Snow Woman (The Maria Kallio Series Book 4)

by Leena Lehtolainen

“Kuusinen is a pretty common name,” Tarja said. “And Elina might not have even known your first name.”

  “Yeah, she probably wasn’t interested enough in me to find out.” Niina paused for a moment. “At the course I wasn’t able to talk to her much, so I decided to become her patient. We met once a week, and our first therapy session was three weeks before Christmas. In the first one I told her so much about my parents that she had to guess who I was. But she didn’t say a word. She just sat and listened. Can you believe that?”

  “Use your head, girl! Elina was a professional. She could see you were bat-shit crazy and you’d only get worse if she dropped a bomb like that on you. ‘Oh really, well actually I’m your real mother.’ Seriously? And you were the one who started the charade.” Milla was furious. “Why didn’t you just tell her you knew? Was it Christmas when you finally told her? Is that why you came here?”

  Niina’s face was blank. All expression had gone with the tears. “It was that night. On Boxing Day. I met her in the hall and told her I had something I needed to talk to her about. She gave me a funny look but told me she didn’t have time right then. She wanted to walk with Joona first! That’s when I started getting angry. Elina must have guessed what I was going to tell her, but she didn’t want to hear it! I’d brought her a bottle of whiskey because I overheard her at that course telling someone, probably you, Milla, that Laphroaig was her favorite. I crushed up a package of Dormicum and dissolved it in water. That’s all the plan I had. I meant to show Elina that I could kill her . . . if I wanted to. But such a small amount wouldn’t actually kill her.”

  Niina’s tears had dried, and her voice was steady as she told us how she went to Elina’s room after the movie ended that night. Elina was already in her nightgown. They’d barely started speaking when a call from Joona Kirstilä interrupted them. While Elina was talking to Joona, Niina mixed Elina a drink.

  “Elina tossed the whole glass down in one gulp after she got off the phone. I guess she needed a pick-me-up and that’s why she only tasted the whiskey. Then I kind of got mixed up. I knew the medication worked fast. I—I told Elina I knew she was my mother and ran outside and through the back gate. I couldn’t stand being inside the house.”

  Elina followed, without shoes or a coat. Niina ran headlong across the field, losing Elina when she reached the forest. For half an hour she ran in the cold, and when she recovered her senses and returned through the main gate, she assumed Elina was already back. She went to her own room and waited for Elina to come to her, but that never happened.

  Milla swore. “Why didn’t you wake us up, you idiot!”

  Niina didn’t answer. There weren’t any answers.

  We would probably never know what really happened, how Elina ended up where the skier found her body. The drug interaction must have hit her suddenly and she fell and slid down the icy bank on her back. I didn’t want to think about the cold or what she was feeling as she ran after Niina in the snow.

  In any case, it seemed clear Niina never meant to kill Elina. At most she would be charged with negligent homicide in Elina’s death and battery or attempted murder for attacking Aira.

  Aira had told me that she had called Niina earlier that day and asked her to come to Rosberga for the night. Aira had planned to tell Niina that she knew the truth and wanted to help her.

  Niina had just arrived when Aira returned from visiting friends, and she met Aira’s car at the gate. But when Aira greeted her and started telling her what she knew, Niina became enraged and hit her with the bear statue.

  “It happened so fast,” Niina said, crying again.

  “I think we’d better go now,” Taskinen said as her sobs filled the silence. “Ms. Kuusinen, you’ll need to come with us. We’ll contact the rest of you later for questioning.”

  “Are you taking me to jail?” Niina wailed. When none of us answered, she started sobbing again.

  Ström glanced irritably at Taskinen. I took a step toward Niina, but Johanna, who had remained quiet all this time, got there first. Wrapping her arms around Niina, she comforted her the way she would a small child. Eventually Niina was able to collect herself enough that Johanna could persuade her to get her things and go with us. Tarja Kivimäki promised to arrange for a lawyer, and Milla and Joona begged us to please treat Niina gently.

  Niina didn’t say another word, barely acknowledging the others’ good-byes. Even in the car she sat silently next to me. I didn’t know what to make of her. Where had such rage toward Elina come from? Or had the rage come after the fact, as a way of channeling her guilt onto someone else?

  Taskinen had to stop at the intersection at the main road to wait for cross traffic before he could turn left. That was when Niina moved. She hadn’t buckled her seat belt, and she was out of the car in an instant, dashing toward the lake. Taskinen and I were both runners, so normally we wouldn’t have had any trouble catching her. But our funeral clothing hindered us. I was still wearing a long winter coat and my tight-fitting dress, and Taskinen had on slick-soled leather shoes. Taskinen took a flying leap out of the car and ended up splayed on his back in the middle of the road. By the time he was up and running, with me following him, Niina was already out on the ice.

  Ström yelled something after us, and then we heard the car engine being gunned. Apparently he planned to drive around the lake to cut Niina off. Hopefully he was also calling for backup. As I ran, I hiked up my skirt, and when Taskinen fell again, I caught up with him. Ahead of us Niina was a dark figure disappearing into the night.

  “What the hell does she think she’s doing running across the ice? There’s nowhere to hide,” I said, panting.

  “She probably isn’t thinking,” Taskinen replied. “She might just think she can lose us in the darkness. Woah!” Taskinen almost tripped in an ice fisherman’s borehole. “Hopefully there aren’t any bigger holes out here!”

  Niina was visible again as a silhouette in the lights shining on the far shore. She had slowed down, as if looking for a suitable place to climb the rocks that lined the bank. The phone in Taskinen’s coat pocket rang. It was Ström. He was on the ice now and had called for reinforcements. Suddenly from around a bend in the lake, far beyond Niina, the glimmer of Ström’s flashlight came into view.

  “We can see you and Kuusinen,” Taskinen panted into the phone. “Take it easy. She isn’t any danger to us. The most important thing is to catch her before she tries to do something to herself.”

  The ice under me made a nasty cracking sound that stopped me in my tracks. At this point in the winter, the lake ice should have been solid. I hadn’t even thought to question it. Niina was now close enough that I could yell to her.

  “Wait, Niina! This won’t work. You can’t get away. Don’t make things worse for yourself!”

  Yourself, yourself, yourself . . . The word echoed off the cliff on the opposite shore. Seeing how close we were, with Ström coming from the other direction, Niina looked around in panic. She must have noticed the hole in the ice a few yards away just as Taskinen and I spotted it. Someone had been keeping a swimming spot open through the winter. By now I was so close I could see the expression on Niina’s face as she dashed toward the black water.

  “No!” I screamed. Taskinen and I charged after her, but he slipped again on the ice and landed hard on his face. Out of the corner of my eye I could see his smashed lip leaking blood, but there was no time for first aid because Niina launched herself at the hole without a second’s hesitation. The thin sheet of ice covering it shattered as Niina’s body splashed into the water, making an enormous crash in the stillness of the night. Rushing from the other direction, Ström scooted himself to the edge of the ice at the same moment I did.

  Niina shot to the surface, reflexively gasping for air, but immediately put her head under again. If she managed to swim under the thicker ice, that would be it. I started pulling off my coat.

  “
The hell you are!” Ström bellowed, shoving me so violently that I slid back at least six feet. Then he stripped off his coat and jumped in the water. As I crawled on my stomach back to the edge of the hole, Taskinen appeared next to me. From somewhere far off I heard voices. The water churned in the hole, and Ström’s head came up, grotesquely red.

  “She’s here,” he gasped.

  Still on my stomach, I grabbed Niina’s wrist, but instead of letting me help her up on the ice, she tried to pull me into the black water. Her almond eyes looked into mine as coldly and lifelessly as Madman Malmberg’s had. The weight of Niina’s limp, water-soaked body dragged me forward. The fingers that grasped my wrists were cold and the nails were sharp. The ice cracked beneath me, and I could feel the frigid water creeping onto the surface. I realized I was screaming. My sleeves were already wet, my arms sinking into the icy embrace of the lake.

  Then Taskinen grabbed my ankles, and slowly I felt myself sliding away from the edge. Splashing and grunting, Ström heaved Niina onto the ice. All I could do was hold her thin wrists as she struggled. Her long dark hair felt like icy octopus tentacles on my face.

  When Taskinen scooted next to me and grabbed Niina under the arms, she was too stiff to thrash anymore.

  Ström wasn’t in great shape either, although he was able to pull himself back out of the hole. Thankfully we were no longer alone. Help was coming from the house on the shore, and two uniformed officers were approaching across the ice.

  “Call an ambulance!” Taskinen yelled.

  Blood was still running from his mouth, and he tore off his coat and wrapped it around Niina, who was sobbing in fits. Ström kept lifting his feet as if afraid he would freeze in place. I wanted to give him my own coat, but what good would that do when it was also wet and about five sizes too small for him?

  After what seemed like an eternity, the other cops brought blankets from their car to wrap around the shivering Niina and Ström. Niina couldn’t walk, so the officers carried her to the nearest house to wait for the ambulance, which finally came and took her away. Ström, who had peeled off his wet clothes and borrowed some police coveralls a couple of sizes too small, claimed he didn’t need a doctor, just a few rum toddies and a head of garlic. When we couldn’t coax him into going to the hospital, Taskinen and I drove him home.

  “Thank you, Pertti!” I forced myself to say as Ström was getting out of the car in front of his house. When I was preparing to jump into the lake after Niina, I’d forgotten I was pregnant. But Ström clearly hadn’t. You can do a lot when you’re pregnant, but winter swimming probably isn’t recommended.

  “It’s high time you learned to look before you leap,” Ström replied, teeth still chattering. But his tone was significantly less mocking than usual. Taskinen listened to our oddly meek exchange with a confused look on his face. Fortunately he didn’t ask any questions as he drove me home. In fact, neither of us spoke. Even with the car heater blasting the whole way, I was still so cold I thought I would never thaw.

  19

  The next day found me sitting in the hospital at Aira’s bedside again. I’d briefly met with Niina beforehand because there were a couple of holes in her story about the night of Elina’s death. Niina was in a sedated haze, but she was able to talk with me for five minutes before drifting off again. That was enough.

  “Will they let me see her?” Aira asked. “How long will she be here?”

  “A few days. And you?”

  “They say I’m going home tomorrow. Are you coming to Elina’s funeral on Saturday?”

  “I imagine so,” I said, although two funerals in one week felt excessive.

  Just then Johanna walked in with a bouquet of yellow roses in her arms. She wore a red sweater over a new dress in a red flower pattern. Even her lips bore a hint of artificial red. If only the uncertainty would leave her eyes, she’d be stunning.

  Johanna greeted us and asked about Niina. I told her how the previous night had ended.

  “Have you thought about my proposition?” Aira asked Johanna once she had finished lamenting Niina’s fate.

  “I have. It’s a great idea. I’ll have to ask the children, but I think they’ll agree. I’m sure they’d love living at Rosberga.”

  “You and your kids are moving in? That’s fantastic,” I said. Even with everything else going on, I hadn’t stopped trying to find an appropriate home for the Säntti brood. I’d also informed my lawyer friend Leena what Minna and I had learned on our visit to Johanna’s village, and she had turned the screws on Leevi Säntti. Now Johanna told me that there wouldn’t be any custody hearing, and any of the children who wanted to live with their mother could.

  “It’s high time we had some children in the house,” said Aira happily. “Between Johanna and me, we shouldn’t have any problem driving them around to school and activities.”

  I could easily imagine her nurturing the Säntti children, spending the rest of her life serving others as she always had. I guess that was one way to live, and no worse than a lot of others.

  Aira had also told me she would help Niina any way she could. She said she’d already asked the family lawyer to handle Niina’s defense and arrange for her to be recognized as Elina’s daughter. I knew there was no way the law would allow Niina to inherit from Elina since she had caused her death, but the situation might be different with Aira’s estate.

  I didn’t have the heart to tarnish Aira’s hopes about Niina. If I was any sort of judge, the girl was going to need psychiatric help for years to come. And the charges arising from Elina’s death weren’t easy to predict given how complicated the case was.

  From the hospital lobby I called Kari Hanninen on my cell phone.

  “Oh, hi!” he said sincerely. “I was just thinking I should call you and say that your chart is ready.”

  “I can come get it right now, if that works for you.”

  “Sure. I just woke up, but come on over. I could use some conversation with my morning coffee.”

  Hanninen’s apartment on the island between Espoo and Helsinki smelled like fresh bread and café au lait. He was wearing jeans and an unbuttoned flannel shirt. His eyes were significantly brighter than my own. I’d seen the dark bags under them in the elevator mirror.

  Hanninen poured coffee into enormous mugs and pulled a sheet of croissants out of the oven. He had my astrological chart spread out on the table and explained it as he sipped his coffee. Under the chart were printouts of interpretations, but Hanninen seemed to enjoy telling me what I was like and what I could expect from life. My eyes did go a little wide when he mentioned a big change coming in August, but thankfully he didn’t go into more detail. I had to admit he was convincing. When he claimed I had a tendency to act first and think later, I remembered Ström’s words from the night before. I also recognized a tendency in myself to withdraw into my own world even though I was interested in other people’s lives and emotions. But still—did Hanninen really say anything he couldn’t have concluded from the several times we’d met?

  “Living with you isn’t easy,” Hanninen said. “You don’t know how to live on other people’s terms or at their pace. You always want to walk your own road.”

  “So I wouldn’t make a good mother?” I asked, feigning lightheartedness.

  “I wouldn’t put it that harshly. Maybe more that it’ll be hard for you to make that commitment.”

  “Do you believe a bad mother can ruin a child’s life?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?” Hanninen’s voice turned more cautious.

  “Well, Niina Kuusinen for example.”

  “What about Niina? She didn’t have a bad mother. Maybe a little too protective is all. Niina was never allowed any independence.”

  “I’m not talking about Heidi Kuusinen. I mean Niina’s real mother, Elina Rosberg. You knew about that, didn’t you? Did you hear about it back when it happened, or di
d Niina tell you later?”

  Hanninen didn’t reply. He just started buttoning his shirt.

  “We arrested Niina yesterday. She told us what happened at Rosberga on Boxing Day. Congratulations on an amazing job of manipulation. You intensified Niina’s mommy complex even though you masked it as therapy. What were you trying to get, Kari?”

  His confidence restored, Hanninen looking straight at me again. “Oh, is that what Niina’s saying? Don’t you see? That’s just how she is. She always has to blame someone, whether it’s her parents or the stars. Now she’s trying to turn me into her scapegoat. That’s typical in a therapy relationship. She’s transferring all of her anger at Elina onto me.”

  “But you’re still morally responsible for what Niina did. If I had to guess, I’d say you encouraged her to take revenge on Elina. Revealing the hidden love child of a famous feminist therapist would have been a juicy story for any tabloid.”

  “Moral responsibility . . . That’s a hell of a slippery concept.”

  I could tell Hanninen thought he had the upper hand again. His smile was positively triumphant. “It’s sad Niina did what she did. This has been a tough start to your year. Maybe you should think a little harder about moral responsibility before blaming me.”

  Standing up, Hanninen grabbed a cigarette and lighter, opened the window, and sat on the sill to smoke. Although he considerately tried to blow the smoke outside, the stench still drifted into my nostrils. My hair would stink for the rest of the day.

  “Elina’s death isn’t just about moral responsibility,” I said. “After hearing Niina’s story, I kept wondering how Elina ended up on the side of that ski track. Niina’s version had them running in completely different directions. And where did those scrapes on her back come from? Then I realized. Niina must have called you after she came inside.”

  His phone records had been waiting for me on my desk that morning, I explained when he denied it. “You went to Rosberga. Maybe you found Elina alongside the road, cold and unconscious, and you realized that killing her would be the best revenge for all the trouble she caused you. You dragged Elina into the woods and left her there to die. You would have let Niina take the blame.”