Easy as One Two Three (Emma Frost) (15 page)

The door opened and more footsteps approached. A voice said something.

"Mrs. Schou?"

Mads recognized the voice from earlier and his heart jumped with joy. It was the woman again. It was that same woman who had seen him move his pinky when no one else did.

"Yes?" his mother replied. "Oh it’s you. Have you come to make more excuses for your daughter's behavior?"

Stop harassing this woman, for crying out loud!
Mads yelled inside of his head. He was sick and tired of not being able to tell them all the truth. It was devastating, knowing all he did and not being able to tell anyone.

"No. As a matter of fact I'm here to speak to you. Do you have a second?" the woman asked.

"What on earth for? I'm not the one to blame here," his mother said, sounding appalled.

You're not to blame? Really? If it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't be in this situation.

"No, I didn't say that. I was just wondering about a few things. Maybe if you could clarify them for me, I’d be able to find my daughter and we could have the question of her guilt answered."

Mads heard his mother snort. "Well, not that I have any doubt about her guilt. It's very obvious really, but yes I could answer a few questions if that would help in any way."

"I’ve been wondering about Mads' wife. Signe Schou. I haven't seen her visit him here in the hospital and I haven't heard about her once since the accident. Do you know where I can reach her?"

Mads felt a tension go through his body at the mention of her name. Signe. How sad he felt all of a sudden.

Why Signe? Why did you do this to us? Why did you have to destroy everything good that we had? Why?

39

April 2014

"
W
E HAVE TRIED TO
locate her, isn't that right, Thilde?"

Mads Schou's mother looked tired. Probably from spending every day in the hospital worrying about her son, I thought to myself as I watched her speak.

The sister approached us. "Yes," she said. "I have called everyone possible to try and find her."

Her eyes avoided mine as she spoke. She looked uncomfortable. I couldn't escape the thought that she looked like she was lying.

"So, she’s disappeared?" I asked.

The mother smacked her lips. "Well, I probably wouldn't go so far as to say she’s disappeared. My guess is that she has taken off. She wasn't much of a wife to my boy, if you understand. They figured that out as soon as they went on that horrible honeymoon. When they came back, they were already sick of each other. The girl isn't well, if you ask me. Too much baggage, if you understand."

"So, she hasn't been here to see Mads at all?"

"No. She hasn't shown her face here and, frankly, we don't care much. She was wrong for my son from the beginning, but how do you tell your only son not to marry the woman he chooses? If you do, you can be certain he will anyway. Do you have any boys, my dear?"

"I do. One," I answered while wondering how they could have grown sick of one another on a honeymoon. It sounded strange. I began thinking that the mother had finally managed to pay off Signe and have her leave. Maybe, if the number was big enough, anyone would cave? Several of the eyewitnesses from the party had told us they heard that Signe and Mads had split up. Was Signe that greedy?

"Were they getting a divorce?" I asked.

The mother looked appalled. "Good Lord, no. We do not accept divorces in our family."

"So they were together after the honeymoon? I don't understand."

The mother's face grew longer and the sister took over.

"It's a family matter," she said, while her mother went to a chair and sat down.

The sister whispered. "But yes, they're still married, technically. Even if they don't live together. When they returned from the honeymoon, they split up. There was no drama to it. Mads didn't love her anymore, he said. Mother made sure the girl never needed for anything. She paid her enough for her to live off the rest of her life. The last I heard, the girl moved back to live with her mother. Mads didn't see her again. He never wanted to. He was really angry with her for some reason. There isn't more to the story than that. Mads wanted a divorce, but mother refused. We don't do divorces in our family. It's a disgrace to the name."

I stared at the woman who was about my age, but seemed so much older. I wasn't surprised that Signe's mother had lied to us about having seen her daughter. I had a feeling she wasn't telling Rebekka the truth.

I looked at my watch and realized it had gotten really late. Morten was waiting outside the hospital room and I knew he badly wanted to go back to the hotel room. But there was something odd about what the sister was telling me, something that didn't add up. If they had no contact. If Mads and Signe didn't see each other anymore, why had they written on each other's Facebook walls? What was it again they had written?

"YNWA," I mumbled.

The mother lifted her head and stared at me. The sister looked at me strangely. "What was that?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing. YNWA is something Liverpool's fans sing. It stands for
You'll Never Walk Alone
. I just remembered it."

I stared at them. They were both extremely pale all of a sudden. Was it what I had said?

"You know the song?" I asked.

"Mads loved it," the sister replied. "He was a big Liverpool fan."

"I see."

I sensed the tension in the room grow. I wasn't going to get any more out of these people.

"I should go," I said.

"You should," the mother moaned.

I thanked them both for their time, then left the room feeling strange. I had no idea what was up and down in this case. Morten approached me as I came out.

"So what did they say?" he asked.

"Not much. It was more what they didn't say that interested me. I think they're lying. They know something. Something very important."

"Mrs. Frost!"

I turned and saw Doctor Faaborg coming towards me with a smile. "Mrs. Frost, I have to speak to you."

"Hello doctor," I said. "This is Morten, my boyfriend."

"Well, hello there. You're a very lucky fellow. I hope you realize that," Doctor Faaborg said with a grin. "To be the guy that goes home with the great Emma Frost."

"I am and I do," Morten said while they shook hands.

"So what did you want to tell me?" I asked, trying to drown the blush on my cheeks. I never could get used to people seeing me as this big author. It was just me. I was just Emma.

"Well, it is very interesting, in fact. After we spoke last time, I decided to ask about it at our staff meeting this afternoon and you were absolutely right."

"Right about what?"

"About the injection, of course. No one made any injection into Mads Schou's thigh. So the injection-wound in his thigh has to be older. He must have had it when he arrived."

40

April 2012

"
W
HERE ARE WE GOING,
S
IGNE?"

Signe was driving the rented scooter up the mountain while Mads was clinging on to her back. The wind was warm in their faces, the city full of lights behind them. In front of them were enthroned the biggest mansions in all of Monaco.

"Signe I'm not sure…Please just tell me what we're doing. I don't want to get into more trouble, I…I really should…"

"Don't be such a wimp," she hissed, sounding awfully a lot like her dad had towards her when she was a child. "You know you want to do this. You know you're going to like it."

"Signe I don't think…"

"Shut up Mads! Just shut up and do as I tell you. You'll thank me later. I'm getting us out of this mess. You don't have a choice. I'm doing this with or without you."

They reached a road and she took a turn sharply. Mads held on to her waist so he wouldn’t fall off. Signe stopped the engine and they both got off the scooter. She looked at Mads who, like her, had his face hidden behind his helmet. She closed his visor so she couldn't see his eyes. "There you go. No one will ever recognize you, in case they have cameras on the wall," she said with a smile and then closed her own.

"What are we doing?" Mads asked. She could hear he was getting anxious.

"We're getting the money," she said. "Come with me."

She walked down the road along a tall brick wall, then stopped. "This is perfect," she said. She walked along the wall then jumped up and grabbed ahold of the edge, then pulled her body over. Mads followed her closely. They ran towards the house.

"Who lives here?" Mads asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. But I bet they're rich, don't you?"

"So you're going to steal their money?"

"No. We're going to steal their money." Signe sat down in the grass underneath a window. She pulled out a small bag from her pocket. "Here," she said and handed him one of the small colorful pills from inside the bag. "Take it."

"What is it?" Mads whispered.

"I don't know." She took hers and swallowed.

"Where did you get it from?"

"Some guy at the casino last night. He offered them to me outside the bathroom. I told him I'd suck his dick if he gave them to me for free."

"You did what?"

"Relax. I didn't do it. I took him into the bathroom then knocked him out with a vase and stole all he had. Take it. It'll make you feel great. Like you can conquer the world."

Signe pushed his hands towards his mouth. Why was he all of a sudden being this way again? She leaned over and whispered:

"Listen. Just follow my lead, okay? Just do what I tell you to."

Mads was staring at her through the helmet. She sensed his eyes on hers. Tired of waiting, she took the pill out of his hand, opened the visor and put it inside his mouth. "Now swallow," she said. To her satisfaction, he obeyed. "Now we wait," she said. "Five minutes, the man told me. Five minutes it takes for the drug to reach your blood stream."

"Then what?" Mads asked.

"Then we attack. Quickly in and quickly out. Don't be scared, Mads. It's easy. Easy as one, two, three."

41

April 2014

M
ORTEN AND
I
SLEPT
better that night. I was exhausted beyond anything and, to my surprise, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I woke up a couple of times gasping and calling out Maya's name until I realized where I was, in the darkness of a hotel room.

The next morning I felt a little better. Sleep was just what I needed, even if my dreams really worried me. I kept seeing Maya in a dark room all alone crying asking me to come and help her. It had been the same dream every night, but this time there was a twist to it. This time, Victor had been there as well. He had been sitting in the corner with a rat in his hand, gently petting it and telling me how much he loved rats. While we ate breakfast, I kept wondering why he had said that on the phone. He had told me he liked rats. He had never said anything like that before and, knowing him, nothing was coincidental. There was something about rats that he wanted me to know. But what and why?

"Are you alright?" Morten asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry. A little distracted, why?"

"You haven't touched your food yet and I'm almost done. It's very unlike you. Are you thinking about yesterday?"

"That came up as well, yes," I said and drank my orange juice. "I keep wondering if it could be the mother who wanted to get the son out of the picture. Maybe to make sure he didn't inherit the money. You should have heard them. They practically said he was a disgrace because he wanted to divorce his wife."

"A little drastic to want him killed because of that, don't you think?" Morten asked with a cute smile.

He was right. Even for a rich upper-class family like this, it was a little drastic. I felt so frustrated once again. I still had no idea who the mysterious woman was or where Signe Schou could be.

"So, what are we up to today?" Morten asked.

"I thought I'd be paying a little surprise visit to Signe Schou's mother. I think I'll take Rebekka with me. No offense, but given her history with her husband and all, I don't think she trusts men very much. I'm not taking any chances. I want the truth from her this time."

"Great. I'll hang out with Sune then," Morten said, annoyed.

"You don't like Sune?" I asked, startled. I loved the guy.

"He’s trouble, Emma. I can't stand turning a blind eye and pretending I don't see him breaking the law again and again. It's very uncomfortable for me."

"I know it’s hard, but please just do it for me, will you?"

I grabbed Morten's hand. I missed being close to him, but it was just so difficult with everything that was going on. All I could think about was Maya. I was sick to my stomach from worry.

"You don't have to like him," I said. "I didn't like Rebekka much in the beginning either. She is very different from me. Especially her choices. I still find it hard to understand why she has chosen to leave her baby at home with her dad in order to go to work."

Morten frowned. "I completely get that. He's more than a year, Emma. She has to get back at some point if she doesn't want to lose her job," Morten said. "Most people put their children in daycare at that age. At least she has her dad taking care of him."

"I guess so. I didn't work until my kids were four, though."

"And what kind of jobs did you get by then?"

He was right. I was away from the job market for eight years. I couldn't get any job once I decided it was finally time to get one. Everything had changed. I didn't have any education, since I was way too young when I became pregnant, so all I could get was small badly paid jobs until I finally started writing for small magazines. And I had become way too dependent on Michael. Once he dropped the bomb and told me he was in love with someone else and leaving us, I could hardly change a light bulb without his help. It was quite a shock to get back to doing everything on my own.