Easy as One Two Three (Emma Frost) (8 page)

Zelllena looked at the numerologist for a long time. "I'm really very tired," she finally said. "Can I go to sleep now?"

The numerologist pursed her lips.

"I brought you something." The numerologist held up a small leather bag. Zelllena didn't seem interested, so she opened it herself.

"They are crystals. I'll place them all over your room. They'll protect you against anger and negative energies and make you feel better. I brought some for healing as well. They'll help you. Just wait and see."

Zelllena didn't even look at her as she placed the crystals around the room. It annoyed the numerologist. When she was done, she looked at the girl and sighed.

"Well, I guess I'm just going to have to be patient with you. But you'll get it. I am certain you will eventually. I’ll keep you here until you do."

20

April 2014

"
I
CAN'T SAY
I
knew Mads very well."

The woman sitting in front of us smiled gently as she sat down. She was young, around nineteen or so. She lived in a small apartment in downtown Karrebaeksminde close to the newspaper's office.

Morten was with me. Our group had split up into teams. As soon as we had started messaging the people that were invited to the party on Facebook, a few of them had answered that they would be happy to help. Rebekka and Sune had gone to see a guy who told us he knew Mads pretty well, while Morten and I had gone to visit this young woman by the name of Sascha DuBois. She seemed to be slightly confused when we arrived, but as soon as we sat on the very colorful couch in her living room, she seemed to calm down. She served us a cup of coffee.

"That's okay," I said and took out my pencil and notepad. "We’ll be talking to many people, so your contribution to the article will probably be very small. But anything you can tell us about him and the party you were attending when he was hit by the car would be great."

"What you really should do is to talk to Bettina Nielsen. She was the one flirting with Mads at the party."

I nodded and made a note of it for later. "We definitely will. She was one of the people that responded to our message as well. You said she flirted with him? What about his wife, wasn't she there as well?"

"She never showed up," Sascha said. "Rumors have it the two of them had split up and were living separately. They were married only two years ago, you know. Everyone thought they were way too young, but they didn't care. Not even when Mads' mother tried to stop them. Did you know she tried to pay off Signe to not marry Mads?"

"No, we did not," I said.

"Well, don't put it in the paper or anything, but she did. She offered her a huge check, but apparently Signe's mother didn't think it was enough. She wanted more money for her daughter and the only way to get that was to marry the guy. That's what the rumors say anyway. It's all very strange with that family."

I wrote on my pad that the mother had tried to pay the wife off. I couldn't stop wondering where this wife, this Signe Schou was now and why she hadn't been at the hospital to visit her husband? Had the mother told her to stay away? She must have heard about it by now. Wasn't she allowed to at least say goodbye? I felt bad for the girl.

"So, could you please explain to us exactly what happened at the party? You were all invited through Facebook, right?" I asked.

"Yes. We received an invitation just three days before, which I thought was odd since most people are busy and can't all of a sudden take out an entire day to go to a party. But it was also intriguing. I had never been to a murder party before and I had never been to a party that started in the middle of the day. I had to go. I had to see what it was."

"And, what was it?" Morten asked.

"I arrived at the old theater at noon. The front door was open, so I walked right in. I remember feeling very excited. As I walked into the big lobby where the party was held, I saw a few familiar faces and then a lot I didn't know."

"Was Mads Schou there when you arrived?"

"Yes. He was standing at the bar with a drink, flirting with that Bettina person. I always had a thing for Mads, you know, so I felt a slight pinch of jealousy. Well, I guess we all had something for him back in high-school. He was the handsome rich guy. I just never really cared much for Bettina, so I guess that's why it annoyed me so much. I mean, I know the guy’s married, but I’d heard the rumors that they were having trouble."

I nodded and noted it on my pad. The married couple was having trouble, I wrote.

"So, Bettina Nielsen was talking to him and then what happened?" I asked.

"I talked to some guy for a little while waiting for the party to begin. I remember we discussed what was going to happen. None of us had been to a party like this before. There were free drinks, so we had a couple of shots to get us going, then a cocktail or two. Still, nothing happened and I was beginning to think nothing ever would. That it was just another dull party, but soon something did."

"What happened?" I asked and looked into the girl's eyes.

"The lights went out."

"Then what happened?"

"Then someone screamed."

21

April 2014

"
W
AS IT LIKE A
fake scream? Like they were having fun, playing a game, or what?" Morten asked.

"I thought so at first, but then I realized it wasn't. Soon others started screaming and panic spread in the darkness. I tried to walk towards the door, but when I got there, it was locked. I couldn't see anything. There were no windows."

"Why haven't you told the police all this?" Morten asked. "They don't even know about the party, do they? Or that Mads was there?"

Sascha shrugged. "I didn't think it mattered. He was hit by the car in the street when he left the party. It had nothing to do with us."

"Back to the party," I interrupted. "Everybody was now screaming and trying to get out of the doors, right?"

"Right. But they were locked."

"What happened next?" I asked.

"Well, that's the strangest part. I thought it was all part of the game. I kept waiting for the lights to go back on and the game to begin. You know, someone lying on the floor pretending to be dead and then we had to figure out who among us did it. But the lights never came on. Instead, there was a thud and another scream. I heard voices in the darkness and then people fighting. People were screaming and whimpering and wondering whether it was part of the game or not. I was standing close to the door when suddenly it was kicked open and people started storming out. Light came into the room from the outside, but I never saw what had been going on in the room, since people left in such a hurry. It was really a disaster. Not very well planned."

"So, did you see when Mads left?"

"I suppose he was running just like the rest of them. I didn't see him in the crowd. That hall was emptied pretty fast and people scattered."

"So, no one was hurt? Why were they screaming then?" I asked.

"I have no idea. Maybe it was just all a joke. I really don't know," Sascha said.

"You said there were voices," I asked. "What did they say? Could you hear what they were talking about?"

"They seemed to be arguing about something. There were a lot of different sounds and people screaming. But they sounded like they were arguing."

"Do you remember anything they said?"

Sascha shook her head. "Not really. Yes, there was something that I'm pretty sure was said. It was the number eleven and something about it being able to bring light in the darkness." Sascha looked like she didn't really believe it. She shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe I heard wrong. It might have been something else."

It didn't sound like anything we could use, but I wrote it down anyway. I felt frustrated as I looked at my notes. I wasn't getting any closer to my daughter with this. It was all very strange and didn't seem to have anything to do with the accident. But at least now I knew why Mads might have been running from the theater and into the street. He might have been scared in the darkness and, just like the rest of the party, he ran as soon as the door was opened. Maybe there really wasn't much here for me to discover. Someone played a prank on these people that caused them to run. Mads was just unlucky enough to run straight into my daughter's car.

"Just to clarify," I said. "You didn't see Mads run out into the street and get hit by the car?"

"No. As far as I know, it happened behind the theater. I ran the other way. I wanted to go home and I live in the opposite direction."

"So you never saw the car that hit him or what happened afterwards?" I asked, still hoping for anything that could help me out.

Sascha shook her head. "Good gosh no. I would have told the police if I did, now wouldn't I?"

"Of course you would," I said, disappointed. I looked at Morten. "Well, I guess we have what we came for."

I got up from the couch. Morten followed. In the doorway, I turned to face Sascha. "Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us."

"No problem. I hope you have enough. As I told you, I don't know Mads very well. I mostly remember him from high school, but I don't think he ever noticed me."

"Say, do you have any idea who invited all of you to this party?" Morten suddenly asked.

I took over. "We’ve been wondering about it. On the Facebook invitation, it just says that it is the club called
Mystery-murder club
that created the event. That was also the name that was given to the theater when the person rented the premises for the party. It was paid in cash sent by mail, they told us when we called. On Facebook, the club has no members yet, but the moderator of it is someone calling himself M. Arple. There are no photos on his—or her—profile or any other information."

Sascha bit her lip and shook her head. "No, I can't say that I do. I wondered who was behind it as well, but figured they wanted to be anonymous to make it more fun. It was kind of the premise of the entire thing. It had to be all secretive, right? It had to be a mystery to get people's attention to get them to come."

22

April 2012

B
EING BLONDE AND VISITING
Turkey had become quite annoying for Signe. The many stares from men she met in the streets had been enjoyable in the beginning, but after a couple of days, it had become unbearable. She could hardly walk into a shop without the owner asking to touch her hair and giving her unwanted attention. Even just walking in the streets of Alanya, she was constantly stopped by people, especially old women reaching their hands out to touch her hair like it was somehow magical or especially blessed. At the hotel, they had told her to be careful and not to go out alone and never to wander into dark and deserted streets.

Now that they were leaving the hotel at night, she had put on a scarf to cover her hair. She was wearing a long coat covering most of her body and holding her husband's hand as they walked into the heavily lit street.

"Now, will you tell me where we're going?" Mads asked. He didn't feel comfortable not knowing what she was up to. Not after what happened in Egypt.

Signe had been very secretive all day while preparing what she had planned. She had been to a shop downtown all alone in the afternoon but never showed what she bought to Mads. She had gotten dressed in the bathroom and put on make-up, brushed her short blonde hair carefully, then covered it all up with a scarf and the long black coat.

"Not yet," she said with a grin. "It's a surprise."

Mads was tipsy and it affected his sense of judgment. He was intrigued, but at the same time, very scared of what she might have come up with. The alcohol sedated his strength and capability of saying no to Signe.

They had been drinking in the hotel room. They had ordered wine and champagne through room service, then emptied the many small vodka bottles in the mini-bar. Signe was drunk too. She looked at Mads and he felt a chill go through his body, a thrill of excitement. She looked so happy. He liked that. But it also made him feel anxious.

"Just tell me," he said with a slightly shivering voice.

"In time, my dear. In time," she said, as they turned a corner and walked into a smaller street. The streetlights were gone and suddenly it was darker.

"Are you sure this is the way?" he asked. "It doesn't look safe to go down this street."

"I know," Signe said. "We'll be fine. Just trust me."

She took another turn around a corner and brought them into an even darker street. "It should be around here somewhere," she said.

"What should?" he asked.

They weren't alone in the streets anymore. In every doorway they spotted figures, mostly women in short dresses. Eyes followed their every move from every building.

"I'm not sure I feel comfortable here," Mads said.

"Don't be so dull," Signe said and pulled his arm.

Dark faces stared at them from corners and doorways. Dogs barked. The distant sound of music came from somewhere. Lights coming from the windows were dampened by heavy red curtains. Signe took one last turn into an alley with no outlet. Then she stopped.

"This is it," she whispered her voice trembling with excitement. "This is just perfect."

"This place?" Mads asked with horror in his voice. "What is it? Why are we here? Signe I really think we should be getting back."

They weren't alone in the alley, they soon realized. From the corners and doorways on the sides, there were movements…there were people. Dark faces on well-built bodies were approaching them slowly.

Mads froze. This place scared him. "Let's get out of here, Signe. Come. Let's go dancing at that club we went to last night. You had fun there, remember?"

"No. We've been to every club in town. It's all just for the tourists. I want to experience the real Turkey…the raw and dangerous side to this country. Not just the plastic part made neat for us tourists, no…the dirty and disgusting part. The part that is hidden."