As Red as Blood (The Snow White Trilogy) by Salla Simukka

pull off some sort of cunning secret interrogation.”
    Elisa set down the serving tray with the Coke glasses on the living room table. Ice cubes clinked against each other. She looked even more tired than she had the day before. The circles under her eyes were darker, her hair hadn’t been washed, and she didn’t have any makeup on. She was like a smudge on the pure linen fabric of the stylish living room, a stain on the furnishings that oozed high design. From the ceiling hung a large, bulbous lamp made of thin strips of wood laminate. Scandinavian lines, elegant artlessness, all for a price.
    Lumikki found herself wondering again how they could pay for all of this on the salaries of a police officer and cosmetics sales agent. No one on the police force was making bank, and Elisa’s mom’s salary couldn’t be all that amazing either. An inheritance? Possible.
    Or maybe it had something to do with a trash bag full of bloody money.
    “Okay. So then let’s check your mom and dad’s computers,” Kasper said with the self-assurance of an up-and-coming small-time hood.
    “Mom took her laptop with her on her trip, but Dad’s computer is in his office over there. But I don’t know—”
    Elisa didn’t manage to complete her sentence before Kasper was already marching to the office door.
    “I’ll check the computer. You guys check the files and stuff,” Kasper said.
    Lumikki, Tuukka, and Elisa followed him into the office.
    “Isn’t this sort of illegal?” Elisa asked as she riffled through her father’s desk drawers.
    “I don’t remember legality really being much of an obstacle for you before,” Tuukka said with a laugh.
    Elisa sighed. “Maybe it should be.”
    Lumikki agreed, but she didn’t say so. Instead, she voiced another concern.
    “We aren’t going to find anything about your dad’s work here. He’s got to have super strict rules about what papers he can bring home. Probably none. And the computer is a home computer. All of his work stuff is going to be on his work computer.”
    “You’re right. Why didn’t I remember that?”
    “Let’s look anyway,” Tuukka insisted. “There’s no way he would store anything about crimes he’s committing at the police station. That place is crawling with snitches.”
    Elisa’s scowl limited Tuukka’s smile to that faint curl at the corner of his mouth. They searched in silence, without results. The office didn’t reveal anything but a meticulous father who kept his tax returns, insurance policies, and bills organized, and the folders on his computer clean.
    “He hasn’t even been looking at any porn sites,” Kasper grumbled impatiently.
    “Gross! Of course he hasn’t.” Elisa shuddered.
    “But you have,” Tuukka snickered. “I’ve done enough snooping around your computer to know that.”
    “Once, maybe, when a friend sent a link, and I clicked on it without thinking,” Elisa insisted.
    Lumikki couldn’t stand listening to the trio’s pointless blather. What irritated her the most was Elisa’s voice, which around the boys had turned mousy, and her comments,which were growing increasingly stupid. Lumikki knew the phenomenon. All through middle school, she had watched in bewilderment as it took hold. After the summer between sixth and seventh grade, some of the girls came back to school acting like they’d dropped half of their brains in a lake somewhere. Girls who used to be really smart suddenly couldn’t even do simple math or run a hundred-yard dash without complaining that they were “gonna die.”
    “Seriously, I’m gonna die!” they would squeal over and over throughout the day, sometimes thrilled, sometimes feigning helplessness. They painted their eyes and snapped bubble gum. It had taken Lumikki some time to figure out that the girls’ stupid act was meant for the boys. That their pathetic behavior was a signal that they were small, cute, and harmless. And sexy in just the right way for certain boys.
    They shrank and