Peek A Boo I See You (Emma Frost #5) (24 page)

The happy family before the tragedy. Only the dad survived Samuel Holm's nighttime attack on his own family. Poul Arne Holm testified against his son today. Samuel Holm is under the age of consent and will probably be sentenced to spending the rest of his teen-age years in a closed institution.

I froze. I stared at the picture, and especially at the father's face that I suddenly recognized. For seconds, I refused to believe it. Then I read the text again.

"Poul
Arne
Holm?"

I lifted my head and stared at the kitchen door that my mother had just gone through.

Oh my God.

69

February 2014

I
SPRANG THROUGH THE
kitchen door and into the living room, slamming the door open.

"Emma?" my mother said, startled. "What are you doing?"

I searched for Victor and saw, to my relief, that he was still sleeping on the couch.

"Emma?" my mother said again. "We're kind of in the middle of something here."

I tried hard to control my breath. I stared at Arne, sitting on my couch, holding a cup of coffee between his hands. He was smiling at me.

"Well hello there, Emma. You seem upset. Are you upset?"

"He," I said and pointed. "You…"

Arne tilted his head. "Now Emma, you know it's not polite to point, don't you? I think your mom must have taught you better than that."

My mother was suspecting that something was wrong. She looked at Arne, then back at me.

"What are you trying to say?"

"The Caring Killer. He's the killer. The one who has been harassing us."

"Excuse me?" my mother said. She looked like she was trying to decide whether to laugh or cry.

"No, Ulla. It's alright," Arne said, with a creepily calm voice. "Let her talk."

"You did this to us? You did all of this to us?" I said, still pointing my shaking finger at him. "Why?"

Arne sipped his coffee with stoic calmness. Then he sucked his teeth. "Well, if you must know, I like to play games," he said the last word with a grin.

"You're crazy," I said.

Arne tilted his head. "Well it depends on your definition of crazy now, doesn't it, my dear? The word crazy isn't really a psychological term now is it? You know just as well as I do that there are many degrees to craziness or mental illness. You've tried it, haven't you Emma? You've been through it. Been through the system. Tried to fight for your son. Tried to get the help you needed, but just kept running that pretty face of yours against a wall again and again, didn't you? Well, there is your answer. That's why I chose you. I knew you would understand. You, of all people, would know what I wanted. See, I’ve been watching you, Emma. Ever since you moved here, I have delivered mail to your house and followed your life. I knew about Victor. That's why you were perfect. That and the fact that you write books about your life. I was kind of hoping you'd write about this, as well. Maybe get all the details about how badly mentally ill people are treated in our society, as well. Really stir up people and maybe make them want things to change. Say, are there more of those cookies? They're simply delicious."

Arne leaned over the table and took another cookie. I was shaking in anger. This creep had been watching me?

"How?" I asked. "How did you do all those awful things to these people?"

"I knew them. I knew everything about them. I was their mailman, remember? A mailman knows everything. He knows all of your little secrets. The mailman knows everyone, sees everyone, but very few people see him when he secretly opens your mail and glues it back again before he delivers it to you. He knows if your mother has died and the lawyer writes to you, he knows what illnesses you suffer from when the doctor or the county sends you letters about it, talking about disability income and so on. He even knows the codes to the security system in the bank, since it has just been changed and sent it in a registered letter to the manager. Everybody trusts the mailman, don't they? Taking Victor was probably the easiest part. Your father was asleep, so I could walk right in through the front door that he hadn't locked. I had left your mother at the restaurant, telling her I had somewhere important to be. Telling her I had promised my old mother I’d stop by and wish her Happy Valentine's Day. I sedated Victor while he was sleeping and carried him out to the car. There was no one in the streets except from some weird guy in a black suit that I saw cross the street and hide in your yard. But, he didn't seem to care about me."

"Why did you hurt Ole Knudsen if he was the only person who ever helped you and your son?"

"I wanted you to meet him. I wanted you to connect the dots so you could write my story. The story of the system that killed my family. Ole plays an important role. I never hurt him, though. I just tied him up and led you to him."

Arne chewed and washed the cookie down with coffee, then he looked at me again. "See the thing is, Emma. In the beginning, I blamed my son for what happened. For a long time, I blamed him, but as time went by, I realized he wasn't the problem. The system was what screwed everything up. There was one place, one person that could help my son, but they weren't allowed to. Because of rigid rules and regulations. Well those rules and regulations killed my family. Those social workers killed my family. So, I killed them. But that wasn't quite enough. I wanted to kill the system as well. Save Hummelgaarden and change the system. That was my plan. And I wanted you to help me. I wanted you to see the unfairness. No, it was more than that; I wanted you to feel it. How did it feel to stand there in the bank with your son when everyone thought he was dangerous? It wasn't a nice feeling was it? To have to explain to people that he was simply scared. Explain that he didn't respond like
normal
people would in a situation like this. Wasn't fun, was it? Well now you know what it feels like. Now you can write about it."

"I won't write about this. I'm not giving you that pleasure," I said through gritted teeth.

Arne took another cookie and dipped it in his coffee. "Well that's just too bad, Emma. ‘Cause then I'll have to kill all of you."

As he said the words, he lifted his coffee cup and threw the burning hot coffee at my mother's face.

She screamed. Then I screamed. Victor woke up and screamed and then there was someone else who was screaming. Someone jumping out from the closet in my living room with a long sword in his hand, dressed all in black.

Startled, I looked at the black ninja in my living room as he jumped in front of me, sounding like a kid playing.

"What the hell?" I said.

"It's burning. It's burning!" I heard my mother scream.

"Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" I heard Victor scream.

"Who the hell is this?" I heard Arne ask.

I had no idea.

The ninja looked at the scene, then turned towards me. "Emma Frost. I'm here to save you. This is my mission."

Then he lifted his sword in the air with the words:

"I'm sorry Emma, but you've been way too fearful the last several days. It’s time to set you free from your fears. The voice told me to save you from yourself. You can thank me later."

Before I could react, he stabbed the sword into my stomach. I gasped as I saw it go through and the blood started pouring out. I bent over and leaned on the wall. I watched the blood gush to the floor. I started getting dizzy and had moments of blackout. I fell to the ground, just as I heard the front door open and Morten's voice yell.

"This is the police. Everybody down on the floor!"

After that, everything went black.

E
PILOGUE

February 2014

I
WOKE UP IN
a hospital bed. Morten was sitting next to me, holding my hand. His eyes were red when he looked at me. He’d been crying.

"Hey," I said with a weak voice.

"Emma! You're awake!" he said and got up.

"Yeah. Feels like I'm still in a dream though."

"Oh, how happy I am to see you again," he said and kissed my hand. "You had us all worried there."

"What happened?"

"We got them. Both Poul Arne Holm and Anders Samuelsen are locked up now. Don't worry about them."

"Anders Samuelsen? The guy from the coffin? He was the ninja?"

"I know, it’s weird. Apparently, he lost it after what happened to him. Didn't take his medicine. We don't know all the details yet, but it is a very strange story, I’ll tell you that much."

"You came right in time, huh? My knight in shining armor. How did you know?" 

"I saw the mailman's face on the video footage. I remembered seeing him at your house that day you received the head in the mail. I tried to call you, but you didn't answer. I decided to drive to your house to make sure you were alright and that was when I noticed that his postal bike was parked outside your house. The rest is history. Luckily, with a good ending."

"My mom and Victor. How are they?"

"Victor is with your dad at the house. Your mom…well, it doesn't look good."

I rose in the bed and felt dizzy. "What doesn't look good? Is she…?"

"Well, it's only her skin that got burned and she'll be fine, but the warm coffee kind of ruined her face a little."

I fell back in the bed. "Really? How bad is it?"

"Don't know yet. They’ve taken skin from her leg to cover it."

"Oh, that sounds bad. Guess Botox and facelifts won't help her this time."

"No. But, at least she has a guy who loves her. Your dad has been so nice to her while she’s been in the hospital. He sent her a hundred red roses today. And balloons. Her room is filled with balloons."

I chuckled lightly. It hurt my wound. "I hope he won't get his heart crushed again," I said.

"He's a good man, your dad."

"So are you," I said.

"I still owe you a dinner," he said and kissed me. "By the way, I thought of something while waiting for you to wake up. I don't know if it’s the solution, but maybe it could help."

"What's that?"

"With Victor. I know you've been thinking a lot about how to help him and keep him in school. Well, I thought maybe Ole could help him? I mean he doesn't work for the city anymore, so he can do whatever he wants. He's been wanting to get back to work with kids again, so maybe it’s an idea?"

"That's a great idea," I said. "I'll call him right away."

"Better wait till you're well," Morten said and kissed me again. "By the way, there is someone here to see you."

"Who's that?"

Morten left and, soon after, a voice filled the room.

"Mom?"

Maya stuck her face inside.

"Maya, dear. I'm so happy to see you. How are you?"

She stopped by the end of the bed. Her eyes avoided mine.

"It's okay, Maya. You're entitled to be angry."

She nodded, while still looking down. "I'm glad you're better."

"Me too. Hopefully, I'll be home soon. Has grandpa taken good care of you?"

Maya nodded. "Listen, Mom. There’s something I want to tell you."

"Sure. Anything, sweetheart."

Finally, she looked up and our eyes met. I smiled. I missed her.

"I want to go live with Dad."

She didn't wait for my answer. As soon as she’d finished the sentence, she turned around and left.

THE END

D
EAR
R
EADER,

Thank you for purchasing PEEK-A-BOO, I See You. This is the fifth book in my Emma Frost-series, but don't worry. This is not the last you will hear of Emma Frost and her family. I promise you that much.

But, until I have written the next book, you can always enjoy some of my other previously published books. Just follow the links below to check them all out. I’ve also included an excerpt of my novel xxxx that you can read on the following pages, if you like.

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to leave reviews.

Take care,

Willow

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