Snow Light

by Danielle Zinn

  “Good. I suggest you get going. You’ve arrived fairly late. We’ll open in a minute.”

  With that, she turned around and marched off.

  He was still shell-shocked, watching her telling off the neighbouring table for making a mess on the white tablecloth, when a ginger-haired boy with gappy teeth looked up at him and pulled on his jacket sleeve. “Don’t worry. Everybody is a bit scared when meeting her for the first time. She didn’t even seem impressed by your height.”

  “Glad to hear that,” Thomas replied with a lopsided smile, and put the cake down carefully. “Okay kids, what are your names?” he said, pointing at the boy.

  “Oliver.”

  “Nice to meet you, Oliver. And I know you two.” He indicated to the twins, Cami and Connor, who smiled back at him.

  “And who are you?”

  “I’m Tessa, and this is Simon,” a girl said, pointing towards a boy who was still shyly holding his cake box.

  “Right. My name is Nathaniel, and you heard what the lovely lady just said, we better stock up on napkins and plastic forks. Please go to the kitchen, get some, and put them on the table.”

  The whole bunch dashed off, and Thomas briefly had some time to arrange the cakes and slice them. There was a sour cream cake with mandarins, a nut cake, a lemon, a chocolate chip, and of course his Lumpy Bumpy cake — a magnificent piece of work.

  When the kids were back, Thomas got out his phone, but there was still no message from Collins. He silently retreated a couple of steps, never leaving the table and the children out of sight, and rang her.

  “DS Collins, hello?”

  “Hi, it’s me. Just wanted to make sure you got my message. I won’t be in until around noon.”

  “Yeah, that’s fine. Bring me some cake, please.”

  He smiled. “I will. Could you keep working on the patient files? And maybe dig a bit deeper into this whole organ transplantation stuff.”

  “Sure, will do.”

  “Okay, I—”

  “Mobile phones are not allowed in here!” a voice yelled at him from behind. Thomas swivelled around, and looked into the furious eyes of the mayor’s wife who stood there, hands on hips.

  “Call me if you need anything, okay?” he said to Collins.

  “Sounds like boot camp.”

  “Worse.” And he hung up.

  “This is entirely irresponsible leaving the children alone. You sure can do without your phone for two hours!” the dragon lady snapped at him. Soon there would be steam coming out of her nose.

  “Firstly, until you came, I’ve had an eye on the children. Secondly, I’m doing this voluntarily and thirdly, this was a work related call, so could you please stop shouting at me?” he replied exasperated.

  “Nat is about to catch whoever speared the old guy from the cabin,” Sky threw in, tugging on his sleeve. “Do you have change? We have our first customer.”

  Thomas exhaled deeply and gave the mayor’s wife one last irritated look before returning to their table.

  An hour and a half, and two busloads of hungry senior citizens later, their cakes were gone, and Thomas’s headache had increased from the noise and general hubbub. He also had a dry throat from talking loudly to various elderly men and women.

  He was amazed by how much those skinny old people could eat, and wondered how bad the food at their residence really was. He had been briefly tempted to ask whether any of them knew Dr William Lawson, but with the mayor’s wife looming in the background, Thomas decided against an interrogation in the community hall.

  Kate had hustled by repeatedly, but neither of them had had time for a little chat. In addition, the children complained that they did not get to eat a single piece of cake. He gathered them around and bent down to their eye level.

  “All right, kids, you were really fantastic. I’ve got some cake for you that you’ll get on two conditions.”

  “What are they?” Oliver, the ginger-haired boy, asked eagerly.

  “Firstly, you don’t tell that dragon of a teacher, and secondly, while I go to the kitchen and clean the plates and cutlery, you get a broom and clean up the crumbs from under the table. Neatly. Deal?”

  “How do we know you really have cake?” one of the twins asked.

  “Trust me, I work for the police. I wouldn’t lie to you.” He winked at them.

  They scrutinised him sceptically, but in the end their curiosity won. He took a pile of plates and the knives and marched off towards the kitchen.

  It looked like his was the first table to sell out.

  Thomas unloaded everything into the sink when he heard the door close, and turning around he saw Kate leaning in the door frame, wearing a pastel-rose polo neck jersey, black skirt, tights, and black leather boots. She smiled at him challengingly.

  He remained at the kitchen sink while she slowly walked towards him.

  “I think you deserve a reward today for not running me over again.”

  They laughed, and he took her into his arms, holding her tightly. She wore her trademark perfume, and her long, dark blonde hair felt soft when he pushed a strand out of her beautiful face. The twinkle had returned to her eyes.

  “Maybe this isn’t the right place,” she whispered into his ear.

  “I think we deserve a short break from the mayhem out there,” Thomas whispered back, nodding towards the door.

  For a long time, they looked into each other’s eyes; hers were deep and blue like an endless ocean.

  Then his hands gently moved along the small of her back to her hips, where he let them rest. Kate had one hand on his shoulder, and the other one moved ever so slowly down his chest, over his stomach and stopped at his belt.

  Thomas carefully slipped his hands underneath her soft cashmere jersey. The skin on her flanks felt warm and smooth, like that of a baby.

  “What have you done here?” he whispered into her ear, gently moving his fingertips across a scar on her right-hand side.

  “Appendix. When I was a child,” she replied, sliding her hand equally carefully from his forehead down to his chin.

  “And what have you done here?” she asked, resting her finger on the scar on his temple.

  “Occupational hazard,” he replied before kissing her. His muscles relaxed instantly.

  They rested their foreheads on each other.

  “This has to be repeated,” she hushed, “but in a more suitable environment.”

  He let her go. “Yes, I’m sincerely afraid of the dragon’s punishment if she finds out.”

  He smiled at her. Kate winked at him and quietly left the kitchen. Thomas felt as excited as a love-struck boy in the schoolyard but quickly brought himself back to reality. The plates were cleaned in an instant, and just as he wanted to leave the kitchen, Kate rushed back inside.

  “What a quick return!” he said before seeing blood dripping down her thumb. “Oh dear! What happened?”

  “I grabbed a knife,” she said, her face twisted in pain.

  “Let me see.” Thomas pulled over a chair for her and inspected her thumb.

  “You’re lucky. It’s a big cut but not deep enough to have to be stitched up. Here, press this against it until I’ve found a first aid kit.” He gave her his freshly laundered handkerchief and rummaged through the kitchen cupboards.

  “Thank you, Doctor Thomas,” she said with a shaky smile.

  After a while, he found what he had been looking for and expertly wrapped a gauze pad and plaster around the damaged thumb.

  “If it gets worse, you’ll have to see a doctor.”

  “Sure. I’m so sorry. I’ve messed up your handkerchief!” She handed him the bloody piece of cloth back.

  “No worries, I’ve got so many I could use a different one for each day of the year.” He grinned at her. “I better get back to the kids. Are you all right?”

  She smiled and held up her bandaged thumb. He kissed her on the cheek and left.

  All six children were patiently waiting for him at their ta
ble, which was spick and span, as was the floor.

  “Well done! You have really impressed me,” Thomas said, nodding approvingly.

  “You promised us something, Nat.” Sky looked up at him, worried he might disappoint them and embarrass her in front of her friends.

  He lifted his parka off a nearby chair and picked up his cake box that was hidden underneath.

  “Indeed, I’ve promised you something, and you’ve honestly earned it with exceptionally good behaviour. There is a piece of cake in here for each of you. Take the box, go back to the kitchen, and enjoy. And remember, if someone asks, it’s not from me.”

  He handed the carton to Connor, the tallest of the sextet, who opened the lid an inch and was immediately surrounded by his friends. They all dashed off towards the kitchen, all except Sky.

  “That was our Lumpy Bumpy cake. But we sold every bit of it. How did you do that?” She looked up at him in utter amazement. In moments like this, he realised how grateful children could be.

  “That’s my secret. Now hurry, or your friends will have eaten your piece as well.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to come to the forest, too?”

  “I’d love to come, honey, but I have to go back to work, right now actually. Shall I leave you here or take you home?”

  “You can leave me here. I’ll walk home, change, and meet the others at the ski lift.”

  “All right, enjoy!”

  “Thanks, I will. Can you not come home too late tonight?”

  He gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll try.” And with that, she turned around and followed her friends.

  Thomas handed the collected money over to the dragon teacher and gave her notice of his departure.

  On his short drive back home, he rang Collins telling her that he had decided to go to the cabin one last time to search for the mobile phone, and that he would meet her at the police station right after.

  She said she had a list from the hospital with all the names of the Bohemian children and teenagers that Lawson had operated on for free and that she would check them out.

  When Thomas arrived at home, his driveway was already blocked by an old, red, rusty Skoda, and he parked his car a bit awry behind it, half on the road and half on the driveway.

  The noise of a hoover penetrated the closed front door, and through the window he saw the chairs sitting upside down on the kitchen table.

  When he opened the door the humming stopped, and a slender, elderly lady in an apron greeted him from the kitchen. “Hello, Mr Thomas. What pleasant surprise.”

  Mrs Smetana was sixty-three and spoke with a slight Bohemian accent. She did the dusting, hoovering, cleaning of the bathrooms, and ironing twice a week for him.

  David had recommended her, and even though Thomas was highly sceptical at the beginning about letting a stranger into his home while he was not there, he had given her a chance and had quickly become friends with the quirky lady.

  She had never been further away than St Anna on the one side of the border and Carls Bath on the other, which explained some of her obsolete ideologies.

  Nevertheless, her prices were fair, and the rooms were cleaner than Thomas could get them, especially in such a short amount of time and with such a fur-shedding dog around.

  “Hi there! How are you?” They shook hands.

  “Good, good. Too much snow.”

  “Yes, we really got a lot this year. I just have to change quickly. Please don’t be bothered by me,” Thomas said, making for the stairs.

  She stood in the middle of the lounge, leaning on the hoover handle with one hand, the other firmly on her hip.

  “Tell me, you find murderer, right? I read in paper,” she said, eyeing him suspiciously.

  “Yes, I’m working on that case, trying to find whoever killed the old man. He was put on the pyramid in the middle of the market square. So macabre.” He caught himself speaking louder than necessary again and regretted it instantly. Just because they did not speak the same native language did not mean that she could not understand him.

  “Who was he?”

  “He lived in a cabin in the forest all by himself. He was a doctor at St Anna Hospital some thirty years ago and then went to Africa to work for different charity organisations. He also helped a lot of Bohemian children who came from underprivileged families.”

  “Good Samaritan. What his name? Or secret?”

  He smiled. “No, no. His name is no secret. When he came back from Africa, he lived here under the name of Ethan Wright, but his real name was William Lawson.”

  Mrs Smetana instantly let go of the hoover handle, and it dropped to the floor with a ringing noise. Barney barked from an upstairs guest room, where she would usually lock him up to do her work in peace.

  “Lawson bad man!” She slowly walked towards him, raising her index finger conspiratorially. Suddenly, she was shaking and tense. “Listen to me… very bad man,” she whispered, looking right through Thomas as if being in an entirely different world.

  He quickly steadied her by holding her arm and led her to the couch.

  “Please, Mrs Smetana, sit down. I’ll make us a cup of tea.”

  When he came back from the kitchen with two steaming cups of tea, she had calmed down a bit.

  “So, you know William Lawson from a former time?”

  “No, I never spoke to him, but my aunt and cousin know him. Sure he dead? I am very happy!”

  “Please tell me what happened. What was the relationship with your family?”

  She took a deep breath followed by a sip of hot tea. “We have never talked about it since my cousin died. He was one of teenagers that Dr Lawson treated for free. He had terrible pain in stomach… inflammation I think is word. First, after surgery, all was good. His pain gone in hospital. But at home, pain came back. Pain was everywhere in stomach, in legs, in back, everywhere.” She moved her hands up and down her body.

  Thomas nodded, listening intently.

  “You must understand. Two years later he died. Two years in pain. My auntie was alone with him. She could not buy medicine. She asked Dr Lawson many times if he can look at her boy again, but he said surgery was fine. He has to strengthen muscles. He let my cousin die!” she spat.

  “Did he go to the hospital again? See another doctor?”

  “No, no insurance for this. And no money to pay for doctor or medicine.” She shook her head furiously. “Understand Dr Lawson… refuse to see sick boy. He is a doctor. He must help.”

  “I’m really sorry to hear that, Mrs Smetana. We have spoken to some of his former patients, and to be honest, all of them were very satisfied with his work. I think this is the first complaint that we’ve heard so far.”

  “Yes, wealthy people get good service, but he didn’t care about poor Bohemian children. Just good reputation. But no money.” She looked at him knowingly and put down her tea. “Sorry, sir, but I have to finish work.”

  And with that, she got up and dragged the hoover over to Barney’s sleeping area.

  Thomas quickly changed into some warm clothes, assuming his next stop, the cabin, would be as cold as a snow cave without any heating or fire for some days now.

  When he came downstairs, Mrs Smetana was watering his two bonsai plants.

  “One last question. What was your cousin’s name?” He took out his notepad and handed it to her, knowing he would never be able to spell the name correctly.

  She wrote a name in capital letters and handed it back to him; Roman Jelínek. He thanked her and went to his car.

  On his way to the cabin, he called Collins. “Listen, I just got the first complaint about Lawson’s work. I spoke to a Bohemian lady whose cousin was operated on by him and died two years later. He was one of the teenagers who received free treatment. I’ll text you the name. Could you do a background check please? She blames the death on his surgery. I’m not sure about this… it might be nothing, but she was so full of hatred for Lawson.”

  “Sure, can do. I s
poke to Belka again regarding his uncle. As I said, he died a couple of years ago wasted on drink. Karel said he barely knew him… didn’t even know he fenced. To be honest, I think the boy really is a dead end regarding the murder. But we can charge him with drug production and dealing.”

  “Okay, let’s compile all the offences we have against him when I get back to the station. And then we need to sort through that list with the Bohemian kids Lawson operated on. This lady said he just did it for his reputation; he didn’t really care about their health. She said the wealthy people got the good treatment; those are probably the patients from our side of the border, and you’ve checked most of them already without a negative result, and the poor ones were just poster children for his charitable activity. Suitable enough for a good reference on his CV. It’s a lead we have to follow. We need to talk to as many of those Bohemian patients as possible and see what they think of him.”

  “So, it is back to the Bohemians again, isn’t it?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. But for the sake of international convergence, I hope we can exclude them again after having checked their backgrounds.”

  “I can start on it right now. Just out of curiosity, who is this informant of yours?” Collins asked.

  “I’ll tell you later. I’m at the cabin now.” And with that, he hung up.

  The road to the cabin was freshly cleared, but Thomas left the car at the last bend wide enough to turn around in one move. The last thing he needed was being stuck in the snow out there.

  The compacted white powder crunched underneath his feet, and he stopped for a moment to take in the magnificent view. The grey clouds from that morning had made way to yet another beautiful sunny day, and he could see the valley of Turtleville below him, Spruce Mountain to his right, and the ski lift at Cannonball Mountain directly in front of him. He would have loved to go to the forest with Sky and, if he was honest, with her teacher as well, but he had to catch a murderer first. And once this person was behind bars, he promised himself he would catch up on that ski trip. With that thought in mind, he felt for the key in his pocket and strode towards the cabin, burning with anticipation.