Run Run as Fast as You Can (15 page)

"I'm sorry," I said and turned to her. "He's not answering."

"I'm really scared, Emma," Sophia said.

"I know, sweetie. I'll try again in a little while. He is probably just working. He told me they had a busy day."

"So you finally slept with him, huh?" she asked.

I shook my head and sipped my coffee. I grabbed a cookie. Sophia hadn't touched them. It concerned me. She was usually as bad as me when it came to sweets. "No. Actually we just spent the night together, but nothing happened. We kissed a lot, though."

"Wow," Sophia said. "He didn't even try anything?"

"Well it was kind of not in question. We had just pulled out a woman from a car and were almost freezing to death. He only stayed to keep me warm."

"Yeah right," Sophia grunted.

"Besides he was too frozen to do anything," I chuckled.

"Ah, that must be the explanation," Sophia said with a nervous grin. I hated seeing her anxious like this. It was so unlike her.

"You know what?" I asked as I put the half eaten cookie down on the table.

"What?"

"I am gonna call the police station and ask them to send someone over to protect you. We can't wait for Morten to pick up his phone."

Sophia nodded. "I'd like that. I'd naturally prefer Morten, but right now, anyone would do."

I picked up the phone and called the police station. I talked to Allan, whom I had met a couple of times when I went down there to do research for my book. I told him my concern. He went quiet.

"I'm sorry," he said. "We simply don't have enough men to have one guard Sophia's house all day. But we do have a car on the streets right now. I can have them swing by your neighborhood and have them stay nearby. Except if anything happens elsewhere. Then they'll have to go. Will that do?"

"I think it will," I said and hung up.

"They're sending a patrol," I said making it sound like it was a bigger deal than it was. "They'll be here sometime soon."

Sophia breathed, relieved. "That’s good," she said. "At least it will provide some safety for me and the kids. Could I stay here at your house for the rest of the day?"

"Stay all night if you want. I have plenty of rooms upstairs you can crash in and enough for the kids, as well. They know the house."

"Are you kidding? They love your house," Sophia exclaimed. "Are you sure it's okay? My mom took them yesterday and will bring them back later today."

"I would be happy to have all of you here. It would make me calmer to be able to keep an eye on you myself."

Sophia lit up. "You're the best. You know that don't you?"

I chuckled. "I guess I do. Cookie?"

"Yes, please," Sophia said and grabbed two. She ate greedily and started to look more like herself again. "But what about Lisa?" She asked with her mouth full.

I sighed. "Do you want me to bring her here too?"

Sophia looked terrified. "I would love it if we could avoid it, but maybe it's the right thing to do. To tell you the truth I can't stand the woman. She is so obsessive. Perfectionistic to the extreme. She'll hate it here in all the mess."

"You think my house is messy?" I asked, startled. This coming from a woman whose house looked like it had been bombed.

"No, I think it is cozy and I love it here, but it's not clinically clean like Lisa's house. Not even the hospitals are as clean as her house. It's awful. We only met at her place once and it was horrible. She kept running after us, cleaning the floor where we had walked and disinfecting everything our kids touched. She was a nervous wreck. After that, we decided to avoid her house from then on, since we didn’t want to put her or ourselves through that ever again. So whenever she suggests that we meet at her house, we always come up with an excuse or something else to do instead. It has worked so far."

"Well she did come off as kind of obnoxious," I said and looked out the kitchen window. "The patrol is here," I said.

Sophia looked relieved.

"He won't dare to come close now that they're here," I said and walked to the door. I spoke to one of the officers and told them that Sophia would be in my house the rest of the day and night. They agreed to stay nearby and keep a close watch on my house.

I returned to Sophia, who was finishing off my cookies in the kitchen. "So what do we do about this Lisa then?" I asked.

40

February 2013

"
I
KNOW WHAT
I saw," the handsome husband grumbled.

Ellen was sitting at the kitchen table in their new home hiding her face between her hands. "But Mads. It can't be. It couldn't have been him," she said.

They had been discussing him for hours. Thomas was watching them from outside the window, mostly listening while sitting with his back against the wall beneath the open kitchen window.

"He was there, Ellen. I saw him. He was looking at us while we were sleeping. And he was covered in blood."

"How could you even see that if it was in the middle of the night? It was dark." Ellen said with tears in her voice.

"There was a full moon. I've told you this a million times the last three days. The light from the moon hit his face and I saw blood on his hands and cheek. The man is dangerous, Ellen."

"He saved Gerda's life, remember?" Ellen said. Thomas felt a pinch of happiness in his heart. Ellen was defending him. It had to be a sign.

"Yes. I remember. How could I ever forget?" Mads said with a deep sigh. "And I am grateful for that, but I think he is dangerous. That’s why we moved, remember? He made you feel very uncomfortable, or has that changed all of a sudden? Have you taken a liking to him suddenly? Maybe there is something you haven't told me after all? ‘Cause I have always found it strange that a guy would become obsessed with a girl he didn't even know, Ellen. When are you going to tell me the truth about him?"

Ellen moaned. "Not that again. We have been through this a million times, Mads. I never knew the guy. I have no idea why he has become obsessed with me. I don't know why … I swear to God, I don't have a clue. You have to believe me Mads. Or I swear I'm gonna loose it."

"So he wasn't your lover? You didn't sleep with him while we were married or something?"

"How could you even ask such a horrible thing?" Ellen said furiously. Thomas felt her frustration and hoped she would finally leave her husband. He knew she wanted to, but he didn't understand what she was waiting for. Maybe she was afraid of him? Afraid of what her husband might do?

"It's just really hard to understand, Ellen. You have to realize that."

"Don't you think I know that? Don't you think I feel exactly the same way? This guy has been stalking me for what, six - seven years now? Don't you think I think about it every day, wonder why he chose me, of all people? Don't you think I'm asking myself that very question every day?"

Mads exhaled deeply. "I know, Ellen. I know. It's just … just so hard. I thought we would finally get rid of him when we moved, you know? I thought this was it. Now we could move on with our lives. And then this?"

"But it couldn't have been him, Mads," Ellen said. "The police told us he was dead when I called them. He died in his apartment, probably suicide they said. They found the burnt up remains of him inside the apartment. He is gone, Mads. It must have been a dream. Your mind is playing tricks or something."

Mads exhaled again. "I know what they told you, but I'm telling you he is still out there. He is alive and he has found us. I can't believe you refuse to believe me. After all we’ve been through," Mads said.

They both went quiet, then a door slammed. Thomas smiled from under the window. He had been living in his car ever since he got there. He followed Ellen wherever she went and watched her sleep at night, never taking his eyes off of her for more than a few hours when he needed to get some sleep himself. Being close to her again made him calmer and he finally felt whole, but it was like it wasn't quite enough anymore. He wanted more, he needed more than this.

Thomas sighed and rubbed his eyes. He had developed a tic in one eye that bothered him, especially when he felt agitated. He had trouble controlling his mind. The lack of sleep didn't help much, but he felt like he was slowly losing grip of reality, of what was real and what was fantasy. It felt like he was slipping. He kept imagining killing the handsome husband, and there were days when he thought he had already done so. The many voices in his head wouldn't keep quiet about it and, at times, he thought the only way to make them shut up was to obey.

41

November 2013

"
S
O WHAT CAN
I do for you, Officer ... Bredballe, was it?"

Lisa pulled out a smoothie from the refrigerator that she had made earlier in the morning and started drinking it while staring at the fake officer. She felt like she had seen him before and wondered for a second if she was wrong about him, if he really did work at the station downtown? Lisa had never had much to do with the local officers. And she wasn't starting to now. The guy was sloppy and dirty and highly annoying.

"Yes. Morten Bredballe," he said. "You're new in town?"

"Yes, been here about a year now."

"How do you like it?"

"We love it," Lisa said with a huge smile.

The officer smiled back and sipped his coffee while staring at the smoothie in her hand. "Meat-smoothie," she said. "With beetroot. Very high in protein. I have more, would you like to try one?"

The officer looked like he was about to throw up.

How rude,
Lisa thought to herself.

"No, thanks. The reason I'm here is actually to ask you about a man who went missing a couple of days ago. His name is Bo Quist. He works for Nordby VVS. It's a plumbing company. On the morning he went missing, he was supposed to have come here. He had another client before you and he showed up for them, but that's where the trail ends."

Lisa drank her smoothie through the straw. She didn't even blink when the officer mentioned the plumber. Simply because she didn't care.

She shrugged. "That's most unfortunate, Officer, but I can't say I've seen him. We haven't seen a plumber in this house at all and it’s been weeks since we called the company. WEEKS. Can't say I'm impressed with them, but they're the only ones in town I understand."

"Well yes. That is true. So you're telling me that Bo Quist never came here at all?" the Officer asked and put a picture of the plumber on the table for Lisa to look at. She shook her head with a chuckle.

"No, anyone that ugly, I would remember," she said.

The officer stared at her, then down at the picture. "We did find his truck parked downtown," he said. "So he must have gone down there after the former client and whatever happened to him after that remains a mystery."

Lisa sucked up the last remains of her meat-smoothie through the straw and made a loud sucking noise. She put the empty glass on the table, then looked at the officer and smiled. "It sure does," she said, wondering if she should use the knife and stab him in the chest, or if she could come up with something a little more fun this time. The knife thing was getting old. "And even worse. Our sink is still broken."

"Well yes. That is unfortunate. Say you don't happen to know Nora Willumsen, by any chance? She has a baby about the same age as yours."

"I know, Nora. Yes. She is in my mothers’ group. Can't say I know her well though."

The officer nodded. Lisa turned her head and looked at the knife on the table. She hadn't had time to clean it properly. Then she spotted the carving fork and a smile planted itself across her face. It wasn't her election-smile; no this smile was different.

"Well, the thing is, Nora Willumsen has disappeared as well," the officer continued.

Lisa stared at the officer thinking that maybe he wasn't fake after all; maybe he wasn't here to attack her and take her jewelry. He seemed too well-informed to be fake. Lisa put her hand on the carving fork and caressed it gently. The officer stared at her. She felt his eyes on her body. Was he checking her out? Or was he on to her? Either way, he annoyed her immensely. But worst of all were those dirty boots. Lisa looked at her nice wooden floors that she had just cleaned. Smeared in mud.

Smeared. Defiled. Tainted.

Lisa lifted her eyes and met his. "But I take it you haven't seen her either?" he said and wrote something on his notepad.

Lisa shook her head slowly. "No, officer. I haven't seen her either. Not since we were at the hairdresser yesterday. Boy a lot of people have gone missing lately, haven't they?"

The officer sighed. "Yes. I …" he stopped and looked at her. "Did you say that Nora was in your mothers’ group?"

"Yes," Lisa said and picked up the carving fork in her hand. It felt heavy. She wondered how it was going to sound once she pierced it through his chest. How deep would it go? Would it pierce through his lungs? Would she be able to pierce it straight through his heart or would she have to stab him again and again to kill him? She preferred the last one. She loved to get rid of all her frustrations in that manner.

"Who else is in that group? Was Simone Beaumont in it as well?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, she was." Lisa walked closer with the carving fork clenched in her hand.

"What about Susanne Arnholm?"

"Part of the group too," Lisa said walking close to him. He didn't seem to notice. He was lost in his own chain of thoughts.

Let me give you something to think about, sweetheart. Let me help you forget about everything else around you.

Lisa closed her eyes and went to that special place, the place of pure pleasure and delight, before opening them again. She looked at her victim, her prey, with a grin, then lifted the fork into the air, when the sound of the doorbell made her lose her momentum and the arm with the fork dropped down behind the officer's back instead of inside of him.

"Who the hell is that?" she growled and sprang for the door. "What?" she yelled and opened it, still clenching the carving fork in her hand.