place: had the victim fallen by himself, or had someone shoved him?
‘Huh,’ Harjunpää muttered as he stretched, rolled his neck back and closed his eyes, but it didn’t help: beneath his eyelids flashed dozens upon dozens of television screens, hundreds of men and women, young and old, all in a single, unified grey mass. In total there were five video recorders and eight screens in the room, though on that particular day each of them was in some way broken. The one and only video recorder that did work was inadequate because it played everything in black and white. This could prove crucially important, especially if they had to provide an official notice of the incident, let alone begin searching for someone on the basis of distinguishing features. The situation was made all the more miserable by the fact that throughout the city there were enough security cameras to provide CCTV footage of almost every crime – and yet the police’s own technology let them down.
‘What say we call it a day?’ Rastas finally suggested. His voice was cautiously enquiring, but he didn’t quite manage to hide his yawn.
‘Maybe, but there’s no point going over this same section again and again. We need to widen our search. Let’s start from well before the incident, in case there’s anyone wandering about the platform, or if anyone followed the victim when he first walked into the station.’
‘We ought to check the people coming back up the escalators too.’
‘Yes, but we still don’t know who or what we’re looking for.’
‘We might see a familiar face…’
‘Perhaps,’ Harjunpää muttered flatly. He knew from experience that this would take hours if not days of work, while the rest of the investigation ground to a complete halt.
With a scowl on his face he reached for his work phone and pressed number one on the speed dial. The phone rang five times before someone eventually answered.
‘Mäki.’
‘Hi, it’s Harjunpää again.’
‘Just as we agreed. And what a fine day it’s been. That aquarobics does a world of good, you know.’
‘Good for you. Listen, Rastas and I have gone through all the tapes from the platform. We can place the time of the incident fairly precisely judging by people’s reactions, but that’s about it. There’s nothing here to indicate what actually happened.’
‘So all we’ve got is that nutter’s statement.’
‘There was nothing wrong with his head. My gut reaction says he was telling the truth.’
For a moment Mäki fell silent, perhaps he was rubbing his earlobe, something he was in the habit of doing whenever he was at a loss. He was doing a temporary stint as senior officer at the Pasila division, and over the past four months he and Harjunpää had got on well enough.
‘Has the official notice been typed up yet?’
‘Yes, Leppis just sent it off and it went straight on to the online news. Should be in all the papers by tomorrow. We didn’t mention the possibility of a criminal investigation, but just asked that any potential eye-witnesses come forward.’
‘That’s fine. We’ll have a meeting in the morning and decide whether to go all out on this one.’
‘I’ve got a feeling that’s what we should have done today.’
‘Well, that wasn’t really possible. You shouldn’t worry that the crime scene investigators didn’t do a more thorough job – at least a thousand people must have trampled over the place before you got there.’
‘I suppose you’re right.’
‘Who else is coming tomorrow?’
‘Onerva, and that’s about it.’
‘We’ll draft in a few more if necessary. See you tomorrow.’
‘See you.’
Rastas had switched off the equipment and placed the cassettes in a neat, labelled pile. He now stood by the door, which was already ajar, with one hand on the handle and the other on the light switch. Harjunpää understood perfectly well and stood up.
‘Thanks for hanging in there.’
‘It’s all money in the bank. Good
‘Huh,’ Harjunpää muttered as he stretched, rolled his neck back and closed his eyes, but it didn’t help: beneath his eyelids flashed dozens upon dozens of television screens, hundreds of men and women, young and old, all in a single, unified grey mass. In total there were five video recorders and eight screens in the room, though on that particular day each of them was in some way broken. The one and only video recorder that did work was inadequate because it played everything in black and white. This could prove crucially important, especially if they had to provide an official notice of the incident, let alone begin searching for someone on the basis of distinguishing features. The situation was made all the more miserable by the fact that throughout the city there were enough security cameras to provide CCTV footage of almost every crime – and yet the police’s own technology let them down.
‘What say we call it a day?’ Rastas finally suggested. His voice was cautiously enquiring, but he didn’t quite manage to hide his yawn.
‘Maybe, but there’s no point going over this same section again and again. We need to widen our search. Let’s start from well before the incident, in case there’s anyone wandering about the platform, or if anyone followed the victim when he first walked into the station.’
‘We ought to check the people coming back up the escalators too.’
‘Yes, but we still don’t know who or what we’re looking for.’
‘We might see a familiar face…’
‘Perhaps,’ Harjunpää muttered flatly. He knew from experience that this would take hours if not days of work, while the rest of the investigation ground to a complete halt.
With a scowl on his face he reached for his work phone and pressed number one on the speed dial. The phone rang five times before someone eventually answered.
‘Mäki.’
‘Hi, it’s Harjunpää again.’
‘Just as we agreed. And what a fine day it’s been. That aquarobics does a world of good, you know.’
‘Good for you. Listen, Rastas and I have gone through all the tapes from the platform. We can place the time of the incident fairly precisely judging by people’s reactions, but that’s about it. There’s nothing here to indicate what actually happened.’
‘So all we’ve got is that nutter’s statement.’
‘There was nothing wrong with his head. My gut reaction says he was telling the truth.’
For a moment Mäki fell silent, perhaps he was rubbing his earlobe, something he was in the habit of doing whenever he was at a loss. He was doing a temporary stint as senior officer at the Pasila division, and over the past four months he and Harjunpää had got on well enough.
‘Has the official notice been typed up yet?’
‘Yes, Leppis just sent it off and it went straight on to the online news. Should be in all the papers by tomorrow. We didn’t mention the possibility of a criminal investigation, but just asked that any potential eye-witnesses come forward.’
‘That’s fine. We’ll have a meeting in the morning and decide whether to go all out on this one.’
‘I’ve got a feeling that’s what we should have done today.’
‘Well, that wasn’t really possible. You shouldn’t worry that the crime scene investigators didn’t do a more thorough job – at least a thousand people must have trampled over the place before you got there.’
‘I suppose you’re right.’
‘Who else is coming tomorrow?’
‘Onerva, and that’s about it.’
‘We’ll draft in a few more if necessary. See you tomorrow.’
‘See you.’
Rastas had switched off the equipment and placed the cassettes in a neat, labelled pile. He now stood by the door, which was already ajar, with one hand on the handle and the other on the light switch. Harjunpää understood perfectly well and stood up.
‘Thanks for hanging in there.’
‘It’s all money in the bank. Good
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