
Death in a Snowstorm
The Reveal
Death in a Snowstorm
Well, the deed is done. Sweet relief! Our ‘Brother Johan’ had to go. He’s always been a walking disaster, nothing new there. But he was becoming quite impossible to control. A man out of control quickly becomes a threat, and that cannot be tolerated.
It started a few years ago when he hit rock bottom, and had some kind of spiritual epiphany. Ever since then, he’s been trying to persuade Christian to support one charitable cause or another.
And then his influence became far more insidious as he spent time working alongside Christian, convincing him to keep clear of more questionable business deals. Damn fool! He and his wretched conscience were starting to cost us real money. God knows we need it, especially as we’ll have to finance Freddie’s upcoming move to New York. I’ll have to make sure that awful gold digger he’s with doesn’t see a penny of it.
Christian was taking heed of that worthless layabout more and more, but the Bygdøy business was the final straw. When Joe found out from a newspaper article that Christian returned a counterfeit jewel as a decoy, he practically invited himself on this trip, so he could urge Christian to return the emerald, to make amends. Pathetic! They stole it together all those years ago, and suddenly he develops a conscience! I could see Christian starting to doubt himself, struggling to sleep – I couldn’t tolerate the meddling any further.
Christian would never have laid a finger on Joe, they were like family. I knew I had to take matters into my own hands - the trip provided the ideal opportunity.
I knew sweet, faithful Eleanora would be by my side. She had a wobbly moment, but with a little coaxing, I soon had her back on track. I had the wrench hidden near the sauna before she arranged to meet him there. But he‘s a large man, and we couldn’t take any chances. Eleanora procured morphine from the hospital and slipped it into his drink in the afternoon - easily done, as the drunkard had one to hand most of the day.
The morphine made him far easier to deal with once he arrived at the sauna. And finally, we had the lake, to keep our darkest secrets well hidden.
The snowstorm couldn’t have been better timed - covering our tracks in a thick veil of white. I’ve hidden the emerald for now, so Christian will believe Joe made off with it. Poor love, he’ll have a few restless nights, but I’m sure he’ll soon recover.
I, for one, will sleep like a baby!
Night night,
Isabel Xx