Snow Light

by Danielle Zinn

  Sky nodded reluctantly.

  “And I would not count on that new shirt being in your wardrobe tomorrow morning.”

  She stormed past him without saying another word.

  Thomas put on his winter gear and decided to walk up to Kate’s house, using the time to catch up with DS Collins. Her findings, so far, were rather disillusioning. Five people from the list could be eliminated. They were married and led happy lives with their families — nothing suspicious.

  He only told her that the names he had checked could be erased from the list as well. No need to specify the exact quantity.

  The story with Dobson’s dead grandfathers checked out too — no relation to Lawson or botched surgeries either.

  She would call him immediately once she had found something, even if it was only the faintest trace. He promised to do the same, and they hung up after what Thomas had hoped would be a more yielding phone call.

  Night had settled in quickly, and with it, an icy cold had spread over the small village. He felt the tip of his nose grow numb and walked a bit faster to get back into the warmth. The solid snow crunched underneath his shoes, but otherwise, the village was eerily quiet.

  Darkness and cold had killed curiosity.

  Kate’s house was brightly illuminated with light arches smiling at him from every window. In front of the door stood a small sleigh with snow-covered presents on it and a reindeer pretending to pull it.

  He did not have to ring the bell; Kate had already spotted him through the kitchen window.

  Thomas jumped inside and closed the door firmly behind him to not let more warm air out than necessary. Kate gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, which he reciprocated, smiling.

  After taking off his boots and parka, Thomas followed her to a brightly coloured living room, which was a bit too small for his liking, but he shrugged off his fear of cramped spaces.

  There was a comfortable cream-coloured couch in the corner, with a small fireplace next to it, and a TV set on the opposite side of the wall, as well as a bookshelf stuffed with old and new books of various topics. Another door led to a dark winter garden. The right-hand corner of the room was filled by a heavy, old, and beautifully restored oak writing table. Thomas let his hand slide over the engravings. The wood felt soft and warm to his fingers.

  “What a lovely desk that is,” he said in full admiration.

  “Thanks.” She smiled. “I bought it at an antique shop in St Anna. Unfortunately, I’m no expert. I don’t know whether it’s really worth something or just nicely made.”

  “Does it matter? It fits perfectly in this room. Very busy?” he asked, nodding towards various piles of test papers on the desk.

  “Yes, all of that,” she said, pointing to the largest pile and rolling her eyes dramatically, “still needs to be marked. Careful when choosing your career. But then again, you’ve been working day and night as well recently.”

  Thomas nodded with a lopsided grin. “Which is why I won’t keep you company for too long. I have a couple of files to go through as well. Nice pictures.” The wall behind the table was decorated with a large array of photographs and postcards.

  “My parents got divorced when I was quite young, so my mum and I moved to the US. She wanted to leave the past behind and start a new life — just the two of us. So, these are my childhood friends from school and the neighbourhood and Snoopy, my dog. And these are from my time at university.” She pointed to some faded photos showing her cheering and hugging some female friends.

  “Looks like you were very popular and had lots of friends. I mean, these are all party pictures.” He grinned at her.

  She nudged him in the shoulder. “That’s not true! See, this is me in our drama club preparing for my part in The Three Musketeers, art club and equestrian club. I barely had time to party!” Kate pointed from one photo to the next, and in all of them a young, beautiful girl smiled back.

  “I’m really impressed, honestly. I didn’t do any kind of sport until a year ago,” Thomas replied, but before he would venture any deeper into that topic, another couple of months would need to pass.

  “Schools and universities in the US are very competitive. It was mandatory to be a member of at least two clubs. But it was such a great time.” She looked at the pictures, and Thomas looked at her face; she seemed sad suddenly and withdrawn. Her hand was unnoticeably balled into a fist.

  “Do you miss your friends?” he asked softly.

  Kate nodded. “Yes, a lot, sometimes. We started working in different parts of the world, and I’m not sure whether we’ll all be able to get together for a reunion one day. With the photos I’ve got the whole bunch together, at least.”

  Thomas laughed. “Good thinking. Anyway, you said you needed me to sign something?”

  She inhaled sharply and started rummaging through a pile of paper.

  “I think I can keep this as short as possible.” Kate’s voice suddenly became brusque. “After all, you’re a police officer, and I assume you’re well aware that cheating and lying are not the moral foundations our society should be built on. This is Sky’s test marked with an ‘F,’ as I already told you on the phone, and that’s her ruler. Please make sure this doesn’t happen again. Not only does it shed a negative light on my teaching, but it also labels her as an untrustworthy student; and Sky can do a lot better than that. If it happens again in this school term, she will be suspended from class for two weeks. I’d like her to come to my office, after her lessons for the entire next week, for an hour’s detention. And I need you to sign this form confirming that you understand what I just told you,” she said matter-of-factly.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Thomas did as he was told, folded the paper, and stuffed it together with the ruler in his jacket pocket.

  He felt firmly straightened out and brought back into line again, just like he had after the brief but resolute lesson from the dragon teacher at the bake sale.

  But when he looked up, Kate smiled at him. He took her in his arms and they stood there for what felt like an eternity. Thomas took in her smell and the softness of her hair and skin. Smiling back at him from the wall was a younger version of Kate, surrounded by friends, trying all kinds of activities that school and university had to offer, and generally just being silly.

  He lived for that moment and forgot everything else around him. The candles on the couch table flickered softly when they kissed. He closed his eyes and felt Kate’s hands gently move along the small of his back while his rested on her beautifully shaped hips.

  The vibration of his phone abruptly ended their fondness. Thomas mumbled his apologies to Kate, who was still cuddling up to his chest. He fished his phone out of his trouser pocket and held it to his ear.

  Before he could say anything, though, he heard Collins’s looming voice. “I’ve found something that you certainly won’t like.”

  “Okay. Erm… listen I’ll call you back in ten minutes.”

  “I’ll be at your house in ten minutes. Look at the clock! I’m not bloody working for you day and night! Where are you anyway?”

  “None of your business. Right, my house in ten.” He hung up and apologised to Kate again for the hasty departure.

  She replied with one last passionate kiss.

  Thomas skidded down the slippery road as fast as his feet would carry him, and breathing as deeply as the icy air allowed, while wondering what had got into him when he decided to walk in this weather.

  He closed his front door just as he heard a car turn into their little alleyway. Throwing his hat and parka on the couch, he rubbed the cold off his hands and face.

  Sky peeked out of her room, and Thomas pointed his finger at her. “DS Collins will be here in a moment to discuss something about the case. You stay in your room until I tell you to come back out. I still have a bone to pick with you!”

  She slammed the door shut while, at the other end of the house, the doorbell rang.

  Thomas inhaled deeply and ran his hands through
his short, dark hair. When he opened the door, Collins looked up at him unfazed, hugging two greyish folders to her chest and shivering in the cold.

  He stepped aside, and she marched past him towards his office without taking off her boots or jacket. “Please, come in,” Thomas mumbled into the cold air when closing the door.

  “Do you always work in the dark?” she asked, standing in the door frame to his office.

  “I was in the kitchen, making us some tea, so I switched the lights off,” he lied.

  “I’ll have coffee, thanks,” she replied, flopping herself into his chair and putting the folders on the table.

  “Please, take a seat. Coffee will be served in a minute.”

  “Ta.”

  When he came back, Collins was immersed in his handwritten notes on the two names he had managed to check all afternoon. A feeling of disappointment for not pulling his weight in his case came over him.

  “This is what you’ve come up with after five solid hours of work?” She pointed at the paper in front of her.

  “I was busy with something else, as well, and besides, I’ll keep on working when you slumber peacefully in bed.”

  He knew that a long night lay ahead of him, but at that moment, he felt swamped with all the tasks at hand.

  The murderer out there; Kate in his mind; Sky upstairs; David in Sydney; and Collins in front of him. But he shook the helplessness off, knowing it would get him nowhere further, and turned his attention to his sergeant. After all, he was still the leading investigator on the case.

  “What have you found?”

  She opened the folder, and a modern black and white photograph of a man in his mid-forties stared back at him. The furrowed lines in his face seemed familiar, as did his strong physique. But Thomas was sure he had never heard or read the name before. Patrik Novák.

  “Who is he?” he asked, picking up the picture for closer inspection.

  “He died last week. Kidney failure. Lived in Prague with his wife and two children and had his own IT consulting company. Quite successful, but also very stressed in recent years. His health deteriorated fairly quickly. I spoke to the wife. When Lawson was killed, she was on holiday with her parents and children, to help the kids get over the loss of their father. Novák went from an orphanage to a foster family, where he grew up, but somehow I had this weird gut feeling about him, so I set out to find the names of his biological parents.” She flipped to the next page and savoured Thomas’s staggered face with a huge grin.

  “I didn’t know that…” he mumbled, lost for words. “Well done, Sergeant, really well done.” He nodded approvingly.

  The craziest of thoughts were suddenly racing through his mind, and he could do nothing to hold them at bay. Now he knew why the face had looked so familiar to him.

  “Have they been in touch?” Thomas asked.

  “I don’t know. I couldn’t find anything about it in the database, but then again, we don’t file a copy of every letter or phone call. We’re not an intelligence agency.”

  “Of course not. Have you found anything about this mysterious grandchild of Lawson?”

  “No, not yet. Except for his parents, there are no other relatives registered. I need to find former university friends or work colleagues who might remember possible girlfriends. It’s a needle in a haystack…”

  “Right. Anything else I should know?”

  Collins shook her head. “I’ll leave the file with you then.”

  “Thanks. I’ll talk to him now.”

  “You might be lucky. Maybe he’ll admit to the killing right away. That would save you many, many hours of work,” she said, nodding knowingly towards his untouched files.

  28

  THOMAS put on his parka and waited until Collins’s car had vanished around the corner. Then he strode over to his neighbour’s house.

  His mind still refused to accept the fact that Richard Cunningham had become one of their suspects. He had left Sky in his care so many times recently that he simply did not know what to believe anymore.

  Richard opened the door, but his smile faded when he saw Thomas’s serious face.

  “Did something happen?” he asked.

  “I’m not too sure about that yet. I need a word with you. Now.”

  “Sounds important. Come in. Allison is somewhere playing bingo.”

  He led Thomas to a dimly lit kitchen, poured two cups of tea, and sat down on the kitchen bench opposite the tall man, locking his hands in front of his chest.

  “Who is Patrik Novák?” Thomas asked straightforwardly.

  Richard gasped at the sound of the name and looked away. For a while, both men sat there in silence.

  Once he had rallied himself, Richard asked, “How do you know about him?”

  “Doesn’t matter. I just do. Who is he?”

  “Since you ask, I assume you already know,” Richard replied defensively.

  “I’d like to hear it from you, though, and as your friend, I advise you to tell me everything you know about him; because, as head of this murder investigation, I’d actually have to take you to the station for formal questioning. I need the truth, Richard.”

  The man’s face turned pale. “What does Patrik have to do with your case? I don’t understand!” “Patrik is only indirectly involved in my investigation. It is you who is the main focus now.”

  “Me!? But why?”

  “No, I’m asking the questions here, and you’re answering. And then we take it from there, okay?”

  His neighbour was nervously fidgeting with his earlobes but nodded curtly.

  “Tell me about Patrik.”

  Richard scratched his head, and Thomas could see from his face that he was struggling to form the right words.

  After a while, he replied shakily, “I married Allison when we were both seventeen. Quite young, even for the olden days. I truly loved her, and still do, but when I was around twenty, I often had to go to Bohemia to help out repairing cars or collecting spare parts for the dealership. That was before I opened my own business. One day, when I had been away from Allison for over a month, I was called to tow away a broken-down car, somewhere in the countryside. When I arrived, I met a beautiful young girl my age — Tereza.”

  Richard’s eyes seemed distant; he was in a world of his own now.

  Thomas had already roughly guessed that part of the story, but he did not want to interrupt his neighbour.

  “Anyway, Patrik was the result of that job. Tereza found the number of my employer and told me she was pregnant. At that time, Allison had just given birth to our boy. I was overwhelmed with joy and so scared of losing Allison that I harshly told Tereza that I wasn’t interested in her anymore and that I didn’t even know for sure if the child was mine, and I hung up.”

  “But she got in touch with you again, didn’t she? How would you know the name of the child?”

  “She didn’t. I contacted her. I knew I had made a huge mistake and could never stop thinking about it. Seeing my own boy grow up inevitably made me think about her child. And do you know what the worst part was?” He did not wait for Thomas to answer. “I couldn’t talk to anybody about it. Least of all Allison. I only knew Tereza’s name and where she had lived at the time, as I’d towed her car and taken her home. Five years ago, I made a couple of phone calls to the local town hall, and thankfully, she hadn’t left the area… I called her and she told me about her miserable life and about Patrik. After the baby arrived she lost her job, and her parents kicked her out. Some nights she even had to sleep on the streets. With a baby.” His voice broke off, and tears filled his eyes.

  Thomas remained silent.

  “She started stealing food and prostituted herself for several years until she was picked up by social services. The boy was sent to an orphanage, and Tereza had to work in a factory. When Patrik was twelve he went to foster parents.”

  “So, they stayed in touch?”

  “Only through the occasional Christmas and birthday card, but yes
.”

  “And then Patrik started a family of his own and a business in Prague,” Thomas said.

  “Yes, until last week…” Richard could not contain his feelings any longer and sobbed terribly.

  “Did Tereza tell you about his death?”

  “No, she died two years ago. Lung cancer. We had made a will for Patrik, in case something happened to us, so he would still inherit his legal share. From my side as well. And if anything happened to him or Tereza, I would be informed. So, I got a call last week from an attorney in Prague.”

  “Had you ever spoken to Patrik?”

  Richard shook his head. “No. I only ever made that one phone call to Tereza… five years ago. She didn’t want anything to do with me, and Patrik didn’t even want to talk to me. But she sent me a photograph and a letter saying, ‘These are the lives you ruined.’ When I saw him, I knew he was my boy.”

  “Did you know Patrik was ill?”

  He nodded. “Tereza said he developed kidney problems after surgery, when he was at the orphanage, and never got rid of them. In the end, he died of kidney failure.”

  “Did you know it was a botched kidney surgery he had at the orphanage?”

  Richard shook his head. “No, as I’ve said, these people were strangers to me, and I can’t even be angry at them.”

  Right now, Thomas’s neighbour looked a picture of misery, having aged ten years in ten minutes.

  “I still don’t see the connection between Patrik and me and the murder?” Richard looked up at Thomas with cloudy eyes.

  “Dr Lawson illegally removed your son’s healthy kidney without the knowledge and consent of either him or his guardians. He sold it for a profit. Patrik fought against the after-effects his entire life. Until last week.”

  As the news sank in, Richard sank deeper into the cushions of the kitchen bench. He shook his head violently. “I didn’t know anything about that! I thought his illness was from the rough life on the streets… the bad food. I didn’t even know Lawson was a doctor, let alone that his and Patrik’s paths had crossed in the past!” Richard’s hand reached out and found Thomas’s wrist. “Can you please not tell Allison anything about this? She has nothing to do with it. It wouldn’t be fair.”