Mari looked at the spruces out the window. Did she too have time to wait for her life to return to normal?
Agatha’s smile was laden with sorrow. “Of course I miss my daughter, but here, I am like a mother to everyone. It helps me to forget.” She stroked Laura’s hair. “I should tell about the laundry room. There is a list there that tells you…”
Mari had a hard time listening. Agatha seemed like a nice person, and Mari was glad that she was able to talk with somebody. Still, the woman’s situation made her wonder. For how long should she be afraid? Was she afraid for her own life or for Laura’s? What if she sent Laura to be with her godmother in Oulu for a few weeks or months while she stayed in Helsinki? On the other hand, she thought, how could she ever be apart from her daughter in the middle of a crisis?
* * *
Mikko Kulta yawned. It was exactly four o’clock in the afternoon, and it seemed to Takamäki that fatigue was not a good sign, even if it was Friday. They, along with Suhonen, Joutsamo and Kannas, had gathered around the large table in the conference room.
With VCU Chief Karila’s help, Takamäki had managed to pass the surveillance of Siikala’s house in Kaarela on to the Narcotics undercover unit, which didn’t have much going on at the moment. In addition to one in the ditch, two others were posted in the parking lot of a nearby office building. More men would be called in to help if Siikala left the house. The arrangement freed up resources for homicide, but had come only on the condition that Jere Siikala was officially named a suspect in Mari Lehtonen’s harassment. Takamäki had decided that the threshold for reasonable suspicion had been met, and had filed for a telephone warrant.
“Apparently nothing new on Siikala?” said Takamäki.
Suhonen shook his head. “Been there all day, and still there-I just checked.”
“What about Mari and Laura?” said Takamäki, turning to Joutsamo.
“Been there all day, and still there-I just checked,” said Joutsamo. “Mari didn’t feel much like talking. Of course, the most important thing is that they’re safe.”
“Pretty down?”
“Sure seemed that way.”
“Is there anything new?” said Takamäki, scanning the faces.
“I probed a bit more into Korpi’s organization and got some leads from Nykänen,” said Joutsamo, handing out a stack of copies. “Here are some names of known contacts with phone numbers and addresses. No guarantees on whether it’s up-to-date, though.”
Suhonen looked over the list. Lots of familiar names.
“Are we expanding surveillance to include these guys?”
“No,” said Takamäki. “Not enough manpower. If you start running into them, we can reconsider. But let Anna know if you find more names.”
Suhonen nodded.
“Good. Did you find anything in the footage from Brahe Street?”
“Nothing of any use,” said Kulta. “I saw the girl a few times, but no car that fit the description.”
“Did you get all the tapes?”
“Yep. I went through all the cameras that were in the database and drove the route to check for any new ones. Found a few additional cameras, but nothing on
their tapes. The picture quality at nighttime is terrible.”
“Okay, at least it was good to try,” said Takamäki, continuing around. “What about the DNA on the envelope. Have we gotten it back?”
“Nope,” said Kannas.
“And you put a rush on it?”
“They promised it this afternoon, but I haven’t heard anything.”
Takamäki paused. “Lots of work, little result.”
“Should we take a more proactive approach?” asked Suhonen.
“Meaning?” said Takamäki.
“Well, we could spread a rumor that all of Korpi’s money has been confiscated and there’s a mole in his organization. In other words, send a message to stay away from him and his outfit.”
Takamäki thought about it. There were pros and cons to the idea. “Okay, you can do the bit about the money, but the mole part could be dangerous. Someone might actually lose their life.”
“Sure,” said Suhonen. “It’d be more effective with the mole part, but I can leave it out.”
“Good. Seems like we have the situation under control. No new threats. The Lehtonens are safe. Just got word from prison that Korpi is in solitary, so he’s cut off from the outside. So for now we just wait for the DNA and the phone data and keep an eye on Siikala. And spread a few rumors, too. Time is on our side.”
CHAPTER 22
FRIDAY, 10:20 P.M.
TAKAMÄKI’S HOME, ESPOO
Takamäki was at home sitting at the kitchen table, a towel around his waist, and his hair still damp from the sauna. A half-empty beer stood on the vinyl tablecloth.
He sifted through a pile of mail from the past week that had never been read: ads from car dealerships and bills, but nothing of any interest. He sipped his beer.
Takamäki’s wife came down the stairs in a T-shirt and yoga pants. “The boys are asleep.”
“Good. Kinda early isn’t it?”
“I guess they had tough practices today. Games tomorrow, too,” said Kaarina. Joonas was fifteen and Kalle was thirteen. The Takamäkis had been married for almost twenty years, after having met at a joint party of police officers and nurses. The parties, popular in the eighties, had paved the way for dozens of cop-nurse couples, some of them still together. In the beginning, the Takamäkis’ rigorous work schedules had created problems, but Kari’s promotion to lieutenant and his wife’s advancement to management had helped to smooth out the wrinkles.
“How was your week?” asked Kaarina.
Takamäki shrugged. “Two life sentences, so I’d say pretty good, but…”
“But what?”
“But…well…there’s been a threat related to the case.”
She bristled. “Against you?”
“No,” he said quickly.
Several years back, Takamäki himself had been threatened, but he had kept it from his wife to save her the worry. This had created a crisis in their marriage, which they had resolved only after months of tense discussion.
“Against someone on your team?”
“Why are you so interested?” said Takamäki, turning the questioning around. Usually she wasn’t terribly interested in his work.
“I want to know. Tell me.”
He sensed that she felt like chatting, so he told her the story about Mari Lehtonen’s role as star witness, and how she had ended up at the safe house. He also mentioned the threat against Lehtonen’s daughter, which darkened his wife’s mood substantially. Takamäki finished off his beer and took another bottle from the fridge. Three remained in the six-pack.
“So what happens next,” she asked. “And I’ll have a beer, too.”
He grabbed a second beer and handed it to his wife along with a glass. He preferred it straight from the bottle. “Well, the situation is under control for now, so we’ll just wait and see if the bad guys come out of the woodwork.”
Kaarina was quiet for a while. “Sad story.”
“Uh-huh,” Takamäki nodded.
“I mean for the lady.”
“Right.”
“In a way, you’ve ruined her chance at a normal life.”
“What do you mean ruined? We didn’t do anything.”
“You made her testify.”
“That’s the law. Witnesses have to testify. Besides, she’s the one who called us.”
“Well, the law ought to be changed if this is what happens. Society can’t expect people to sacrifice their everyday lives for the sake of some criminal case.”
Takamäki sipped his beer. “Well, there’s no telling what’ll happen, if anything. It might already be over.”
“For you, maybe. But this poor woman will be looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life.”