by Willow Rose
But the law was the law. Especially according to his nosy and bitter neighbor. So this morning, Christian had finally taken up the fight with the white mass. Just to please his old neighbor. And his wife. Mostly his wife, who wanted him to keep in good standing with the neighbors.
It was all his fault that she ended up the way she had. They had been at a business dinner, one of those where Christian knew if he gave it all he had, he would land the client. And he had. He had landed the greatest and most lucrative deal of his life, one that would mean millions and change their lives forever.
They told him there was nothing he could have done differently to avoid the truck. It came out of nowhere, the police said. So fast he wouldn't have been able to react even if he had superpowers. But Christian was the one who had turned his head to yell at his son in the back seat. Christian didn't even remember why he had yelled at the boy, no matter how many times he went through the event in his mind; he simply couldn't recall why it was or what he had said.
He only knew it had been the last thing he had ever said to the boy. And it hadn't been nice.
His wife, Brigitte, had told him to let it go. To stop obsessing about it, but he still did. He wanted to know why he had yelled; he wanted to justify his actions…he wanted it to matter. Otherwise, it was just too unbearable. Unforgivable. He turned his head away, took his eyes off the road ahead. An action that cost his wife the ability to move anything from the waist down and the precious life of his dear son.
Christian threw a shovelful of snow onto the pile in the yard. He grunted and complained while more snowflakes danced around his head and got thicker and thicker.
"Great. More snow," he sighed, annoyed. This entire sidewalk, the area he had cleaned off, would be covered again by the time the sun rose.
He stared at it, then looked at his neighbor's house. By the time the old man woke up, the snow would have covered it all again, and Christian would be at work. The old geezer wouldn't even see what he had done, would he? Of course not.
I'll make him, dang it. I'll make him if I have to.
Christian threw the shovel on the pile of snow, then walked with angry steps up the neighbor's driveway, then placed a finger on his doorbell. He knew the old man was probably still asleep, but Christian didn't care. The geezer was going to see what he had done if it was the last thing he ever did.
When no one opened the door, Christian took to knocking. He knocked harder and harder.
"Sven!?" he yelled while hammering on the door. "Come out here and see what I’ve done. I want you to come out here, dang it!"
Christian panted, agitated and angry, as he kept pounding on the door. The old man was going to see this whether he liked it or not. No matter the hour.
Finally, Christian grabbed the handle and turned it and, much to his surprise, the door opened.
"Sven?" Christian yelled. "Come out here!"
Thinking he'd have to go into his bedroom and wake the old man up, Christian walked into the living room, then stopped. He didn't have to walk any further. The old man was sitting right there in his recliner.
"Sven?"
Christian knew before he even approached him. He had seen a dead person up close before. He had found his own dad after he had killed himself back when Christian was eleven and came home from school. Not that Sven looked anything like his dad, who had hung himself. But they had one thing in common—no make that two:
The smell and the flies.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I woke up early since so much was on my mind, and I decided to walk the dogs before everyone else woke up and all the chaos that was called my life erupted. The snowing had picked up again, so I decided to walk on the streets instead of on the beach. I liked the quietness of the mornings, and the thick snow made it so quaint. I also enjoyed the fact that I was awake before most people.
I continued out of my neighborhood and across the street into another neighborhood. Brutus followed closely behind me as always, while I kept Kenneth II on a tight leash since he was known to run into people's yards and bark at some squirrel or bird or someone's trash can (yes, it happened before). Kenneth was pulling me forcefully ahead, tugging so hard on the leash that he almost ran out of breath.
"Easy there," I said to him. "You're gonna choke yourself."
He did his business in someone's driveway, and I hurried up and removed it before anyone saw it, then rushed ahead.
I walked past a house, then stopped at the sidewalk and stared. It was completely cleared from snow.
Who in their right mind had been shoveling snow at this hour?
Kenneth pulled me past it and into the neighbor's driveway when the door opened, and someone ran out. This person was not looking where he was going and slammed into me so hard I fell backward into a pile of snow.
"Hey!"
Kenneth took to barking at the guy, then attacked the man's boot and bit into it while growling like he was trying to rip it off him.
"Hey, get your stupid dog off me," the guy yelled.
I managed to get up from the ground and brushed the snow off my clothes. The man grumbled at Kenneth and tried to kick him. I grabbed Kenneth and pulled at him, but the crazy dog wouldn't let go no matter how much I scolded him.
"Kenneth! Dang it, let go!"
I had to stick my fingers inside of the dog's mouth like I did when he had accidentally eaten something he wasn't supposed to on the beach, and I had to pull it out. I forced his jaws to open and, finally, he let go. I held the growling and barking dog in my arms as the man looked at his boot.
"Great. Now it's completely ruined. They're supposed to keep water out and now…look at those holes."
"Hey, mister. You're the one who stormed outside without even looking where you were going. The dog only tried to protect me."
I couldn't believe I was actually making excuses for Kenneth. There really was a first time for everything, wasn't there?
"Yeah? Well…well…you were…period."
"What?" He was making no sense. That was when I realized the man was paler than the snow surrounding us. "Are you all right?"
He looked into my eyes. "You know what? No, I’m not. I really am not. I just found…my neighbor…" the man pointed at the door he had left open.
"Something happened to your neighbor?" I asked, trying to make sense of what he was saying.
"He's…I found him…I was just going in there because he is always, always on my case about the snow shoveling and I wanted him to see it…I just wanted to make sure…it was all in vain…"
I didn't want to wait for the guy to make any sense, so instead, I walked up the driveway and into the house. I spotted the man in the recliner, then walked up to him. The man from the street followed me and came up behind me.
"What do you think happened to him? I mean, he was old and all," he said. "You think he just had a heart attack?"
I sighed, then shrugged. "I don't know. Let me call the police."
I put Kenneth down, then grabbed my cell phone. As I dialed Morten's number, I realized I was standing in a puddle of water. Waiting for him to pick up, I reached down and touched it. It seemed to be water, it even looked like water, but it felt a little thicker, and it had a slight smell to it. One I recognized from my own bathroom.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Maya woke up when something hit her window. She sat up, feeling slightly woozy as her dream left her body and she returned to reality. What was that? A bird?
She walked to the window and looked out when something else hit the window. It was a snowball. It left a lump of snow that slid down the glass. Baffled, Maya looked down in her yard where she spotted Alexander.
What the heck?
She opened the window and shuddered as the icy breeze hit her face.
"Maya," he said.
"What are you doing here? What time is it?" she asked and looked at the clock by her TV with a light gasp. She had overslept.
"I wanted to walk to school with y
ou," he said. "But you didn't open your front door when I rang the bell."
"Shoot. I’m late. I didn't wake up. My mom usually wakes me up!"
"Well, get ready fast, and we'll walk to school together."
Maya closed the window as fast as she could and grabbed her phone. Her mom had called seven times. She had left a voicemail, and Maya listened to it while finding her clothes. Her mother babbled something about her having to stay somewhere where they found a dead body. They had to wait for the police to arrive, so Maya would have to get herself and Victor ready for school. Maya sighed. So typical of her mother. Now she had to take care of herself and Victor?
Maya stormed into the hallway. She peeked inside Victor's room. Victor and Skye were already awake. They were sitting on the carpet, both in the lotus position, floating just a few centimeters above the ground, eyes closed and holding hands.
Maya shook her head. She had no time for this.
"Victor!"
He fell to the floor.
"Your bus is coming in a few minutes," Maya said. "Get ready!"
Maya didn't wait to see if he heard what she had said. She stormed to the bathroom and took the fastest shower she had ever taken, then got dressed and ran downstairs, then grabbed a banana, just as Fishy Pines' bus drove up into the driveway.
"Victor! The bus is here!"
Victor came down with his backpack on his back. Maya handed him a banana as he walked out, not wearing any shoes. Maya didn't realize he was only in his socks till he had gotten on the bus. She ran outside with his shoes in her hand, but the bus had already departed. As she turned around to go back in, she spotted Alexander.
"Rough morning, huh?"
"Oh, dear Lord. I completely forgot about you. Have you been out here all this time? You must be freezing!"
He shrugged. His nose was red, and he had snow on his eyebrows. Maya was filled with a deep embarrassment. Maybe she had been too tough on the guy?
"Come on in," she said. "I'll make you some tea."
"Really? I'd love to, but we'll be late for school."
"We will be anyway," Maya said. "I think we can skip the first class of the day without anyone noticing us. We'll blame it on the snow, how about that? What do you say?"
Alexander's face lit up. "I say I'd like a little milk in my tea, please."
Chapter Twenty-Nine
"How do you constantly manage to get yourself involved in these types of things?" Morten asked.
I shrugged. "I was just walking the dog."
He shook his head with a chuckle. "You are something, Emma. You truly are."
He had come about fifteen minutes after I called him. He had been asleep, and it took a little while for him to understand exactly what I was telling him. Now we were sitting in the dead man's living room, staring at him while waiting for Dr. Williamsen to arrive. Dr. Williamsen was an old man, and the island's only doctor, but he didn't move fast. Not that there was any reason to rush. The man was dead, no doubt about it.
Christian Staun, the man who had bumped into me, was there too, and Morten had taken his statement. I was slightly worried about his condition since he kept mumbling weird things. I feared he might lose it, so I had told Morten it might be a good idea for Dr. Williamsen to have a little chat with him before he rushed off to work as was his intention.
"I think he's about to explode, but I could be wrong," I said.
After talking to him, Morten had agreed. The man couldn't be sent off to work like that. He hadn't stayed with us all the time since he had a wife at his house that he cared for, so he had gone back there and made sure she had something to eat before he returned.
"So, how do you think he died?" I asked and looked at Sven Thomsen, as I had learned the dead man's name was, or had been.
"Looks like old age, maybe a heart attack," he said.
"Will you have him autopsied?" I asked.
Morten shook his head. "Depends on what Dr. Williamsen says, but I hardly see any reason to. He was old."
"In his sixties. That’s hardly old, I argued.
"True," Morten said. "It could have been his heart. Maybe the doctor will know."
I gave him a look, and he sighed. "No, Emma, I don't think it has anything to do with what happened to Ann Mortensen."
"You had her autopsied. Why not this guy?"
"It was her husband that requested it," he said. "I agreed because I thought it might give him peace of mind to know how she died."
"You think he killed her?" I asked. "Her husband? You think he drowned her, then pulled her back to her bed to make it look like she just died in her sleep?"
"And then requested an autopsy? Kind of sounds like a weird way to try and get away with murder, but I know that the detectives from the mainland who are looking into it have had him in for questioning. It just doesn’t really make sense."
"True." I looked at the puddle on the floor. Morten saw me do it.
"I know what you're thinking," he said.
"Were Ann Mortensen's clothes wet?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
I felt Sven Thomsen's shirt. "Same here. It's black so you can't see it, but it's soaked. And there’s water on the floor right next to him. Just like at Ann Mortensen's house."
Morten sighed. "I don't even want to know how you know that, but please leave the police work to the professionals, okay?"
I forced a smile. "Okay."
Chapter Thirty
They forgot the time. Maya and Alexander stayed in Maya's kitchen for hours while talking and completely forgot to go to school. Maya sipped her tea while listening to Alex tell her about his family and his younger brother who took up so much of his parents' time, no one ever looked at what Alex did. And that was when it occurred to Maya that she had misjudged Alex from the beginning. He wasn't shallow. He wasn't just a pretty face. He was actually pleasant to be with and amazing to talk to. She had never talked to a guy and felt so comfortable before. Not with Samuel, not even with Asgar, who had been her close friend.
"More tea?" she asked.
Alexander nodded and gave her his cup. As he did, their fingertips brushed, and Maya blushed. She turned away.
"I…I think…you want some milk in that?"
He smiled and nodded. "Yes, please."
She served him another cup, then sat down, her eyes avoiding his. She had promised herself never to fall for this guy, but it was getting increasingly harder not to. His glance caught hers and held onto it. It made her stomach burst with butterflies.
Oh, girl. You're in trouble now!
"I’m really enjoying this," he said. "Us two here. Talking like this." He sighed and leaned forward.
Maya exhaled.
"I want to know everything about you, Maya," he said with a low raspy voice. "I want to know all about your family. Who are you? Who is Maya Frost?"
Maya stared into his eyes while contemplating what to do or say next. His soft eyes were piercing hers, and she felt her hands get clammy.
Say something!
But she couldn't. She didn't dare to tell him about herself. So far, they had talked about him and his family, and he had told stories of their vacations in Italy and his soccer team and how he was awarded player of the year last year, but she had told him nothing. How could she? How could she tell him about her brother and his strange friend? Her family was so weird while Alex's was so normal.
He can never know.
Fearing he would end up telling people at the school or just plain laughing at her, she decided to play it safe.
"There really isn't much to tell. We're pretty normal, boring really."
"Well, your mom isn't exactly boring," he said. "She's pretty cool if you ask me."
"The media doesn't seem to think so lately," Maya said.
She had seen the posts on Facebook and even read some of the articles in the newspapers that people shared, but she had decided never to tell her mother. It would only crush her. She didn't need to know.
"What ar
e you talking about? What she did only makes her even cooler, if you ask me."
Maya smiled. Alex grabbed her hand in his. "I don't think you're boring, Maya Frost. Not even a little bit."
Then he leaned across the table, almost knocking his teacup over, closing his eyes, his lips pursed. Maya sucked air in through her teeth, then closed her eyes too and let him. In the second his lips were supposed to hit hers, she heard the front door slam shut, followed by her mother's voice, yelling:
"What the heck is going on here?"
Chapter Thirty-One
"Why aren't you in school?"
I placed both my hands on my hips as the two teenagers stared at me, eyes wide, cheeks blushing. There was no doubt I had walked in at the exact right moment.
"Maya?" I asked.
"I…we…we…"
"It's my fault, Mrs. Frost," the boy said. I knew I had seen him before, but I didn't know his name.
"And who might you be?" I asked.
The boy rose to his feet and approached me. I don't think his face could have been redder had he just gotten out of a hot sauna. He reached out his hand.
"I'm Alexander, Mrs. Frost."
"It's Miss Frost," I said. "I'm divorced."
"Sorry, Miss Frost."
"So, it's your fault, huh? Care to explain?" I asked.
The two teenagers exchanged a look. Alexander rubbed his hands together. "I came to walk Maya to school and then…well, she had overslept and …"
"You overslept? Maya!" I said.
She rose to her feet. "Hey, I made sure Victor got to school."
"Without his shoes! They called from the school and said he arrived with soaked socks. How could you send him to school with no shoes?" I asked.
Maya scoffed. "Well, maybe if he wasn't so stupid as to walk outside without them. He's twelve, Mom. He should be able to remember his own darn shoes. I didn't realize it till the bus had left. It wasn't my fault, Mom."