Snow Light

by Danielle Zinn

  “A spider bit you on the bum? Is there no anti-venom?”

  “My bum is swollen to the size of Russia, and it’s numb and covered in goose bumps. But at least the beast was still stuck to my buttock so they could quickly identify it. And yes, they have already injected anti-venom.”

  “How long do you have to stay there?” Thomas asked, knowing that this was the crucial question.

  David was silent for a long time, and all that could be heard were his puffs of breath when a cramp immobilized his body.

  “The doctor said I have to stay here for at least another day until the swelling has gone back down. My bum is so huge I wouldn’t fit into an aeroplane seat, and I can’t walk properly. I have to wait till they give me the all-clear, and then I’ll take the first flight home… Nat, I’m not sure if I can make it for Sunday.”

  “You’re telling me you probably won’t be here for your daughter’s birthday? David, how am I supposed to tell her that? She’ll go mental!”

  “I know. I’m sorry. Look I’ll tell her tomorrow, okay? I had all this perfectly planned. But this spider…” Thomas shook his head and laughed unbelievingly, ruffling his hair. “Yes, I know all about your perfect plans. Has there ever been one that actually worked out so far? You were late for your parents’ funeral, and your phone rang while your sister was saying her wedding vows.”

  “That’s not entirely true… not like that. Aaah, listen, I gotta go. I can barely breathe. I’m so sorry.”

  “Get well, and hurry up. I’ll call you later.”

  They hung up, and Thomas walked over to the window. In the light from the arch, he saw his own reflection in the glass. The face staring back at him looked exhausted and contemplative. Dark circles had formed under his eyes, and the stubble had turned into a three-day beard.

  He would pick up Sky and tell her that her father was literally stuck to a hospital bed in Sydney, and when push came to shove, he would be stuck at the office all day Sunday trying to catch an epee-yielding idiot.

  Her outburst would cap the day off.

  25

  THOMAS put on his boots and dashed across the road. Immediately, the cold went through the thin layers of his white dress shirt and grey pullover.

  Allison opened the door before he had a chance to ring the bell, and the smell of freshly baked cake hit his nostrils.

  “Hi, Allison. Thank you so much for the roast hare. It was delicious! I don’t know what I would do without you!” He gave her a peck on the cheek and handed her the cleaned pot back, but she just waved him off.

  “That’s what neighbours are for.” She beamed at him, wiping her hands on her flowery apron. “I think you’ve arrived just at the right moment. They’ve played chess all evening.”

  When he entered the living room, Sky jumped up from her chair, and Thomas gave her a big hug. “How are you?”

  “I lost again, but I think I’m getting better. Give me another year and I’ll beat him!”

  Richard sat at his old, heavy oak table, hands folded in front of him, looking up from the chess board. “She’s learning fast, indeed. How’s work going?” He eyed Thomas curiously.

  “I’m glad to say we’re making some real progress. Finally. The person has made a mistake, and we have to follow that trace all the way to the end.”

  “Any idea, yet, where it’ll lead you?”

  “I have a rough idea, yes, but I’m not sure if I want to end up there.” He sighed. “Okay, Sky, come on. Let’s give Richard and Allison a break.”

  He thanked them for their time and patience, and they waved goodbye.

  At home, Thomas put another log on the fireplace and went upstairs to get his phone charger while Sky fed and spoiled Barney.

  Allison did not like the dog being inside her house. It was no problem in the summer when they spent most of their time outside in the backyard, but in the winter, she preferred the dog to stay at Thomas’s house.

  “Can I watch some telly before bed, please?” Sky asked, already sitting on the couch, remote control in hand.

  Thomas looked down at her thoughtfully from the landing and decided that she would find out sooner or later that her father might not be there for her birthday, so he might as well tell her now. Slowly, he walked down the stairs and sat down next to her.

  “What is it? You look sad somehow. I wasn’t outside all day except when I helped Richie take away old bottles.”

  “Sounds like you really want to go skiing again tomorrow with your friends.”

  Sky looked up at him, nodding wildly, and Thomas could not help but laugh. “Okay, no objections from my side, but I don’t want to hear any bad news from school again.”

  This time she shook her head. “TV?”

  He plucked up courage. “Not yet. I’d like to talk to you about something.”

  “It’s something bad, isn’t it?”

  Thomas put his arm around her, and Sky huddled up to his chest. “Before I picked you up, your dad called me from Sydney.”

  The words hung in the air, but he could not see the girl’s face to tell whether she understood his notion.

  After a while, Sky asked quietly, “Has he lost my birthday present?” Her voice was thin, and Thomas knew she fully caught the meaning of the situation.

  “Do you remember the first night you stayed here after your daddy flew to Australia? You couldn’t fall asleep because you missed him so badly.”

  She nodded. “We looked at a picture book of Australia.”

  “Indeed, we did. And in the animal chapter, we agreed that the cutest one was the wombat. But you’ve been to Australia, and you know the country isn’t just full of wombats. They also have some more dangerous species like crocs and spiders, right?”

  She nodded again.

  “Last night, when your dad got ready to go to the airport, he was bitten by a spider in his hotel room, and he had to go to the hospital. He’ll be fine soon. You don’t have to worry. But at the moment, he’s in a bit of pain, and the doctor has banned him from flying long distances, for at least another day.” He waited a moment, but Sky remained silent. “I’m sorry, honey, but he’s not sure whether he can make it home in time for your birthday. It depends on when the doctor will release him.” Thomas had prepared himself for a huge tantrum with some swear words and angry kicks, and he could have coped with that, but the reaction he got made his heart twinge.

  Sky did not utter a single word, but he felt her sobbing, and her tears trickled through the cotton of his shirt. She knew there was nothing in the world she could do to make her dad come home now. In moments like that, Thomas wished there was a manual he could just pull off the bookshelf. But that did not exist.

  “Look, it isn’t ruled out that he’ll be here by Sunday. Actually, we shouldn’t worry too much about it. He might make it on time after all,” he said encouragingly. “And even if he only arrives on Monday or Tuesday, we can have a small party on Sunday with Richard and Allison, and maybe Ann Collins, and then another one when your dad is back. What do you think?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t want any parties. I just want my dad to be here. On Sunday. The spider had one month to bite him. Why now?”

  “You know your dad. Sometimes he’s a bit… ill-fated.”

  “When can I talk to him?”

  “He’ll call you tomorrow morning. And now let’s go to bed. Come on, it’s been a long day.”

  A long and second-to-none horrible day was what he intended on saying, but he did not want to make matters worse.

  Except kissing Kate, of course. That had been the highlight of his day. But even that he could not tell Sky. He picked her up and carried her piggyback-style upstairs.

  “Can Barney sleep in my room tonight, please?” she looked up at him forlornly.

  He sometimes allowed the dog to do so when she was unwell, or during the first nights when she needed time to settle in and David had just left. But this situation counted as an emergency, and so he nodded.

  A
t nine-thirty, Thomas’s head hit the pillow and he fell into a light and restless sleep. Whenever he dozed off, he immediately woke up again, startled; images of headless corpses, lying behind playground climbing walls, chased through his mind. At one point, he slipped and skidded right into the sticky, bloody, bottomless abyss of where a head used to be.

  At five in the morning, Thomas had had enough, and got up, looking worse than the day before.

  The house was quiet, and he walked slowly downstairs to the kitchen, made himself a strong cup of coffee, and went to his office as he pondered his next steps.

  First, he would talk to Dobson again. Kelly had said he was a regular at the cabin. There must be a connection between Lawson and Dobson, and he was adamant about finding it.

  Then, he would help Collins gather the surveillance footage and research information about all fifty-two patients on the list. As some files were still missing, they had to contact the respective Bohemian hospitals and orphanages. And he had to find the assisting doctor, Cleaves, the anaesthetist, Finnigan, and the nurses Brown and Watts. Hopefully, one of them could tell him more about what was really going on thirty years earlier.

  He wrote an email to Sexton explaining his next steps and confirming that he would leave it entirely up to him when to go public with Lawson’s confession about his organ trafficking.

  Mrs Smetana had left the previous day’s newspaper on his desk, and his eyes fell on the two pages dedicated, once a week, to the Ore Mountain/Bohemian cross-border co-operation. Articles informed readers about a winter sports festival, where schools from both sides of the border participated; two companies working together cross-border to exchange knowledge; and the Christmas market in Carls Bath successfully selling Ore Mountain wood craft and light arches. Many projects were done in schools, companies, and the broader public to enhance cross-border friendship and collaboration.

  This had not always been the case, as Richard told him recently. Roughly a decade ago, there was a lot of mistrust and ignorance, sometimes even hatred, between the citizens of the border region. People from the Ore Mountain side accused the Bohemians of stealing cars at night and blowing unfiltered factory fumes into the air, leading to acid rain and dying forests. On the other side, Bohemians mistook people from St Anna for being rich and snobbish.

  The exploitation of Bohemian orphans for the illegal organ trade would certainly be counterproductive for the enhancement of cross-border friendship, and would leave a bitter aftertaste for quite a while. It just could not be whitewashed.

  He put down the paper and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Upstairs, Sky was talking to her father. When she came down, Thomas saw the disappointment in her face.

  “Good morning. How’s your dad?”

  “Morning. The cramps are gone, but his bum is still too big for a normal chair, let alone a seat on an aeroplane, so he has to stay another night in the hospital.” She grimaced.

  “Is there anything that would cheer you up a bit?”

  “No school today would help a little.”

  “Nice try but… no.” He playfully punched her in the side.

  “What about a chocolate croissant?”

  “I think I could arrange for that on your way to school. Right, it was freezing cold last night, and there is a thick ice shield on the car. I’ll start scraping it off while you get ready and then meet me outside, okay?”

  She nodded, taking a huge bite of a jam-covered piece of toast.

  The thermometer showed minus ten degrees, and Thomas put his duvet jacket underneath his parka for extra warmth.

  When he opened the door, the cold wind immediately went all the way down his lungs. It felt rather like minus thirty degrees due to the arctic gale. He had trouble breathing and thought his nostrils had started sticking together.

  Slowly he walked down the icy front steps clinging to the handrail. He needed to put some salt on them or the mailman would break his neck one day.

  When Thomas turned around the corner of the huge snow pile that blocked the view from his door to the driveway, his eyes went wide in terror. His heart skipped a beat, and his hands trembled — not from the cold but from what he saw.

  Carefully he went around his SUV, shaking his head.

  No, no, no! Damn it!

  All four tyres had been slashed. He would not be able to go anywhere. But that was a small problem at that moment. In the ice on the windshield someone had scraped two words in capital letters: BACK OFF!!

  His front door opened, and Sky stepped outside, backpack slung over one shoulder.

  “Sky! Go back inside and wait for me there. Now!”

  She looked at him surprised but did as she was told.

  Again, Thomas had to disturb his neighbour. Richard opened the door, toast crumbs hanging around the corners of his mouth.

  “Good morning, I’m so terribly sorry to bother you again,” Thomas apologised.

  “No worries! We’re open twenty-four seven.” But his neighbour stopped joking when he saw Thomas’s face.

  “My tyres have been slashed. I think I need someone from your son’s garage to come over and change them as soon as possible.”

  Wordlessly, Richard went back inside and returned with his parka. Together they walked to the SUV.

  “What’s really troubling me though, is this.” Thomas pointed at his windscreen.

  His neighbour read the words and looked up worried. “Any idea who could have done that?”

  “My wild speculation would be our killer, who apparently feels the noose tightening around his neck. Could you do me a huge favour? I don’t want Sky to find out about this and get scared. Could you pick her up from school and keep an eye on her until I’m back from St Anna, please? I’ll work from home in the afternoon.”

  Richard nodded. “Sure, no problem.”

  “I’m really sorry to bother you every single day… ” Thomas said, feeling bad.

  “Don’t be ridiculous! We love having Sky over. She keeps us up to date about the latest fashion and music stars! Where would we get our knowledge from otherwise?”

  Thomas laughed. “Right. I’ll walk her to school and—”

  “And I’ll call my son,” Richard cut in. “They’ll change your tyres before you can say Jack Robinson.”

  Before he went back inside, Thomas called Collins and informed her about the latest developments. This attack meant that the murderer was still in the area, knew about the investigation, and was slowly getting nervous. Thomas wondered whether he’d been awake in his office when his tyres had been slashed. But it didn’t really matter. He hadn’t noticed anything.

  He sent Collins pictures of the writing on the windscreen and of his tyres. There were no footprints anywhere near his car, except his own and Richard’s. The wind must have filled the prints in. And he was sure they would not find any DNA on the tyres. Whoever did this was well prepared. And well informed. And most certainly wore gloves.

  He would join Collins as soon as he had four new tyres on his car and had spoken to Dobson. He asked her to prepare a list of names from Lawson’s letter for him to check, as he would work from home that afternoon. Collins happily agreed. Thomas sensed he had just done her a huge favour by leaving her alone in the office for most of the time to work at her own pace.

  He found Sky sitting on the couch in full winter gear, playing on her phone.

  “Sweetie, listen. Today’s plan requires some slight adjustments that I’m asking you not to question.”

  “What adjustments?”

  His brain was working flat out, but he could not come up with a reasonable excuse for why they could not use the car and, more importantly, why he wanted her to stay at home again.

  He had to pull the only card that always worked.

  Against all advice from parenting books, Thomas said, “I’m offering you a deal.”

  “You’re lucky I’m interested in your offers.”

  “What would you say if you found that shirt we saw on the Inter
net recently in your wardrobe tomorrow morning?”

  Sky beamed at him. “What do I have to do?”

  “First of all, we’ll walk to school now as the car needs some fixing. Richard will pick you up after school and you’ll stay with them until I pick you up again in the afternoon. Then, once I’ve picked you up, I need you to stay inside for the rest of the day and maybe tomorrow as well. Depends on the case. No skiing, no meeting friends.”

  “But why?” She scrutinised him.

  “Because I’d like to have an eye on you. And I promise you that once this is all sorted out we’re going to be outside every afternoon.”

  “Do I have to stay in my room?”

  “No, you can roam around the house, watch telly, play with Barney, whatever you want to do.”

  “Hmmm, that’s a lot for a shirt,” she replied, putting on her poker face.

  “Hey! That shirt is quite expensive considering what little material they needed! And all you have to do to get it is watch telly and play games.”

  They both laughed and sealed the deal with a handshake.

  26

  WHEN Thomas returned from the school walk, Richard’s son, Terry, and one of his workers had already changed two tyres, and another quarter of an hour later, the car was roadworthy again.

  He thanked them and paid his bill, wondering whether he could claim the money back from the police — investigation expenses.

  Minutes later, he pulled into the car park of Dobson’s company — at the same time as the company owner himself. Dobson ignored him, banged his car door shut, and walked in long strides towards the entrance.

  Thomas quickly caught up with him and put his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Mr Dobson. A word please.”

  Dobson turned around harshly, pushing Thomas’s hand aside. “I told you to leave me alone!” he said through gritted teeth. His red, angry face, combined with the steaming breath coming out of his nostrils, made him look like a dragon.