Nine, Ten ... Never Sleep Again (14 page)

I called Peter
from
the car on my way back and told him I was coming
back. He was so happy, he told me and he was going to stay awake to wait for
me. I kissed him when he opened the door and threw myself in his arms.

"I'm so sorry," I said. "I'm so
sorry for everything."

Peter chuckled and stroked my cheek. "It's
okay, Rebekka. I’m beginning to get how important your job is to you."

I smiled and kissed him again, wondering for one
insane second if he could taste Sune on my lips. Could he taste that I had
kissed someone else?

We went inside and up to bed where Peter wanted
to have sex, but I told him I was way too tired. He looked disappointedly at
me.

"Tomorrow, Peter. Today I'm beat after a
long day. I just want to go to sleep."

Peter kissed my nose and turned around to go to
sleep. I lay a long time with my eyes open, staring into the old, hand-carved,
wooden ceiling, and feeling like the worst person on earth. I had been lying to
Peter. I wasn't too beat to have sex. The fact was I didn't want to. I hadn't
felt attracted to him.

Probably just because you're
so damn confused
.

I closed my eyes and forced myself to think
about something else and finally, after half an hour or so, I fell into a heavy
sleep.

"Mommy! Mommy! You're back." Julie
woke me up the next morning jumping into our bed with a shriek. I grabbed her
and hugged her for a long time. "What do you want to do today?" she
asked.

"I want to do anything you want," I
said and looked into her eyes.

"Let's play hide and seek," she said.

"Okay. After breakfast."

"Do you want to play too, Daddy?"
Julie said.

"I guess I could play a little," he
answered.

"How's the painting going?" I asked. I
looked at my family and felt suddenly overwhelmed with gratefulness. To think I
had almost thrown all of that away again.

"Not progressing as fast as I'd like it
to," Peter said. "But, alright I guess."

"Let's go," Julie yelled and jumped
down from the bed.

"I'll take a shower first," I said.
"Be right down."

I walked into the bathroom, when suddenly I felt
incredibly nauseated. It was overpowering and I had to sit down on the bathroom
floor.

It's gotta be stress,
I thought to myself.

I undressed and looked at myself in the mirror.
Had my breasts grown? They had been very sore lately and now I could hardly
touch them. Another wave of nausea flushed over me and I barely made it to the
toilet before I threw up.

It was when I lifted my head and spotted the box
of Tampax on the shelf that the penny finally dropped.

Could it be? Could I be? No.
No. No.

I went through the stuff in my toilet bag,
knowing I had hidden a pregnancy test somewhere in it from back when I was with
Sune. I had used one of these a month, only to disappoint him with the results.

With a beating heart, I pulled out the stick and
peed on it. Then I waited, but I didn't even have to wait till the time was up
before I had my answer. I couldn't believe my eyes. I checked the box again,
hoping I was wrong, hoping I had misunderstood it. Nope. I hadn't.
Two lines shows you're pregnant
it said.

I had to sit down. I stormed into the bedroom
and sat on the bed staring at the small stick with the very serious message,
wondering whom the father could be.

Was it Peter? If so, then there was no problem.
We were a family and now, an expanding one. Nothing wrong with that.

Except the fact that you'd have
to say a definitive goodbye to Sune.
The thought hurt
me deeply.

But could the child be Sune's? We had tried for
months without any luck. Maybe it had finally paid off? In that case, I would
end up hurting both Peter and Julie. I would crush the dream of a family. Sune
would be thrilled beyond anything, since he had wanted another child for all
the time I had known him. But what about me? I looked at the stick again, then
down at my stomach that suddenly seemed to have grown tremendously in the last
five minutes.

Did I really want another child? Did I want to
destroy my family to have it?

Henrik Fenger
was trying
to run, but it hurt too much. He stopped
for a little while to catch his breath, leaning towards the wall of a building.
The bleeding had stopped and he had felt better waking up in his hotel room
this morning. Last night had been a disaster for him. He had felt so confused
and angry after talking to that journalist woman and after learning that there
had been another victim like him. At first, he had freaked out thinking he had
killed the wrong girl, but after a good night’s sleep, he finally saw things
clearly now.

They were in on it together. The both of them
had worked together on this. Two whores picking up guys in bars just to sedate
them and steal their organs at night. It was very simple really. That was the
only explanation he could come up with. Maybe there were even more than two?
Maybe they were an entire group of women working this way. Maybe getting their
revenge over men, who hadn't been treating them right or something.

That was it. A group of man-hating, freaking
feminists. Maybe they were even trying to prove a point or something. Maybe
they were like activists trying to tell people something through their
desperate and violent actions.

Freaking feminists
.
Thinking they can have it all, thinking that
they are as good as men. Bah.

Henrik looked at the piece of paper with the
address in his hand, then at the iPhone where he had plotted the address in the
app called maps. He had parked the rented car far away, so it wouldn’t be seen.
He had to turn right at the next corner and then left on the first street.
Henrik looked up the hill thinking it was going to be hard for him to walk all
that way. Then he thought of Annabelle and how she had been deceiving him all
night, whispering sweet words in his ear telling him how handsome he was, how
she enjoyed being with him. Henrik growled and felt the adrenalin rush through
his veins. Anger was the best drive he could think of. He roared and started
walking again, now with renewed strength while picturing this Barbara character
doing all the same things to this guy who she had ended up killing.

"Barbara Rasmussen," he mumbled.

He had gotten the name from the bartender at the
hotel in Hasle where the other guy had been killed. Martin Damsgaard was his
name. It was a name Henrik was going to make sure Barbara Rasmussen wasn't
going to forget anytime soon. Martin wasn't here to take his own revenge, so
Henrik would do it for him. It was the least he could do. Make sure these women
realized they weren't getting away with this, even if the police were too
stupid to see what was going on.

Henrik had paid the bartender five hundred
kroner to give him the name and address of the girl. The bartender told him he
had slept with her once, himself, at her place, so he knew exactly where to
find her.

Henrik turned a corner and walked some hundred
yards until he finally found the street where Barbara lived. It didn't take him
long to spot the right building. A garbage truck further up the street emptied
the dumpsters. A couple of neighbors were talking in a door opening.

"You hear about Jessen's daughter in number
fourteen?"

"Yes terrible story. You think she ran away
from home?"

"Nils in number twelve B says he saw her
walk home yesterday afternoon after school, as usual. She passed his window at
three o'clock, but she never made it home, her parents say."

"You think they're lying? They have beaten
her before, remember?"

"Ah yes, terrible story."

Henrik shook his head and walked past the
chatting women, not caring that they saw his face. Women weren't his favorite
species among humans right now. He fought an urge to yell at them, to scare
them senseless and give them something real to talk about. But this was not why
he had come here.

I was close to
tears as I walked down the stairs to eat breakfast. I had been thinking about
it over and over again, but had not come up with any good solutions to my
situation. So, I decided to try and ignore it. At least for a couple of hours
while playing with my daughter, spending time with my family. Whatever
happened, I didn't want to ruin this vacation for Julie. My editor had been
calling my phone and leaving messages, but I hadn't listened to them or called
him back, since I wasn't in the mood to work today. Today he would have to find
someone else.

When I walked inside the kitchen, the TV was on
and both Julie and Peter were staring at it.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Looks like you have to work again,
Mommy," Julie said.

"What do you mean?"

"It happened again," Peter said.
"Someone was attacked at a hotel in Silkeborg."

My heart stopped. "In Silkeborg. I was just
there yesterday. What hotel? What hotel, Peter?"

"Easy now, Rebekka. I don't know the name
of the hotel."

"Hotel Mercury," Julie said. I stared
at her. My heart stopped.

"Who was the victim? Have they told who it
was yet?" I asked.

"No. They don't know yet. All they know is
that some guy was attacked in his hotel room and was found covered in ice cubes
in the bathtub. They say he had his spleen taken out."

"Oh my God. Is he alive?"

"He was airlifted to the hospital in
Aarhus. That's all they’ve said, so far."

I felt nauseated and had to sit down to not
faint. "Are you okay, Mommy?" Julie asked. I felt her hand on my
neck. It was like the room was spinning around me and I was suffocating at the
same time. I wasn't sure I could stand up. The pregnancy, the decisions, the
prospect of having to let them all down, and now this?

I reached into my pocket and found my phone. I
found Sune's number and called it. Peter looked at me while I waited for an
answer. But none came. His voicemail started and I hung up.

Peter was still looking at me. "What's
going on, Rebekka?"

I shook my head and tried to call Sune again.
Still no answer. This time I left a message on his voicemail.

"It's Rebekka. Call me when you get
this."

I hung up. Peter had an angry look to his eyes.
"It's him, isn't it? You're worried about that Sune guy, right?"

"What?" Julie said. "What about
Sune?"

My hands were sweaty. I wiped them on my pants.
My heart was racing like crazy. I felt like crying. Why the hell wasn't he
answering his phone? Sune always answered his phone. This couldn't be … it
simply couldn't be happening. A thousand thoughts ran through my mind and I had
no time to consider Peter's jealousy or emotions at this point.

"Rebekka, I think you're exaggerating here.
You don't know why he isn't answering his phone. Maybe he is still sleeping.
Maybe he is already on his way home. He was going by train, right? Maybe he
caught an early one?"

I nodded, while pressing back my tears. I had a
horrifying feeling inside that something was wrong. I couldn't explain it. I
only knew I was certain that something bad had happened to him and I couldn't
bear it.

I looked up at Peter. "I need to borrow
your car again," I said. "I have to go back to the hotel."

I got up from the chair and started packing my
bag again. Peter exhaled. "Rebekka is this really necessary?"

"I'm afraid so, Peter. I have to do this. I
have to make sure he is alright. Besides Jens-Ole probably wants me to cover
the story for the paper anyway. He has already called me several times this
morning and left messages in my voicemail. I just haven't called him back
yet."

Peter handed me the keys to his Land Rover with
a sigh.

"I'm sorry, Peter. But this is something I
have to do."

"I don't understand it," Peter said. I
detected anger in his voice. "It's not just about the work, is it? It's
about him. Is he really that important to you? I'm sure if you wait half an
hour he will call you back. Why Rebekka? Why is he still this important to
you?"

I kissed Julie and put on my jacket. "I
don't know Peter. He just is, alright?"

"Do you still love him?"

"Let's talk about it when I get back. First
of all I need to know if he is alright. Then, I think we need to sit down and
talk."

Peter growled, then grabbed my arm. It hurt. He
pulled me back. "No."

"No what?"

"No you're not going anywhere. You're
staying here with me, with us."

I looked into his eyes and suddenly saw the
Peter I remembered from back when he wasn't well. I gasped and pulled my arm
away.

"Don't ever tell me what to do, Peter. Not
ever again."