As Red as Blood (The Snow White Trilogy)

by Salla Simukka

  Elisa was one of the most beautiful girls in school. She also acted the part, and her poise made everyone believe in her beauty even more strongly. Seeing her like this, exhausted and scared, you realized the beauty was a carefully constructed mask whose single most important factor was not the right color of lip gloss or professionally applied eye shadow, but a heavy dose of self-confidence and flirtatiousness. Elisa’s smile made boys’ hearts flutter and palms sweat.

  To this day, Lumikki had never figured out the true nature of Elisa and Tuukka’s relationship. Obviously, they had dated at some point, but now they seemed to be just friends. Maybe friends with benefits. Elisa toyed with the small male population of the arts high school as she saw fit, and of course, as a being descended from a higher sphere, Tuukka was most girls’ fantasy, but some other glue seemed to bind them together too. Maybe they imagined that, as the alphas of the school, they were so far above everyone else that they could never seriously consider dating anyone else.

  “What should we do? Duh. We should keep it, of course. Duh. And keep our mouths shut,” Kasper said.

  Lumikki wondered how Kasper had gotten into the school in the first place. He seemed to concentrate more on ditching class than doing homework. The whispers in the hall said he was on the verge of expulsion if things didn’t change. Kasper dressed in black and wore flamboyant gold jewelry. Keeping his hair slicked back required a significant amount of gel, and in his world, he clearly thought he was some sort of bling-bling rap artist even though, in reality, his performances evoked more pity than excitement in the audience. Kasper was a weird dude, and you couldn’t tell whether he was a chump or an actual small-time thug. For ages, Lumikki had wondered why Elisa and Tuukka hung out with Kasper at all. Elisa glanced around and lowered her voice.

  “We can’t keep it,” she said.

  The panic in her voice was audible.

  “What do you think we should do then?” Tuukka asked. “Go tell the police?”

  Kasper snickered. Elisa’s dad was a cop. Occasionally, she received good-natured and sometimes less good-natured ribbing about that fact.

  “It isn’t ours. We ended up with it by accident, so someone out there is looking for it, and if they find us, we’re screwed.”

  Elisa was desperate to convince the boys.

  “Come on, Elisa, think. What can we really do? How can we explain everything that happened without getting in trouble? We should have done something right then that night,” Tuukka pointed out.

  “We did do something,” Kasper said, snickering.

  Elisa sighed. “Yeah. We acted like regular geniuses.”

  “It seemed logical at the time,” Tuukka said. “But you get what I’m saying. If we tell about the . . . it . . . we have to tell about everything else. And I don’t know about you, but I can’t risk that.”

  “Neither can I,” Kasper said.

  Lumikki heard Elisa’s fingernails drumming nervously on the tabletop as she spoke.

  “My memory’s way too fuzzy to say anything for sure. I can’t even sort out what happened when. Mostly I just know that my house was a god-awful mess in the morning. You don’t even want to hear all the places I found puke.”

  “I bet you’ve got a lot of scrubbing to do so your dad doesn’t realize you weren’t just sitting at home studying physics all weekend.”

  Kasper leaned back in his chair with an amused look on his face.

  “Are you crazy? Today’s when the maid comes. She’s cleaning everything up right now. I promised to pay her double if she does it in half the usual time and keeps her mouth shut. If I could just remember everything that happened, maybe I could—”

  “Get us all in really, really big trouble? That sounds like an awesome plan.”

  Tuukka’s voice had a hard, threatening edge to it.

  Elisa was silent for a moment. At the next table, someone made it to the next level on Angry Birds and gave a satisfied, “Yes!”

  “Okay, fine,” Elisa said. “We’ll keep our mouths shut. For now. We’ll wait and see what happens. But I have to say, I have a really bad feeling about this.”

  “Maybe ten grand will make you feel better,” Tuukka said.

  “What? No, I don’t want any.”

  “Of course you do. I’ve got three bags. Ten thousand each. We’re all in this together.”

  There was some rustling and the sound of a zipper as Tuukka opened his backpack under the table. Lumikki turned her head slightly and watched out of the corner of her eye as two opaque black plastic bags were transferred from Tuukka’s backpack to Elisa’s and Kasper’s bags.

  Elisa pressed her face into her hands and gave an anguished sigh.

  “Fuck. This morning, when I woke up, I was so hoping this was all just a bad dream.”

  “No one saw you, did they?” Kasper asked Tuukka.

  “No.”

  “And no one had gone in the darkroom?” Kasper asked.

  “And just left all that there? I seriously doubt it.”

  But there was tension in Tuukka’s laugh. Suddenly, he stood up.

  “This meeting is over. You can leave now.”

  “I’m still drinking my chai,” Elisa said.

  “If I was you, I wouldn’t hang around town looking like that any longer than I had to,” Tuukka said. “And I mean that with all the love in the world, baby.”

  “Yeah. You’re one to talk,” Elisa threw back, but she did get up.

  Lumikki waited until the trio had left. Then she tried to gulp down the rest of her tea. God. Did people really drink this stuff voluntarily? She ended up leaving the dregs of the overpriced dishwater in her cup. When a safe amount of time had passed, she bundled up and stepped back out into the biting cold. She’d have time to think on the way home.

  A bitter, electric cold wind was blowing across the stone bridge over the rapids that ran through the middle of the city. Lumikki hurried her steps, processing what she had heard. Tuukka, Elisa, and Kasper had somehow ended up with the money last night. How, Lumikki didn’t know. Whose money was it? Did they even know? Maybe not. Probably not. They seemed even more confused than usual about what had happened the night before.

  The money had obviously been bloody already, and the three of them had come up with the genius idea of washing it in the school darkroom. That was the hardest part to understand. Who would ever think to go to school in the middle of the night to clean a pile of dirty money?

  At least we were only drinking.

  Suddenly, the words of the perfume mafia echoed in Lumikki’s head. So people must have been doing more than just drinking at the party last night. Some of them, at least. Maybe Elisa, Tuukka, and Kasper. That might explain why they’d come up with such a ridiculous solution. And it would also explain why they couldn’t tell anyone about what happened.

  A policeman’s daughter. A principal’s son. The scenario was so classic it made Lumikki shake her head. Kids from good families desperate to be rebellious? Playing dangerous games with drugs and alcohol and who knew what else because they couldn’t get enough excitement from anything else? Or did they just want to get really messed up?

  People were sliding all over the place at the intersection by the train station. No amount of gravel the city spread around was enough to ensure traction in a place where thousands of pairs of feet polished the ice every day. Lumikki let her combat boots slap harder on the ground.

  The situation had gotten significantly more complicated. She didn’t want to go talk to the principal now. Or the police. She didn’t want to get involved at all, even though the trio weren’t her friends in any way. They didn’t mean anything to her, but she definitely didn’t want to end up in the middle of the shit storm that was sure to blow up if she snitched.

  An anonymous tip to the police? That was definitely an option. Would they take it seriously? Probably, if someone had reported thirty thousand euros missing. And if they didn’t take her seriously, it wouldn’t be her problem anymore. She would have done
her duty.

  As she approached Tammela, Lumikki felt a strange surge of emotion. Her apartment wasn’t really home, no question there, but maybe she’d started to warm up to the neighborhood? The thought amused her. Black sausage and milk at Tammela Square. The cheers of soccer fans from the Tammela Stadium. Basic stuff all the locals did. Nostalgia for the few wooden buildings left from old Tammela and admiration for the red brick buildings of the former Aaltonen Shoe Factory. That didn’t sound at all like Lumikki Andersson, who avoided all that mushy stuff. Still, for some reason, she felt a little more relaxed and a little warmer here than in other parts of town. Hometown pride wasn’t in her vocabulary, but there were probably worse things in the world than liking where you lived. Maybe this neighborhood could become her home. Maybe she could start thinking of these streets as her own. Maybe that had already started to happen even though, consciously, Lumikki didn’t want to get too attached to any one place.

  The shouts and laughter and cries of children echoed from the yard of the Tammela School. Lumikki watched as the girls and boys ran and jumped and swung and climbed, their breath steaming and their cheeks red from the cold. In their thick winter clothing, they were like pudgy, colorful snowmen. Her gaze scanned the edges of the schoolyard for the lonely children abandoned by their peers. She focused her ears to pick out the cries of fear from the shouts of joy. Lumikki knew that, for some, this schoolyard glittering in the winter sun was a nightmare kingdom where the days were long and black as night.

  A little girl walked around the lemon-colored art nouveau school building by herself. She walked slowly, head held down. Lumikki watched the girl for a moment. Did she turn at each corner to glance behind her? Did she flinch every now and then? Was that anguish in her downcast eyes? No. When Lumikki could finally make out the girl’s face, she found her smiling to herself. The girl’s lips were moving. She was probably creating a story in her mind that made her eyes smile along.

  She isn’t like I was then, Lumikki thought. Thank goodness.

  Then she realized that something was amiss. Something was wrong. Someone was too close.

  She realized too late.

  Suddenly, strong hands grabbed her and dragged her into the shadows of a nearby doorway, shoving her violently against the stone wall. Lumikki’s cheek pressed hard against the frigid rock. The surprise attack left Lumikki’s arms limp as her assailant pulled them painfully behind her back. Lumikki barely managed to contain a yelp.

  She recognized her attacker from his smell before he said a single word.

  Tuukka.

  “You’re not the only one who knows how to tail someone.”

  Tuukka’s words came with an unpleasant warmth on her cheek. His breath stank of the coffee he had just drunk and a recently smoked cigarette. Lumikki was furious with herself. How could she have made such a rookie mistake? How could she have left the coffee shop without watching her back?

  Never overestimate your own cleverness. Never think you are completely safe. She should know better by now. Her skills had grown rusty in Tampere since she didn’t need them every day anymore.

  “I spotted you in the coffee shop. Well, not you, just this backpack of yours. And then I realized that I almost ran into you back by the darkroom. Quite a coincidence, isn’t it,” Tuukka said, squeezing Lumikki’s arm.

  Lumikki quickly evaluated the situation.

  If she moved fast enough, she might be able to wrench free of Tuukka’s grasp. That wasn’t guaranteed, though. And Tuukka was fast. He would just catch her again. Better not to struggle and waste her strength for no reason. She might as well hear what he had to say.

  “What did you see? What do you know?” Tuukka asked.

  “I saw the darkroom earlier. And I heard what you were saying in the café. That’s all,” Lumikki replied calmly.

  Provoking him now wasn’t going to get her anywhere.

  “Damn it,” Tuukka said. “Nobody can know about this.”

  Lumikki did not reply. The rough, icy stone of the wall chafed her cheek. She tried to move as little as possible.

  “You’re going to keep your mouth shut. You aren’t going to tell anyone. You don’t know anything. No one would even believe you.”

  Tuukka tried to sound menacing, but there was uncertainty in his voice. Lumikki still didn’t say a word.

  “Do you hear me?”

  Tuukka’s voice was louder and even more uncertain. He was afraid. He was much more afraid than Lumikki was.

  “I hear you,” Lumikki said.

  Tuukka thought for a second.

  “Okay. How much do you want?” he asked.

  Now his voice was almost pleading. He was clearly worried about what all this could do to his reputation.

  “I don’t want any of it,” Lumikki replied. “But now you’re going to let me go.”

  It wasn’t a request or a command, simply a statement. A fact. Never give people options, just give them simple directives. Don’t beg or demand, just tell them how things are. Lumikki’s certainty made Tuukka release his grip, and she turned, slowly massaging her wrists.

  “Now, this is what we’re going to do,” she said, looking the boy firmly in the eye. “I have zero desire to get mixed up in this. I didn’t see anything, and I didn’t hear anything. I’m not going to go looking to rat on anyone, but if someone asks me directly, I’m also not going to lie. I think you’re going to get into trouble over this, and I have no intention of saving you.”

  Tuukka looked at her hesitantly. His ears were red from the cold. He wasn’t wearing a hat. Vanity seemed to trump practicality. He was clearly considering Lumikki’s words, weighing the risks and his options.

  “Okay. It’s a deal,” he said finally, extending his hand.

  Lumikki didn’t take it. Tuukka ran it through his hair and laughed.

  “You’re a surprisingly tough chick. Maybe I underestimated you.”

  Lots of people do, Lumikki thought.

  Trying to regain the upper hand, Tuukka presumptuously brushed Lumikki’s hair out of her face.

  “You know what? You could actually be pretty good-looking if you changed this horrible hairdo, ditched those Greenpeace clothes, and learned to put on makeup,” he said, curling one corner of his mouth.

  Lumikki smiled.

  “And do you know what?” she replied. “You could actually be a pretty smart, nice guy if you completely changed your horrible personality.”

  She didn’t hang around to hear what Tuukka might say to that, just walked away, not looking back. She knew he wouldn’t follow her.

  Back at her apartment, Lumikki looked in the mirror at her red, tingling cheek. The mark was going to be visible for at least a day. It was small, though, and she had experienced much worse. Drinking some cold water straight from the tap, she decided not to go to school the next day. She could afford to stay home this one time. Then everything would be normal again. She would go to school. She would forget about the money. She wouldn’t get involved in any way.

  It was 3:45 a.m.

  Boris Sokolov was staring at his cell phone like it was an oversized cockroach, fantasizing about smashing it against the wall. The call had woken him in the middle of a dream. He had been lied to. He had been threatened. Now, he could tolerate being woken up. The lying disgusted him. But what Boris Sokolov truly hated was being threatened. Especially by a man who shouldn’t have been in any position to make threats.

  Boris Sokolov switched out his cell phone’s SIM card and dialed a number.

  After three rings, the Estonian answered. Boris could tell the call had woken him too. The Estonian’s voice sounded viscous and distant, even though he only lived a few miles away.

  “Well?”

  Boris began speaking to the Estonian in Russian.

  “He called. He says he never got the money.”

  “He’s crazy,” the Estonian said. “We took it right to his house.”

  Boris got out of bed and walked to the bedroom window. The pa
rquet floor felt cold. Maybe he should have gotten carpet put in. Who cared if it got dirty? He could just have it replaced every couple of years. The moonlight was unpleasantly bright. Two sets of rabbit tracks crossed in the yard. The Estonian had helped him cover up another kind of tracks, tramping a natural-looking path to the other side of the backyard. Carefully removing any snow that wasn’t perfectly white.

  “He said he waited up all night. Tonight.”

  “What the hell? We told him it was coming at the usual time but a different place.”

  The Estonian was starting to really wake up now.

  Boris grunted. “He said something about a misunderstanding. That yesterday was leap day and the last day of the month.”

  He tapped his fingers on the windowsill. Had the rabbits been gnawing at the apple tree? He would have to rig up some sort of fencing around it. Or keep watch some night and score a couple of rabbit roasts for the freezer. His own freezer this time.

  “Yeah, yeah, but the twenty-eighth doesn’t turn into the twenty-ninth because of leap year. And why the hell was he waiting up tonight when we already delivered the money yesterday?”

  “That’s just it. He says we didn’t. That he hasn’t seen anything. Nada.”

  The Estonian was silent for a moment. Boris waited to see whether his underling would come to the same conclusion he had.

  “He’s bullshitting us. He did get the money. He just realized what happened to it, and now he’s trying to play hardball.”

  Yep, same conclusion.

  “The little shit tried to threaten me. He said he’d expose everything.”

  Boris felt himself getting angry again just saying the words. He squeezed the cell phone, imagining the crunch of a cockroach exoskeleton in his fist.

  “But I’ll burn in hell before I see that!”

  The Estonian was furious too. Good. They were firmly on the same side. Two backsliders within the past thirty-eight hours was enough. No, it was too much. Two too many. A working machine could only lose so many parts at a time without repairs.