by JD Nixon
I grasped his hands and tears flooded my cheeks. “What about you?”
“Just a few scratches and burns. Your leg?”
Heller spoke up in a cold accusatory tone aimed at Meili. “She received a deep gash on her outer right thigh that required thirty stitches.”
“I’m so sorry for your injury, Tilly.”
“I’m so sorry for the loss of your friends, Meili. They were lovely people.”
“They were the best.” He paused sadly. “I’ve decided that I’m still doing the lecture tonight.”
“Then I’ll be there with you.” Heller protested immediately. I glared at him. “I have an important job to do, Heller. That you assigned me to, remember? Don’t try to stop me.” Then back to Meili. “Who’s with you now?”
“Nobody.”
“Well, let’s get out of here and back to the hotel to rest before the lecture.”
And against the advice of the doctor and the wishes of Heller, I discharged myself.
Heller drove us back to the hotel after I had changed into the fresh clothes he’d brought me. I sat in the back of Heller’s Mercedes holding hands with Niq while I regaled him with my tall tales of catching the fish, brazenly enhancing my skills and my reactions. Meili supplied what I thought was some unnecessarily truthful and embarrassing extra detail about the tuna’s revenge, but he made Niq snort with uncontrolled laughter and that earned him even more brownie points with me. Heller was very quiet, not saying a word and I caught his eye in the rear view mirror a few times, throwing me a searching glance.
At the hotel, Meili detoured to reception to request a couple of replacement swipe cards, using enough charm to leave the counter staff flustered and not asking awkward questions about how we happened to have lost our other ones. Everything we had taken on board with us had been destroyed. Fortunately for me, I hadn’t taken my handbag with me, so still had my purse, driver’s licence and credit cards stored securely in the safe in our room. But sadly, I had lost my runners, not to mention yet another mobile phone. Heller assisted me upstairs, his arm clamped firmly around my waist, subtly intercepting Meili anytime he even appeared as though he was going to offer to help. Meili and I exchanged a quietly resigned glance – when Heller wasn’t looking our way, of course.
Heller settled me on my bed and sat down heavily next to me.
“You shouldn’t be walking around on that injured leg,” he lectured. “I want you to come home with me now and I’ll replace you with one of the men. Gather your things.”
“No!” I shot out, a little too hastily, wincing at the responding iciness in his eyes. “Besides, it’s only for a few more days. I won’t do any more rollerblading, I promise,” I cajoled teasingly, trying to lighten up his mood. But there was no humouring him – he remained relentlessly stony-faced.
He handed me a new phone. “It has the same number as your other one and I’ve entered all your important numbers for you.”
I checked to find his the only number in the phone’s contact list.
“Heller!” I protested and finally received a faint smile from him in return. I threw the phone to Niq and asked him to enter his and Daniel’s numbers as well. Everyone else would just have to wait. I hoped that Will wasn’t expecting me to contact him anytime soon. I was hopeless at remembering numbers, accustomed to everything being pre-programmed for me.
After enduring an uncomfortably tight hug from both Heller and Niq as they left, I flopped back onto my bed and looked over at Meili, distraught at the desolate expression on his face.
“I’m so sorry about Alex and Sali. It’s just so . . . so terrible.”
Once again, the tears coursed down my cheeks as I thought of Alex and Sali’s obvious love for each other and their happy expectation of having their first child together. Meili sat on my bed and slid his arms around me, letting me sob onto his shoulder for a good while. And I don’t know why I was crying when they’d been his good friends, but since my accident I seemed to have become a little more aware of the precious fragility of both love and life. Meili stretched out next to me and I lay quietly in his arms for a long time, neither of us speaking, but each taking comfort from the other.
Chapter 23
“We’ll have to head off soon, Tilly,” he murmured eventually, reluctantly rousing. “I’ve told Maria that we don’t want to go to dinner with her tonight. She understands.”
“Thank you,” I said gratefully. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than trying to make polite conversation with strangers after what we’d been through.
We made slow progress to the university, my leg stiff and painful. I clung to his arm for support. At the lecture theatre, Maria was there to greet us; her own eyes red with freshly shed tears. She hugged Meili and then hugged me.
“You could have cancelled. Everybody would have understood,” she said to him in a subdued voice.
“No!” he insisted, fire in his eyes. “That’s exactly what they want me to do!”
And he proceeded to give possibly the most painful public talk of his life, dedicating it to his dear friends, Alex and Sali. He almost broke down a few times as he spoke. Our story, including embarrassing footage of us being hauled onboard the Search and Rescue boat, had been on the news and everyone was aware of what had happened over the last awful twenty-four hours. The lecture theatre was jammed to standing-only capacity, people spilling out of every door. I sat to one side of the podium, not able to compete for a seat in the audience with my bad leg.
When he’d finished, he received a standing ovation that lasted a couple of clamorous minutes. He declined to stay afterwards to answer questions, begging everyone’s indulgence. We made our slow way back to the hotel room, his arm around my waist for support. He ordered room service for us that night for dinner, both of us too drained to eat in public. After we picked at our food with little hunger, he placed the tray outside and we lay on his bed, hands clasped. We watched the news footage from the rescue and the accompanying story about his friends’ deaths.
“It’s all my fault,” he said, forlorn once more. “Just as with Inge. They all die because of me.”
He was ready to speak, so I turned off the TV, turned out the light and climbed painfully back into his bed again. I held his hand and listened while he quietly spoke of his deep love for Inge; how beautiful she was; how much fun they had together; how he had planned to pop the question just before someone popped a bullet into her brain. He told me of his absolute despair and guilt at her death and how much he’d wanted to die when she died.
He cried and I cried, and he talked for ages, remembering funny and sweet stories about Inge and about Alex and Sali. But before long, I fell asleep with sheer fatigue and emotional exhaustion, still holding his hand.
I woke near dawn to somehow find myself wrapped in his arms. Meili was awake, his eyes on me.
“Morning,” I murmured sleepily, reluctantly blinking my eyes open.
“Morning Tilly. It’s been a long time since I’ve held a woman in my arms at night. I’d forgotten how wonderful it is.”
“How long?”
“Since Inge died. I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t sleep with another woman until her murderers were brought to justice.”
“That’s a great promise,” I said drowsily, closing my eyes, ready to drift off back to sleep again.
But the feel of his lips pressing on mine chased all thoughts of that away. My eyes flew open in surprise. He pulled away and stared at me intently with those lovely light gray eyes.
“Was it a great promise? I’m not so sure anymore.”
He pressed his lips onto mine again and I not only let him, but I responded as well, as I also did when his tongue came gently exploring into my mouth. Oh God! I had a boyfriend and he had a promise to his dead girlfriend. But we were together, having survived a murderous and traumatic attempt on our lives and one day he was going to be murdered too. I no longer had any doubt about it, not after what had happened to us on the boat.
It might even be today. And that had to count for something.
“Yes, it was a great promise. I think,” I said uncertainly, my breathing growing rather ragged.
He stroked my cheek and traced around my lips with his finger, his eyes following its path. “I’ve never wanted to break that promise before and I suspect it will be a while before I want to break it again, but I really want to break it now. With you, Tilly. And I think Inge would understand, considering what we’ve just been through,” he said, running his hand up and down my arm, then over my shoulder blades, down my back, to rest on my butt.
“Oh God, Meili, you know I have a massive crush on you. You’re not playing fair,” I breathed weakly, my body betraying me even as I spoke by arching towards his. He helped by pulling me closer with his hand on my butt, until our hips were pressed together.
“No, I didn’t know that, Tilly. But you’re not playing fair either with those big beautiful eyes or with you being so brave and sweet.”
Well, what could a woman possibly say to that? He kissed me again, more urgently, his body straining against mine. I knew that he was sincere in his desire at least, feeling it pressing hard into me.
“I don’t do one-nighters,” I gasped when he released my mouth.
“Neither do I,” he said, looking down at me and stroking my hair. “You’re lovely in every way, Tilly. I think I’m halfway in love with you already and it hasn’t even been a week since I met you yet.”
And then he got busy with his lips again and I was gone, offering up my lips, my body, all of me, without any hesitation or any guilt.
He was gentle and considerate of my painful leg. The feel of his hands, lips and tongue on my skin was divine. I know he felt the same about mine from his groans and great gasps of pleasure when I touched him and kissed him and tasted him. It was loving and despairing, and when he finally entered me, we both cried out with bitter bliss. My orgasm burst through me powerfully and judging by the exhilarant shout he gave when he came, so did his. He didn’t roll off me straight away but remained on top of me, kissing and caressing me. We slept again, naked and snuggled together.
I was slowly woken a few hours later by the very thrilling sensation of having my breasts gently stroked, my nipples teased by his fingertips. He leaned over to kiss my neck and whispered in my ear, “I want you again, Tilly. Urgently,” and I could feel the truth of that statement pressing into my back. And if there’s a nicer way to wake up, then I haven’t discovered it yet.
And to underline his need, he didn’t even wait for me to turn around, but slipped into me from behind, my back nestled against his chest. The disadvantage was that it was impossible to kiss him without twisting around; the advantage was that he was able to rub his fingers on me intimately as we moved together. He showered my neck and shoulders with burning kisses, whispering Norwegian endearments in my ear. The sensations built up inside me quickly, soon reaching an unbearable level. I couldn’t cry out when I climaxed because I had momentarily stopped breathing. A minute later after a frenzy of thrusting he gave an enormous shudder and cried in my ear with pleasure, pulling me around to face him, kissing me frantically.
We lay on the bed together for twenty minutes afterwards, not speaking, dozing lazily, arms and legs loosely entwined.
“Can I see you again next time I return, Tilly? I’m usually over here two or three times each year during the whaling season.”
“I’d be heartbroken if you didn’t, Meili,” I said, leaning on his chest and kissing him.
“What about your boyfriend?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’ve cheated on him with you, but I don’t understand why I don’t feel guilty or ashamed. It felt so right to sleep with you.”
He laughed. “It sure did to me! But now I’ve broken Heller’s number one rule. Twice. What do you think he’ll do to me if he finds out?”
“Well, let’s just say you’d better put him at the top of your list of people who want to kill you.” He didn’t seem bothered by that, and I suppose that after years of your life being threatened, you might grow a little laid-back about it.
We showered, dressed and went down to the buffet for a late breakfast. Today he wore a gold-coloured Fred Hollow’s Foundation t-shirt and black jeans. When we’d eaten, we walked to the police station to make our statements, only to find another media pack waiting for us outside. We looked at each other and he shrugged, silently denying that he had tipped them off. Maybe someone in the police had?
The reporters were even more feral than they’d been at the courthouse and he slid his arms around me protectively as we were pushed and jostled, no care taken for our injuries. We struggled slowly through the press. A microphone whacked me on the head and some jerk trod on my foot. One of the camera guys shoved against my leg wound and I cried out in pain, shoving him back viciously. It began to get out of hand when a couple of uniformed police, returning to the station from a job, asserted some order and cleared a path for us. With their solid bulk and officious faces flanking us, Meili turned to the media and gave a short but poignant statement, paying respect to his lost friends. He answered a few questions before we made our way into the station, ignoring the other questions the reporters shouted out.
I hoped, with my toes and fingers crossed, that it wouldn’t be my brother Brian who interviewed us. I presumed the cops were treating this case as homicide and he was a homicide detective, but it would be more than awkward considering my role in his marriage breakup. Thankfully my prayer was answered and a short, gray-haired, practical, stocky woman and a lanky, dark-skinned man introduced themselves as the lead detectives on the case.
I waited patiently in the reception area while they interviewed Meili first. I rang Heller quickly, hoping that he couldn’t tell what I’d been up to that morning from my voice. Evading his insistent questions, I hastily cut short our call. Replacing my phone in my bag, I looked up just as Brian strode out from the back offices, obviously on his way to a job. Accompanying him was a tall, rugged, hard-faced detective who I hadn’t met before. Brian looked terrible, his skin pasty and spotted, and he had piled on some kilos since I’d last seen him. Separation from Gayle and his two little daughters wasn’t agreeing with him. He pulled up short when he noticed me sitting in reception.
“Heard you were blown up,” he said in a hard, uncaring voice, not bothering with any salutation.
I crossed my arms and stared at him. “That’s right.” Equally hard.
“What are you doing hanging around that Eriksen anyway?”
“He’s my client. I’m working for him.” And doing other things for him for free, but Brian didn’t need to know that.
“Well, you better be careful. They’re out to get him by the looks of things and they won’t care if you get in the way.”
I wasn’t sure if that meant he was concerned for my safety or not. “Okay, thanks Brian. How are . . . things?”
His face reddened with anger. “How do you think they are? They’re fucking shitarse.”
And with that he stalked off to the front door, trailed by his partner. Guess he still hadn’t forgiven me for being the bearer of bad news. His partner turned to look at me curiously as they exited the building. I smiled at him briefly and he smiled back.
Meili came out and then it was my turn to be interviewed. I took the two detectives through the day and night as best I could, and they nodded with animation when I mentioned the firework that I thought I’d seen being released from the other boat. I read and signed my statement and we were free to go.
“Is that bunch of hyenas out there waiting for you two?” asked the duty sergeant from behind the counter, indicating the still-present media scrum. We glanced out of the glass doors with dismay.
“Yeah,” confessed Meili. The sergeant called over one of the uniforms.
“Take them out the back door,” he instructed, and we followed the young constable down a winding corridor to a small rear door where we made our quiet escape. She gazed up a
t Meili, struck dumb with being in such close contact with a famous person. He smiled at her in a friendly manner, thanking her personally and leaving her with a blush and a nice memory for the rest of her life. I stared at his lovely face, thinking how much I really, really liked him. He caught me gawking, and took a moment to lean down to kiss me, not caring if anyone was watching.
We grabbed a quick bite for lunch and spent the afternoon doing nothing more strenuous than strolling around the botanical gardens, my ability to do much severely hampered by my leg injury. We sat by the harbour as the sun set and watched the boats coming and going, which struck me as a strange thing for us to do, considering what had just happened to us.
He told me more about Inge; how they’d met, what they had in common, what he loved about her, the engagement ring he had bought just before she was killed that he had buried with her. It was all so touching and I squeezed his hand tightly. I told him about Will and how lovely he was but the difficulties I had managing his expectations and living my life according to the Rules of Heller. I told him about Daniel and Niq and the twins and my work. We talked about our families. I hoped he didn’t notice that I avoided talking about Heller.
We dined at a place we came across on our way back to the hotel and spent the evening quietly. He made a series of phone calls and checked his emails. I checked my text messages, rang Heller, dodging all his questions and hanging up as soon as possible. I read my book for a while.
“I’m extending my stay, Tilly,” Meili told me after concluding his phone calls. “I want to be here for Alex and Sali’s joint funeral. Will you stay with me longer?”
“Of course, Meili,” and I rang Heller again to inform him of this new development. He reluctantly agreed, admitting that he didn’t have a dedicated assignment lined up for me, and that I’d only be allocated to routine team work on my return. I thanked him prettily, but extricated myself from his questions the second I could.