From a room at the back emerged an enormous man, his face, neck and arms covered in tattoos. The sight was imposing. And quite sexy, Anna realised and smiled at the man.
‘Fekete Anna from the police. Hello. Do you remember this tattoo?’
‘Sure. I remember all the pieces I do.’
‘Do you remember the customer?’
‘Which one?’ Timo answered.
Anna’s heart skipped a beat.
‘Excuse me?’
‘There were two of them.’
Two hummingbirds. Jézus Mária.
‘First there was a blonde hippie chick, then a few weeks later another woman, a bit older maybe, a brunette. She had really muscular arms.’
‘Do you have a name for this other woman? The brunette?’ Anna asked, barely able to contain her sense of agitation.
‘We should have. People normally give a name when they book in. Give me a minute, I’ll have a look.’
The man walked over to a computer and started typing. Even his fingers were tattooed. They were beautiful in their own brutal way.
‘Here it is. Jaana. No surname; I tend not to ask.’
‘I’ll take your card,’ said Anna pointing to a little box of business cards next to the computer. ‘In case I have any more questions.’
‘No problem,’ the man replied and looked at Anna just a little too long.
Jaana, Anna thought feverishly as she walked back out into the street. Who is Jaana? Have I heard that name somewhere before? Was it in the list of students we got from the school in Saloinen? Anna called Esko and asked him to look into it. Then she telephoned Riikka’s parents, Virve and Maria Pollari to ask if they knew anyone by the name of Jaana.
No, was the abrupt answer.
‘Just a minute,’ Anna said out loud and stopped in her tracks in the middle of the pavement.
Now she had to think carefully.
It was apparent that Kerttu Viitala’s car had been sighted both at Selkämaa and Häyrysenniemi. At both running tracks they had found hideouts where the killer was able to observe the victims. And at the hideout at Selkämaa they had found sweet wrappers with Kaarina Helmerson’s DNA. And Veli-Matti had been screwing Riikka. And Virve had a hummingbird on her left arm. And so did another woman too.
And it wasn’t Kaarina Helmerson.
Who could have had access to Kerttu Viitala’s car? Just then, Anna remembered the binoculars on Mrs Viitala’s windowsill, the ones the old lady had allegedly used to watch the crowds of people down below whenever she was up to it.
Anna telephoned the holding cells and asked to speak to Kaarina. Afterwards, even more agitated, she called Esko once again.
‘You were right. It looks like we’ve charged an innocent person after all.’
39
ANNA FORCED HERSELF to eat a couple of sandwiches and drink a cup of tea, though she wasn’t hungry in the least. Tonight she would have to have all her wits about her. She went into the living room and switched on the television, which she hadn’t given to Ákos after all. She drew the line at financing her brother’s drinking debts, either with cash or by giving him things to sell off. Again there was nothing interesting on the television. She channel-hopped absent-mindedly, jumping up occasionally as though she had just remembered to do something. She put the laundry in the machine, washed her teacup, dusted the coffee table and the bookshelf, watered the heathers in the box on the balcony, though she knew they didn’t need it. She glanced at the thermometer installed on the balcony door and was surprised to see the temperature reading was two below zero. She remembered her new daylight lamp, still unopened in the kitchen cupboard. Was it too late to start using it, she wondered as she went into the kitchen and opened the box. The lamp was rather beautiful; its oval glass looked frosted. She placed the lamp on the table and switched it on, just to test it, and was taken aback that the bright light didn’t dazzle her. This must be effective, she thought. I’m going to use this in the mornings while I read the paper.
She glanced at the clock. A few hours to go yet.
Restlessness sent small electric impulses through her muscles. She couldn’t sit still.
She would spoil the plan if she didn’t calm down.
All of a sudden Anna felt a strong urge to go running. The feeling of quite how much she had missed exercise all autumn was like the pain of losing a close friend. It was the most effective way of keeping her wits about her, better than any sleeping pills or antidepressants: the running she loved so much. And at the drop of a hat, she’d traded it in for beer and cigarettes. What an idiot she’d been. She would have time to go for a short run. Just to see what if felt like after such a long break.
It would calm her down and relax her tensed muscles.
The theatre to play out later that evening would go more smoothly.
Anna picked out a warm anorak made of smooth material and pulled on her trainers. They felt snug and familiar, like the embrace of an old lover.
Very quietly Anna walked down the stairs and opened the front door. The sharp, frigid air met her outside; it felt fresh and crisp. With brisk steps she walked to the beginning of the track running around behind the suburb, and as the asphalt gave way to the soft sawdust path, she dived into the darkness of the forest and picked up her speed to a gentle jog.
It didn’t feel too bad.
At least, not to start with.
But it didn’t feel easy either. This run must be on my tired body’s own terms, she decided and continued slowly on her way, moving steadily further away from the street lights. She was concentrating so hard on listening to her body that she didn’t notice how dark the forest had become. And she didn’t hear the approaching footsteps.
Her heart could have stopped when all of a sudden a bright light flashed behind her and a woman’s voice said: ‘Well, well. Little Miss Policewoman. Haven’t seen you around here for a while.’
The voice was taut, without a shred of happiness at seeing her again. Anna glanced over her shoulder and saw the figure dressed in black running a couple of metres behind her. The jogger was wearing a headlamp, its beam of light bouncing along the track like an amorphous ball, its edges occasionally illuminating Anna. The glare of the lamp prevented Anna from seeing the jogger’s face, but she knew who it was, knew exactly how piercing were the blue eyes lurking in the light’s shadow.
‘Hello,’ Anna replied. ‘I haven’t been running for a few months now.’
The jogger gave a hollow laugh.
‘No wonder you’re so slow. I caught up with you rather more quickly than I thought.’
The woman was now running alongside her. Though she had appeared very suddenly, she didn’t look at all out of breath. To her relief, Anna noted that the woman wasn’t carrying anything in her hands and had no rucksack.
She wouldn’t dare, Anna thought. Not a police officer.
‘It’s quite late for a run,’ the woman said. ‘We’ve met out here before. Do you remember? Back in the autumn.’
‘I remember,’ Anna responded. She was so out of breath that she couldn’t speak properly.
‘I was sure you must have recognised me when we last met. But you didn’t. Some police officer you are,’ she laughed scornfully.
All of a sudden the woman switched off the lamp on her forehead. The darkness swallowed them whole. In a short time, her eyes had adjusted so well to the light of the lamp that now Anna couldn’t see a thing. She stumbled and almost tripped over. Again the jogger gave a menacing laugh and pushed right up against her. ‘Careful,’ she said. A ripple of disgust ran the length of Anna’s arm.
They ran next to one another through the darkness. Anna tried to calculate how much of the track remained. If she sped up a little, they would reach the corner with the fallen tree in just over five minutes, and after that the track would wind its way back round towards civilisation. From there it would be another fifteen minutes of brisk running before they reached the main road. But the risk that she might not be abl
e to go on was increasing all the while. All the cigarettes she’d smoked that autumn were kicking in. Her entire body felt like lead, and there was a stinging sensation in her lungs.
Another twenty minutes. It seemed like an eternity.
‘Aren’t you afraid, running out here in the dark?’ the woman asked her.
She was still so close that Anna could just smell her breath. And there was something else too. Blood? Hatred? Perhaps it was the suffering of all the people she had killed; the smell of death was ingrained in the fibres of her tracksuit.
‘Not usually,’ Anna replied.
She increased her pace a little. She could do it. She would have to.
‘Are you frightened now?’
‘Should I be?’
‘I don’t know; depends who’s out here with you.’
Anna felt the adrenalin pumping renewed energy into her legs. So something good came of this fear after all. Again she sped up a little. The woman still didn’t seem the least out of breath.
‘What is there to be afraid of now that the hummingbird is finally in its cage?’ the woman snapped and ran on ahead at such a speed that she immediately disappeared into the darkness.
Anna stopped where she was and breathed heavily, her hands resting on her knees. Her heart was pounding in her chest. The forest around her was silent, waiting expectantly for the arrival of winter. She could no longer hear the sound of footsteps running away. Anna listened carefully for a moment, then slowly unzipped her anorak and slipped her hand into the inside pocket. The black metal had warmed beneath her jacket. She removed the gun from its holster. Its weight felt soothing, calming. She walked onwards, the pistol in her hand. In the darkness the woman couldn’t possibly make out the silhouette of the gun at the end of her arm.
She walked briskly, scanning the surrounding woods, her senses on high alert. She wanted to get away from the track as soon as possible. She wanted it all to be over. She wanted to get home and enjoy all that overtime, to sleep. Heavenly Father, or whoever you are, please let Rauno wake up and let me get home safely, her mind cried out.
The familiar fallen tree lay at the side of the path like an ominous boulder. From here it wasn’t far back to the road and the lights. Soon she would be safe.
At that moment there came a faint rustling sound in the bushes. Anna stopped still and gripped the pistol’s handle with both hands. She thought she could make out movement in front of her, somewhere to her left. She raised her weapon and waited, waited and listened. Nothing happened, only the boom of her racing heart thumping in her ears. It was nothing. The woman was long gone.
Just then a black figure charged out from behind the roots of the fallen tree, coming right towards her at a terrific pace. Anna caught a glimpse of the long barrel of the rifle and the horrific grimace on the woman’s face just as the shot thundered out, deafening her and knocking the air from her lungs. Anna could feel the pellets tearing burning holes in her skin. Now it was finally over, she thought as she fell to the ground in agony, just before her consciousness was swallowed by a deep silence.
40
LIGHT. A rushing sound.
Noises.
Someone speaking, somewhere.
Anna stroked the surface where she lay. It wasn’t sawdust. It felt like slippery cotton. She sat up with a groan. She was in a bed. The bed was surrounded with bright mist. Figures were moving around her. They approached the bed. They spoke.
‘Jesus, Anna, you scared us!’ Esko’s rough voice boomed from the nearest of the figures.
‘Thank God you were wearing your vest. Otherwise you would have died.’
It was Sari.
‘Am I in hospital?’ Anna asked. Her eyes were gradually beginning to focus. She could make out the faces of Esko and Sari. They were beaming with smiles.
‘Yes – and you’re in one piece too. Only a couple of pellets caught your left shoulder. It’s just a scratch,’ said Esko. ‘But you lost consciousness when the shot hit you in the chest. It must have packed quite a punch.’
‘I remember,’ she said quietly. ‘It felt wonderful, as if I was falling asleep.’
‘Anna! Don’t say things like that. Look who’s here!’ said Sari pointing across the room.
A third grey figure approached the bed. A moment later Rauno’s head came peering through the misty light.
‘Hello there,’ he greeted her jovially from beside the bed.
‘Rauno!’ Anna cried.
‘That’s me. I woke up last night, and now I’m racing around the hospital in a wheelchair. The docs said it’s a miracle. I suppose it is, now that they’ve told me what happened.’
‘What about the killer?’ Anna asked cautiously.
‘She’s in a secure room at the end of the corridor. She didn’t have quite as much luck as you did, but she’ll live.’
‘What really happened out there on the track?’ asked Anna.
‘Esko shot the lunatic just as she discharged the rifle at you. You shot at her too,’ said Sari. ‘Esko hit the target; your bullet flew off into the woods.’
Esko looked pleased with himself. Anna braced herself for some kind of barbed comment, but none was forthcoming.
‘The rifle she’d been using was the Helmersons’ beautiful Benelli. She’d made copies of the keys to the Helmersons’ house, probably from Kaarina’s set of keys while Kaarina was staying with her mother. We don’t have all the details yet. We’ll have to wait until the killer is up to being interviewed.’
‘But we confiscated the Benelli and put it into evidence.’ Anna was puzzled.
‘That’s right. But there was another rifle in Veli-Matti’s gun cabinet. Remember the Merkel? We hadn’t confiscated that one. She picked it up, and that’s the one she used to shoot you.’
‘That was another stroke of luck,’ said Sari. ‘It’s not nearly as powerful as the Benelli.’
Anna listened in silence.
She could have died.
But she was alive.
What would have become of Ákos if she had died?
‘And what could be easier than having another set of keys cut to Grandma’s old car that no one ever uses?’ Sari continued. ‘Home helpers have unfettered access to their elderly customers’ homes. They have all the keys, and nobody ever sees what they get up to. The nurse planned and prepared everything in the course of her normal work, and made it look as though Kaarina was the culprit. And Virve.’
‘Just think what kind of lunatics are out there, going in and out of helpless old people’s houses,’ Anna whispered.
‘It doesn’t bear thinking about,’ Sari said.
And though none of them wanted to, they all saw themselves as old people: demented, defenceless, lying in bed, waiting for the rattle of a set of keys, a brief visit from the nurse. How many years did they have before that happened?
‘The binoculars suddenly flashed in my mind,’ said Anna. ‘They seemed so out of place there on the windowsill. It was like one of those Spot the Oddity tests. When I called Kaarina to ask about them, she didn’t know what I was talking about. So I called the council’s home-help supervisor and discovered that one of the nurses assigned to Mrs Viitala was called Jaana Tervola. And what do you know, this same Jaana Tervola was on duty when Esko and I paid Mrs Viitala a visit.’
‘But why?’ Sari wondered, bewildered. ‘Why on earth did she do all this?’
‘That’s precisely what we’ll be asking her once she’s recovered,’ said Esko.
‘But why were you out on the track with that psychopath?’ Rauno exclaimed. Esko replied on Anna’s behalf.
‘When Anna realised what was going on with the tattoos and everything else, she called me straight away. We had a team meeting and planned a little ambush. We telephoned this Jaana and said that she might be able to help Anna clarify a few details regarding the case. An informal meeting was arranged for 10 p.m. in a nice little pub downtown, so that Jaana wouldn’t start to suspect something was going on. We were going to try
and make her slip up, because we didn’t have any physical evidence against her. We wanted to startle her into spilling the beans. It all worked a bit too well.’
‘Esko and Sari were supposed to sit at the back of the bar, pretending to be customers – a natural role for Esko,’ said Anna.
‘Shut it,’ Esko scoffed.
‘We needed to cover our backs. And Anna was going to be wearing a wire,’ said Sari.
‘Is that above board?’ asked Rauno.
‘We okayed all the details with Virkkunen,’ Esko explained. ‘But I had a bad feeling about it. I thought I’d keep an eye on things before the agreed meeting, just to be sure. After all, we were setting a trap for someone who was potentially pretty volatile.’
‘Thank God you did,’ said Sari.
‘I saw Anna going out for that bloody run. Christ, she hasn’t done any exercise all autumn, if you don’t count chain-smoking out in the yard with me. She’s been depressed and bloody stressed out, and tonight of all nights she decides to get her life back in order. I followed her to the start of the track. I parked the car by the side of the road and waited, and before long I saw a woman sprinting into the woods after her. I couldn’t see who it was, but I feared the worst, so there was nothing for it: I had to go in after them. I called for back-up and started going round the track in the opposite direction. Christ, I was shit-scared I would be too late.’
‘But you weren’t,’ said Anna.
Esko grabbed Anna and held her in his bear-like arms. Anna could smell the mint pastilles, barely covering the scent of booze.
‘Thank you,’ she whispered into his ear.
‘What are we going to do with you?’
Anna had to go. She wanted to see for herself, to look, even for a moment, at the woman who had murdered three people in cold blood and whom she had been hunting all autumn. She wanted to see the woman now, weak and wounded, before the interviews, before the trial, before Huitzilopochtli could regain his strength. Just to glance at her, thought Anna. That’s enough.
The Hummingbird Page 35