The Priest of Evil

by Matti Joensuu

  From the sound of the engine and the screech of the tracks he realised that his train was just pulling out of the station – the next one wouldn’t be along for at least another half hour – and for a moment he seriously considered returning home, going to bed and huddling under the covers. He was only too aware of what would be awaiting him at work.

  ‘It’s Tunnel-Boy Timo!’

  ‘Since when is it our job to investigate animal deaths?’

  ‘Screw that poor pigeon to death, did you?’

  ‘Christ Almighty,’ he sighed for a third time and trudged back to his bicycle. As if to cap it all off, the glass in the front lamp had shattered when the bike hit the ground.

  47. Surprise

  Mikko was pacing up and down along the edge of the platform at Hakaniemi underground station. He couldn’t yet hear the screech of the tracks, or even the faint hum that always precedes it. According to the screen the next train would arrive in one minute’s time. There were lots of different thoughts simultaneously spinning through his mind, overlapping each other. As one thought drifted into the background another would make its presence felt more powerfully. He thought of the strange sadness he had felt since Sanna had moved out. She and her friend had taken care of the entire move, and although he cherished his privacy and his peace and quiet, now it seemed that he had far too much.

  His thoughts turned to Matti, and whether he would move in to replace Sanna. He wondered how the two of them would get on; since the divorce Matti had clearly felt estranged from his father. Perhaps it was because he had initially asked only Sanna to move in with him. For Matti the full onset of puberty was yet to come. He thought about the love between mother and child. This was generally considered the greatest and noblest of loves, almost sacred, but it wasn’t always so perfect. For countless atrocities have been committed in the name of that love - poisoning the minds and souls of young people; abandoning them to drink and drugs; leaving them to wind up in mental institutions or to take their own lives.

  The greatest of all loves is a child’s love. It banishes all those demons, shuts out the beatings, the humiliation, the abuse. Children instinctively love their parents, because they need to believe that their parents are good people, so that when they are with them they can feel safe and loved. This love is so great that it can sometimes cost them their lives.

  He thought of where he could hire a van to help Matti move. He didn’t have a credit card and no firm would rent him a van without one. He wondered whether his old friend Kari Häyrinen would remember him. Though they had known each other since they were children, it must have been a year since they’d last seen one another, and even then it had only been by chance. After their meeting Kari had got into a dark-blue van. Did he still have his phone number? Then again, it would be a bit embarrassing to look up an old friend just because he needed his help. It would be no use asking people at the post office, that much he knew from experience. But how had Sanna sorted out her move?

  He could just make out the distant rumble of the approaching train. Light reflected first off the wall where the tunnel gently curved round, then shone bright along the tracks. To Mikko it all seemed rather beautiful, like fire tearing along the tracks. The engine lamps came into view, growing larger all the while, then the first carriage appeared and the train began to slow. Phiuu-phiuu…

  Mikko didn’t quite know what happened. He felt a powerful shove from behind, almost like being tackled in a game of ice hockey; all of a sudden he was leaning forward, hanging over the emptiness in front of him, his arms thrashing wildly. His satchel went flying, his balance eventually gave way and he could feel himself falling. Two thoughts shot through his mind: Is this the way it’s all going to end? Don’t fall! A steely, metallic shriek pealed out as the driver desperately tried to slam on the emergency brakes.

  48. Set-Back

  There was quite a commotion in Mäki’s office when Harjunpää finally arrived at the police station in Pasila. Piipponen was talking loudly, emphatically trying to get his point across: ‘It would be insane not to look into this!’

  ‘But there’s well over two hundred kilometres worth of track in the network. Where would we get the man-power to investigate it thoroughly?’

  ‘We’d ask for volunteers, the same way we get people together for door-to-door enquiries.’

  ‘But a lot of the areas down there are shut off to the public,’ said Onerva. ‘Some of them belong to the army, some to the government. In any case, we’d need a team of guides from Geotechnics. As far as I could make out from that phone call they just can’t spare the resources at the moment.’

  Harjunpää realised that they were discussing the network of underground tunnels hidden beneath the city. It was also clear that Piipponen saw this as an opportunity to do as much overtime as he wanted. Harjunpää felt relieved. In the corridor he had bumped into the head of Violent Crimes, DCI Rantanen; he had been standing there holding both tabloids when he’d arrived.

  ‘Timo,’ Rantanen had said. ‘Was it absolutely necessary to run into that tunnel?’

  ‘Yes. The woman we were looking for ran in there.’

  ‘Onerva has filled me in,’ he’d replied, and there hadn’t been the slightest trace of disapproval or amusement in his voice. Everyone who worked in the Crime Squad knew full well that at any moment you could be faced with some of the oddest situations. ‘I’ll be in touch with the downtown division. No need to worry about any repercussions.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  ‘And what’s this thing about the keys?’ Mäki asked, nodding towards Harjunpää. ‘I see you’ve made the front page.’

  ‘Looks like it.’

  ‘Not to worry, only it’s stirred up rumours of a serial killer again.’

  ‘I’m sorry…’

  ‘That’s all right. So what about the keys?’

  ‘It was seven years ago. One of the guards lost a set of keys, including the master key for the entire underground network. He thought he lost them in a scuffle with some troublemaker, and figured they’d been carted off to sea with the snow.’

  ‘And they haven’t noticed anything strange since?’

  ‘No. That key gives access to well over a hundred doors, even some along the streets in the walls of certain houses. There’s no way they could have changed all the locks and codes.’

  ‘What about the alarm system?’

  ‘It covers the platforms and pavements, but it’s under renovation at the moment. Some of the doors haven’t been used for years, the locks have rusted and not all of them work properly.’

  ‘Have you been down there with a sniffer dog?’ Harjunpää asked Piipponen, who had promised to take care of the matter first thing that morning.

  ‘Yes,’ he replied immediately, staring down at his hands. Red blotches glowed on his cheeks. ‘But it didn’t get the scent. It just wandered back and forth at the spot where you and the firemen were standing.’

  ‘What about forensics?’

  ‘They couldn’t find anything, though there were a few decent hairs on that beret.’

  ‘So it wasn’t a complete waste of time after all,’ said Harjunpää, and at that moment a thought flashed through his mind as clearly as if someone had whispered to him. ‘I’ll just throw my jacket in my office, I’ll be right back…’ he said.

  He left the room but walked past his office door and continued further along the corridor. He pressed the door to Piipponen’s office with the tips of his fingers, letting it glide silently open. The camera lay on the edge of the table. It was one of those new-fangled ones, light and easy to use; the kind that, apart from pointing it in the right direction, practically took care of the entire operation by itself. He turned the adjustor towards the green letter L at the sensor and looked at the tiny screen on the other edge. This indicated that there was no film in the camera. Immediately his eyes narrowed to mere slits across his face, though he realised that there might well be an innocent explanation for this.

&nbs
p; He took his satchel and jacket into his office, and just as he was returning to Mäki’s office Rummukainen from Central turned the corner in front of him, his belt quietly jangling. He was carrying a number of video cassettes and a notepad with a few lines of text in tight, pedantic handwriting.

  ‘Good morning! How’s our celebrity doing?’

  ‘Give it a rest… Yourself?’

  ‘I think I can shed some light on this shady case of yours.’

  ‘The underground case?’

  ‘Yes. My partner’s sitting in the visitors’ room with a Mikko Matias Moisio. Heard of him?’

  ‘Isn’t he a novelist?’

  ‘That’s the one. His novels very nearly came to an abrupt end this morning. Someone shoved him in front of a train at Hakaniemi.’

  ‘And he survived?’ asked Harjunpää, his voice coarse with disbelief.

  ‘We’re not exactly in the habit of bringing bodies in for interviews. He didn’t fall, but managed to jump across the tracks and power cable and landed on the other side. There’s just enough room there for a thin person between the train and the wall. He’s pretty shaken up though.’

  Harjunpää rubbed his neck, utterly dumbfounded. At least now one thing was certain. There was no doubt that what they were dealing with was two murders, plus a third attempted murder.

  ‘What about the perpetrator?’

  ‘Got away in all the commotion. But now we’ve got descriptions from five different witnesses and some fairly clear footage on these tapes.’

  ‘The silver-haired old woman, right?’

  ‘Not even close – a middle-aged man.’

  ‘A man…?’

  ‘Yes. The opposite of a woman.’

  ‘And all this time we’ve been looking for a woman,’ said Harjunpää. Now he was even more perplexed and began to wonder why things didn’t quite add up.

  ‘These things happen, there are always a few little set-backs along the way.’

  ‘I’ll interview him right away. I’ll go and tell the others.’

  ‘Timo, the third name on the list is the one who can best describe the guy. We didn’t bother sending forensics down there, as a thousand passengers had already trampled all over the place and we had to get the network back up and running. All the particulars are on page three, including all the measurements too. We photographed the scene and the film’s in the lab.’

  ‘Thanks a lot. This is definitely attempted manslaughter, if not attempted murder.’

  Rummukainen walked off, his boots softly creaking, and indicated to his partner to follow him. Harjunpää hurried into Mäki’s office and shouted from the door. ‘We’ve got another underground case. This one managed to jump across the power cables and got away without a scratch. And guess what?’

  ‘It’s that same woman?’

  ‘That’s just it – it was a middle-aged man.’

  ‘Great, that’s all we need… don’t tell me there are two of them on the loose?’

  ‘Piipponen, go and watch these CCTV videos and print off any good images of the guy. Onerva, ring through this list of witnesses, ask them to go through the details again and arrange to bring them in for questioning. I’ll go and talk to Moisio.’

  ‘Not Mikko Matias Moisio?’

  ‘The very same.’

  ‘Great, now we’ll have the media breathing down our necks again. Try and get him to agree not to go to the press.’

  ‘I’ll try.’

  Mikko Matias Moisio was a slender man, he looked thoughtful and somewhat downhearted, and when they shook hands Harjunpää could feel he was quivering all over. It would have been wrong to call him shabby, he simply looked as if he didn’t have much money; either that or he no longer knew how to take care of himself. Still, the most striking thing about him was his eyes: they were at once sharp and sympathetic.

  ‘It must have been quite a shock. I’ll give you the number for Victim Support. They can offer you professional help.’

  ‘I’m sure I’ll be OK… It just brought back a wave of bad memories.’

  ‘Indeed,’ muttered Harjunpää, allowing the silence to continue until the man sat down and glanced around.

  ‘Perhaps you could tell me in your own words what happened back there?’

  ‘There’s not much to tell really. I was waiting for the ten to eight train and was standing at the edge of the platform, lost in thought. And when its lights came into view… Oh God… Then… then I just felt a violent shove at my hips. My bag fell to the ground and I spun my hands round trying to regain my balance. When I realised I was going to fall I tried to propel myself forwards and jumped over the tracks and on to the other side.’

  ‘Did you see who did it?’

  ‘No, I didn’t even notice anyone hanging around near me. Those policemen said that you have a number of witnesses. But yesterday…’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘This probably has nothing to do with it, and I may be mistaken… All day yesterday I had the distinct feeling someone was watching me and following me. Let me assure you I’m not exactly paranoid.’

  Moisio’s mobile started ringing in his pocket. Harjunpää had forgotten to ask him to turn it off; mobile phones going off during interviews were one of his pet hates. Moisio dug the phone out of his pocket, looked at the screen and clearly didn’t recognise the number calling him.

  ‘Moisio… Matti, is that you? So you did get it… I’ll call you back soon,’ he said quickly, but something inside him snapped and he burst into tears. His sobbing was heavy, painful, and Harjunpää realised straight away that Moisio was not crying merely because of what had happened that morning, but for years of ungrieved pain.

  ‘I’ll fetch those cards,’ said Harjunpää. He stood up and walked out of the room, went to the toilet, picked up a handful of paper towels and filled a paper cup with water.

  The cards for Victim Support were in his desk drawer.

  49. Light

  No meeting had officially been scheduled, but everyone had slowly made their way into Harjunpää’s office once he had finished interviewing Moisio and had seen him out of the building. Each of them read the text in turn and gave a sigh of disappointment.

  ‘He really didn’t see a thing. The guy came at him from behind. He didn’t see anyone staring at him before-hand either.’

  ‘What’s going on with this case? Someone’s really taking the piss.’

  ‘I just can’t believe there are two psychos on the loose shoving people in front of underground trains.’

  ‘Unless they’re both members of some weirdo cult,’ suggested Piipponen.

  Harjunpää knew Onerva well enough to see that she had something important to say, but one of the others always managed to butt in first.

  ‘And what’s with the dead pigeons in the tunnel? You don’t think these are some kind of devil worshippers?’

  ‘They tend to be younger, and the clothing doesn’t suggest any involvement with the occult. Perhaps we should look into it nonetheless.’

  ‘Koskinen called from the security company. Almost all the guards know the old woman. But apparently she’s never been any trouble, they’ve never had to remove her or check her ID. They call her the Easter Witch.’

  ‘Still we should get in touch with the guards and give them the photofits of both suspects.’

  ‘Listen!’ Onerva finally managed to get a word in. ‘Rummukainen said that one of the witnesses got a good look at our man, and she did. But before I say anything else… Timo, could you write down any distinguishing features of the man we resuscitated?’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Just do it. You’ll see what I mean soon enough.’

  ‘All right,’ Harjunpää conceded, knowing Onerva wouldn’t ask something like that without good reason. He grabbed a sheet of paper from the printer and picked up a pencil, but he had to think hard for a moment before he could remember the details properly. The situation had been so nerve-wracking that he had only been able to concentrate on what
was most important: reviving the man. Nonetheless, the policeman’s eye in him had been at work all the time and he very quickly jotted down a list of bullet points.

  ‘About 180cm tall, thin, bony,’ he began to read aloud. ‘Grey checked cap, the grandad type. Brownish overcoat, straight dark-grey trousers. A pair of worn trainers that didn’t match the rest of his clothes… I think they were brown.’

  ‘Anything else?’

  ‘Let me see… False teeth, but of course a witness couldn’t possibly know that. Ah yes, big, thick-rimmed glasses. Hang on a minute, Moisio said he had noticed one person on the platform because he reminded him of President Kekkonen, and it was because of the huge glasses!’

  ‘You see?’

  ‘It’s quite a coincidence… I know he behaved oddly, but would he do something like this?’

  ‘Hold on,’Mäki interrupted. ‘Could you let the rest of us in on this, please?’

  ‘Of course,’ said Onerva, the joy of being in the right dancing across her smiling eyes. ‘This description perfectly matches the one our witness gave Rummukainen.’

  ‘I’ll be damned. You took down his details, I assume.’

  ‘There was such a commotion that it completely slipped our minds. But he was admitted to hospital later on.’

  ‘Somebody get hold of the paramedics to see where they took him.’

  ‘And he’s more than likely still there.’

  The change in atmosphere in the office was almost tangible. Someone restlessly changed positions, someone else eagerly rubbed his hands together, and faint smiles lit up their faces.

  ‘But how does this explain the old biddy?’

  ‘Let’s take care of the guy first. We can cross that bridge later.’

  ‘What if it’s some kind of tranny?’ exclaimed Piipponen. ‘Do you remember that film where a transvestite killed women so he could make a dress out of their skin?’

  ‘The Silence of the Lambs,’ said Onerva matter-of-factly. ‘But that’s rubbish. There’s nothing in transvestites’ behavioural patterns to indicate such violence. For most people it’s something secret and shameful. People used to think of homosexuality like that too.’