Chapter 21
‘Freya, where the hell have you been all day? Why haven’t you been answering your mobile?!’
She tried to swallow the hunk of cheese she had in her mouth so she could speak.
‘Freya! Are you there?’ Emma questioned.
‘Mmm… hang on. Sorry about that. What did you say?’ She swiped at her mouth with her hands.
‘I’ve been trying to get hold of you all day. It’s all over the news about your car being attacked and Mike being hurt and something happening at your house. What’s going on?’
‘Sorry, it’s all been a bit crazy here. I lost my bag with my phone in at the casino and it hasn’t been turned in, so don’t be surprised if you end up getting a phone call from some drifter.’
‘Are you OK?’
‘Not really. We had an intruder in the house. We got home after the car incident last night to find the kitchen covered in photographs of me and Nick. Well, I say me and Nick; they were of Nick really because someone had done some sloppy editing of me with a pair of scissors.’
‘What?! Oh my God!’
‘I have to say, it wasn’t the best welcome home I’ve had. But Roger and an army of security experts have made my lovely little Waltonesque house into something that now resembles Alcatraz.’
‘Oh, Freya. Do you think it has something to do with the article about your father?’
‘Do I think it has something to do with my rich, lowlife, daughter-hating father? Can I ask the audience?’ She sucked in a breath and thought about Nicholas. He’d left an hour ago. They were hardly talking to each other. He’d never been so bloody minded like he had today at the bridge. She was worried about him. She’d seen people after an audience with her father. She didn’t know if she could tell Emma about it.
‘And Mike’s attack? God, do you think he did that too?’
‘I’d say it was an incident right out of the psychotic father book of “Ways to Bring People to Their Knees”.’
‘Did you tell the police you think it’s him?’
‘No I didn’t, but Nick did.’ She swallowed a lump in her throat. She couldn’t say the words. She couldn’t tell Emma she’d let her fiancé go to face her father.
‘Nick’s worried about me; he’s gone all Neanderthal, actually. I’ve got Jolie coming round to keep me company because Nick’s… had to go out and he doesn’t want to leave me alone.’ She took the slab of cheese out of the fridge and sunk her teeth into it. She moved into the hallway and headed for the living room.
‘I think he’s right to be protective. You’ve had someone in your house; that’s terrible and freaky and I can’t imagine how jumpy I would be in that situation.’
‘Thanks, Em, that’s made me feel a whole lot better about the whole thing. I was so trying not to feel like the babysitter in a horror movie but now…’
‘Sorry, but I’m worried about you too. When are you coming over here? Perhaps the sooner the better would be best. Have you made any wedding arrangements yet?’
‘Er, no, not really. There hasn’t been time, what with police and psychos and motion sensors. Say, what’s been happening in Kassiopi? Tell me about stuff there to take my mind off it.’ She sat down on the sofa and took another bite of cheese.
‘Oh, there’s nothing happening here this time of year. The holiday season doesn’t kick in until May, so everything is quiet… and not so warm.’
‘Don’t talk to me about warm. I moved to America to catch some rays and they’re talking about snow here next week! Snow! I know it’s November but snow?!’
‘I’d love to see snow.’
‘The wind here would kill you. Anyway, how’s everyone? How are Mr and Mrs P?’
Mr and Mrs Petroholis were Emma’s parents-in-law. They were good, honest people who thought the world of Freya.
‘Everyone’s fine. Why do I get the impression you’re hiding something from me?’
‘What? No, I’m not. I just want to try and focus on something else other than what’s going on here. Tell me about the building work with your house. Are those Greek builders still on schedule?’
Emma wouldn’t give up until she’d confessed everything. She couldn’t tell her about Nicholas meeting her father. The less people knew about that, the better.
‘Freya.’
‘Alright, alright, I’ve been in hospital. I passed out at the casino when I found out about Mike.’ She took another bite of cheese.
‘I knew it. It’s those dizzy spells you used to get because of your father, wasn’t it?’
‘I guess. I think it freaked Nick out a bit. Apparently, I did the whole rolling eyes, white, sweaty face, collapsing on the floor thing.’
‘What did the doctor say?’
‘He said I’m pregnant.’ She laughed.
‘What?!’
‘Oh, apparently they did some obviously flawed blood test and it showed up something or other. I told him, there is no way I can be pregnant.’
‘Freya, what are you saying? The doctor told you you’re pregnant and you don’t believe him?’
‘Of course I don’t believe him. What I think happened is that they mixed up my results with some other poor woman. She could be going out and getting drunk right now with no knowledge of her unborn child.’
‘Well, what did the doctor say when you told him you didn’t think you were pregnant?’
‘Oh he said something about a scan to check, but I wasn’t having that. I mean, I’d just woken up from some horrible, debilitating sedative they’d given me and I just wanted to get out of there.’
‘I think you have to go back to the hospital and have a scan. Doctors don’t tell you you’re pregnant for no reason and hospitals mixing up results doesn’t happen very often. You’re pregnant.’
‘I’m not pregnant! Me! Pregnant! Don’t be stupid! The whole idea of it is just completely mad! Nick and I are careful, you know. And although the hospital says he can have children, he hasn’t got the full kit, has he? The chances have to be slimmer.’
‘What’s so mad about the idea of you being pregnant?’
‘Em, the first couple of weeks we had Willis, I forgot to feed him three times. When Nick wasn’t here, he had to leave Post-Its on the fridge to remind me,’ Freya told her.
‘And you think you’d do the same with a baby? Well, let me tell you, the noise they make, you wouldn’t be able to forget it’s there,’ Emma assured her.
‘Well, that’s another thing. I mean, I like my sleep and I don’t function very well without it. From what I know about babies, that isn’t a good combination.’
‘Have you done a test yourself?’
‘No!’
‘Well, why not? If you’re so sure you aren’t pregnant, do a test.’
‘It would be a waste of money. I mean, I could probably buy about five or six large bars of chocolate for the price of a test.’
‘It sounds to me like you’re in denial. Buy a test, pee on the stick and then you’ll know. But if you don’t want to waste chocolate money, go and see the doctor again, get a scan.’
‘You know me and hospitals.’
‘You can’t just do nothing. What does Nick say about it?’
‘Got to go, Em, that’s the intercom buzzing. It’ll be Jolie.’ She stood up and marched up and down to replicate movement.
‘Freya! Don’t you dare go! You haven’t spoken to Nick about it, have you?! Freya! Don’t you hang up on me!’
‘Sorry, Em, Jolie’s here. I’ll call you tomorrow.’
Freya looked at the lump of cheese in her hand and saw she had consumed half of it. She couldn’t be pregnant, not now, possibly not ever. She hadn’t ever thought about it properly. It had never been high on her priority list. She suspected it had something to do with her childhood. She had nothing good to take from her life as a child to pass on to anyone else.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang from the kitchen and the alarm system began going off. The deafening wail had Freya leaping up and covering her ears, not knowing what to do. Her heart was racing and she just stood still, frozen to the spot.
The phone began to ring and she just looked at it, not knowing whether to pick up. With the alarm blaring, she took a deep breath and answered the call.
‘Hello.’
‘Please identify yourself. This is the police. We’ve been alerted to the alarm activation.’ The voice barked at her, sharp and commanding.
‘Um, I’m Freya Johnson. There was a noise from the kitchen and then the alarm went off and…’
The lightheadedness was there again. Her eyes couldn’t focus.
‘Password!’ the voice barked again.
‘Um, I, er, just give me a minute…’
She felt like she was going to vomit. She couldn’t remember what her password was.
‘You have twenty seconds then I’ll radio for an immediate armed response.’
‘Um, er, it’s “John McClane”. Did you hear that? John McClane!’
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the noise of the alarm ceased.
‘Hello, Miss Johnson, my name is Vanessa. I’ve deactivated the alarm here, but you will need to reset the control panel. Now, are you sure everything’s OK?’ the woman’s voice spoke.
‘I think so. I don’t know; I think I’m deaf. Let me go and check the kitchen.’
Gingerly, she left the lounge and made her way up the hallway towards the kitchen.
She flipped on the light and saw Willis in the middle of the kitchen, stood next to a black crow, feathers around his lips. Freya looked up from the floor and saw the kitchen window was broken and glass was all over the work top.
‘I think you’d better get the police to come.’ She called Willis to her and picked him up.
‘OK, Miss Johnson, I’ll have a unit come straight over. Do you want to keep talking to me until they arrive?’
The intercom buzzed loudly and it startled her. Her breath caught in her throat and she almost let go of Willis and the phone. Willis jumped from her arms.
‘Miss Johnson, is everything OK?’
‘Yes, yes it’s fine. Hang on, just one second. Hello?’ she said into the intercom system.
‘Hi, Freya, it’s Jolie,’ her neighbour’s voice called through the speaker.
‘Hi, Jolie. Come on up to the house. Er, hello? Vanessa? It’s fine, it’s my neighbour. She’ll be here until the police arrive. Thank you for your help.’
She ended the call and rushed through the hallway to the front door to meet Jolie. She could see her friend marching up the driveway laden down with grocery bags.
‘Sorry I’m late. Adrian decided to paint the kitchen with ketchup and… well, look at your hair!’ Jolie said.
‘I… well… I’ve got the police coming in a second and…’
‘You haven’t had another break in! Oh my God, when?! With you here in the house?’ She went up the steps to the house.
‘Well, it wasn’t really a break in, it was… Look, come in and make yourself at home. I’ve got some wine open and there’s beer in the fridge or there’s soda or… I’ve just got to call someone about the broken window.’
‘I’ll do that.’ Jolie put her arm around Freya. ‘I’ll also make some tea.’