As Red as Blood (The Snow White Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF Page B

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 parquet 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