Safe as Houses (16 page)

‘Thank you,' she says quietly. ‘What a wonderful homecoming.'

‘You should thank the children: they dreamed everything up.'

‘But it was your idea to—' Jelmer begins, but he is attacked from all sides before he can finish his sentence.

‘That's a surprise, you idiot,' Denise says.

This earns her a kick, but Jelmer's happiness at having his mother home again is too great for his humour to be spoiled.

‘When are you going to do the surprise, Dad?' he whispers into his father's ear, very loudly.

‘In a minute.' Frank gives him a blatant wink.

‘I'm starting to get curious. What's going to happen?' Senta looks from one person to the next with interest.

‘You'll see!' Jelmer dances around excitedly. ‘It begins with a—'

‘Jelmer!' Denise presses her hand against her brother's mouth. ‘Shut up. It's not the same if Mum already knows. Mum, go and sit down; we'll bring you a cup of coffee. Or would you rather have tea? And would you like a big slice of cake or an enormous slice of cake?'

Senta says she'd prefer coffee, and a medium-sized piece of cake. She lets them lead her to the sofa as if she's an elderly lady who can hardly walk. Home. At least her brain is telling her that this is home, but she somehow feels estranged from all the familiar things around her. She is constantly aware that she almost lost her family, her home and her life. If that man hadn't been walking his dog along the embankment, she'd be in a coffin now. No streamers, no cake, but deep mourning in this house. She shivers and dismisses such macabre thoughts.

And suddenly, as she tries to turn her mind to a happier subject, something flashes through her mind.

A house, she thinks in surprise. I dreamed about a house.

The big surprise is a new car: a metallic silver Toyota Auris Business Edition, only a year old. Frank enthusiastically demonstrates all the extras, and hopes that Senta will take it for a test drive immediately.

She imagines putting on the seat belt, turning on the engine, driving away. She turns pale and brings her hand to her forehead. ‘I think I'll go and lie down. I'm shattered.'

‘Of course, darling. I totally forgot how tired you still must be. You go and lie down. I'll get dinner ready for tonight. We'll have a lovely long one, glass of wine, music . . .' Frank solicitously leads her inside, and upstairs, to bed. The children follow, watching her go and waving goodbye before disappearing into their bedrooms or off to see their friends.

Frank unpacks her suitcase and helps her on with her nightdress. ‘Are you all right like that?' He looks concerned as she crawls under the duvet.

‘Yes, thanks. You're such a sweetheart.'

‘Sleep well, darling.' He gives her a quick kiss and leaves the bedroom, closing the door softly behind him. ‘Don't play your music too loud, Mummy's sleeping,' Senta hears him say to one of the children.

But she isn't sleeping and she isn't planning to. All she wants to do is to lie quietly on her back, stare at the white ceiling and enjoy the peace. But wherever she looks, that house appears in her mind's eye. Is it a memory? Something from that lost hour? But why does she remember a house and not the moment she drove into the water?

Senta stares ahead. It was a misty afternoon, and she was lost. The only thing she can think is that she asked for directions somewhere. Maybe she sat in that house for a while until the mist lifted; maybe she had a drink and a nice chat with whoever lived there. Maybe he was the one who rescued her from the water.

Senta jumps up with a start. Her saviour! Of course, he saw everything happen; he'll be able to fill in a few missing pieces of the puzzle.

Sleep is out of the question. She throws off the duvet, pulls on her dressing gown and goes downstairs. A strong oniony smell meets her, and Frank looks up in surprise.

‘Couldn't you sleep?'

‘No, I'm too restless. I suddenly thought about that man who rescued me. Do you know who he was?'

‘Yes, I wrote it down. I imagined you might want to thank him. And the police said it's sometimes good if the victim and the rescuer get to know one another. It helps you to process things.'

‘It might get my memory working again. That missing chunk is bothering me.'

‘Yes, I'm sure. People might say that an hour isn't important, but the hour before something so fundamental . . . I'd like to know what happened too.' He skilfully turns over the onions in the pan.

‘Where is that man's number?' Senta asks.

‘I wrote it down in my diary. It's next to the computer. But Senta . . .' He looks up with a light frown between his eyebrows. ‘Do you really have to call him now? You've only just got home.'

‘I'll just copy it down. I'll call him during the week. Maybe he wouldn't mind my dropping round.'

Frank points the knife at her in warning. ‘You know you're not allowed to drive yet.'

‘Who said so?' Senta gives him an astonished look. ‘I'm absolutely fine. Why shouldn't I drive? You wanted me to go for a test drive just now.'

‘With me next to you! What if you blacked out?'

‘Why would I black out? Did Dr Reynders say that might happen?'

‘No, but you never know.'

‘Oh . . .' Senta scratches her cheek thoughtfully. ‘Let's see: when
do
you think I'll be capable of going out on my own?'

Frank turns to her with a sigh. ‘Don't be so sarcastic, Senta. I'm worried – you must be able to understand that?'

His shoulders slump, and suddenly he looks so tired and worn out that Senta goes over to him, full of remorse, and wraps her arms around him. ‘I'm sorry, you're right. I'd be worried too if it had been you. But, to be honest, I can't wait to
get back to work and on with my life again.'

‘You mean carry on as though nothing has happened?'

‘Yes, that too.' Senta stops talking for a moment and then continues in a gentle voice. ‘I'm afraid that if I wait too long I won't dare to.'

Frank's eyes are serious and full of understanding. ‘A week of rest isn't too much to ask, is it? Really, Senta, you owe it to yourself to let your body heal. It's been through a lot.'

Senta nods in acquiescence.

That evening they share a Mexican meal, which Frank has cooked. Burritos, nachos, guacamole, her favourite foods. Frank hasn't skimped on a thing. The good Chilean wine on the table completes the picture, and Niels and Denise are allowed a glass each. Only Jelmer has to make do with a Coke, but he doesn't have a problem with that.

‘Wine is disgusting, I don't know why you like it.'

His father nods approvingly. ‘Keep it that way.'

‘I don't like it that much either,' Denise admits after a tiny sip. ‘It's so sour. Haven't you got any sweet wine?'

‘Get yourself a Coke too,' Senta advises her. ‘I don't really approve of your drinking alcohol. Before you know it, you'll start to like it.'

‘Yes, and then you'll be just as addicted as Mummy and Daddy,' Jelmer says between bites of his burrito.

Senta and Frank both look up speechlessly and then say at the same time, ‘Hang on!'

‘You drink wine every evening with dinner,' Jelmer says accusingly.

‘Having a few glasses with a meal won't do any harm,' Frank replies calmly. ‘But it can damage children whose brains are still growing. That's the difference.'

‘Give Jelmer a glass, then. He hasn't got a brain to grow.' Niels taps against his brother's head, at which Jelmer pelts him with the brown beans that have fallen from his burrito.

Denise bursts out laughing, but Frank puts a stop to the chaos with an angry outburst.

‘Oi! Stop it! Your mother has only been out of hospital for a few hours and you've already started playing up!'

The children look in Senta's direction in shock, but she's laughing behind her napkin.

‘I'm so happy to be home again,' she says.

The rest of the evening is peaceful and convivial. No one is withdrawn or absent; they all gather together in the sitting room like a model family, chatting and reading. The television is on, but it's
more of an unobtrusive murmur in the background. When the eight o'clock news starts, Frank immediately turns from his family and gives it his full attention. Senta is forced to follow the summary of the world's woes along with him. She is not happy, but she knows that Frank likes to watch the news for work. After a while, her thoughts wander off and she watches without really seeing anything.

‘Haven't they caught that loony yet?' Niels says. ‘It's unbelievable.'

‘He's long over the border,' Frank comments. ‘They won't be able to catch him any more.'

Senta absent-mindedly looks at the image of a man with short black hair and a round, surly face that fills the screen.

‘An escaped nutcase,' Niels fills her in. ‘He escaped while on day-release from a psychiatric prison, killed a woman and beat a man to death.'

‘What a creep.' Senta is watching the screen with only half an eye. She isn't really following the news item about the criminal, but when the coverage changes to the weather, she experiences a strange sense of relief.

Lisa slowly opens her eyes. She has spent the entire night awake. Kreuger's slightest movement in the bed sent shockwaves through her body; every time he snored or groaned in his sleep she'd freeze, and when his hand brushed her body it felt like he'd touched a raw nerve.

The relief when he finally got up in the morning and left her to doze was like a painkilling infusion into her veins. Still, she must get up; Anouk would be awake soon.

Just as she's stretching her limbs, her daughter comes through the door. Anouk glides in and climbs into bed with her. Her daughter dozes off, and Lisa softly strokes her dark hair. She stares blindly at a chink in the curtains and at the daylight streaming in. Had things had gone differently, they would have been safe in a police station by now. Or Kreuger
would have been arrested straight away, in the night, and they'd have the house to themselves again. Will she ever be able to live in this house again as she used to? If she does stay here, she's going to throw away everything Kreuger touched, starting with this bed.

But thinking about the future is a luxury she cannot permit herself as long as they remain in this nightmare. She's not even sure she has a future.

The sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs. Lisa jumps out of bed on an impulse, until she realises she's naked. She quickly gets back under the duvet.

Kreuger's tall shape fills the doorway. ‘Do you feel any better?'

You could read the frown on his face as concern, but Lisa hears the undertone of irritation in his voice.

‘Yes,' she says submissively.

‘Not feeling sick any more?'

‘No, I'm all right now.'

‘Have a shower,' Kreuger advises her. ‘It stinks like hell in here.'

He turns around, and she hears him going back downstairs. Slowly, so as not to wake Anouk, she sits up and pushes off the duvet. A shower, that's a good idea. Although it might be better to go down with stinking breath and bits of vomit in her
hair. Nevertheless, she turns on the shower. Soon the warm stream is washing away the previous night. But only once she's soaped herself from head to toe and washed her hair three times does she feel any better.

She returns to the bedroom with a hand towel wrapped around her body and looks in her wardrobe. A baggy grey cardigan and a worn-out pair of jeans look like a suitable choice.

‘Has he gone, Mum?' Anouk sits up sleepily.

Lisa is startled out of her thoughts. ‘No, he's downstairs.'

‘Oh.' Anouk goes barefoot to the bathroom.

‘Why are we allowed in our own beds again?' Anouk asks when she returns.

‘I don't know exactly. I think he wants to be friends with us.'

Anouk peers thoughtfully into the large mirror on the wardrobe. She goes to her own room and returns with a pink tiara in her uncombed hair.

‘I don't want to be friends with him,' she says resolutely, as though she's been considering it and has now made her decision.

‘No, me neither.' Lisa pulls her daughter towards her and gives her a cuddle. ‘But we need to pretend. You know that, don't you?'

‘I know. But sometimes it's hard.'

‘I know. But you . . .' Lisa is about to begin a
serious conversation with her daughter when the landline rings somewhere in the house.

Suddenly alert, they look at each other, and Lisa thinks how absurd it is to have a five-year-old child as an ally.

The ring sounds muffled, as though it's coming from inside a cupboard. She hears Kreuger moving downstairs, walking through the sitting room and into the hall. A key is turned in a lock and the ringing becomes clearer.

So the phone is in the hall cupboard or in the meter cupboard.

Lisa waits anxiously for Kreuger to tell her to come downstairs and answer it. But before this can happen, the ringing stops and silence resumes.

She hurries downstairs, expecting the caller to try again.

‘Who was it?' she dares to ask.

‘Mark.' Kreuger puts the phone in his trouser pocket and goes back into the sitting room.

Lisa's mouth has become dry. She isn't religious, but she is praying feverishly that he'll call back. He is harder to fob off than her mother. Mark isn't exactly the patient type, and if he wants to speak to her he'll keep trying until he gets hold of her.

In the kitchen, she takes cheese, butter and bread from the fridge.

‘Was that Daddy?' Anouk asks in a penetrating whisper.

Lisa nods and puts her finger in front of her lips.

Anouk sits down at the kitchen table. ‘I was supposed to be going to the zoo with Daddy.'

Lisa tries to keep Kreuger in her line of vision through the half-open door, but he's out of sight. She turns to the worktop with a sigh and grates some cheese for Anouk's sandwich.