Opposing Forces (31 page)

“Whatever you’ve done has hurt her very badly, so even if I knew I wouldn’t tell you.” Venom dripped from her lips. “Now I suggest you leave my apartment before I have to call Sergeant Dufrais to have you removed by force, Police Chief or not.”

He sped back to the station and thought through his options.  With the excuse of the blood stained blouse as a possible abduction, he used all the police technology he could in trying to track her down.  It wasn’t difficult.  He phoned the local taxi company and they confirmed having a fare to Geneva airport that morning from Maisie’s address.  He pulled up passenger records for that time of day and found her on a flight to Helsinki.  Knowing Maisie’s fondness for first class hotels, he contacted the five star hotels.  His eighth phone call was successful. She was staying at the Intercontinental.

Steffen phoned the airline and booked his flight for the next day.

Her meetings in Helsinki had gone brilliantly and Maisie was extremely pleased.  She had found a couple of good contenders to host a new client event.  Her business mind was working hard.  She glanced at her watch.  She would make it just in time for her flight to St Petersburg. 

Steffen caught the last flight to Helsinki.  He had a couple of meetings he could not put off, one with the Vice President.  It was late by the time he checked-in at the Intercontinental Hotel. 

“I’m due to meet with a friend of mine who’s staying here,” he smiled at the young receptionist.  “Could you let me know which room she’s in?  It’s Maisie Carrington.”

The girl checked the computer then checked again.  “I’m so sorry, Mr Grundberg, but Miss Carrington checked out this morning.”

“But she only arrived last night?” he queried.

“Yes, she was just booked in for the one night.”

Steffen swore under his breath. A wasted bloody trip.  As he took the elevator to his room, the bellboy smiled knowingly.

“I brought Miss Carrington’s luggage down this morning. Apparently she was on her way to St Petersburg.”

Steffen gave him a hefty tip.  Once in his room, he booked his flight the next day to St Petersburg.

Maisie absolutely loved St Petersburg.  Walking down by the river, well wrapped up with a gorgeous faux fur hat, she felt invigorated.  The city was just so unusual and exciting.  She has seen some truly unique and splendid venues, the Hermitage for one, and really felt disappointed that she could not stay another night. Her schedule was too tight. 

Only in the taxi back to the airport in the late afternoon did she allow herself to think about Steffen.  What was it about her and Swiss German men?  Twice she had fallen hopelessly in love and both of them had tossed her aside without much thought.  Feeling herself starting to get emotional, she glanced down at her flight details.  Copenhagen was next, then onto some sunshine in Cairo.

Steffen yet again managed to track down where she was staying in St Petersburg and headed straight there from the airport.  He was once again met with the disturbing news that she had checked out that morning.  This time no-one remembered her next destination.  He decided to return back to Lausanne, he could be playing catch-up for days. 

Late that night back at his residence, he logged onto the Department’s secure systems and tried to see if Maisie had used her personal credit card.  He came up trumps.  There was a payment to the Sonesta Hotel in Cyprus.   He phoned through and the hotel confirmed her booking in five days’ time.  He booked himself in for the same dates; he would have to wait a further agonising five days before seeing her.

Sabina had booked a long weekend for her and Philippe to go climbing.  She thought they could probably do with some time alone and after their recent near break-up, she wanted to do something special for him.  He loved climbing so she would suffer the bruises and scrapes.

“Where are we headed?” he asked eagerly as they crossed the border into France.

“The Vendée,” she replied, giving very little away.

“We can’t be skiing or boarding then,” he mused.  “It’s a bit cold for rafting.”

“You’re on your way to becoming a detective fast,” she smiled.

“You don’t climb,” he thought hard for a moment. 

“What makes you think that?”

“The first time I took you out, you said you’d never climbed.”

“That was over three months ago.” 

“You’ve learnt?”

“Yeah.  I took some lessons at the wall in Lausanne.”

“You did that for me?” he sounded truly surprised. Then it clicked.  “All those bruises and grazes were from your lessons?”

“You’ll make Chief Inspector in next to no time.”
 

“I’d show you how appreciative I am but you’re driving,” his tone was distinctly husky.  “Which walls did you attempt?”
 

“All of them.”

“Who was your instructor?  Olivier?”

“Yes.  The bastard had me attempt the overhang wall on my first lesson.”

Philippe puffed out his cheeks.  “You must be pretty good then. He doesn’t normally push students that hard.”

Sabina could not have felt happier on the long drive, Philippe was bouncing around in the car like a kid on Christmas morning.  The first thing he did when they arrived at the chalet late that afternoon was to go see the climbing instructor.  Between them they had the routes mapped out for the next day and for Sunday morning as well.

As she and Philippe sat snuggled together by the roaring fire with a cold beer, it struck her how far removed from her former life in Zurich she was.  Her old friends would be sitting in a club, sipping champagne, getting involved in sedate activities. She was swigging beer, about to take on a mountain with the love of her life.

Philippe placed a mug of tea by her bed.  “Are you alright, Sabina?”

“I’m fine,” she feigned a smile.

“Then why have you been sick the last two mornings?”

The guy missed nothing.  “It’s probably nerves.  Climbing is quite scary stuff for us beginners.”

Philippe looked at her unconvinced.  “Are you sure?  You’ve been sick a few times over the last month.”
 

“I can’t seem to shake off that bout of flu I had.” 

He ran a hand down her face.  “I love you, Sabina.  I think it only natural I’m concerned.  Will you promise me you’ll see a doctor early next week?”

“If it will put your mind at rest, yes.”  She gave him a long hug.  She didn’t want to see a doctor just in case there really was something wrong.  That’s how cruel fate could be.  It dangles the perfect life under your nose then gives you a terminal illness so you can’t enjoy it.

As soon as she’d had tea and breakfast, she felt ready to conquer the world again.  Or at least one small mountain.  She really couldn’t have some dreadful disease.

Maisie was looking forward to a few days at the Sonesta Spa. Her seven day whirlwind tour of Europe had exhausted her. But a good kind of exhausted.  Now she was due to relax for a few days and she knew she would have to exorcise a few ghosts, face the heartache she was so desperately trying to hide.

The Spa itself was an absolute delight, close to the sea but with the most exquisite gardens that were intermingled with waterways.  Her suite had a private terrace with its own plunge pool and treatment area.  She had booked a series of treatments for the next day.

Changing into a sarong, Maisie went for a stroll along the beach, watching the late afternoon sun sink in the sky.   Try as she could to dismiss them, Steffen’s words kept coming back to haunt her.  She was nothing more to him than a bit of fun.   But then she had been the one who made the first move so why shouldn’t he take advantage if she was so willing to offer it.

She puffed out her cheeks in despair.  She had it with men; they brought nothing but heartache and pain.  She would be better off becoming a nun, or a lesbian, or how about a lesbian nun?  One thing she knew for sure was that she would definitely be moving to Paris.  There was no way on earth she could live in Lausanne now.

The Spa would do a great job in restoring her body, it was just her head that needed so much work, but she was damned and determined she was not going to shed another tear over the asshole.   As she meandered wearily back to her room, the last thing she expected to see was Steffen

sitting out on her terrace.  Her first thought was to throw her arms around him, then she remembered he had stabbed her in the heart several times over. And how the hell had he found her?

“Fuck off, Steffen,” she glared and walked past him to her sitting room.

He grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him.  “Maisie, I need…”

She dealt him a very forceful slap across the face.  “I never want to set eyes on you again, you emotional stunted twat.  I don’t give a flying fuck what you need, just sod off out my room before I call security.  You have no jurisdiction here.”

Steffen took a step back, his cheek was still smarting.  “You have to hear me out, Maisie.”
 

“I don’t have to do anything for you.”  She stalked towards the bedroom. “I’m calling security.”

Her bedroom door did not slam dramatically as she hoped. He’d caught it.  Now she was not just angry, she was a little scared.  He looked furious.  She grabbed a book off the night stand and hurled it at him. “Get out my room,” she screamed at him.  The book missed him, so she threw a couple more, anything in fact she could get her hands on.  He still kept coming at her and as she tried to move out of his reach, he made a grab for her, pinning her down on the bed.

He eventually managed to subdue her, her anger turning to tears.  He held her close until her sobbing stopped. 

“I really hate you, Steffen,” she sniffed.

“And I hate you too, my love.” He kissed the top of her head.

“Why are you here?”

“When you overhear a conversation, Maisie, you should really listen to all of it.”

“I think I got the gist of it. You made your feelings for me more than clear.” She couldn’t look at him.  She tried to pull away from him but he would not let her go.

“If you’d stayed, you impetuous fool, you would have heard me tell my father, I couldn’t actually say any of those things I’d mentioned because I’d fallen so completely for this wonderful woman. This highly irrational, exasperating woman who filled me with so many emotions I thought I was devoid of.”  He pushed a curl back behind her ear. 

She stared at him in bewilderment through soaking wet lashes.  “So, you don’t think our relationship was a mistake?”

He shook his head.  “It was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“You have no regrets?”

“The only regret was you leaving me like you did.”

“I’m not just another piece of ass?”

He was far too strung out to smile.  “No, Maisie.  You’re the only piece of ass I want.”

She was so tempted to throw her arms around him, but she needed to be sure. She had been hurt so very badly by him.  “How do I know what you are saying is true?”

“I have broken practically every rule I have in trying to find you, misused police time and property in bringing you back where you belong. Back with me.”

As she looked up a little surprised, he acted fast.  He took her face in his hands and kissed her until she completely melted.  A long while later, he surfaced for air.  “I’m not taking no for an answer, Maisie Carrington, you’re coming back with me.  Now you can come voluntarily or in handcuffs, it’s up to you.”

“I hate to tell you, Chief, but I can’t come back with you yet,” she sniffed.

She felt him stiffen.  “What’s to delay you, Maisie?” he sounded very tense.

“The last flight back to Geneva has already left,” she giggled between the sobs.

In fact they didn’t leave for another two days.  Steffen had decided that they needed time alone together and she was after all booked in. 

He broached the subject of Gerhard on their second day at the Sonesta.  Walking along the beach, hand in hand, he risked asking the questions that had been eating away at him.  “Is it because of Von Siebenthal that you hate your Swiss roots?”

“Yes,” she sighed.

“He hurt you very badly?”

“Yes.”

Steffen laughed softly.  “And you accuse me of being monosyllabic.”

“Sorry, he’s not a subject I like to discuss. You don’t discuss your personal life either.”

He pulled her to him.  “Maisie, you are my personal life.  Besides, I’ve never had a relationship that has affected me like Von Siebenthal has you.   I want to know what he did.  Had he not hurt you so badly, I may not have had to chase you half way around Europe. You might have had a bit more faith in me.”

Maisie wriggled out of his grasp and pulled her cotton wrap around her.  “I met Gerhard when I was in my first year at the Sorbonne.”  She wandered a little ahead of him along the shore.  “He was so confident and charming, he swept me off my feet.  We were together a year before he cast me aside to return to the family fold.”

Steffen hated hearing about the ass but he needed to know.  “Many relationships break up, so what did he do that made you turn your back on your heritage?”

“He broke up with me because he did not think I was pedigree enough to meet his family,” was her bitter response. “I was only part Swiss, and Swiss-French at that.  My family line did not go back far enough for his liking.  I was just a means of amusement for his final year. He didn’t just break my heart, he shattered it.”

“And you thought I’d done the same to you?”

“Yes.  Yours is an old family too.”

“Oh, Maisie,” he wrapped her tight in his arms. “Nothing could be further from the truth.  Ignoring the fact that you are actually very well bred, I would not mind what your background was.”

“He taught me to really appreciate my English side.”

“Yes, your English eccentricity.  It’s what gets you in trouble. But I happen to like both sides, it makes you who you are.”

Holding Maisie close to him, he began to realise how lucky he was.  Gerhard was an idiot, he had cast aside what was probably the best thing to touch him.  And he was only too glad.

“I shall be sad to leave,” Steffen gazed out across the gardens as they sat down for their final breakfast.  “It is quite beautiful here.”

Maisie felt like they were in their own private bubble, they had had virtually no contact with the outside world. It was a shame they would have to return to their everyday lives.  Well, what she could return to of hers, there was after all still a madman out for her blood.  “Am I under house arrest when we get back?” she grimaced.

“Most definitely,” he gazed at her. The thought that there was someone out there who was trying to kill her made him feel truly sick.  He would protect her with his life. Without her, his life would not be worth living any way.