Untitled ~14

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Chapter Fourteen

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Anna Margaret never checked from the street whether there were lights on in her flat, because her flat was at the back. She lived alone and she forgot to turn off a light once every three months or thereabouts. It did not strike her as odd that she could see a light behind the frosted glass panel of her front door; she must have accidentally left a light on before she left, which would cost money but it was otherwise no big deal. The services had checked out her street during the past week and noticed nothing suspicious. She had been informed of that. It therefore did not even cross her mind that it could be anything but a forgotten lamp.

There was something odd, however, when she opened her door. There was a smell that definitely had not been there when she left, yet she had been gone to South America for a few days and any smells ought to have disappeared by now.

She was tired from the flight and dropped her suitcase in the hall. Then she kicked off her shoes, hung up her coat – and failed, but she left it lying on the floor. The smell was still there, but she did not immediately investigate. She must have left a window open and the neighbours’ cooking smells were wafting in.

First she went to the bathroom and replaced her clothes with pyjamas and a bathrobe. It was imperative to do that first. After she had eaten something she might be too tired to change. Then she walked slowly to her living room and kitchen, glancing at her suitcase and wondering when she would feel up to unpacking it. Not any time soon, she suspected. When she had not been kept busy by her hosts in South America, she had been on the phone or emailing back home. She had not got as much rest as she had needed.

Stepping through the door, she halted again almost immediately. From there she could see part of the kitchen and it was a mess. There also seemed to be someone in it. She peered around the corner to see if it was not a burglar.

“Frederick?” she cried.

She had not seen or spoken to him since France. The best she had been able to do was to look up pictures of him opening the new wing of that school. He had continued with his own activities, but he had not held any interviews, except that he appeared to have told a girl at the school that he was fine. That, for lack of any other information directly from him, had been repeated and analysed in the media until every possible meaning had been inferred.

“I heard you come in,” he said matter-of-factly. “I wondered when you’d find me.”

“What are you doing?” She observed the worktops. Every pan she owned was on them, as well as several egg shells, vegetable waste, knives, spatulas, spoons, cups, and something was even dripping onto the floor.

“Cooking. I’m glad you weren’t delayed.” He allowed himself to smile a bit. “It’s almost done.”

“How did you escape?” She glanced around, but there did not seem to be anyone else with him.

“Oh, I simply walked out.”

“Why?” She had not missed the abdication already, had she?

“I thought you might be hungry.” Because she was still staring at him as if he was a strange apparition, he dropped the wooden spoon he was holding onto an untidy pile of pans and stepped towards her. “I hope you are.”

Well, perhaps not so much for a meal. Anna Margaret fell into his arms. He was surprisingly accommodating. “I don’t know,” she mumbled between kisses. Any hunger she might have felt had been replaced by this other sensation.

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She found out that he had not really escaped, but that the compromise was that a car would pick him up at ten. Until then they could do as they liked. They had even eaten, but she could not tell if she had actually tasted the food. It must have been all right, but her mind had been on other things.

It still was. Snogging and more snogging on the couch. She would not have minded going further, but although he had taken the initiative to come here, it had soon become clear that he would not take the initiative to go further any time soon. There were sensible arguments in favour of that, certainly, and she had refrained from running off to the bedroom. This time. She supposed the fact that someone was going to pick him up was not helping either. It seemed he could live with people knowing he had had dinner here, but not yet live with people suspecting something more.

Which might not have anything to do with not being attracted to her enough. She watched as he pulled on his jacket at 21:58. “Are we now involved?” she asked. It was like being eighteen again. She had been wondering for half an hour at least, but she had not been sure if someone her age was supposed to know.

He focused on his zipper and it took a few moments before he answered. “I suppose, but only secretly.”

“Thanks for letting me in on the secret. I wasn’t sure how you felt.” This was probably not the wisest conversation to have so shortly before his car would arrive. It might take long. Once one question had been asked, others might follow.

“I wasn’t sure about you either.”

“It would not be clever if I asked you to stay, would it?” But she needed to let him know he was at least welcome.

“Do you think I don’t want to?”

She shrugged.

“I didn’t come prepared.”

She shrugged again.

“People might notice.”

She shrugged.

“No, you’d care about that,” he decided. “Once you’ve got a clear head.” He opened the door and gave her a kiss. “I do want to stay, some time.”

“But you’re hurrying out of here now so it won’t be today?”

He smiled and stepped out. Anna Margaret followed as far as the threshold. She froze when she saw her neighbour staring at them interestedly. He was a secretary of state and although his portfolio was agriculture, and therefore he could not possibly have been present at the crisis meetings of a week ago where photos had been shown, she was sure the king had met with all the secretaries of state and ministers a few months ago.

That meant there was a possibility of recognition, even if Frederick was wearing jeans – he had dressed up for this date. She crossed her fingers behind her back. Patrick was only a few years younger; he might actually be observant and notice this was the man he had met a few months ago.

Frederick gave the man a polite nod and bounded down the stairs. She watched him disappear and quickly retired into her flat.

They were not entirely in the same boat privacy-wise, Patrick and she, because nobody could care less what he did in his spare time as long as it was sort of ‘normal’. She got a lot more exposure and that nobody had cared until now was because she had never done much until now. He might actually tell someone she had had a visitor, although she had always believed these flats had been made available to them partly to reduce that risk.

Of course she had had visitors before, but they had been in groups and she had never said goodbye to anyone in her pyjamas.

Perhaps she was worrying too much.

Frederick had been so right, though. If he had been caught leaving in the morning she would have worried even more.

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The next morning there was no one who asked her about her visitor. Patrick did not seem to have talked, or at least not to people she encountered. She hoped he was decent enough not to talk at all. Of course he might ask her something at the next courtyard party, but she would be able to handle that. Summer was coming. The next barbecue might be soon. They had them sometimes, with as many residents of the building as wanted to come. It was always an excellent occasion to find out more about people.

Work was the same as before she had left. Everything had been communicated to her across the Atlantic, so there was relatively little news, she thought at first. The only things people had not informed her about had to do with the king, but he had told her some the night before.

Except that her meeting with him had been cancelled. She wondered if he even knew. Or if he was as disappointed as she was. It should have been the day before, but she was not back yet then, and now it would only be next week.

Then, a surprising new thing was that he had flown to Italy in her absence to speak with the men who had been arrested over the attack.

“What?” she cried. “Why wasn’t I told?” He had been at her flat! And he had not said a word about it!

“Because we’ve only just heard about the trip. We’re only just processing the findings,” said Eric apologetically. “Which is why we hadn’t informed you yet. I’m informing you now.”

“There were findings?” She tried to think logically. There was no way she could have pretended she did not know anything if Frederick had told her something last night. She hoped that was why he had not told her. “There were things they told him that they hadn’t told the authorities?”

“Exactly.”

She was even more stunned now. “I need to speak to him, but our meeting was cancelled.”

“Yes, he’s speaking to us.”

“Why not to me?” He could have told her today, at the same time, yet he had cancelled their meeting. Was he afraid of her reaction? He would have to be even more afraid now. This was important!

“I don’t think he’d have any objections to your being there,” Eric said cautiously. “But I was told you are meeting the crown princess at that time at her request and as such you were unavailable. I’ll fill you in later.”

She did not want to press too hard. It might look as if she really wanted to see the king. Why had he gone to Italy and had he really discovered something? And why had he not told her immediately? She could understand, however, that he had not wanted to place her in an awkward position and she clung to that explanation for the time being.

That, and he avoided possible confrontations by simply not telling anyone he was about to do something of which they disapproved. Perhaps he thought they would dissuade him. When he did not tell them until afterwards, there was very little they could do. Just like his studies, she thought. But who had been there to dissuade him, though? She had been away.

That day she was indeed, unexpectedly, seeing the princess who was due to become the queen hopefully soon. The last time – and perhaps the only time – they had spoken, was over the phone from France. Anna Margaret admitted to being a little more nervous about the conversation because she was now secretly involved with the brother.

There was also the fact that the princess would be nothing like her brother – she would actually have to mind her words and make sure she was extremely polite – and very controlling.

It was unclear where this desire to meet her came from all of a sudden, unless the princess was already taking over the weekly meetings. Frederick could not have talked – he had not said so. On the other hand, it had been days since they had returned from Italy, so it would have given anyone enough time to probe, someone close to him especially. Perhaps it was simply to do with the abdication.

The request had come in early that morning. It was in fact more of an order, as if the princess had known she was available. Of course, if she knew about the weekly meetings with Frederick, she would certainly know that time slot was free for the taking – certainly with a brother who was not very strong.

Surprisingly they were not meeting at either of their offices, but at an exclusive and overpriced lunchroom. It was within walking distance of her office, so she left a little before the appointed time. It was long before people would actually have lunch, so its top floor was still closed. It opened when it got busy, or if princesses requested a table there. One of the waitresses saw her and immediately led her upstairs.

There, it was quiet. Two bodyguards were having coffee near the stairs, but the princess had chosen a table near the back.

“I’m glad you could meet me, Madam Prime Minister,” the princess said as she extended a cool hand.

“Your Royal Highness,” Anna Margaret acknowledged. She passed her order of coffee to the waitress.

“We’ll be meeting much more often in the future, I understand, if my brother has his way. I didn’t think it was wise to meet professionally until everything has been sorted out. There’s a chance, of course, that he’s simply confused.”

There were a lot of people who thought he was simply confused, traumatised or in need of psychological help. Anna Margaret did not respond. The princess was about ten years older and she knew her brother much better. At least, she had known him for far longer. She might not accept Anna Margaret’s opinion that none of these things applied to him: he knew he wanted out.

“I have tried to speak to him about Italy,” the princess continued, but she shook her head. “I’m not getting much out of him, as if a lot happened that he doesn’t want to tell me about. But what is pretty clear is that this time he seems absolutely certain he wants to give up. He never wanted the position in the first place, you see, so that in itself does not surprise me. What does surprise me is that he sometimes smiles.”

“He does not usually smile then?”

“He smiles as if something good is going to happen afterwards.”

“He will have much more freedom?” Anna Margaret guessed.

“No. That was already the case the previous ten times he mentioned giving up. There’s an added dimension now. Something even better.” The princess held her gaze.

She was glad the waitress brought her coffee and an elegant étagère with pastries. It hopefully got her out of reacting. Something even better. She would not speculate on that out loud, even if she could make a guess.

“You will have spoken to him about the abdication,” his sister continued.

“I was in South America.” And, she supposed, Frederick had been to Italy for a short while. Would his sister know? She would not mind hearing if he had managed to do this against his sister’s wishes.

That seemed to make little impression. “Not for long. What did he tell you? You phoned me about it, remember, so he mentioned the subject to you some time ago already.”

That was right.

“So in the middle of escaping an attack on his life, he phones you tell you that you must phone me to say he wants to abdicate? I don’t know if that really makes any sense. Why involve you? He managed to tell me directly all other times.”

Anna Margaret squirmed. She suspected his sister was on to something.

“What you tell me will not go any further,” said the princess. “I should like to have the true sequence of events. I’m not likely to take it to the press.”