Miss Polly had a Dolly (Emma Frost #2) (14 page)

"Now I
don't know if
you have heard about what happened last
night here on the island?" Officer Nyberg said.

Patrick leaned over feeling a sudden thrill
inside of him. Had they finally caught up with him? Had they really figured it
out? "I don't think I know what you are talking about."

The second officer took over. "Officer
Nyberg and I are working on the  bowtie killer case. Maybe you've heard
about him?"

Patrick felt like laughing out loud, but held it
back. This was ridiculous. Were they really here talking to him about this with
absolutely no clue at all? Were they really that stupid? Apparently.

"No, I don't believe I have," Patrick
said with a smirk.

Officer Gammelgaard cleared his throat.
"Well, in the last couple of years we have been trying to track down this
killer who…well, kills people, girls, around the country by stabbing them and
then,,,"Officer Gammelgaard seemed to feel sick all of a sudden. It amused
Patrick immensely.

Officer Nyberg took over. "He sews these
small bowties into his victims' breasts afterwards and then leaves them."

"Oh wow. That sounds horrible, "
Patrick said and took off his sunglasses to show how sympathetic he really was.
He looked them into their eyes. "Do you have any idea who he is, any idea
at all?"

The two officers looked at one another. Officer
Gammelgaard answered while the other one sighed. "Uh, to be frank we don't
have much yet."

"And this have been going on for how many
years?" Patrick asked.

"Two. At least that we know of. There might
be more that we just haven't found yet."

"Alright. But what does that have to do
with me, gentlemen?" Patrick asked leaning back in his chair and looking
at his watch.

"Well, there is one connection that we're
looking into," Officer Nyberg continued.

"And what might that be?"

"It seems the killer chooses towns that
your TV show has just been to or is at when he kills. Like last night."
Officer Nyberg cleared his throat again.

"So what are you saying? Do you think it's
someone from the show?" Patrick asked, feigning incredulity.

"No, not that. It's just that we think the
killer might be somehow connected or maybe even obsessed with the TV show. Or
maybe he wants to cover up the killings by choosing the towns where your show
is or has just been because no one will notice anyone with strange behavior
when the town is full of people coming from all over to see the show. It's easy
to hide in a crowd."

"Plus he seems to have a preference for
younger women, several of them have been teenagers and wherever your show is,
there are many teenagers," Officer Gammelgaard said.

"Hmm," Patrick said holding a hand to
his chin trying to look pensive like he was taking this very serious. He was
quite impressed with his own acting.

"It might also be some sort of stalker of
your show," Officer Nyberg continued. "Or maybe even of you."

"I see," Patrick said. "Have you
discussed this matter with the producers?"

"Yes," Hanne interrupted. She had been
sitting by the dining table eating the rest of Patrick's breakfast and reading
the paper while they had talked. Patrick had almost forgotten she was still
there. He turned his head and looked at her. She was putting jelly on her
croissant and some of it dripped down on the plate. Patrick thought it looked
like the blood dripping on the floor and remembered how the girl's blood had
dripped the night before in the kiosk.

"And what did they say?" he asked.

Hanne shrugged. "We can't do much about it,
can we? There are lunatics all over the country. We can't stop the TV show just
because of this."

Patrick turned and looked at the officers.
"You heard the lady. The show must go on," He replied, flashing the
officers his best smile.

"Yes, well we're aware of that, but for now
we're just telling you this to make you aware of what is going on. We will be
present at the auditions tomorrow looking for anything suspicious and for the
rest of the time you and your crew are here on the island we will be here, too.
Just to make sure the killer doesn't strike again."

Patrick smiled and put on his sunglasses again.
"No, we couldn't have that, now could we?"

Sophia came
over early on
Saturday morning. I was preparing
breakfast when the first of her kids stormed through the door. Three year old
Jonathan had snot running from his nose and crackers in his hands when he came
into the kitchen with a huge grin.

"Hi there, little buddy," I said.

He gave my leg a warm hug like only he knew how
to. It made me laugh. I stroked his hair and he looked up at me with rosy red
cheeks and glassy eyes.

"Maya?" he said.

"Maya will be down in a few seconds. Until
then, sit down and have a freshly baked breakfast roll."

Jonathan smiled and proceeded to climb up on a
chair to grab one from the table. He started eating it, throwing crumbs all
over the floor to add to the cracker bits already deposited there upon his
arrival. I decided not to care.

"Maya?" he said again with his mouth
full.

"Just give her a minute, sweetie."

The frond door opened and Sophia's face
appeared. She had the baby in a sling around her chest and the rest of her kids
following her tail. She spotted Jonathan with the roll in his hand and heaved a
sigh of relief. "There you are. I couldn't find you, Jonathan. You can't
leave the house all by yourself." She looked up at me. "I'm so sorry
for that."

"It's okay," I said. "You know I
enjoy having him here."

"He has just been so looking forward to
spending time with Maya again. She's all he is talking about lately."

I chuckled and put butter and cheese on the
table. "I know how much he loves her. She is very fond of him too, so I'm
sure they're going to have a great day together." I spotted Christoffer
and Ida in their nice clothes and water combed hair. I offered them a roll
each. Christoffer took one, Ida shook her head.

"She's too nervous to eat," Sophia
said. "I tried all morning."

"Well maybe I'll bring some of these babies
in a bag for later, then?" I said and winked at Ida.

She smiled and nodded a little shyly. Jonathan
grabbed my scarf from the chair and started pulling it. The chair tipped over
and hit his sister, Anne, on the toes. Anne started crying and yelled at
Jonathan. Sophia grabbed Jonathan and Anne and dragged them into the living
room. Maya showed up on the stairs. Something broke in the living room as it
hit the floor.

I sighed while picking up the chair and the
scarf from the floor. I looked into my daughter's eyes. She seemed unusually
awake for this hour of the day on a Saturday. I grabbed her face between my hands
and kissed her forehead. I looked into her eyes. "Are you sure you're up
for this? It's gonna be hard."

"I'm fine, Mom. I know these kids,
remember?"

"I called grandpa and asked him to come
over too, to help you out a little. He might be bringing Helle. They'll be here
as soon as possible."

"Great. Where is Victor?"

"He's in the yard already. I think he might
be planning on spending all day out there. You know, staying away from the
noise and trouble. He's not happy with me leaving him with a house filled with
kids, but as long as he is able to play on his own I don't think he'll even
notice I'm gone. We'll be back in a couple of hours."

Maya shrugged and grabbed a roll. A scream
emerged from the living room as Jonathan came storming towards Maya into the
kitchen. He threw himself at her leg and hugged it tight. I couldn't stop
smiling. Maya picked him up and propped him on her hip and started kissing his
cheeks. Jonathan whined with joy. Maya laughed, too. I enjoyed watching the two
of them together while finishing my coffee and packing up some breakfast rolls
for later. I left a bunch for Maya to feed to the kids while we were gone. Maya
grabbed a second one and ate it standing with Jonathan. He put his head on her
shoulder and looked at her with deep affection in his eyes.

Sophia looked exhausted as she walked back into
the kitchen. The baby was fussing in the sling. She hushed her baby girl Alma
and rocked her entire body trying to get the baby to fall asleep.

"Do you want anything to eat?" I asked
her. "I bet you had no time to get anything yourself this morning?"

Sophia smiled. "Yes, please. That would be
nice."

I buttered a roll and poured her a cup of coffee
and she ate while I finished getting ready. My dad and Helle showed up right as
we were about to leave.

"Perfect timing," I said and kissed my
dad. I gave Helle a hug. "Victor is in the yard playing and the rest of
the kids are…well, everywhere else. We'll hopefully be back in a couple of
hours."

"Don't worry about it," he said.
"We'll have fun."

"Yeah, I love kids," Helle said and
smiled. It had a great sadness to it and I felt bad once again. I couldn't stop
thinking about her daughter and all the other girls that had disappeared on
this island. Was it even a good idea to start digging into this or was I only
going to inflict even more pain on those who were involved?

I wasn't sure.

We arrived at
the auditions
early but it was still really hard to
find a parking place. The place was jam packed with people, mostly young teenagers
and children with their parents. It was taking place in the old theater
downtown and the line outside went around the building into the street and
blocked all traffic. I was stunned to put it mildly. I didn't even know that
there were that many people on the entire island.

"Lots of people came in with the ferry last
night and this morning from the mainland to participate, as well," Sophia
said as we found a spot in the back of the line.

I sighed thinking this was going to take a lot
more than just a couple of hours. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea after
all.

"I'm so glad you're here with us,"
Sophia said.

Ida nodded and grabbed my hand. I put my arm
around her and hugged her. She was the quietest one of Sophia's kids. I was
wondering if she even wanted to do this audition. She was usually so shy.
Sophia had told me that Ida had wanted to come, that she was the one who had
asked first if she could audition and then Christoffer had said that he wanted
to do it, too. I found it hard to believe. It was so unlike her. I felt bad
that she didn't even have anything to eat. I pulled out a bag of gummy worms
and opened it. I asked her if she wanted one and she refused even those.

Poor thing
,
I thought and put one in my mouth. I loved the taste of gummy worms. I offered
Christoffer one and he took three. I put one in Sophia's mouth while she was
still rocking the baby back and forth.

"Thanks," she said with her mouth
full. "Hit the sweet spot."

I chuckled. The line in front of us was hardly
moving. I ate another handful of gummy worms. Good thing it was one of the big
bags with this line. I put the bag back with the rest of the food arsenal I had
brought.

"Anyone want some chocolate milk?" I
asked. I had packed a lot of small chocolate milk drinks and they were heavy to
carry so I was hoping to get rid of some.

"I'll take one," Christoffer said.

I handed him one and looked at Ida. She was so
pale. She looked like she was going to be sick. "Ida?"

She shook her head. I shrugged and opened one
for myself. I was terrible at waiting like this. It was so boring. So I just
kept eating. I found some chocolate and started on that as well. Sophia was
soon moaning about her back. Carrying little baby Alma like this wore her out.

"Well just a couple of hours more," I
said with a smile.

Sophia laughed. "Well that's hardly
anything, now is it?"

The line moved a little bit and we moved ahead,
too. I was about to pull out another piece of chocolate when suddenly I was
interrupted by screaming up in the front of the line. Then someone was yelling
in a megaphone really loud and the crowd ahead of us started screaming again. I
stretched my neck to better see what was happening. The line had filled up
behind us, but we were still among the ones in the back.

"Why are they screaming?" Christoffer
asked.

I shrugged and stood on my tiptoes, but whatever
was happening was too far away. "I don't know," I said. "But I
would really like to find out."

Ida pulled my arm. Then she pointed into the
sky. "Look," she said with a feeble voice.

I looked up and realized I had been staring in
the wrong direction the entire time. Above our heads a helicopter was slowly
descending and underneath it, on a small ladder, hung Patrick, holding the
megaphone in his hand, yelling something. As he got closer I could hear what it
was he was yelling:

 "Good morning, Fanoe! Are you ready
to rrrrrumble?"

The crowd was screaming back.

"Yes!"
and then started chanting his name.
"Patrick,
Patrick, Patrick."

I laughed. "So typical him to make an
entrance like that," I said. We all watched as the helicopter came closer
to the ground. The screaming grew considerably in strength and volume. Patrick
then let out one of his famous high-pitched screams that always made me think
of Steven Tyler or Axl Rose. I had to say I loved it when he did that. There
was no doubt the boy could definitely sing.

The crowd was screaming and clapping as Patrick
came closer. Photographers from the magazines and papers were running around
beneath him like small ants under a dinner table where sugar had been spilled
on the floor, hoping to get that one shot that would hit the front cover the
next day.

Now we could see him really close. The show's
camera crew was filming everything. I started wondering where the helicopter
was going to land. There wasn't enough room anywhere. Patrick had to come down
here somehow, right?

Seconds later I had my answer. A crew of people
ran into the street and placed a huge inflatable thing. The helicopter
descended further. Then Patrick waved at the crowd, pretended to not hold on,
pretended that he missed the rope ladder when he tried to reach for it. The
crowd screamed and gasped as he fell through the air, still screaming into the
megaphone and landed on the inflatable. I held my breath thinking he could hit
all kinds of things on his way down or maybe even miss the inflatable and be
smashed into the asphalt. But he didn't. Patrick jumped right out of the
inflatable and lifted one arm into the air giving the whole world the finger.

The crowd went berserk.

Patrick laughed and walked closer while the
screaming increased. He ran to some of the girls behind a fence that marked the
line and signed their books, arms, and chests. Then he held the megaphone to
his mouth again.

"Do we have some Shooting Stars here today?"
he yelled.

All the children screamed.
"Yeeeeeess."

"Great. Let's get this party
staaaaarted!"

The crowd clapped and screamed as Patrick ran
from the beginning of the line down towards us in the back, giving high-fives
to everybody on the way. Girls were crying hysterically. I leaned over the
fence as he passed us and slapped him a high-five as well.

When he reached the back, he lifted the
megaphone once again and yelled:

"Auditions are open!"

Then he was gone.

"Wow," I said with a huge smile.
"Some showmanship, huh?"

Both of the children nodded eagerly.

"I want to be famous like Patrick,"
Christoffer said. "I should be famous."

Sophia laughed. Baby Alma still wasn't sleeping.
Sophia's cheeks had turned red from all the rocking back and forth. I laughed
too and messed up Christoffer's hair. "Well maybe you will be after
today," I said thinking it really had to be a special type of person who
did what Patrick did. It wasn't something just anyone could do. I wondered what
it was that had made Patrick such a huge celebrity. What was he even famous for
doing? Being crazy? Hated by half of the population loved by the rest. It was
hardly a career you would encourage your kid to pursue. But being famous for
singing well wasn't a bad thing in my book. Still, I wasn't sure I wanted that
kind of life for my kids. The life of a celebrity had to be rough. I wasn't so
sure it was all fun like most kids believed. Luckily neither of my kids seemed
to want fame and stardom. And neither did I. I enjoyed my level of success immensely.
Being a writer and having a bestselling book out now was great. I received
letters every day from readers, but people still didn't recognize me on the
street. In that way I could continue to live my life as I always had.

"Emma?"

I turned to look for who had called my name. I
spotted Officer Morten in the street. He was waving and walking closer.

"Hi there," I said. "How is
everything? Busy day, huh?"

Officer Morten exhaled. "You wouldn't
believe it. Not exactly another day at the office."

I chuckled. "You all alone here?"

"No, we have called for extra backup from
the mainland. The place is packed with police officers. Dressed as civilian
most of them, but don't let that fool you. They all hope the bowtie killer will
show his ugly face so they can finally take him down. They even came from a
special homicide division in Copenhagen. Two guys who have been working on
catching the killer for two years."

"Wow. Well at least that gets you off the
hook," I said and smiled.

"I guess so. But I'm still going to be
happier once this entire weekend is over and the show on Monday is done. I
can't wait to get back to normal again."

"Guess you won't be complaining about it
being too boring here again, huh?" I asked.

"Nope. Not for a long time."

"Any news about the Countess?" I
asked.

"No. It's horrible. The press is all over
the story. The royal family is going ballistic. Meanwhile, we have no idea
where to look. It's like she has vanished completely from the face of the
earth."

"Guess this is the time where the police
would normally just say she had drowned, huh?" I said thinking the
statement was provocative, but not regretting being straightforward.

Officer Morten looked at me. "I guess
you're right. If it is the same person who has taken all these kids that has
taken Countess Josephine, then he is damn good at blurring his tracks. I still
find it hard to believe, though, that this could have taken place for so many
years without anyone connecting the dots."

I shrugged. "It is hard to believe, I'll
give you that. Have you had time to look into the different cases to see if
there any similarities?"

Officer Morten sighed. "A little bit. Not
much. But there is one thing all the cases have in common, other than
similarities in the victims."

The line was moving and I moved along with it.
We were speaking with low voices making sure no one else was able to hear our
conversation.

"And what is that?"

"Well all of them—except Josephine's
case that is—were on the same playground when they were last seen."

"Really?"

"Yes. That's why the police concluded they
were all drowning, because it's the playground down by Vesterhavsbadet. Right
by the beach. The conclusion is that they just ran off without their parents
seeing, went into the water to try and go to the island, and then drowned."

"Josephine was taken from Vesterhavsbadet
too, wasn't she? That same beach?" I asked.

"That's what concerns me the most right
now. Yes."

"So do you think the kidnapper lives nearby
or something?"

Officer Morten bit his lip. "Hardly. It's
mostly summer cabins that tourists rent and we searched all of them looking for
Josephine just the other day."

"Still, the kidnapper must have some
connection to the area. He can't have walked far with Josephine, no?" I
asked.

"Well if he had a car nearby, he could."

"That's true."

Officer Morten received a phone call. "I
have to go," he said. "I'm needed."

I nodded pensively. "Sure. Thanks for the
info."

"Remember, this stays between you and
me."

"Of course," I said, thinking about
the book I had already started writing in my mind. Officer Morten was already
walking away. I turned to face Sophia. Baby Alma had finally fallen asleep. Her
face looked so relieved.