sense of humor. I enjoyed that a lot, since in my marriage to Michael we never laughed at any of the same things. Actually Michael hardly ever laughed. He was so serious all the time and never understood my jokes or even pretended to. He thought I was foolish and scolded me for not taking anything serious. In his eyes, I couldn't do anything right.
Morten took me to a small restaurant called La Petite Cuisine downtown. He told me it was his favorite place. The food was great, even if I had had better, but the company was exquisite. Morten was so sweet and caring and he laughed at every joke I made. Not because he wanted to impress me or anything, but he really laughed with all his heart because he thought it was funny. It felt good to just forget about everything else for a few hours. He seemed a little shy and hardly shared anything about himself, and I did most of the talking, but I didn't mind. He seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say.
"Did the plumber ever show up?" I asked when the dessert arrived.
Morten shook his head. "Not yet. He might have taken the ferry to the mainland to drink. I hope he'll turn up when he runs out of money. He hasn't been using any of his credit cards, though, which is odd. We have asked the bank to alert us when they can see he is using one of them."
I nodded and ate a scoop of my homemade vanilla ice-cream with hot cherry sauce. "Sounds strange if he is on a bender."
Morten shrugged. "He might be using cash."
"True," I said pensively. "What about Simone Beaumont?"
"What about her?"
"Anything new in the investigation?" I asked. "I can't help wondering about the car. Did she drive it into the ocean on her own or what?"
Morten shook his head. "She was dead before it hit the water. Hours before, according to the forensic report."
I lifted an eyebrow. "Then who drove the car?"
"It was on cruise control. Whoever shot her must have placed her behind the wheel, then turned it on and put it on cruise control with the intention of having her drive into the ocean. Maybe he thought we wouldn't find her in there or something."
"Hardly a very good hiding spot," I said with my mouth full of ice-cream. "Who did the car belong to?"
"It was a stolen Land Rover. The owners told us it was stolen a couple of weeks ago. It was taken from outside their house in Vejle."
"That's on the mainland."
"I know."
"So the killer is not from around here, you think?" I asked.
Morten shrugged again. "Well it's hard to say, but my theory is that he is from the mainland. That he came here and killed Simone, maybe for no specific reason at all, then got rid of the body and the stolen car before he left the island, maybe even on foot. You know, just by taking the ferry back."
"So you think he is gone?"
Morten exhaled. "I sincerely hope he is." He rubbed his face, then looked at me with a smile. He grabbed my hand across the table. "Let's talk about something nice. I hate talking about work."
I chuckled. "You're so right. I'm sorry. I was just being curious. So Jytte is in high-school. What does she want to do when she is done?"
Morten laughed. "You're really bad at this," he said.
"I know. I'm sorry."
He held my hand in his and looked at my fingers. I tried hard to find something to say that wasn't related to his work. "So tell me about your ex-wife, Jytte's mom. Where is she?"
Morten let go of my hand and leaned back with a deep sigh. "I was hoping to avoid that question for a little while longer," he said.
"Okay," I said. "Whenever you're ready to tell."
"Thanks," he said. "I might need a little time."
"That's okay."
"Good."
Naturally, that was all I was wondering about the rest of the evening. All I knew was that Morten was alone with Jytte. I had no idea if the mother was still in his life in any way and now I feared that she was. I was afraid he was still helplessly in love with her or something. It left me feeling stirred up inside that he wouldn't tell me about her.
"You're so quiet all of a sudden," he said in the car on our way home.
I forced a smile. "I'm just tired, that's all."
And I'm wondering if you're still secretly in love with your ex, that's all, I thought to myself but never said it out loud, naturally.
He parked the car in front of my house and escorted me to the door. My heart was pounding in my chest. Should I invite him in for coffee? Do I want to? I realized I didn't. I felt insecure and kept picturing this ex-wife of his as this gorgeous, perfect woman whom he dreamt about at night. Then I wondered if he was going to say her name during the act if I ever let him into my bed.
"I would invite you in, but … I have a busy day tomorrow, so …" I said.
Morten looked disappointed. "That's okay. I'll just …" he leaned over and kissed me awkwardly o
n the cheek. "I have an early shift too," he said.
"Plus Victor hasn't been sleeping well lately, so …" I kept excusing myself.
"No, no, that's okay. Victor is important. He needs his sleep, right? Maybe … So maybe I can call you or …?"
"Yeah. Sure. Call me sometime." I exhaled and looked at him. "I'm sorry," I said.
"No, no. You don't have to be. I understand. I'll see you around." Morten started walking. I bit my tongue. This evening had been so nice up until that awkward moment that ruined everything.
Say something nice. Something that'll make him feel better. Say something before he leaves and it ends like this. You like him, for Pete's sake.
I closed my eyes and opened my mouth to speak.
"I …"
Morten turned around and interrupted me. "I'm sorry," he said. "Could we please start over? I had a great night. I would really like to see you again."
"I'm sorry too," I said. "I'm being silly here."
"No, you're being reasonable. It's better to take things slowly. I am just really … really attracted to you."
I blushed like a schoolgirl and had no words.
"But you're so right," he continued. "It is much better to wait. Plus there is the whole ex-wife thing. I noticed how it bothered you and I could have bit my tongue off afterwards. It's just that it was really a bad time for me and I didn't want to ruin a great evening by telling my sad sob story."
I felt stupid. I walked closer, then leaned over and kissed him on the lips. I closed my eyes while kissing him.
"Wow," he said afterwards.
"Let's do this again soon," I said.
"Let's."
Smiling, I turned and walked back towards the house. Morten was still staring at me as I opened the front door. I turned and looked at him one last time.
"Goodnight," I said.
"Goodnight," he replied, then waved and walked back to his car.
I grabbed another glass of red wine before bed and sat outside on the porch looking at my backyard while drinking it. I didn't feel tired yet, so I decided to take a stroll through the yard down to the beach. It was cold, but the night was clear and starry and I loved these quiet nights. I walked for a long time across the sand dunes thinking about my life and the men in it. I really liked Morten, but didn't dare fall head over heels for him. I had been burned too much to do so. People always came with baggage and I still hadn't been allowed to look into his. I remembered being completely taken with my ex, Michael, and how I had been so blind with love that I didn't see the warning signals. I remembered my dad talking to me about it before we were married. He tried to warn me, telling me that Michael had a coldness to him that he didn't care for. He told me that a thing like that was only going to get worse the older Michael got and that I should be aware of it when making my decision. But his warning only made me want to marry Michael even more.
I scoffed and stopped at the top of a dune. I listened to the sound of the raging ocean. Why was it that I hadn't listened to him? It would have spared me so much sorrow in my life. But done was done and if I had never married Michael I would never have had Victor or Maya, and there was no way I wanted a life without them.
I took in a deep breath of the fresh air and thought about Jack. I had really liked him too, and I knew he liked me a lot, but it was just so complicated. Up until tonight Morten hadn't seemed complicated at all. But of course he had his baggage as well. Everyone had something, didn't they?
I started walking again. I had been doing this a lot lately, taking long walks on the beach in the evenings before bed. The fresh air had a way of knocking me out afterwards and I slept so well. I realized I had walked too far and was about to turn around when a sound made me look. From the top of a dune, I spotted a car that entered the beach and drove across the sand towards the ocean at a high speed. I felt frozen and had no idea what to do. Motionless, I stared at the car as it drove straight into the ocean and kept going till it was covered with water.
Then I ran. While calling Morten from my phone, I ran as fast as I could.
28
November 2013
I THREW MY phone on the sand with my jacket and jumped into the water. The ice-cold water felt like knives against my body, but I didn't care. I swam as fast as I could towards where the car had gone in. Waves tossed me around and pushed me back towards the beach. I ducked and tried to swim under them, then came up for air and was smashed in the face by a wave. I swallowed water and coughed. Then I ducked under again. I couldn't see anything and I had to get up for more air. The water was so cold; I was freezing while I frantically scanned the area to spot the car, but I saw nothing. I dived into the ocean again and somehow bumped into something that I guessed was it. I came up for more air, then dove down towards it, feeling my way across the roof and down towards the door. I tried to pull it open, but it was stuck. I swam to the surface again and gasped for air. A light hit me from the beach. Between waves, I spotted cars on the beach. The bright lights helped me see. I dove down once again and managed to pull the door open and grab the body inside of it. I pulled it out and towards the surface. I gasped and tried to yell for help. The heavy body was difficult for me to hold on to.
"HELP!" I yelled.
A wave tossed over me and I swallowed more water. I tried to swim towards the shore on my back dragging the body after me, but I was so tired now, it was hard. I pulled and fought the waves that kept flushing in over my face.
Come on Emma. Just a few more yards. Come on. You can do it. Fight for it. Don't give up.
A wave flushed in over my head and I coughed to breathe. I was tumbled and lost my grip on the body. I tried to scream but couldn't. Suddenly I felt hands on my body and I was pulled towards the beach.
"The body," I gasped when I was out of the water. I opened my eyes and looked into Morten's. He was dripping on me from his hair and clothes.
"We've got her," he said panting. "The paramedics are taking care of her."
I coughed up water on the sand. "Is she alive?" I said.
Morten looked in the direction of the ambulance and the paramedics. "I have no idea. It looks like they're trying to revive her, so maybe she is. What about you? Are you alright?"
I coughed again. "I will be," I said.
One of the paramedics ran to me and kneeled beside me. He put a thick blanket around my back to warm me.
"I'm okay," I said.
"I need to make sure," the paramedic said.
"I'm fine. Take care of the woman instead."
"Okay," he said and left me.
I sat up and stared at Morten. He was catching his breath. His lips were purple and shivering. "We should get out of here," I said. "We need to get out of these wet clothes."
Morten stared around us. Officers were blocking the entrance to the beach with cars and keeping curious spectators back.
Morten got up and grabbed my hand to pull me up as well. "I'll take you home," he said.
He helped me get inside my house. I couldn't hold my keys and unlock the door since my fingers were hurting. My teeth chattered now and my nails had turned purple.
"You were really brave … and a little stupid tonight," Morten said while helping me get up the stairs.
I TRIED TO LAUGH BUT COULDN'T. MORTEN OPENED THE DOOR TO THE BATHROOM, THEN HELPED ME GET INSIDE. HE TURNED ON THE HOT WATER FAUCET AND STARTED FILLING THE TUB.
"This should get your blood circulation up and running in no time," he said.
I nodded and tried to say something but my lips quivered too much. Morten looked at me, then took off the blanket. He started undressing me. I could hardly move. He took off all of my clothes one by one, then looked at me with a smile.
"This wasn't exactly how I pictured myself seeing you naked the first time," he said, and helped me into the warm water. It hurt so badly when the water hit my frozen body parts.
Morten was shivering all over too and got undressed. Then he got into the tub with me. He grabbed my body and held his c
lose to mine to warm me up. It felt really nice.
We stayed in there for almost all night. When I was finally able to speak properly again, I looked up at him with a small smile.
"This has to be the strangest first date I have ever been on."
"It’s definitely made my top ten as well," he said.
Then we both laughed. It felt good to laugh.
29
November 2013
NORA WILLUMSEN HAD trouble sleeping. It wasn't the baby that kept her awake, at least not tonight. And it wasn't her husband Erik who was snoring next to her, either. No, it was the thought of Tim being all alone at his house now that his wife was gone. Yes it was sad and horrible what happened to her, but to be honest Nora had never liked the bitch and she couldn't have planned it better, now could she? Now Tim was alone, abandoned, lonely and that was when she would sweep in and make him fall madly in love with her.
Nora had tried to get his attention for years. But it wasn't until the summer party a few months ago that she had succeeded. She had kissed him in the kitchen at the police station where they had worked together and she had secretly admired him for years.
Nora had been the only one in her mothers’ group to go back to work before her maternity leave was up, and she knew how the others looked at her. She was only able to participate in the group meetings and activities on her days off, but she didn't care. Staying home for six months without seeing Tim was unbearable. Hanging out almost every day with his wife was just pure torture. How many times had Nora dreamt about killing Simone herself? Just picking up the steak knife from the table at the café and stabbing the woman in the chest, finishing her off so she could finally be the only one in Tim's life.
Nora chuckled in her bed and put a hand over her mouth so Erik wouldn't hear her. Now that Simone was really gone, she would have to find a way to get rid of Erik too. He was nothing but an obstacle in her life now. The only one between her and Tim.
