“I have to know how it happened.”
“It’s better if you don’t.”
“I have to!”
“How do you think Lambert would react to Anita’s videos?”
“Lambert would want to kill Marion.”
“Exactly. So you already know everything you need to, kitten.”
The success of Alvar’s plan still felt just as improbable as when he’d explained he’d given Anita’s videos to Lambert. Norma had been startled, and Alvar tried to calm her down. Lambert and Alla were already on their way to Dnipropetrovsk, where Marion had gone a little earlier. Alvar sent all three to the same place at the same time. That could only result in the trio slaughtering one another.
“But what if Marion managed to send those files to someone before she left?”
“Then we’d hardly be sitting here right now.”
“I couldn’t stand it if you went to prison.”
“No one is going to prison.”
“How can you be sure?”
Alvar pulled her into his arms and, despite Norma’s resistance, tickled her so that her worry faded momentarily behind laughter. He had sent his men to Dnipropetrovsk to clean up the evidence, and Norma expected he’d receive news that would concern, upset, or relax him. Instead, nothing happened. Alvar had taken over the entire empire as if Lambert and Alla had never existed, as if it had always belonged to him, and Norma felt certain that Alvar had been planning his takeover for some time. He’d just been waiting for the appropriate opportunity.
—
The Naakka home was the same as always, except that the only cups in the kitchen had their handles broken off, and the floorboards squeaked in new places in addition to the old familiar ones. Alvar began to light a fire in the stove, and Norma looked at the vertebrae visible through his shirt. She wasn’t sure why she was here and not abroad. Her new passport was still in her purse, as were the bank cards Alvar had given her the week after Midsummer, when he’d come to the door of her hideout and said that Lambert and Alla had been in an accident in Dnipropetrovsk.
After handing her the passport, Alvar had asked whether she wanted a ride to the airport or if she’d be interested in going to dinner first. She chose dinner and never made it to the airport. She slept that night by Alvar’s side, listening to his dozing. This time she was careful not to lose control of her emotions, and her hair didn’t repeat its wild display, even though she knew it could become besotted again. But not now, not yet. Perhaps before this game ended, though. Once or twice. For a moment longer, she’d allow herself to imagine she was a normal woman on a summer vacation with her lover. Even Eva thought she deserved a short rest and a little merrymaking after all the difficulties Anita had caused.
Once the stove was smoking, Alvar straightened his back, and Norma opened the window for a bee that had come inside and now buzzed on the ceiling. They knew too much about each other, and before long she would remember that. She would realize that knowledge of her DNA must have reached others, and someone outside the clan could come after her, someone she wouldn’t have to worry about if she were far away with her new passport. Before long she would forgive her mother and grow bored of blaming the madness she herself had caused. She would want to blame Eva or Alvar. She would wonder whether Alvar could have prevented her mother’s fateful end, if he would have stepped in if he could have. But just for this moment, she wanted to live out her fantasy. As long as she couldn’t be completely sure that Lambert and Alla were dead, she wouldn’t be safe—unless she stayed with this man who knew how to deal with such people. So she told herself, not knowing whether it was true.
—
Tomorrow Norma would see Helena, who had deteriorated and now constantly asked after Anita. At first, Alvar opposed the visit. Nevertheless Norma had insisted, and she’d wager that Alvar was actually pleased she wanted to see Helena.
Eva looked forward to the meeting with enthusiasm. There was so much to say, and Helena would tell Norma everything, including where she should start looking for Eva’s daughter’s descendants. Eva missed them, and Helena needed her pipe filled.
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SOFI OKSANEN is a Finnish-Estonian novelist and playwright. She has received numerous prizes for her work, including the Finlandia Prize, the Swedish Academy Nordic Prize, the Prix Femina, the Budapest Grand Prize, the European Book Prize, and the Nordic Council Literature Prize. She lives in Helsinki.
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Sofi Oksanen, Norma
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