Free Blue Blue Eyes: Crime Novel by Helena Anderson

bar, talking to some slimy dude with a black, open shirt. Patrik had gathered all of his strength and put on his talent for acting before approaching.
    ”Linn… but what are you doing here?” He gave her a hug and a quick kiss on her lips. His heart was beating hard in his chest and he hoped Linn wouldn’t notice how nervous he was.
    ”Hello, sweetheart.” Linn smiled her best smile and pulled a hand through her blond shoulder-length hair. ”What am I doing here? Well, that’s what I’m wondering, too.” She laughed out loud and threw her head back. ”I kind of like surprises and here I am.” Linn was slurring her words as she flung her arms wide and gulped down the last drop from her wine-glass.
    Patrik immediately saw that his wife was more than just a little tipsy and tried stopping her when she raised her hand to order another glass of red wine from the bartender.
    ”Stop it, I decide what I want in my glass….” Linn pursed her lips like a stubborn child and her mouth looked like a thin line. She glared annoyed at her husband and didn’t realise how one of her shoulder straps was sliding down. Patrik thought she looked vulgar. Her red dress was far too short and showed more of her thigh than necessary for a woman of her age. But the worst, though, was to see your wife drunk and slutty. Patrik looked around the bar in shame and saw how Linn’s slimy companion had started going for another woman.
    ”You see…ah, never mind. Give me more wine now, come on you bore.” Patrik refused and shook his head, trying to silence his loud wife. ”But what the hell…let me go. How bloody hard should it be…to give me a bloody glass of wine.” The last sentence was far too loud and a lot of guests looked disapprovingly at Linn.
    ”Come on, let’s go.” He took Linn’s arms and tried to get her up from the bar chair.
    ”Leave? No way. I want my wine first.” Linn was swaying, lost one of her shoes which rolled under the next bar chair. When she tried getting it with her other foot she slipped and fell down on the floor.
    ”Ouch!” Patrik was quick to help his wife on her feet again. He bent down and picked up the red wedge heel shoe while trying to keep Linn upright with the other arm.
    ”How are you?” Patrik asked making a face when he saw her knee. The blood was pouring from a deep cut. Some guests nearby came with a few napkins and asked if they needed help but Patrik kindly declined.
    ”You have to take the other shoe off, Linn. Give it to me.” Patrik was losing his patience. ”Damn it”, he said out loud.
    ”Hang on a minute”, Linn was slurring, ”Where are we going?”
    Patrik gave his wife an icy look and hissed. ”To the room.” He took another napkin and pressed it hard to her knee while they were waiting for the lift. The lift he and Nikki had escaped in a few hours’ ago.
    ”Why do you drink so bloody much? Can’t you behave like normal people do?” Patrik pushed his wife into the lift and had to hold her around the waist so she wouldn’t collapse. ”How much have you been drinking actually?”
    Linn wobbled a little and started giggling. ”Ah, just a few glasses.”
    ”A few, sure”, Patrik was muttering. He was mad. Most of all he was angry with himself for closing his eyes to his wife’s problems with alcoholism and for her having come here, destroying his and Nikki’s mini holiday. The torment washed over him like an avalanche and grew larger and larger with every second passing. ”Damn it, why do you do this?”
    ”What?” Linn slurred in surprise. She rubbed her eyes until she looked like a panda, standing there clinging to him.
    After a restless night Patrik yawned and got up, taking a long, hot shower. He sat down in the deckchair in the shade on the balcony with the towel around his hips, looking out over the peaceful, still sea. A couple of coffees later he surfed the internet looking at different rehab centres but didn’t find as many as he had hoped for.