just walked around them for hours without stopping to help.
My conversation with Mallu had depressed me and made my conflict with Antti seem petty in comparison. After dropping off the car at the office, I headed toward the police station on my bike. Riding like a bat out of hell, I nearly got run down twice—both times while I was in a crosswalk. Perhaps the urge for self-annihilation was catching. I hadn’t done anything but talk to miserable people for the past two days.
Ström wasn’t at the station yet, but Kimmo was finally awake. If I had been more on the ball, I would have brought a change of clothing with me. The jeans and shirt Kimmo was wearing looked grubby, and he could have used a shave and a shower. How could a blond man’s stubble be so dark?
“Hard night?” I asked cautiously.
“Yeah.” Kimmo shook his head groggily. “During the night it just sort of hit me all at once, knowing that Armi is reallygone. And that I’m in jail. And they think I killed her. I never thought these things really happened, at least not in Finland, and definitely not to me. But during the night, I suddenly realized this
was
happening to me, just like in the movies.” Such helpless terror filled Kimmo’s eyes that I had to look away.
“We can’t save Armi,” I said cruelly. We would all just have to live with her death. “But if you didn’t do it, we have to save you. We can get you free, probably as early as tomorrow.”
“Oh, so he’ll be a free man by tomorrow, will he?” Detective Sergeant Ström said in a nasty tone as he entered the room. “Don’t count on it; I have new evidence. Hänninen, you claimed that you and your fiancée didn’t have a fight. Well, I just talked to one of the neighbors, who says differently. You claim you left the house at noon, but this neighbor heard you fighting at one fifteen. How do you explain a witness placing you there more than an hour after you told me you left?”
I swallowed. This sounded bad. What reason did Kimmo have to lie? He looked utterly petrified.
“But I know I left then. I had already been home for a while before I heard the one o’clock news on the radio.”
“Do you have any witnesses? Was your mother home?” Ström asked dubiously.
“Mom left a note on the table about going into the city with Matti and Mikko.”
“Did you meet anyone you know along the way, a neighbor maybe?” I asked before Ström could continue his attack. I hoped to God that someone could verify Kimmo’s movements. Did Ström really have a reliable witness who could nail Kimmo to the wall like this, or was he just trying to bluff and make Kimmo contradict himself?
Kimmo thought for a moment. “I don’t remember seeing anyone,” he said, sounding depressed.
“You should probably send your boys around to interview the Hänninens’ neighbors in case any of them noticed Kimmo,” I suggested to Ström.
That was a mistake.
“Goddamn it, Maria, don’t you tell me how to do my job! I went to the same goddamn police academy you did. Keep your opinions to yourself, or I’ll have your ass thrown out of here!”
I had been kind and empathetic enough for one day already.
“No, you watch yourself, Detective Sergeant Pertti Ström, or you’re going to be up to your ears in shit. Is your closure rate down on your cases? Is that why you’re in such a hurry to pin this murder on Kimmo? Worried about hitting your numbers for that next promotion, are we?”
Both on our feet now and clenching our fists, Ström and I stared at each other like two fighting cocks. If Ström said one more irritating word, he was going to get the
Legal Code of Finland Volume III
across the forehead. Kimmo and the officer recording the interview gaped at us in surprise.
“Let’s get on with it,” Ström finally said.
I tried to calm down, even though what I really wanted was to challenge him to duel. I knew I couldn’t best him at pistols, but what about swords? Our bad dynamic had been
My conversation with Mallu had depressed me and made my conflict with Antti seem petty in comparison. After dropping off the car at the office, I headed toward the police station on my bike. Riding like a bat out of hell, I nearly got run down twice—both times while I was in a crosswalk. Perhaps the urge for self-annihilation was catching. I hadn’t done anything but talk to miserable people for the past two days.
Ström wasn’t at the station yet, but Kimmo was finally awake. If I had been more on the ball, I would have brought a change of clothing with me. The jeans and shirt Kimmo was wearing looked grubby, and he could have used a shave and a shower. How could a blond man’s stubble be so dark?
“Hard night?” I asked cautiously.
“Yeah.” Kimmo shook his head groggily. “During the night it just sort of hit me all at once, knowing that Armi is reallygone. And that I’m in jail. And they think I killed her. I never thought these things really happened, at least not in Finland, and definitely not to me. But during the night, I suddenly realized this
was
happening to me, just like in the movies.” Such helpless terror filled Kimmo’s eyes that I had to look away.
“We can’t save Armi,” I said cruelly. We would all just have to live with her death. “But if you didn’t do it, we have to save you. We can get you free, probably as early as tomorrow.”
“Oh, so he’ll be a free man by tomorrow, will he?” Detective Sergeant Ström said in a nasty tone as he entered the room. “Don’t count on it; I have new evidence. Hänninen, you claimed that you and your fiancée didn’t have a fight. Well, I just talked to one of the neighbors, who says differently. You claim you left the house at noon, but this neighbor heard you fighting at one fifteen. How do you explain a witness placing you there more than an hour after you told me you left?”
I swallowed. This sounded bad. What reason did Kimmo have to lie? He looked utterly petrified.
“But I know I left then. I had already been home for a while before I heard the one o’clock news on the radio.”
“Do you have any witnesses? Was your mother home?” Ström asked dubiously.
“Mom left a note on the table about going into the city with Matti and Mikko.”
“Did you meet anyone you know along the way, a neighbor maybe?” I asked before Ström could continue his attack. I hoped to God that someone could verify Kimmo’s movements. Did Ström really have a reliable witness who could nail Kimmo to the wall like this, or was he just trying to bluff and make Kimmo contradict himself?
Kimmo thought for a moment. “I don’t remember seeing anyone,” he said, sounding depressed.
“You should probably send your boys around to interview the Hänninens’ neighbors in case any of them noticed Kimmo,” I suggested to Ström.
That was a mistake.
“Goddamn it, Maria, don’t you tell me how to do my job! I went to the same goddamn police academy you did. Keep your opinions to yourself, or I’ll have your ass thrown out of here!”
I had been kind and empathetic enough for one day already.
“No, you watch yourself, Detective Sergeant Pertti Ström, or you’re going to be up to your ears in shit. Is your closure rate down on your cases? Is that why you’re in such a hurry to pin this murder on Kimmo? Worried about hitting your numbers for that next promotion, are we?”
Both on our feet now and clenching our fists, Ström and I stared at each other like two fighting cocks. If Ström said one more irritating word, he was going to get the
Legal Code of Finland Volume III
across the forehead. Kimmo and the officer recording the interview gaped at us in surprise.
“Let’s get on with it,” Ström finally said.
I tried to calm down, even though what I really wanted was to challenge him to duel. I knew I couldn’t best him at pistols, but what about swords? Our bad dynamic had been
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