Waltzing Matilda (Emma Frost Book 11)

by Willow Rose

  Was he the one walking around barefoot?

  I followed the footprints up to the front door, where I also found Kenneth. He was sitting nicely in front of the door, staring at it, not making a sound, which was very unusual for him. Brutus, on the other hand, approached the door, sat next to Kenneth, then gave one large deep bark, like when he had seen Skye in the tree.

  "Is someone in there?" I asked and looked at the tracks leading up to the door.

  I walked to the window and looked inside, shining my flashlight into the living room of the old cabin. My light fell on a small body inside of it, lying on the floor, eyes closed, paler than my bed sheets. Her arms were above her head, her palms open, one of them showing a deep wound.

  "Susan," I exclaimed.

  Oh, dear God. Oh, dear God, no.

  I rushed to the front door and found it unlocked, then pushed it open. I hurried inside and knelt next to her, feeling her throat for a pulse. It was there, but it was very, very slow.

  "She's freezing," I said to the two dogs. "We need to get her warmed up, fast. We can't wait for Dr. Williamsen to get here."

  Dr. Williamsen was the island's only doctor and, even though he had an ambulance that his wife drove, they would still have to take her to the mainland to get her to the hospital.

  I grabbed her tiny body in my arms and carried her out of the house, the dogs walking by my side. It felt like they knew this was serious, this was no time to run off or bark or act out.

  I held Susan's body close to mine and hurried across the beach, my feet struggling to run in the snow, but the closer I got to the ocean, the thinner the snow became. The ocean had started to freeze, and big blocks of ice were pushed onshore. I ran the best I could, holding Susan close, till I reached my own house. I put her down in my living room, next to the burning fireplace, and covered her in blankets.

  Then I grabbed my phone; first, I called Dr. Williamsen, then Morten.

  Chapter 47

  "She suffered a massive blood loss."

  Dr. Williamsen looked at me from behind his thick glasses. I had known him for many years now but never seen him this serious. "I don't know if she can survive it," he said. "Problem is, they have suspended the ferry for the next twenty-four hours because of the ice. They're waiting for the ice breakers to come and clear the way, but they're busy all over the country."

  I stared at him, then at Morten next to me. "But…surely there is something else they can do to get her to a hospital?" I asked.

  Dr. Williamsen sighed. "Not right now, no."

  "What about a helicopter? Can't they pick her up in a helicopter and take her there?"

  He shook his head. "The only medical helicopter we have is in Copenhagen and it's in use because of a rescue mission on Oresund, where a ship has collided with the bridge. There are many who are severely injured."

  "So, that's just it?" I asked. "She's stuck here? The girl is half dead, how…how am I supposed…?"

  "Emma," Morten said. "We are all doing the best we can."

  "I am terribly sorry," Dr. Williamsen said.

  I nodded. "I know. I know." I glanced at Susan lying on the couch by the fireplace. She was still so pale it was creepy. Maya was standing in the doorway of the living room, staring at her, terror on her face.

  I walked to Maya and grabbed her in my arms. "It's going to be okay," I said. "We'll take care of her."

  "I have hooked her up with a saltwater drip," Dr. Williamsen said. "And I had a couple of bags of blood for her that my wife will make sure get inside of her. I have more at the clinic that I can bring in the morning, but this should do for now. If you can get her to drink something, preferably a Coke or something with sugar in it, that would be awesome. And you're sure it's okay for her to stay here?" he asked. "We could take her to my clinic, but I think she would be better off here. To be honest, her chances are better if we don't move her."

  I nodded, feeling slightly woozy at the thought of having this kind of responsibility.

  "Sure. She can stay as long as needed."

  Dr. Williamsen put a hand on my shoulder. "You're an angel, Emma. We'll, of course, stay here for tonight to keep an eye on her progress."

  "I’ve tried to reach her mother, but no one seems to be able to find her," Morten said with a sigh. "Not even down behind Netto or in that shed by the harbor where she usually hangs out. My guess is she’s on a bender somewhere. I’ve asked Allan and the boys to go search for her in the usual places."

  "Until then, we'll be here for you, Susan," I said and grabbed her hand in mine. I rubbed it the way Dr. Williamsen had told me was good for her circulation. To sort of massage the blood around, to get it pumping, as he put it.

  The poor girl was hooked up to all kinds of instruments, monitoring her heart rate, her pulse, her blood levels, and so on. And my living room had turned into a hospital. Maya came closer and sat down on the couch across from Susan.

  "W-will she survive, Mom?" she asked.

  I shrugged, then sat next to her, holding her hand in mine. "I have to be honest and say that I don't know." I forced a smile. "But we're allowed to hope, right?"

  She nodded. "How did this happen to her? I don't understand."

  "I know, sweetie. Me either."

  "Do you think she was taken by the same person who killed Asgar?" she asked.

  "I have a feeling it might be the same person, yes."

  "But…I don't get it. I thought it was his parents? I thought…"

  I pulled her close to me and put her head on my shoulder. "I know, sweetie. I know you do. They have been the main suspects for some time now, and they did have that motive, but…well, no one has been able to prove their guilt so far, and they keep claiming they're innocent. They have good alibies at the ski resort. Plus, there was also Vincent. And now Susan. I think this might be a little bigger than what we initially thought."

  I thought about Vincent, the boy found in a dumpster downtown. He was still in the hospital in Esbjerg, on the mainland. No one knew what happened to him, how he ended up in the dumpster, drained of blood. He still hadn't woken up and they worried he never would. I looked at Susan while thinking about him, wondering if any of them would ever be able to tell who had hurt them like that, what kind of beast had done this to them.

  Chapter 48

  Susan was making progress already the next morning, Dr. Williamsen told me. I slept on the other couch after tucking Maya in and reassuring her everything was going to be just fine. My neck was hurting when I woke up and I needed lots of coffee to get through the day. I made breakfast for everyone and we all ate in my kitchen. I had told Maya she could skip school today and sleep in, while Victor and Skye were eating with us, engaged in a conversation no one could hear.

  "She still has a long way to go," Dr. Williamsen said, slurping his coffee, jam from his toast stuck in his beard. "But so far, she is doing really well."

  He took another bite and his wife next to him nodded. I smiled and served them some more coffee. "That's good news, then?" I said.

  Dr. Williamsen nodded. "I'll see if I can get it arranged for her to be transported to the hospital today."

  "Sounds good," I said, not quite listening anymore. My eyes were on Victor, who had his glass floating in the air in front of him, a blissful smile on his face. I rushed to him, grabbed the glass, and put it down, chuckling awkwardly. "Victor is into magic these days," I said.

  "Ah, how nice," Dr. Williamsen chuckled. "I used to be quite the magician myself in my younger years."

  "Could you do this?" Victor asked. Before I could react, his fork lifted itself from the tabletop and stood up straight.

  Dr. Williamsen stared at it, baffled. "No. I must say, I have never done anything like that before. You're good, son. What are you using? Strings?"

  I grabbed the fork and put it back down. Victor looked at Skye. He said something to her, I am sure he did, because she smiled too, then made all her long blonde hair stand up on her head.

  "Oh, my," Mrs
. Williamsen said.

  The kids laughed.

  "Maybe you should take your friend outside and play for a little while," I said to Victor.

  The hair came down, and the two of them made plans I obviously knew nothing about, then got up and rushed out of the kitchen.

  "Kids today," Mrs. Williamsen said, shaking her head.

  "Who is the girl?" Dr. Williamsen asked. "I don't think I’ve seen her before. I usually know all the kids around here, you know since I am the only doctor here."

  "She's just visiting," I said as I grabbed the coffee pot and swung it. "Refills, anyone?"

  They both smiled.

  "Oh, yes, thank you," Dr. Williamsen said and held out his cup. "I could certainly use some more."

  "Only half a cup for me," Mrs. Williamsen said.

  I poured them some more when my phone started to ring, and I picked it up. It was HP from Fishy Pines.

  "We haven't seen Victor in quite some time. Is everything all right?"

  "Ah, yes. He's not been feeling too well. He'll be back soon."

  "Oh, so he is better. Maybe we'll see him tomorrow then?"

  I smiled. "Yes. As a matter of fact, I was planning on taking him tomorrow."

  "Great. Maybe we can have a little chat then."

  "Sure."

  I hung up feeling like a kid who had skipped school without my parents knowing.

  Dr. Williamsen looked at me. "Victor hasn't been well?"

  I forced a smile. "He's fine. He's just been wanting to spend time with his new friend while she’s here. That's all."

  "Ah, I see. I didn't quite understand it, he seemed so fine just then. As a matter of fact, he seemed better than I have ever seen him."

  I sighed. "I know. She's been good for him. She's been really good."

  Chapter 49

  Maya was restless all day. She couldn't stand the thought of having Susan down in her living room, dry as a bone, just lying there, waiting for what? To die?

  It made her miserable. Especially when knowing this had to be what Asgar had gone through right before he died. This same slow sneaky death where you simply withered away.

  The worst part was that Maya had thought she had found the killer; she really believed it had been Mr. and Mrs. Dragstedt who had killed their own son. But no evidence supported her theory and their alibis were waterproof. They had the plane tickets to prove it and even surveillance cameras from the place in France where they were staying. Maya still couldn't let the thought go, that they might have somehow tricked the system and fabricated the alibis. Could they have done that?

  But what about the others? What about Vincent and Susan? Could they have tried to kill them too? And why would they? They had nothing to do with why they wanted to kill Asgar. Maybe he had told them? No, Asgar never spoke to people like Susan or Vincent. One was known as a crackhead or druggie, whereas the other was just known as a cuckoo. Everyone at the school knew that Vincent wasn't well. He believed in all these conspiracy theories and was one step away from wearing a tinfoil hat.

  There was no way a boy like Asgar would speak to those two or tell them secrets about himself that he didn't even tell Maya. It made no sense.

  That evening, Maya gained access to Asgar's computer once again. She liked to do it because it made her feel like he was still alive, like he was still a real person and not some corpse in the ground.

  The same question kept lingering in her mind and she couldn't escape it. Why would they empty his body of blood? Why would anyone do that? Just for the fun of it?

  If it was the same killer, then this person had done it to three people so far. The blood had to have some sort of importance, right?

  Maya went through his emails once again, then his Skype, his Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. She lingered on his pictures, especially the ones of her and him together. He had always placed a little heart underneath them. Maya chuckled when remembering one of them and the day it was taken. It was a warm summer day—well, as warm as they get in Denmark—and he had taken her out on his family's boat. It was a great afternoon where they went swimming in the freezing water. Suddenly, she remembered something else about that day. She remembered sensing that something had changed about him, he was acting strangely. Was he scared back then? Was he already afraid and did he know he was in danger?

  When she really thought about it, he had acted a little strange all through the fall. Maybe he knew what was going to happen? Had he gotten himself involved in something that he didn't tell her about? Something bad that ended up getting him killed?

  Maya opened his calendar and went through his appointments, when she stumbled upon one that had started at the end of summer and gone on for one Thursday afternoon every month after that. It didn't say what it was, only showed an address on every third Thursday of the month.

  Chapter 50

  I drove Victor to Fishy Pines the next day. I felt awful pulling him away from Skye, who was crying like she thought she would never see him again. I told Victor to explain to her that he was coming back, that he would only be gone for a few hours. I think he managed to get her to calm down. I left her with my parents, and Dr. and Mrs. Williamsen were also there, taking care of Susan, who had improved even more and even opened her eyes for a few seconds this morning, but only for a few seconds. Still, it was major progress and Dr. Williamsen was very positive and enthusiastic. He had to go see other patients as well later today, so he would leave Mrs. Williamsen in charge. I had to admit, I didn't mind having them at the house. They were quite a nice couple and I enjoyed talking to them in the evenings. Morten had been so busy I had hardly seen him since I brought in Susan. They still hadn't found Susan's mother and I knew it was bothering him. My guess was he was out there driving around searching for her, asking every drunk in town where she could be.

  "I don't want to go to Fishy Pines," Victor said when we drove off.

  "I know," I said. "I know you like to hang out with Skye, but you gotta go to school; otherwise, I am going to get in trouble. If I don't take you there, they'll tell me you have to come live there to make sure you get the right help and education you need."

  Victor grumbled under his breath while staring out the window. "I don't like it there."

  "I thought you loved it," I asked, baffled. "You told me you liked it the last time you were there. I thought you liked to be with kids that were more like you?"

  "They're nothing like me. Skye is like me. Skye is just like me."

  I took a turn, then stopped at a red light. "You do realize that she can't stay with us forever, don't you?"

  "Why not?"

  "Because she has a family somewhere. I need to tell Morten soon and then he will have to find her parents."

  "She doesn’t have any parents," he said. "She told me."

  "Is she an orphan? Well then, she must have foster parents, right?" I asked as the light turned green and I continued through our small town. I waved at Mrs. Petersen, who was shoveling snow in front of her house. She waved back.

  "I don't know," he said, as usual only answering the first question. I always forgot to only ask him one at a time.

  "What's an orphan?"

  "Someone who has no parents," I said.

  "Then, yes, she is an orphan."

  "Okay. But where does she live? Have you talked about that?"

  "She's not from around here."

  "Well, I think I got that much," I said with a chuckle, but Victor didn't say anything. He was zoning out as he usually did when he lost interest in the conversation. It especially happened if I used sarcasm. He didn't understand sarcasm at all.

  "So, if she isn't from the island, then where is she from?" I asked. "Has she told you anything? Is she from another country?"

  He didn't answer. I stopped the car in the parking lot in front of Fishy Pines. "Victor," I said. "We need to find her family and I am counting on you to help me. What language do you speak when you talk with one another in your minds?"

  He shrugge
d. "We just talk."

  "All right," I said and got out of the car.

  Victor got out as well. His hair could use a brush and a cut. He didn't want me to touch it and it was rare for me to be able to lure him to the hairdresser since he hated the way they touched him. For a long time, I had just cut it while he was asleep, but the result was terrible. I don't think he cared much, though. Except lately when spending time with Skye, I had noticed he had actually brushed it a few times, and once I even saw that he had combed it back using a little water. Today, it was back to its old self, though. And so was Victor. I had enjoyed the past days when he had been with Skye. He had been so happy and even smiling and sometimes he even looked me in the eyes. But now, he was back to his old self.

  HP came out to greet us as we entered the building. "Let's start in my office, shall we?"

  Chapter 51

  "So, Victor," HP said.

  We were in his office, sitting on a set of soft couches. The walls had colorful paintings. There were plants and stress balls on the floor and a soft carpet that toys could get lost in. On the couches were pillows, many pillows you could hug if you got sad, I imagined.

  HP was wearing a knitted sweater with a snowman on it, and his beard was long and movements slow as he leaned back on his couch. It was all very relaxed, or at least he wanted it to seem that way. To me, it was everything but.

  "Doctor, we…"

  "Please, call me HP. I’ve told you that before, Emma. It's okay. Everyone else calls me that around here," he said with a smile on his pale face. He was very blond, almost an albino, and his skin was pink and seemed irritated. It was scaling in patches on his neck and hands.

  "Okay, HP," I said, still not comfortable calling him that. I liked the fact that he was trying hard to not be doctor-like, to make the kids feel like it was a normal school and not a hospital, but still. It was strange somehow.