Wolves and Angels

by Jokinen, Seppo

“And that isn’t all. Yesterday Hannu Ketterä disappeared.”

  “A…and?”

  “Do you have any idea where he might have gone?”

  Pike angrily swung the end of her scarf over her shoulder.

  “How would I know? You don’t think he came to my place, do you?”

  “The thought had crossed my mind,” Koskinen said sanctimoniously. He did not tell her that police had already searched her apartment that morning. He would let Patrol explain that themselves. He remembered the description of the apartment with drawers tumbled out on the floor and the food left on the table.

  “Did you leave in a hurry this morning?”

  “Actually, yeah,” Pike said, laughing. “I promised to leave first thing to help the bride get ready, but I slept in. Then I couldn’t seem to find my new stockings anywhere and didn’t even have time to—”

  Her mouth snapped shut suddenly and she gave Koskinen a confused look. “How so?”

  “Just asking,” Koskinen said, then quickly moving on. “Let’s go back to Ketterä’s disappearance. Any idea where he might have gone?”

  “No.”

  “Maybe sometime he mentioned some place to you and nobody else?”

  “Why would Hannu have told me something like that?”

  “You had a better relationship with the Fallen Angels than any of the other nurses.”

  “Fuck you!” Pike snapped. “I should’ve guessed.” Her wide mouth twisted into a disdainful smirk. “It wasn’t like I just let them pass me around! And if we’re really laying everything out, the others had their favorites too.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “On my last day of work I heard some whispers that one of the other nurses might have a—how shall we say—somewhat warmer relationship that normal with one of the male residents.”

  “Timonen, Ketterä, or Harjus?”

  “If only I knew. Not Timonen anyway.”

  “Which nurse was it?”

  “I don’t know that either. It was just a rumor. Ask the one with the big tits.”

  “Anniina Salonen?”

  “Exactly.”

  Koskinen remembered his recent visit to Wolf House and his conversations with each nurse.

  “Today Kalenius called Salonen a honey buffalo and said that I shouldn’t take her words too seriously. What did she mean by that?”

  “Oh, she did, did she?” Pike said, laughing. “Not only does Lea have weak nerves, but she’s also paranoid. She thinks that Anniina is always fooling around behind her back and trying to get all the residents to like her better.”

  “Was it Kalenius who was making the insinuations?”

  “No, it was one of the residents.”

  “Give me a name.”

  Pike glanced impatiently at the dance floor. “How the hell am I supposed to remember their names anymore? It’s been almost three months since I got shit-canned from there.”

  Ulla had been letting Koskinen do the questioning, but now she jumped in. “Could it have been Rauha Salmi?”

  “Not a chance! Rauha was the best person there. And besides, she couldn’t even really talk.”

  That reminded Koskinen of Kaatio’s description of the situation at Wolf House three days previously.

  “Rauha told our investigators over and over that she didn’t want to dance. What do you think she meant by that?”

  “That’s odd,” Pike said thoughtfully and lightly touched her lower lip with her tongue. Koskinen only now noticed the stud, silver this time, through it.

  “It was always hard to understand what she was saying. Listening took time and patience. The other nurses besides me and Anniina never really understood properly what Rauha was saying.”

  “Do the words ‘no dance’ bring anything to mind?”

  “No dance,” Pike repeated with her eyes closed. “The word ‘dance’ could mean something else entirely. It could be ants or it could be trance. Or anything really.”

  “Like maybe Transit,” Ulla said, and Koskinen understood immediately what she meant. They shared a glance—had Rauha Salmi been trying to tell the police something about the vehicle that had visited Wolf House the night Timonen was killed? But Koskinen didn’t get a chance to develop the line of questioning any further.

  Tons of children were at the party. The smallest ones were obviously exhausted and whined to their parents to go home. The older ones, on the other hand, were cavorting noisily around the hall. Two girls with glowing cheeks bounded into the room from the stairway. “Why is there a police car outside?” one of them yelled in a clear voice, drowning out even the accordion. Pike’s cheeks clenched in horror.

  “You didn’t come in a police car, did you?”

  “We are police officers.”

  “What will people think now?” Pike groaned, glancing over her shoulder back into the hall. Suddenly she turned her head and her eyes narrowed. “You fucking Nazi pigs! You aren’t going to ruin this party for me. Get the fuck out of here right now!”

  Koskinen didn’t let Pike’s defiance ruffle him. “One more question and then we’ll leave,” he said impassively.

  Pike shifted impatiently. “Hurry it up then!”

  “I heard that you lost one of the Wolf House master keys over the summer.”

  Instead of answering, Pike snapped, “Who told you that?”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Koskinen said harshly. “Do you remember what the circumstances were when the key went missing?”

  “Now I get it! You think I killed them! Don’t you? I nicked the keycard and then said that I lost it. Then I snuck into the building in the dead of night and killed Raymond and Rauha. Beautiful!”

  Pike’s rant ended in uncontrolled shaking. She crossed her arms across her chest and squeezed her forearms in to try to stop it.

  “Neither of us think that,” Koskinen said. “We’re just interested in what happened to the key.”

  “Somebody stole it!”

  “Be more specific.”

  Pike looked at them both from under her eyebrows as if doubting whether they would believe anything she said. But then, with her voice still shaking, she told her story. “It was just another day. The same crazy rush. You practically had to run from job to job to get all of them done. I was dashing from room to room washing people up, cleaning, and passing out medication. During the day most of them kept their doors open so I didn’t need a key. I must have set mine down somewhere and then when I needed it, I realized that my jacket pockets were empty. I went through all the rooms where I’d been. Kalenius and Salonen came and helped too and soon the whole building was looking. But we never found it.”

  “And you think that somebody took it?”

  “I’m sure of it,” Pike said emphatically. “I set it down somewhere, and anyone could’ve grabbed it.”

  “So it only could have been one of the residents or staff?”

  “Not necessarily. Other people do visit there. Sometimes all the people milling around were a real pain in the ass when we were trying to get our work done. And of course relatives have the very best advice! They think they know exactly how everything should work. But still they can’t be bothered to take care of their own. They panic if you just ask them to do something as simple as change their old mother’s diaper.”

  In that case the range of possible suspects just increased exponentially, Koskinen thought in irritation. He noticed how curious glances were starting to come their way from the reception hall and dance floor. People were whispering to each other and someone even had the nerve to point.

  Koskinen decided to end the interview. They really didn’t have any right or desire to ruin this important night for Rinne.

  “That’s enough for now. Where can we get hold of you tomorrow?”

  “If only I knew,” Pike said, grinning widely with her brightly painted red lips. “Heli’s husband plays basketball for Tampere Pyrintö, and the whole team is here. I’m thinking I might be in high demand tonight.”r />
  Koskinen had noticed the above-average height of the male wedding guests. He had also noted how sober Pike seemed even at this hour. Obviously she had decided to stay sharp for the night and not drink herself out of getting lucky.

  “Good luck.” Ulla smiled at Pike supportively and then looked wistfully at the wedding party dancing on the parquet floor one last time. Koskinen had to tug on her sleeve to get her to come along.

  They sat in silence in the back of the Saab the whole way back. The dispatcher’s crackling voice came from the radio at regular intervals doling out assignments in different parts of the city. Somewhere the glass in the door of a corner store had been smashed, and somewhere else two men were fighting over a woman. In Piispala a garbage can shelter was on fire, and near Viinikka Church a man who had reached the bottom of his bottle was beating his wife. There were constant calls for rides to the drunk tank, and over the course of the night there would be plenty more.

  Koskinen listened to the hushed conversation in the front seat. The officers were expressing their low spirits over the outsourcing plans by indulging malicious glee, laughing about the social services’ “aunties” dealing with all the unconscious city residents they usually had to drag out of bar bathrooms and off of park benches.

  For the time being, however, the police had more work than time to do it—Koskinen felt guilty again about not having a car. He had kept a patrol car tied up during the busiest, most violent hour of a Saturday night to present a couple of questions to a silly woman who was mooning over a basketball player.

  Once they got back to the station on Sorin Street Ulla decided to make coffee and disappeared into the restroom with the pot. Koskinen went into his office. Staring at the blank notebook in front of him, he tried to collect his thoughts on what Pike had told them. At least the conversation had cleared up the question about the key card—the killer could very well have entered the building and gotten into his victims’ rooms with her lost key.

  But Koskinen was more preoccupied with something else—Pike had hinted that one of the other Wolf House nurses had had some sort of special relationship with one of the male residents. And her hints had focused rather directly on Anniina Salonen. Koskinen wondered if she just wanted to clear her own reputation, was bitter over being fired, or whether there was something else entirely behind it.

  He decided to ask Salonen; he had the contact information for the Wolf House staff in his notebook. Salonen’s number was second on the list. Koskinen let the phone ring a couple of dozen times, but no answer. That was strange, since Salonen had said she was staying home the whole weekend.

  Koskinen had started to be bothered by Salonen otherwise as well. Did the large nurse with the big hair have some part in the murders? Lea Kalenius had acted with surprisingly hostility toward her co-worker and called her that strange name, honey buffalo.

  Ulla came through the door with a steaming coffee cup between her hands. “What do you think…is he going to strike again?”

  Koskinen hung up the phone. “Who?”

  “What do you mean who?” Ulla snorted. “The Big Bad Wolf of course.”

  “Yeah, right.” Koskinen massaged his forehead. “If we only knew what had happened to Ketterä, that question would be much easier to answer.”

  Ulla blew on her coffee, looking thoughtful. “Could Ketterä have two wheelchairs?”

  Koskinen looked at Ulla curiously. “Why were you thinking about that?”

  Ulla shrugged. “I don’t know. I was just thinking.”

  “We need to focus more on how Ketterä left Sotkan Street after the taxi dropped him off.”

  “Mmm,” Ulla said, sipping her hot coffee. “I forgot to mention this morning that I interviewed the physiotherapist. She didn’t know anything about Ketterä’s life—they never really talked. It turns out that during their first couple of sessions, Ketterä tried to grope her, but she made it clear that just one more pat on her rear end would mean he was done with the treatment. After that they never talked about anything but the weather and even then only using two or three words at the outside: ‘it’s raining’ or ‘it’s sunny.’”

  “Kaatio said that nobody in the surrounding buildings had seen a man in a wheelchair.”

  Ulla puffed up her cheeks and then released the air quickly. “Poof. Into thin air like a ghost.”

  “Looks that way.”

  “But where can a paraplegic disappear to like that after losing his wheelchair?”

  Koskinen sighed in obvious pessimism. “Not many alternatives. He’s lying somewhere without a blanket or a mattress but not feeling the cold.

  Ulla had emptied her cup. She stood up, stretching her back and yawning. “I’m beat.”

  “Head home then. Nothing more we can do here. We have an APB out on Ketterä; Riipinen will take care of the search overnight.”

  “You need to get some sleep too.”

  “How so?” Koskinen said apprehensively.

  “So you can race tomorrow.”

  Koskinen’s eyes went to the ceiling, and he sighed. “You didn’t go and place a bet too, did you?”

  Ulla smiled. “No, but I still want you to give those loudmouths in Patrol a good thrashing.”

  “We’ll see if I even go at all.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “It’s a little more than questionable for the head of a triple homicide investigation to go spending hours running around in the woods. Especially in this situation when the killer is still out on the street.”

  Ulla sighed. “You poor thing. You’ve come down with the same old Koskinen Syndrome again.”

  “What?”

  “You’re feeling guilty for no reason. You have a right to have your own life. Police work can’t be all that you have.”

  Koskinen thought that nowadays that was actually almost true. But he knew that Ulla was right. He couldn’t protect the whole world all by himself. The past week had been an abrupt reminder of that fact.

  He stood up and said, mostly to himself, “A couple of frosty pints would set me up right about now.”

  Ulla suddenly grabbed him by the arm. “Oh, you said it!”

  “Let’s go then!”

  “You know I can’t.”

  “Yeah, of course,” Koskinen mumbled in confusion.

  Ulla looked at him somewhat shyly, “I’d love to go with you. My mother-in-law is watching the kids until tomorrow.”

  Koskinen could see what a struggle Ulla was having with herself. But he was the last person who wanted to lure his co-worker into temptation. Her alcohol problem had almost ended her career a few years ago, and Koskinen had expended a lot of effort to get her back to work.

  “Home then?”

  “Yes, it’s better that way. Who knows what would happen if I had even one? A girl like me could get her carburetor jammed again in no time.”

  Ulla picked up her coffee cup and turned toward the door dejectedly.

  But Koskinen stopped her. “Wait. Can I ask one question?”

  Ulla turned and pursed her lips endearingly. “Yeah?”

  Koskinen scratched his neck, embarrassed. “About Wednesday. I’ve been wondering why you had to go to the doctor.”

  “I lied,” Ulla answered hastily. “I didn’t go to the doctor.”

  “Where were you then?”

  “In Hämeenlinna looking at houses.”

  Abashed, she stepped closer to Koskinen. “There’s a percussionist position opening in the Hämeenlinna City Orchestra. There’s at least some chance my husband could get the job. Just think how amazing it would be if this touring circus could end and we could live like every other normal family.” Ulla fell silent for a moment and then said, “Will you forgive me?”

  “For what?”

  “For lying to all of you. Everything is still so uncertain that I haven’t dared to talk about it even to you.”

  “I understand,” Koskinen reassured her. “But what about your commute? No matter how you came tha
t would make it at least an hour.”

  “I’m starting to look into vacancies in the Hämeenlinna department.”

  Koskinen opened his mouth for a moment, but couldn’t get a single syllable past his dry palate. He pushed his chair under the desk, but then pulled it back out again and shoved it against the wall and from there back under the desk. Finally the words started to come, harshly, like old paper being ripped from a wall. “You can’t do it. We can’t… I can’t make it here without you.”

  “It’s hard for me too.”

  Ulla wrapped her arms around Koskinen’s neck and tapped him on the back of the head with her mug. Koskinen reciprocated the hug, feeling the softness of her body against his own, the curves of her back under his palm, and breathing the apple scent of her hair. The skin of her neck was warm, and he pressed his cheek against it.

  Ulla gently wiggled free from Koskinen’s bear hug.

  She sighed. “Back here again in the morning, Right?”

  Koskinen’s arms dropped to his sides—he was at a loss. They looked at each other for a moment. Ulla’s cheeks were glowing red, and her hair was disheveled from Koskinen’s hug.

  “I…”

  Ulla raised a finger to his lips. “Don’t say it. Tomorrow it’ll be like nothing ever happened.”

  She left Koskinen alone in the room. He stood for several minutes staring at the door and trying to get the chaos of feelings he was experiencing into some sort of order. Even the thought of working was overwhelming. And he couldn’t do much that late at night, at least not from the police station.

  It was pointless to waste time staring into the middle distance, though, so he started changing into his cycling clothes. He would be back in Hervanta by midnight. That left him with seven hours to sleep, and then he would have to get up for the race. Seven hours would suffice.

  He retrieved his bike from the courtyard and was just starting down Sorin Street when he saw Ulla walking at the bottom of the hill. He coasted along next to her while thinking about what to say.

  Ulla solved his problem. “Don’t you have a helmet yet? You think you’re some kind of tough guy or something? Nowadays even school kids wear hats when it’s cold outside.”