Peek A Boo I See You (Emma Frost #5) (10 page)

"I think this is it!" I yelled.

Morten continued to dig around it and soon a black coffin showed up. We heard voices behind us and more policemen came running to help us pull it up from the hole in the ground. They used a crowbar to open the lid.

"Please hurry. Please hurry," I said.

The lid came off and I could now see Anders Samuelsen. He was lying completely still and was very pale. Morten leaned over his body. He felt for a pulse. In the distance I could hear the ambulance getting closer.

Morten's face looked serious. "I can't feel it," he said.

My heart was beating rapidly. Two paramedics came to the scene. Morten and I moved away and let them take care of it. I leaned on Morten's shoulder and finally dared to let the tears roll.

Please let him be alive.

24

February 2014

A
NDERS
S
AMUELSEN WAS DREAMING
when he felt the pain in his chest. It was a nice dream. It had removed all the anxiety and fear that his life had been so filled with for the last many years. For the first time since he could remember, he was at peace. His dream was calm and he didn't want to let go of it again, but the choice wasn't his.

He felt the pain in his chest once again and opened his eyes with a loud gasp. That was when he saw her for the first time. She was standing a few steps behind the many yellow jackets who were frantically pushing his chest, yelling at him, and now using a defibrillator on him. But Anders didn't look at them, nor did he care what they did or what happened to him. All he cared about was that beautiful face behind them all, the woman with the beautiful eyes, looking at him with worry. 

Anders had been afraid all of his life, but for once, he opened his eyes without being struck by those taunting emotions that had destroyed so much for him for so long. Looking into her eyes, he felt calm. He knew they were all working to save his life, and somehow he knew he had died down in that box and was now being revived. He knew he had gone through his own worst nightmare of being buried alive and slowly losing air, but somehow, none of that mattered right now. He was alive.

"He's breathing!" someone yelled.

Anders smiled and didn't take his eyes off of the woman while they carried him up on a stretcher and started rolling him towards an ambulance.

All of his life, he had feared being sick, feared having to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance; he had feared dying.

But not anymore. He had tried it and it wasn't all that bad.

The woman ran next to the stretcher and Anders looked at her with a blissful smile. He even reached out his hand towards her, right before he was pushed inside the ambulance where they did all kinds of things to him that he didn't care about. The last thing he saw as they closed the doors was her. She was standing on the gravel outside looking at him…looking so beautiful.

My angel.

He heard more voices in the distance, then felt the ambulance take off. In the hospital, he was examined and treated for hours and hours. The doctor spoke to him and so did the nurses, and Anders answered the best he could, still with the blissful smile on his face.

I beat death. Nothing can beat me now. I'm invincible! I've never felt more alive in my life!

Two days passed in the hospital bed where he slowly got better and better. He joked with the nurses and laughed with the other patients, who found him to be entertaining and funny. But, best of all, Anders was happy. For the first time in his life, he wasn't afraid. He wasn't terrified, constantly thinking about what could possibly go wrong, what could possibly make him sick or hurt him in any way.

He was finally free.

On the second day, a police offer named Morten Bredballe came to his bed and asked him a ton of questions that Anders answered happily.

"Did you see the man who did this to you?"

"I did," he answered, smiling. "He was driving the cab I was in when he kidnapped me. I got a very good look at his face before he sedated me."

Anders saw how the officer's face lit up. "That's excellent," he said. "Did you know him?"

"I felt like I had seen him before, but I didn't know where. I don't go out much. At least, I didn't used to. Now, I think I will. Now, I think I'm going to go out every day and enjoy this beautiful world. This island has so much to offer, do you realize that? So much we don't appreciate. I think it's about time we all start living a little, don't you?"

The officer looked at him, puzzled. Anders didn't care.

"There was a woman at the cemetery when you found me. Who was she?" he asked.

"Who, Emma?" Officer Bredballe asked.

"Emma, what a delightful name. Almost angelic."

"I guess so. I never thought of that," the officer said. "She’s a writer. She's actually the one who figured out where to look for you. She’s been very worried about you and whether you'd make it or not."

Anders couldn't stop smiling. "I think I'll have to give her my thanks once I'm out of here."

The officer smiled. "Well, first of all, get well. That's what's important now. As soon as you're well enough, we'll send a sketch artist out to draw a picture of the guy who put you in that box. We want him in jail as quickly as possible."

25

February 2014

I
WAS SO EXHAUSTED.
After finding the guy alive, I went straight to bed when I got home and stayed in it for two days. Luckily, I had my mother to take care of the kids and, even though I knew it would be hard on Victor, I felt like I needed this. I had to do it. I needed a break from the world.

Morten came to visit every day and even stayed the night. He made me feel good. He made sure I got something to eat - something real and not the strange food that my mother served me - and he spoiled me with chocolates and red wine.

On the night of the second day, he lay in my bed with me and held me tight in his arms while he told me what Anders Samuelsen had told him at the hospital earlier that day.

"It was strange, ‘cause the guy seemed to smile through everything. It was like he was in a world of his own. But he did tell me that he knew what the guy looked like. So, as soon as we get the sketch done, we'll go public with it and nail him within just a few hours."

"Someone is feeling confident," I said, as I ate a chocolate.

"This is a small island. You can't hide for long," Morten said. "We'll get him. I can feel it in my guts."

"Your police-guts," I said with a smile.

"Yup."

Morten turned on his side and kissed my neck. He leaned over and continued down. He undid the buttons on my very un-sexy pajamas, then opened the shirt and kissed my breasts. I closed my eyes and put my hands around his neck and pulled him closer. He removed my hands, then pulled off my pants and undressed himself. Now we were both naked in the bed. We lay entangled with legs between each other's, face to face and he pulled the covers over us. I laughed and kissed his nose, his lips, then closed my eyes as he entered me. I moaned and, for just a few seconds, let go of control.

When I opened my eyes, I stared directly into his and saw the love for me in them. This was a beautiful moment, one I wanted to last.

Afterwards, we lay with his head on the pillow, his arm around my neck, the back of my head resting on his chest. He gave me my glass of wine and I sipped it, feeling better than I had in days.

"Guess it was just what the doctor ordered," I said with a smile.

Morten kissed my forehead, then sipped his wine.

"So, you think it's over now?" I asked.

"What is?"

"The killer? You think he's done?"

Morten ate a piece of chocolate. "Sure. He got what he wanted didn't he?"

"You think that was all that he wanted? To save Hummelgaarden?" I asked, puzzled.

Morten shrugged. "It's all he demanded, isn't it?"

"Guess so. But I can't stop thinking…"

"You think way too much."

"Okay, I’ll give you that, but still."

"Still what, my little Sherlock?"

"He killed two women, buried a guy alive, and nearly killed him as well. All for what? Five hundred thousand kroner? It sounds a little extreme to me."

Morten nodded. "Sure. But, who knows why people do stuff like this? He's a psychopath, and who knows what goes on inside of their minds?"

I exhaled and sipped more wine. "I guess you're right."

"Don't worry, sweetheart. We'll find him and then it'll all be over. Trust me. We have a team from Esbjerg who has come over here to help us catch him. I give him three days. Tops."

"I sure hope you're right."

26

April 2007

A
LEXANDRA CLOSED HER EYES
and leaned back in her chair. She was sitting on the porch in her backyard, enjoying the few rays of sun that spring had brought with promise of summer around the corner. She breathed in deeply and hummed a little as she exhaled again. Oh, how she enjoyed the peace.

It had been a year since Poul took Samuel away and put him in boarding school.  And, even if Alexandra wasn't happy to admit it, she had enjoyed every minute of the peace since…immensely.

Samuel had been home on vacation for Christmas, but other than, that she hadn't seen him. She missed her son, of course she did, and she hated the fact that it had to be this way, but oh, the peace and quiet inside of her was all worth it. After so many years of fearing the boy's rage and tantrums, she was now, finally, living her own life again, not constantly afraid to say or do something wrong. And the boy was getting a wonderful education. Poul kept telling her so and she knew he was right. Herlufsholm Boarding School was the best school in the country. Samuel was among sons of big-shot CEOs and the Danish aristocracy. It was a school with great discipline and many traditions. They could take Samuel’s hand and straighten him up. She knew they could.

It was the best for everybody, she kept telling herself, mostly to try and drown out that nagging doubt and feeling of guilt that was growing inside of her. Samuel had seemed fine at Christmas. He had been very quiet and mostly stayed in his room. Not once did he have one of his tantrums. He had been a completely different son.

Poul and Alexandra's marriage was doing slightly better as well. Alexandra now had the energy to actually be a wife to her husband and Poul had stopped spending all his time in the garage. They had somehow found each other again and it felt so good. It was actually so great that Alexandra had become pregnant again and they were expecting a little girl in three months.

Alexandra touched her stomach gently and caressed it, thinking about the little girl growing inside of her and how wonderful it was for them to be able to start all over, even if she was now at the age of forty-two.

"This time, it’s going to be perfect," she said with a secretive smile, while the baby kicked on the inside. "I'm not making the same mistakes again."

Poul appeared on the porch with a glass of juice that he put on the table in front of her. She looked up and smiled.

"Is she kicking again?" he asked.

Alexandra nodded. "You want to feel her?"

"Sure."

Poul put his hand gently on Alexandra's big stomach and felt the baby kick. Alexandra laughed. "Look," she said and pointed at a small bump that was moving across the stomach. "The doctor said that's her ankle."

"She's getting big, huh?" Poul said.

"I'm not sure there’s enough room for her in there to stay another three months," Alexandra laughed.

"Well, Samuel was ten days late, so don't get your hopes up of this one arriving on time," Poul said.

Then they both went quiet.

"You do realize what day it is today, right?" Alexandra asked.

Poul nodded. "I know. I know." He bit his lip.

"He's turning eleven, Poul. We should at least call him at the school."

Poul's eyes were filled. "I don't know what to say to him anymore. I mean, he hurt you, Alex. You still have a scar from where he cut you."

Alexandra dropped her head. She felt like crying, but didn't. "I know. But let's at least call him. I don't like the fact that he might be lonely at that school…if no one celebrates him. Plus, I feel really bad that we've told the school to keep him all summer like last year. I know it’s too much for us to handle him now that we have the baby and all, but still…"

Poul nodded. "I guess you're right." Poul sighed and went inside the house. He came back with the phone in his hand. He looked at it like he needed time to find the courage. Then, he handed it to Alexandra.

"Here. You do it."

She took it. "Okay." She felt the heavy phone in her hand and got ready to dial the number, when suddenly the phone rang. She looked up at Poul.

"It's the school."

"I'll take it," Poul said, and grabbed the phone from her hand.

Alexandra felt her heart beat faster as she looked how Poul's expression changed drastically during the conversation. She could see in his eyes that it was bad. A thousand fearful thoughts ran through her mind.

Oh, Samuel. What did you do now?

"We'll be right there," Poul said, and hung up.

Alexandra stared into his eyes.

"It was the headmaster," he said, his voice heavy with sadness. "Samuel is in the hospital. He tried to kill himself."

27

February 2014

S
O, ACCORDING TO
M
ORTEN,
it was all over, right? That was what I kept telling myself, as I slowly returned to my everyday life, getting the kids to school, working on my book, and baking. A couple more days had passed since I pulled Anders Samuelsen out of the ground and I was told he had now been discharged from the hospital. The local newspaper and the TV station were all over him and I had seen and read more than one interview with the guy who beat death.