As Red as Blood (The Snow White Trilogy) (18 page)

She started to shriek. As loud as she could. She thought of the calls of seagulls and the way they opened their beaks so wide. She was a gull. She screamed.

The louder the sound, the more alive. She became the sound. She was one with the sound. The same red, raging, shrill note.

At some point, she realized it wasn’t dark anymore. The lid of the gravel box was open. She sat up and wiped her tears. Grit stuck to her cheeks, finely ground gravel.

There was no sign of them.

They were waiting for their next opportunity. They knew just as well as Lumikki did that one would come.

Lumikki slowly counted to ten.

She couldn’t panic now. She wasn’t the same girl now as back then. She had changed. She had learned. She could stay in any small space for any length of time.

Everything had gone the way it was supposed to so far. Almost everything.

Yes, she had bruises from banging against the sides of the trunk on some sharp turns. Yes, her nose burned like it’d be filled with the stench of gasoline for the rest of time. Yes, she was shivering with cold and numb from head to toe. But those were minor details.

The Audi had driven for thirty-five minutes, then slowed and finally stopped. Terho Väisänen exited the car first. Then
the driver followed a moment later, locking the vehicle and leaving.

Lumikki had listened and then, when everything was quiet, she grabbed the silk strip with her stiff fingers and pulled evenly, pushing up on the trunk at the same time with her legs. The fabric she’d stuck in the lock mechanism was supposed to shift the latch out of place so she could get out.

The sound of ripping silk was the worst thing Lumikki had heard in a very long time.

Don’t panic. Stay calm.

Lumikki felt with her fingers for where the fabric had ripped. She couldn’t find it. Her fingers had lost almost all sensation, and the long gloves she was wearing made feeling even more difficult. Lumikki grabbed her left glove with her teeth and pulled it off. Then she shoved her fingers into her mouth to warm them until the blood started flowing again.

Another attempt.

Her fingers fumbled at the area around the lock and felt fabric. Lumikki knew that her wet fingertips would freeze again in seconds.

Yes. Oh yes. Just enough silk remained that she could still get a grip on it. Clinging to the fabric, she pushed up powerfully with her legs and pulled the cloth slowly, slowly, slowly and steadily toward herself.

The lock didn’t open.

Lumikki clenched her teeth, pushing and pulling. She strained with all her might.

Click.

The lock gave way. The trunk opened. Holding it open just a crack, Lumikki steadied her breathing. She listened. Just then, another car pulled in next to hers and stopped. The people inside got out.

“You might think about vacuuming your car sometime,” a woman’s voice said. “Look at my shoes. They were supposed to be pink.”

“You’re the one who wanted to be Sleeping Beauty. I think the evil stepmother would have worked just as well. You could have worn black shoes then,” a man replied.

The couple’s quarreling voices receded. Silence returned.

Lumikki lifted the trunk a little more and peered out. She was in some sort of small parking lot. Fortunately, the black Audi was right at the edge, in the shadows and a little behind some trees. No one was around just now.

With no time to spare, Lumikki peeled off her sleeping bag coat, pulled her glove back on, climbed out of the trunk, and quietly closed it again. She had to leave the parka. The driver would wonder about it the next day or whenever he next opened the trunk. Lumikki checked her hair with her hands. It felt like it was in miraculously good shape. Elisa hadn’t exaggerated when she said the hairspray she used could work magic.

Powder compact out of handbag, mirror up. Quick check of makeup. Remove a little stray lipstick from one corner. Then she was ready.

Lumikki turned to look at the party venue.

Boris Sokolov inspected his creation and nodded to himself. The Snow Queen looked just like she should. If seeing this didn’t make Terho Väisänen stop making trouble, Boris was willing to eat a gallon of ice cubes. In one sitting.

Boris felt an undefinable sorrow and simultaneous satisfaction. The reason for the satisfaction was clear. He was relieved. He had worked things out with Polar Bear, and he wasn’t holding a grudge over Viivo Tamm’s shooting.

It seemed that some of Polar Bear’s men had spotted Viivo running amok with a gun in broad daylight in the cemetery. That just wasn’t how things were done. It showed that the man had lost his touch, that he had started to slip. There was nothing to be done with a man who was slipping—on that Polar Bear and Boris agreed.

So Viivo had to be eliminated. It wasn’t personal.

Boris looked at Natalia, whose brown eyes were open. Her face wore a confused, surprised expression.

Poor little Natalia, did you really think Big Bad Boris wouldn’t find out about your escape plan? And then the money. That would have been stealing. And stealing, as we all know, is wrong. If you had just done what was right, everything would be different now.

Natalia, Natalia.

Snow Queen, frost on her lips.

The party could start.

Kasper’s reports had been accurate. A tall stone wall surrounded the building, which itself was a large, three-story
house from the early 1900s that appeared to be located out in the middle of the woods. Only a narrow road led through the forest to the house.

Lumikki wondered whether the house was even on any maps. There were places that certain people wanted kept secret, and there were ways to make that happen.

Lumikki started making her way toward the gate, where guards appeared to be stopping people and asking them something. Lumikki tried to look as much as possible like the role she was playing. A high-class paid escort.

When Lumikki’s turn came, she stepped past the guards, confidently yet slowly, in keeping with her station.

“
Hetkinen
. Stop,” one of the refrigerator-sized men said, repeating himself in Finnish and English.

Lumikki’s heart jumped. Was this where it would end?

“
Kännykkä
. Cell phone,” the guard demanded, extending his hand.

Lumikki pursed her lips and then dug her phone out of her handbag, shoving it into the man’s enormous, outstretched palm with a pout. You would have thought this was a much more important object than Elisa’s old, cast-off phone. The guard slipped the phone into his bag, which, judging from the clatter, contained more than a few already. Then without asking her permission, he grabbed Lumikki’s purse, inspecting its contents and then giving it back with a grunt.

A barely noticeable movement of his head signaled to Lumikki that she could go through. She ordered her legs not to shake from the cold and relief. She kept her head up.
Walking along the icy path in high heels was pure masochism, despite the gravel that had been carefully spread around.

One step at a time. Calmly.

Around her, it was dark. Lumikki walked along a lane of light. The driveway was lined with luminaries whose flames flickered restlessly. At the end of the path was a door and, standing at the door, the epitome of an old-fashioned butler. Slicked-back hair and short white gloves. A language of gestures that simultaneously conveyed superiority and subservient civility. The man opened the door for Lumikki, bowing slightly. Lumikki stepped in.

She had succeeded.

She had really gotten into Polar Bear’s party. Now she just had to find out what Elisa’s dad was mixed up in.

Another world. Another reality.

Colors, lights, sounds. Blue that in an instant changed to green and yellow. Orange that turned to undulating gold. Violet that grew into sinuous garlands of burgundy, lilac, and fuchsia. Music, the singing of mermaids, the sighing of forests, the tinkling of crystals, the forgotten echoes of deep caverns, the chamber orchestras of palaces and castles, the jingling of tiny bells, all sweeping over you, grabbing you from behind, disappearing and then returning again.

Wonderland.

Soundscapes and lights and props skillfully transformed each of the large rooms into its own reality. From a dark forest abuzz with secrets, Lumikki stepped into a silver ballroom with walls encircled by genuine rose garlands. She walked
through an undersea kingdom. She peered into a log cabin with a small chair, a medium chair, and a large chair.

The illusions entranced her so thoroughly that several seconds passed before she began to discern the details of the rooms properly. Servers bearing trays were everywhere. Of course, each room offered fantastical drinks appropriate to the theme. Some of the drinks seemed to smoke, and others shifted color from purple at the bottom to light blue at the surface. Some of the servers were dressed as fairy-tale characters, some as gold-painted living statues.

Guests wandered from room to room with drinks in their hands. Amidst the din of voices, Lumikki could pick out Finnish, English, Swedish, Russian, and maybe more. She might have heard Spanish too, but she wasn’t sure. Most of the women looked just like her. Young and dolled-up and like they didn’t know any of the other attendees. Kasper had been right. A lot of these girls were being paid. The actual guests were mostly middle-aged men, a few older and a few younger. There was also the occasional couple. Lumikki recognized the slightly wizened-looking Sleeping Beauty and her prince. Both of them could have used some beauty sleep. If not a full hundred years, at least a few hours.

Some of the guests’ faces appeared vaguely familiar to Lumikki. Were they politicians? Businessmen? Hard to say.

Lumikki tried quickly to visualize how the spaces connected. The first two floors had been reserved for the party. The third floor had rooms for people to retire to “rest,” and the basement was for the staff. Or at least that was where the
servers took their empty trays and then returned from with full ones.

“I don’t imagine I could offer you one of these, could I?”

Lumikki turned to see a man holding two glasses. He had been directing his words at her. He was graying slightly, but most people would have called him handsome. His eyebrows were dark, his eyes brown, and his suit extremely well tailored. Out of the corner of her eye, she registered from the tag intentionally left on the cuff that it was Hugo Boss. So he wanted to pay a lot for his suit, but he was old-fashioned when it came to brands. It fit the image. In terms of his age, he could practically have been Lumikki’s grandfather.

The man bowed to Lumikki. Lumikki restrained her desire to step back from the stench of cigar and aftershave. That was Hugo Boss too. Apparently, the man wanted to triple underline the idea that he was a boss himself.

“Unfortunately, it has apple in it,” the man said in a low voice, as if it were some great secret. “I assume that’s poisonous to you Snow Whites.”

A self-satisfied smile hovered on the man’s suntanned face. He obviously thought he was extremely clever.

Lumikki searched her repertoire of facial expressions and chose a slightly stupid, flattered, flirtatious smile.

“Yeah. We’re kind of allergic to it. But if you find me something else nice and strong and a little sweet, then we could talk some more.”

“Something strong and warming for a cold night like tonight,” the man said, laying his hand on Lumikki’s bare arm in a caressing gesture.

The hand was clammy. Lumikki contained her shudder of disgust, restricting it to her thoughts.

“You read my mind.”

“Your wish is my command,” the man said. “Don’t go anywhere.”

“I’ll try not to get lost in the woods. Or end up a house slave for seven undersized men.”

The man’s smile widened.

“And if someone tries to dress you in a corset that’s too tight, I promise to take it off,” he said, throwing her a wink.

Well now, the gray panther knew his Grimm. But familiarity with fairy tales wasn’t going to score him any points with Lumikki. Or lead to any other kind of scoring. Lumikki watched as the man’s back retreated. Then she slipped upstairs.

Terho Väisänen looked around. There was no sign of Natalia. His bow tie was uncomfortably tight around his neck. He loosened it.

Some of the guests made his eyebrows shoot up.
Is he really here? And him?
This material could have filled the pages of both national tabloids and a couple of gossip magazines to boot. He watched as a well-known politician nibbled the ear of an uncomfortable-looking Tinker Bell.

Terho knew that no one was going to breathe a word about the party to anyone. Polar Bear’s men butchered snitches. And not just snitches, but snitches’ families, relatives, lovers, and friends. Everyone knew it, and no one wanted to end up as a cautionary tale.

He saw a young woman dressed as Snow White. There was something vaguely familiar about her. Didn’t Elisa have a dress a lot like that? Well, it must have been a popular style and not quite the one-of-a-kind the saleswoman had led them to believe. More evidence that you never got quite what you wanted, even with heaps of money.