There's no place like HOME (Emma Frost Book 8) (7 page)

Once we were done eating, Morten grabbed his coat and put it on.

“You’re not spending the night?”

“Sorry. Have to get home to the little one.”

The little one? She’s seventeen!

I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him as he was about to leave. He put his arms around me.

“So, can I come tomorrow?”

Morten smiled. He brushed a lock of hair away from my face. “You can come, but you can’t play police officer. You’ll have to stay in the car while I talk to this guy.”

I kissed him again and whispered, “Deal.”

17

July 2014

T
HEY HAD NO
doubt in their minds. Jacob and Christine walked through the living room, the sound of their shoes echoing off the bare walls. They didn’t have to say anything. They knew each other well enough to be able to just share a glance, and then know that they both agreed.

This was it. This was the house they wanted.

None of them spoke while walking through the three bedrooms of the house. Jacob had taken the morning off to be able to see the house with his wife. He missed an important meeting, but no longer regretted his decision. The realtor spoke eagerly and still hadn’t seen by the look in their eyes that meant she didn’t have to try so hard anymore. The decision had been made. It had been from the moment they entered the house on Niels Sorensensvej next to Nordby Church.

This was, by far, the most adorable house Christine had ever been in. The ceilings were low and the roof thatched. The house was built in eighteen hundred and eight. It was red, and everything about it was just so endearing. Even the street outside was lovely. It was so narrow that only one car at a time could pass. People were biking, and most were walking. Christine had even seen a horse carriage while driving there.

It was more idyllic than she had dared to hope for.

“So, this is basically it,” the realtor said, smiling, as she finished the tour of the house. “Everything is newly renovated, but, of course, you must keep in mind that a house at this age demands a lot of love and care every year.”

“Naturally,” Jacob said.

Christina grabbed his hand and dragged him to the window. “We could fit a small swing set over there in the corner for Emilie.”

“Or Emil,” he said, as he put his hand on her stomach.

Christine smiled. She knew Jacob wanted a boy so badly; one that could take over the business one day…one he could play soccer with in the yard. She looked away and avoided him. At the last visit to the hospital, they had told her it was a girl. She hadn’t dared to tell him yet. It would simply devastate him. Now, she didn’t know if she should keep it a secret until she was born. Maybe Jacob would change his mind once he saw his beautiful daughter. Maybe then he wouldn’t care what gender it was anymore.

She had no idea how to break it to him.

Not now. Not today. Today is about finding a house. A new home for the family. It’s not a day to worry.

“I love this house,” she whispered. “It’s just perfect.”

“I know,” he said. “It’s everything we’ve been looking for.”

They had been looking for a long time to find the right home for them to start their family…a home for their child to grow up in.

“Look, there are children playing in the street,” Christine said.

“That’s perfect. I can take the ferry to the mainland every morning to go to the office, and you get to stay here and enjoy your life and take care of our boy. The harbor is only a few minutes away. I can even ride my bike there and take it with me on good days. Get some exercise. It’s perfect. Oh, Christine, we’re going to be very happy here. I can just feel it.”

The realtor approached them. “So, I take it you like it?”

“We love it,” Christine said. “We love the house, the yard with all its flowers. We love the street, the island, everything.”

The realtor smiled even wider, probably at the prospect of making a lot of money, Christine thought to herself. But she didn’t care. Jacob’s business made good money now, and it was time for them to live a little.

“It’s ready to be moved into right away,” she said. “It’s been empty for quite awhile. So, do you want to sleep on it or…”

Jacob looked at Christine, whose eyes were begging him.

I love this one. I love it. Let’s just take it. Oh, please say we’ll take it. Don’t start talking about the price. Just take it.

“I say we finish the paperwork right away,” he said. “We’re ready to put in an offer.”

18

July 2014

I
T WENT WRONG
from the very beginning. Morten picked me up in his car at nine o’clock. He parked on the road and I jumped in. I leaned over and kissed him. His kiss felt emotionless, slightly reluctant.

“Something wrong?” I asked.

Morten drove onto the road. He snapped at me. “No, nothing is wrong. Why would you say that? Why do you always assume something is wrong?”

“I don’t know. You just didn’t seem very happy to see me,” I said. The disappointment was eating at me. I had been looking forward to seeing him, and then he showed up angry? Wasn’t he looking forward to this as much as I was? Maybe he was just worried about the meeting with the chief of police.

“I brought a little something for the trip,” I said, and held up a thermos with coffee. “I also brought some of my home made cake.”

Morten hardly looked. His silence made me nervous. I grabbed a piece of the cake and ate it, hoping Morten wouldn’t see me. He knew I was an emotional eater, and that I had gained a lot of weight over the last year, due to all the stress and emotional turbulence I had been through. He also knew I was trying to lose a couple of pounds and tried to support me. It was just so hard for me. Going through all the stress I was right now, I simply couldn’t keep to a diet. Maybe I didn’t really want to. Maybe I liked to have this. It had sort of become my thing. Eating made me happy.

“Do you want me to pour you some coffee?” I asked. “I brought cups.”

“It’s a little dangerous to pour hot coffee while we’re driving,” Morten said. “Wait till we’re parked at the port waiting for the ferry.”

I shrugged. “Okay.”

Silence broke out between us. An awkward long silence.

What is wrong with him? Did I say something? Did I do something?

“So, did you have a nice evening with Jytte?” I asked.

Morten answered with a grumble.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.” Morten exhaled. “She’s giving me a hard time. That’s all.”

“A hard time? How’s that?” I asked, and stuck my hand into the bag and found another piece of cake.

“You don’t want to know.”

I bit my lip. I hated how he always excluded me when it came to his daughter. Anything else in his life, he would include me and tell me everything, even ask for my advice. Even when it came to his work. But, as soon as it was her, I had no business. It frustrated me. When you love someone, you want to be a part of every area of their life. Not just some of it. This was obviously bothering him enough to make him moody and ruin our trip. So, why couldn’t I know what it was?

“Maybe I do,” I mumbled, while looking out the window. The port was coming up ahead of us. There were a lot of cars already waiting for the next ferry. The trip across to the mainland only took twelve minutes, and the ferry left three times an hour, so many of the people living on the island had jobs on the mainland and took the trip every morning to go to work.

“What was that?”

Morten drove into a lane and parked the car. I could see the ferry approaching in the distance. “I just said that maybe I would like to know what it was that Jytte was giving you such a hard time about.”

Morten rubbed his chin. He had shaved this morning, and was even wearing a tie. Maybe this meeting was more important than I had first thought. Was he worried about losing his job if they decided on the cutbacks? Was he keeping his worries from me?

“I don’t want to bother you with what we’re dealing with. Besides, Jytte would kill me if I did. She already thinks I’m sharing too much with you. She made me promise that what I talked about with her would stay between us. Guess she is afraid of losing her father, the poor thing.

The poor thing? More like poor manipulating thing!

I grabbed a bigger piece of the cake and ate it in order to keep quiet and not say anything that I would later regret. I couldn’t believe that girl. She was deliberately keeping me out in the cold, wasn’t she?

I swallowed my anger, along with the chocolate cake, and flushed it down with coffee. I didn’t speak for a little while.

“Now, I would like some of that coffee,” Morten said.

I poured him a cup and handed it to him.

“Oh, by the way,” he said, as he swallowed the first sip. “It looks like I’m going to have to cancel our dinner plans for Friday night.”

“This Friday? But we were going to go out for the first time in weeks. Why do you have to cancel?”

“Jytte is having her birthday party at the club, remember? I rented the place for her.”

My eyes grew big and wide. “But, you told me she said she didn’t want any adults there.” My voice was shaking. A lump grew in my throat. Jytte’s birthday was two weeks ago, and I had given her the most beautiful bracelet. She, in return, had declared that I wasn’t coming to her party, but up until now, Morten had told me that neither was he. He told me it was her being a teenager and not wanting adults to ruin her party.

The ferry was now in the port and being emptied of the few cars that drove onshore. The cars in front of us turned on their engines and started to drive onboard. Morten followed.

“I guess she had a change of heart,” Morten said.

We drove onto the ferry and parked behind an RV…probably German tourists going back home. Fanoe Island was always packed with German tourists at this time of year.

“A change of heart? I can’t believe her,” I said, startled.

“Oh, come on, Emma. She’s a teenager. You know how they can be sometimes. Don’t take it personally.”

Personally? How can I not take this personally? I’m the only one she hasn’t invited to this thing. It is personal. It doesn’t get any more personal that this! Can’t you see it? Why are you not upset about this? Why don’t you tell her you want me there too? Why don’t you tell her that I’m a big part of your life now, and that she has to accept that and treat me right? I’m not asking for much here. I really don’t think I am.

Morten sipped some more coffee while the ferry started moving. Some people went outside to look around while we were sailing. I used to love watching the island disappear and breathing in the breeze, but not today. Today, Morten and I stayed in the car. I kept stuffing myself with the cake, in order to not say anything I would later regret, while Morten drank his coffee. I felt like steam was literally pouring out of my ears. I was furious. And hurt. Mostly hurt, I guess. I had tried so hard to get this girl to like me, and still, she just kept ignoring me and pretending that I didn’t exist.

The worst part was that Morten let her. 

19

July 2014

J
ESPER
M
ELANDER COULD
hardly take his excitement anymore. He was looking through the newspapers online, and couldn’t believe how far this had reached. All of the big newspapers had written the story, his story.

Finally, it had begun. Everything was going as planned. The island was in shock at the brutality of this killing, they wrote. He liked that word
shock
. It had such a wonderful ring to it, especially when you said it out loud. And it described precisely the state he wanted his fellow islanders to be in. That paralyzed state when you are unable to act. Oh, how he loved it. And the best part was that he had only just begun. The beauty of his plan was comprehensive. It was brilliant.

“Shock, shock, shock, people are in shock, it is shocking…” he said with a grin, while scrolling through the articles. Jesper hadn’t expected to feel this thrilled about executing his plan. But, somehow, it had made him feel alive, made him feel like his life finally had a purpose.

He was a man on a mission. Like Dorothy. She was on a mission too. Jesper started humming, and soon he was singing.

“…off to see the wizard, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. We hear he is a whiz of a wiz, if ever a wiz there was. If ever, oh ever a wiz there was, The Wizard of Oz is one because. Because, because, because, because, because. Because of the wonderful things he does…”

A second later, he was dancing on the floor. He grabbed the listing of the house on Niels Sorensensvej that he had printed out from the Internet. He knew they would love the house. Finally, they had decided on one. He had watched them as they looked at houses all over the island for weeks. Finally, it was closing time. And they moved fast, he was thrilled to discover. Before noon, they had put down an offer. Now, all he had to do was wait. The seller would surely accept the offer, wouldn’t they? Of course they would. The house had been empty for quite a while. It was a lot sooner than Jesper had expected to be able to strike again, but that was only to his advantage. 

The sooner the better.

Jesper thought back to the faces of the couple he had surprised in bed…the gorgeous sight of the red blood spreading on the sheets…the screams of the wife…the crunchy sound of the knife going through the flesh. Oh, and that look the wife had given. Those wide fearful eyes.

It was better than sex.

“…Because, because, because, because. Because of the wonderful things he does,
” he sang out loud.

Then he burst into laughter. He couldn’t wait to see that same look on the new couple’s faces. What were their names again?

Jesper searched in his notes. Ah, yes. There they were. Jacob and Christine Hansen.

What wonderfully ordinary names. Mr. and Mrs. Denmark.