Opposing Forces (30 page)

Philippe had a late shift and knowing Sabina was in lectures, he drove down to Neuchatel.  He had a private matter with Ricardo to sort out.  He promised Sabina he wouldn’t kill him, however he was hell bent on maiming severely.

The road was icy and the journey fairly miserable.  He hated to admit it, but he missed Sabina’s BMW.   At least the appalling road conditions meant his mind was on arriving safely rather than what he was going to do to Ricardo once he got his hands on him.

He parked up and headed up to the apartment Ricardo shared with Florian. 

“Hey, Phil,” Ricardo grinned as he opened the door. “What brings you here?”

Philippe’s response was to punch him full in the face.  Ricardo flew back several feet from the force of the blow.

“What the fuck, man?” Ricardo swore at him.

Philippe punched him in the stomach then on the other side of his face.

Florian ran out the living room and tried to get between them.  “Have you gone insane, Phil?”

“This piece of shit tried to rape Sabina last weekend,” Philippe was still seething.

“That bitch is lying,” Ricardo spat out some blood.  “She’s trying to make you feel bad for your argument.”

“James and Marianne confirmed she arrived back at the chalet pretty shook up, and not from our argument.  It was obviously something more had occurred.”

“They dislike me so of course they would corroborate her lies.”

“They never mentioned your name. And Sabina didn’t have to, I’d already guessed which one of my so-called friends would be low enough to try it on with her.”

“It is true?” Florian stared hard at his friend, hoping he would deny it.

“Rich girls like her are always panting for it,” Ricardo shouted.  “Trust me to pick the fucking frigid one.”

Philippe dealt him a forceful kick to the balls which had Ricardo squirming on the floor. “It’s only because I don’t want to hurt Sabina any more that I’m not arresting you for assault.”

Florian stared at Ricardo puking on the floor.  “You tried to screw Phil’s girlfriend? Then when she said no, you thought you’d have her anyway?”

“When did you become a bloody saint?” Ricardo groaned in agony.

“I draw the line at trying to rape my friend’s girlfriend.  That crosses all boundaries, man.”  Florian looked at Philippe.  “I’m so sorry, Phil.”

“It’s not your fault.  You weren’t to know Ricardo was scum.”

“Now I do, so you can toss him out.  My name is on the lease, he pays me rent.”

“You are fucking joking?” Ricardo howled.  “You’re siding with Phil over this?”

“Definitely,” Florian looked at him in disgust.  “I’ll pack your gear up and leave it outside the building. As far as I’m concerned, our friendship is over too.”

Philippe had great delight in man-handling Ricardo down three flights of stairs and literally tossing him into the street.  “If I catch sight of you anywhere near Sabina, I will shoot.”

He headed back upstairs to help Florian throw Ricardo’s possessions into a few carriers.

“Is Sabina OK?” Florian asked.

“She wouldn’t talk to me for a few days, and who can blame her.  I stormed off that night like a sulky toddler and left the way open for Ricardo to try and do his worst.”

“But you’re cool now?”

“Yeah.  Luckily for me she has a forgiving nature.”

“Damn,” Florian grinned.  “I was half hoping you’d say she dumped you so I could go charging off to Lausanne on my white horse and whisk her off her feet.”

Philippe laughed.  “It’s comforting to know that my friends have my best interests at heart.”

“When you see Sabina, tell her I’m still waiting for her to pick me.  I’m far better looking.”

“I won’t be mentioning this trip to her,” Philippe pulled a face.  “She’d tear a strip off me for taking on Ricardo.”

“Why? Surely she’d like him to get some of his own medicine.”
 

“I’m an officer of the law, remember? She’s worried I could lose my job.  She thinks I might actually shoot the low life.”

“You could just have shot him in the dick.  Then you’d never have to worry about him hurting another woman,” Florian suggested.

“Sadly I’m not a sharp shooter,” Philippe laughed. Florian followed him downstairs with Ricardo’s belongings.  “Will you have a problem finding another flat mate?”

“Nah, another rafting buddy is moving here, so this has worked out quite well.  I’ll let him know today he can have Ricardo’s recently vacated room.”
 

Philippe rested his hand on Florian’s shoulders.  “Thanks for the support.  I’m hoping Sabina and I will make it to the chalet weekend after next. We’d love you to be there.”

“I hope she doesn’t think we’re all women attacking maniacs?”

“You, she has quite a soft spot for.  Tell her I told you, and I’ll shoot you myself.”

Philippe left to the sound of Florian’s laughter.  He really was a good friend.

Maisie was up earlier than usual, she had a lot of work to get through.  She headed downstairs to get a coffee.  It was a newspaper on the table in the entrance hall that stopped her in her tracks. She stared at the paper in shock.  A picture from their match yesterday adorned the front page, but it was the small inset photo that caused her stomach to plummet.  It was of Steffen and her, when he was standing right behind her, his arms around her. The caption under it read
Could this really be Chief Grundberg?

She turned quickly to the inside page.  There was a blown up photo of them, with Steffen quite clearly kissing her neck.  It was a beautifully romantic picture, but not one she wanted splashed over the tabloids.  She skimmed over the article. 
A rare show of emotion in public for the ice cold Chief of Police.  Chief Grundberg was snapped getting up close and affectionate with well-known hell raiser, Maisie Carrington.  Miss Carrington is currently under police protection and seems to be getting a very personal service. Has Miss Carrington thawed out the Chief?
She grabbed a mug of coffee from the kitchen and wandered towards the study, hoping to read the rest of the article.

She was surprised to hear Steffen’s voice, he should have left for the station by now. He was on the phone and his raised voice meant whoever was on the other end had pissed him off.  Perhaps it was the newspaper’s editor.  She was about to retreat when his words froze her to the spot.

“So what the hell do you want me to say, Father? It was a mistake and I let myself be led by my dick. It was just a bit of fun that regrettably got out of hand. She was a great piece of ass...”  Maisie couldn’t listen to anymore, she truly felt sick to her stomach.

She ran silently back to her room and sat on her bed shell-shocked.  She felt like he had just ripped out her heart and trampled on it.  He spoke like he hadn’t the slightest care for her, completely emotionless.  She felt so dirty, so used.  She knew she was in love with Steffen, but she thought he at least felt something for her. Not love maybe, but some basic emotion.  Apparently not, she was just an easy lay.

She heard a car outside, it was Steffen leaving.  Her mind was made up in a flash, she could not stay in his house a minute longer.  As she reached up to retrieve one of her suitcase situated on top of the wardrobe, it slipped as she lifted it down and hit her right on the bridge of the nose.  A few seconds later, her nose was gushing out blood.  That was all she needed to go with her heartache.  By the time she had stemmed the flow, her white blouse was covered in spots of blood.  She pulled it off and changed into a clean one.  After she had packed, she did a sweep of the house to make sure no trace of her was left behind.

She buzzed the gatehouse to call a taxi for her, using the excuse that she had to return to her apartment to collect something.  As there was still an officer there, she would be in no danger.  Right about now she would have happily taken a bullet to the head.  She had never felt so wretched in all her life.  The hardest part was writing the few words she left for Steffen.

The taxi arrived promptly and within a short space of time, Maisie was back in her beloved apartment.  Although she would have welcomed Julianne’s shoulder to cry on, she could at least get to grips with what she needed to do.  She phoned her boss, Claude, and told him she was finally going on the site visits she so desperately needed to make, followed by a few days leave.  After a couple more phone calls, a frenzy of emails, and the repacking of her suitcase, she was off in another taxi to the airport in Geneva.  Her trip was starting in Helsinki and she would, seven days later, be taking a well-deserved stay at the spa in Cyprus she had read about in the hopes that it would fix her body as well as her mind. She had left a note for Julianne saying she needed to be by herself for a while and had gone away; when she felt up for talking, she would call.

The journey to Helsinki was extremely painful, she wore dark sunglasses to hide the tears that she tried so desperately to stem.  A few hours later she was ensconced in her luxurious room at the Intercontinental in Helsinki.  She was now in work mode so Steffen was pushed to one side as she set up a detailed agenda for the next seven days; her trip would include St Petersburg, Copenhagen, Cairo, Venice, Rome and Athens, before settling in Cyprus for a few days.  She had a lot of work to cram in, being under house arrest had set her back a great deal.  She would also use the time to decide whether or not she would take up the Maison Rouge job offer.  They were aware of the trauma she had undergone with her accident and had held the offer open for a few weeks, but time was now running out on her making a decision.

It had been a long day of meetings discussing new initiatives and staffing levels, so he was pleased to get home.  Steffen had a copy of the newspaper in his hand; he loved the picture and wouldn’t have minded getting hold of a good copy.  He knew something was wrong the minute he entered the house, it was far too quiet.  Then he saw the note on the table right in front of him in Maisie’s handwriting.  He shook his head; what madcap thing had she done now.

He opened the envelope and as he read it, the blood started to freeze in his veins. 
I’m sorry you think our relationship a mistake and I’m no more than a piece of ass to you. I thought you were a better man than that but I guess I was proved wrong.  Consider me out of your life. Maisie.

Why the hell would she think he regretted their relationship?  Then it dawned on him.  She had overheard the conversation with his father.  Panic started to rise from deep within him.  It was obvious she had not stayed for the latter part of that conversation.

He flew up the stairs and rushed into her room, but as he feared, all her belongings had gone.  As he looked round the room, something caught his eye.  He reached under the bed and grabbed it.  It was her blood stained blouse.

Her mobile went straight to the user unavailable message, which meant her phone was off.  He was now starting to panic; what did the bloody shirt signify?  Had something happened to her, other than just her leaving him?  He tore outside to his BMW and did something he had never done before; he blue lighted it all the way to Maisie’s apartment.  Taking the stairs two at a time, he hammered on her door. One very pale Julianne answered.

“Where is she?” he demanded.

“Sod off,” Julianne scowled at him and slammed the door in his face.

Officer Valmont let him in. He pushed past Julianne and ran to Maisie’s room.  No sign of her.  He returned to Julianne in the hall way.

“Have you seen her, Julianne?”

“No, she’d been and gone before I arrived back.”

“Has she definitely been back here today?”

Valmont spoke up. “She returned for a short period this morning, Sir.”

“Where the hell has she gone, Julianne?” He ran his hand nervously through his hair. “I really have to speak to her.”