As Black as Ebony (6 page)

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, EARLY MORNING

Lumikki woke up hot and anxious. She glanced at her phone. It was 3:20 in the morning. A time she should be happily sleeping the deepest possible sleep. Sampsa’s arm was wrapped around her, the boy radiating warmth. Usually that felt good, but right now it was too much heat. Wriggling out from under his arm, she climbed out of bed. Sampsa mumbled in his sleep, but then rolled over and continued his quiet snoring. Happily sleeping away in perfect safety. Lumikki looked at the back of Sampsa’s head and his mussed hair, slowly letting herself fill with the tenderness she felt for him.

Sweet, sweet Sampsa. Sleeping like an innocent child. Strangely innocent even when awake. Fearless because he had never really had to fear. Knowing his own worth because no one had ever called his worth into question or trampled it into the ground.

Lumikki closed the door behind her as she went into the kitchen. She turned on the light and tried to decide whether to make coffee. Then she definitely wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep, but right now she really needed that strong smell and familiar taste. The sharp bite of the first sip that soon turned to a sensuous feeling of calm and refreshment. Sharpening her senses.

She was just about to grab the espresso pot when she saw her phone display light up. A text message. Who on earth would be texting her at this hour of the morning?

Lumikki’s mouth went dry. It was hard to swallow. Breathing felt difficult. The text message had been sent through an anonymous server, so the phone only displayed the provider’s number, not the sender’s. Her stalker was leaving nothing to chance, and he hadn’t left any traces of himself even by accident.
Escape. Hide. Lights off
.

That was Lumikki’s first reaction, but she knew all of that was pointless. She had already been seen. She couldn’t hide. So with as steady steps as she could manage, she walked to the window and looked out into the darkness. She forbade her hands from shaking and pressed them against the glass, shading herself a small peephole out into the outside world. There was no one in the park. The shadows of the trees didn’t move. But there were too many dark places to count where her stalker could be standing, hidden. Or he could be in the opposite building. He could be standing almost anywhere. He could see Lumikki. Lumikki couldn’t see him.

Another text.

Never. Lumikki nearly threw her phone against the wall. Did this person think she lacked any sense of self-preservation? That she was just going to walk out into the night because some lunatic was sending her messages? Lumikki knew she was reckless sometimes, but she wasn’t that crazy.

Lumikki sat down at the table and looked at her phone. She could turn it off. Her stalker could send her messages all night if he wanted, but she wasn’t going to read any of them.

Just then a third text came through.

Lumikki stood up so fast the chair clattered to the floor. The person sending these messages had to be bluffing. What a bullshit threat. He wasn’t going to go kill Anna-Sofia. He couldn’t. He was just trying to see how far he could push Lumikki.

But what if he was serious . . .

Lumikki knew she couldn’t take the risk. She didn’t know who she was dealing with, but she knew that this stalker knew things about her he shouldn’t have been able to know. And he really could be prepared to do anything.

Clothes on. Coat on. Boots on. One last careful peek in to make sure Sampsa was sleeping. Still the same quiet, peaceful snoring. Lumikki quickly scribbled a note saying she couldn’t sleep and had gone out for a walk. She sincerely hoped Sampsa wouldn’t wake up before she got back. If she got back.

No, Lumikki refused to give in to fear, even though it washed over her in a choking deluge.

Outside, it was drizzling. Before letting the door swing shut, Lumikki squeezed the handle so hard her hand started to hurt. She looked around, but didn’t see anyone. What kind of game was this? She had come outside. She was following instructions.

Another text message.

Lumikki had already set off running as she read the final words of the message. The wet, slick park path seemed to slip away under her combat boots. Why hadn’t she known to put on running shoes? She should have learned by now that she always ended up running at some point. That was what her life had been like since last February.

In her mind, Lumikki quickly calculated the fastest route. To the end of the park, across the railroad tracks, and then straight to the river. Gray-brown muck squelched under her shoes. The cold drizzle penetrated her coat and hat, and reduced visibility. The street lamps shone wanly. Everywhere their light didn’t reach was as black as pitch.

As she ran and glanced at the time, Lumikki wondered if there was any sense to this. Why was she doing this? Why did she really care whether her stalker carried out his threat? Lumikki hadn’t seen Anna-Sofia in more than two years and hadn’t had anything to do with her in much longer. It shouldn’t have mattered to Lumikki in the slightest what happened to her former school bully.

When Lumikki crossed the tracks and turned north toward the river, she realized this was the only thing she could do because a part of her really did want Anna-Sofia to die. Lumikki had fantasized about it so many times, sometimes even dreaming it would happen. Even after she got away from her tormentors and moved to Tampere, a small part of Lumikki thirsted for revenge and a feeling that evil had received its reward. Because of Anna-Sofia and Vanessa, she had spent years wishing she could be dead instead of having to endure their torture.

Justified revenge.

If Lumikki had just stayed home and gone back to sleep and Anna-Sofia had really died, she would have felt responsible. She would be guilty because a part of her wanted it.

Still five minutes left. Lumikki pounded along the street. She was just coming to the footbridge that led over the river to the park with the palace. The bridge was wet. The cold, damp air was rough on her lungs. But she would make it. She had to make it.

This park wasn’t one of Lumikki’s favorite places. It was beautiful enough, with a long history since it was built on nearly bare rock back in the early eighteen hundreds. In the summer, it was intoxicatingly green and had amazing views out over the lake. There were all kinds of different rock-dwelling plants, fences built from river stones, and the park even had Finland’s biggest poplar tree. Under different conditions, Lumikki would have thought it was the best park in Tampere.

But Blaze had dumped her here. That was why Lumikki could never come here without experiencing a confused mixture of sadness and anxiety. And tonight, the park was black and silent as the grave. A nightmare park.

The palace rose white and woefully run-down in the center of the park, on the highest spot, in stately solitude. Lumikki’s lungs hurt as she expended the last of her strength on the uphill sprint.

Milavida. That was the original, melodious name of the place. Milavida’s history was tragic. The owner of the Finlayson textile factory, Wilhelm von Nottbeck’s son, Peter von Nottbeck, had built it as a replacement for the family’s previous house, a villa next to the rocky hill. However, the Nottbeck family never lived in their new house, which was completed in 1898, because Peter’s wife, Olga, died giving birth to twins and Peter died six months later after an appendix operation in a Paris hospital. The palace was sold to the City of Tampere in 1905. In the black December night, Milavida looked like the ethereal ghost of a building. A palace of specters. Perhaps the Nottbecks had moved in after all following their deaths.

Lumikki looked at her phone. She had made it in time. She felt like screaming for her stalker to come out and show himself at last. Just then, a new text message arrived.

First, a game of tag and now, hide-and-seek. The stalker must have been getting some sick pleasure from this. Lumikki went to the left end of the building and started feeling along the cold stone foundation with her fingers. Nothing. No hole. She was getting tired of this. Then, just as she was giving up and her fingers were losing all feeling, she found a crack almost at ground level. She pushed her fingers in and caught hold of something metal. Lumikki pulled it out.

In her hand lay a small brass key.

Lumikki never would have thought she could run back even faster. Fear gave her wings. If this lunatic did anything to Sampsa . . .

At home, everything was as it should have been. Sampsa was asleep in bed. Lumikki took off her clothes, crumpled up the note about going on a walk and threw it in the trash, and snuck back into bed. In his sleep, Sampsa turned over and hugged her. His bangs were moist. Had he had a nightmare and been sweating?

Suddenly, Lumikki was so tired that her eyes drooped shut. She fell into a sleep free of nightmares or dreams about the mysterious key waiting in her coat pocket. The key with the heart.

People are so trusting. If you’re assertive and credible enough, they swallow your words and love how true they taste. That’s why it was so easy to get the key. People trust me and end up saying things they wouldn’t otherwise. All I had to do was create a relaxed, confidential mood and even
he
talked. And you should never forget that alcohol helps people open up too. The key was hidden where he guessed it would be.

“Isn’t it sick that they still keep it in the bookshelf behind a copy of
Tittytumpkin’s Fairy Tree?”
That’s what he said when I got him drunk. I agreed, although I think there are much sicker things in this world. Who am I to judge other people’s decisions? We all want to keep our secrets in our own way.

I wanted to give it to you so you would remember. I could just tell you everything I know, but that would be boring. I would rather you found it out yourself. Then it will mean more. Then your own, real memories will come back.

You may not be able to think of it this way yet, but I am giving you gifts. One at a time. And these are the biggest gifts anyone has ever given you.

I am giving you your past.

I am giving you your secret.

I am giving you who you really are.

I am giving you yourself. Finally.

And then you will be prepared to accept my final gift, my eternal love, because you will understand that I am the only person who can love you this much. Then you will learn to love me too. We are the same. We are one.