The Red King of Helsinki

by Helena Halme

  Pia was frightened but she couldn’t move. Miss Joutila was weeping.

  ‘I’m sorry, Vadi. I didn’t know, I…’

  But Kovtun didn’t let her finish. ‘I tell you what you do. You talk to this Englishman again. You tell him you sorry, very sorry. You were stupid. And you do not, hear me woman, you do not say my name!’ There was a bang. Kovtun must have hit something. Pia held her breath. Then, Kovtun continued in a more gentle tone, ‘Leena, dusha, you want to live in England with Vladsislas and his beautiful daughter, yes?’

  ‘Yes.’ Leena’s voice was so low Pia could hardly make out what she said.

  ‘But this man try to stop us, see?’

  Leena sighed, ‘OK, I’ll talk to him again and tell him I was mistaken.’

  * * *

  Later when Pia came out of the gym hall, Heikki was waiting for her in the corridor.

  ‘Pia,’ he called when she tried to walk past him. Heikki took hold of Pia’s arm and said, ‘Please, can we talk. We could go to the Rixi Bar?’

  ‘Ok,’ she said. Iain would be outside by now, and would follow them. She felt safe knowing that. ‘But, instead of Rixi, we’ll go to my place, OK?’

  ‘Sure.’

  Heikki seemed meek as a lamb. He followed Pia rather than taking hold of her and leading as he usually did. They walked out of the school building, picking up their coats from the lockers. Neither spoke. Outside, Pia scanned the street, but couldn’t see Iain. Then she remembered what Iain had told her and took off her scarf.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Heikki asked. ‘It’s bloody freezing out here!’

  Pia said nothing, but continued to scan the people on the street. No sign of Iain! She took Heikki’s hand and ran to the tram stop. The number ten was just pulling up. Pia felt for the key in her pocket and decided she’d take Heikki with her to the Council. At least there they would be safe.

  Pia and Heikki got out of the crowded tram at Erottaja.

  ‘I thought we were going to yours?’ Heikki said as their feet hit the pavement. Pia didn’t reply. Her heart pounded hard against her jumper as she looked up the hill towards Ullanlinna. A few people were hurrying down the slippery street and along the tree-lined South Esplanade. The lights of the Happy Days Café seemed bright against the grey sky. Where was Iain? Without his protection Pia felt vulnerable.

  Pia and Heikki were standing at the zebra crossing waiting for the lights to turn to green. Suddenly she couldn’t bear it any longer. She took hold of Heikki’s hand and ran against the red light. A car sounded its horn, narrowly missing them. A man, standing on the opposite side of the street caught Pia’s eye.

  ‘Why are we going there?’ Heikki asked, nodding at the Council building. ‘Just follow me,’ Pia said and took a few steps sideways and hurried past the man. Please don’t let him grab us, she thought and glanced back. The man moved towards the edge of the curb. Pia took a deep breath in and ran to the heavy door of the Council building. She took the key out of her pocket and went to open the door but it gave way. Thank God, Pia thought, it’s unlocked. She glanced back. The man was now on the other side of the road, hurrying towards Stockmann’s.

  The woman at the reception to the Council made a phone call before she allowed Pia and Heikki inside. Pia had to show the key that Iain had given her. Heikki raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Once inside one of the outer rooms, which looked like a library, the woman asked Pia in perfect Finnish, ‘Would you like a hot drink? Tea, coffee?’ She smiled and looked almost friendly. Her demeanour had changed after she’d put the phone down.

  ‘Yes, please, coffee’ Pia said. Heikki nodded. Suddenly Pia was starving, and as if the woman had known this, she brought something to eat with the two cups of hot drinks. There were English sandwiches on a blue patterned plate, soft white bread filled with ham and cut into small triangles.

  The woman closed the door and Pia and Heikki sat in a corner of the dark room smelling of old books, with a low table between them, and started eating. Pia picked up a sandwich and looked at Heikki. His shoulders were hunched, he didn’t seem as confident as he had done the last time he was here. Pia wished Iain could see him like this. With his head bent, eating his sandwich, he glanced at Pia, but didn’t say anything.

  ‘I saw you talking to Sasha outside the school this morning.’

  Heikki looked up and bit his lip.

  ‘She warned you about me?’

  ‘No!’ Heikki nearly shouted the word. Now he’d gone bright red. Did this mean he was lying? ‘Look, Sasha and I belong, belonged,’ Heikki’s voice got higher and for a moment he looked embarrassed rather than sad or angry, ‘or rather it’s our parents that really belong, to the Pioneers.’

  Pia looked at Heikki. ‘The Communist thing?’

  ‘Yeah, well it’s kind of fun, they do camps in the summer and discos for us older kids.’

  ‘So, you and Sasha…?’

  ‘We’ve known each other since we were babies.’

  ‘You never said.’

  ‘Belonging to the Pioneers isn’t exactly cool at the Lyceum.’

  Pia thought about what the Old Crow’s reaction would have been if she’d known, and nearly smiled. ‘But how did you keep it a secret? And why? I thought you lot were proud of your beliefs.’ Pia couldn’t believe she didn’t know this about Heikki. There was a girl in the year below her who everybody knew was a Communist. She wore grey clothes and always had sweat marks under her arms. Nobody spoke to her. Pia’s grandfather had fought Stalin in the war and her grandmother hated the Russians. She’d told Pia they wanted Finland to belong to the Soviet Union, to lose its hard-fought independence. If the Communists had won the civil war, or if Finns hadn’t fought so hard against Stalin, she said, there’d be no Finland. The country would be like Estonia or Poland. There’d be food shortages, bad clothes and everyone would work in large factories earning little money, and live in huge, cold blocks of flats. Pia wanted to say all this to Heikki, but she wondered if it would have made any difference. ‘Communism is like a disease, once you get it, you can’t be cured,’ her Grandmother had told Pia.

  Heikki was quiet. He leant back on the low chair and ran his fingers through his hair. Normally Pia would have wanted to kiss Heikki, seeing him do that, but now she was strangely unaffected by the gesture.

  ‘I didn’t think you’d understand,’ he said after a long while.

  ‘You’re right,’ Pia said, ‘but that’s not important now. Tell me, without lying,’ Pia emphasised the last word, ‘what you were looking for in Anni’s father’s desk?’

  Heikki’s face was serious, ‘Nothing.’

  Pia considered Heikki. He looked Pia squarely in the eyes. He seemed sincere.

  * * *

  Maija closed the door behind her and plonked the two heavy shopping bags on the hall floor. She’d been so preoccupied this week she forgot to shop for food on Saturday and had to go all the way to Valintatalo, the only store that was open on Sundays.

  ‘Pia!’ she shouted. Her room was empty. Maija glanced at her watch. It was nearly two o’clock. The rehearsals were supposed to finish at lunchtime. Where was the girl?

  Maija wished she’d accompanied Pia to the training session. They could have shopped together afterwards. She had wanted to, but didn’t want to be the over-protective mother. Besides, what could possibly happen to Pia at school? But now, Maija started to wonder if Jukka Linnonmaa had been right after all. Maija dismissed his warnings about the Communist conspiracy President Kekkonen was heading. She knew he was a right-wing activist. Sitting opposite Linnonmaa at the Happy Days Café, in the middle of a harsh Helsinki winter, Maija had felt the same fear she now knew made her leave the Customs. But surely it was highly unlikely that Pia’s new boyfriend could be involved in something similar. She’d politely listened to Linnonmaa for a while and then told him she had to get to work.

  Maija decided to meet Pia at the school and re-entered the slippery street outside the block of flats. The sun was high up in
the sky, but covered by a thin blanket of clouds. The tram was empty and it gave Maija an eerie feeling that something was amiss. When the tram stopped at Erottaja, Maija was leaning against the back window of the carriage. She saw a man in a grey coat running through the Esplanade Park towards the vehicle. Suddenly, he turned and crossed the street without looking at the traffic lights. Maija looked closer and saw it was Iain. He entered an office building on the other side of Erottaja. When the tram started to move, Maija thought how different Pia had been since Iain had falsely accused her of using drugs. More grown-up somehow. She’d also talked less to Maija about her problems. But perhaps it was Heikki’s influence. Maija saw how fond Pia was of the boy when he came over the other night. Maija sighed. Perhaps there was something in what Mr Linnonmaa had told her. Perhaps he’d been trying to protect Pia after all? Where could the girl be now? With Heikki? Maija decided to go after Iain. Perhaps he could make sense of it all.

  Maija got off the tram outside Stockmann’s. The store was shut up and there was no one else on the street. She walked back up to Erottaja and made her way to the building Iain had disappeared into. Inside the gleaming entrance hall, she looked at a blackboard of office names. There was a dentist, a solicitor’s office, debt collectors. Then she saw it, ‘British Council 4th Floor’.

  * * *

  Iain was panting when he walked through the door, ‘Thank God you’re alright!’ He came over and put his hand on Pia’s shoulder. ‘Good girl,’ he said in English. ‘You did exactly the right thing coming here.’ He was standing between Pia and Heikki, surveying the two from a height. He took his coat off and pulled up a chair and sat down. ‘Heikki, are you alright?’ he asked. His breath was still quick and as he spoke to Heikki, he placed his hand on Heikki’s arm.

  Pia looked at Iain with astonishment. She didn’t think he liked Heikki.

  The receptionist came in with a teapot and a cup. ‘Thought you’d like a cup of tea, Sir,’ she said to Iain in English. ‘Ah, you’re a dear, Mrs Cooper,’ Iain said and smiled at the woman. He got up and took the tray from Mrs Cooper. ‘Thank you so very much. It’s good of you to come in on a Sunday.’

  ‘Oh, you’re welcome,’ Mrs Cooper cooed. She started clearing up the table, removing Heikki’s and Pia’s empty cups.

  ‘It’s alright, you can leave those,’ Iain said in English, glancing at Pia. He leant back in his chair and said to Heikki, ‘Now young man, isn’t it about time you told me what you’re up to?’

  Heikki looked sideways at Pia and started talking to Iain.

  ‘I was just telling Pia about the Pioneers. It’s a youth group. We meet every Thursday at The Workers’ Hall in Töölö.’ Heikki was fiddling with his hair. ‘A few times we’d get a Comrade from the East to come in to talk about life in the Soviet Union.’ Heikki’s eyes now met Pia’s. ‘They’ve got such a good education system, you know, and jobs for everyone after school. Not like here where you’re unemployed however many qualifications you’ve got!’

  ‘Yeah, yeah,’ Pia said.

  Iain gave Pia a stern look. ‘What?’ Pia said, ‘you’re on their side now are you?’

  ‘It’s alright, we just want to hear what Heikki has to say,’ Iain said, then turned to Heikki. ‘Go on’.

  ‘This one guy came in a few months ago, his talk was brilliant. He had slides and everything. Both Sash and I wanted to go and visit his town, Minsk. Anyway, we got talking to him afterwards and he said he could arrange a scholarship for us to go and study there. We were so excited! The week after, when we were playing pool, he came in again. By that stage we’d both thought he’d just been all talk, we’d not heard from him though he said he was going to write to our parents. He’d taken our addresses and everything. My Mum was so excited when I told her!’

  ‘Did this man tell you his name?’

  ‘Yeah, Vladsislas Kovtun.’

  Pia gasped and put her hand to her mouth. Iain looked at Pia and shook his head. Heikki was watching both of them intently. ‘I know, that’s why I’ve been trying to find out what’s he up to, haven’t I?’ he said.

  ‘And when was this?’

  ‘Oh, just after Christmas.’

  ‘Go on, Heikki,’ Iain said.

  ‘Anyway, he came back and started talking to me and Sash. We were playing pool and she was beating me so I was glad of an interruption,’ Heikki grinned at both Iain and Pia. She glared at him.

  ‘He said he could arrange a scholarship at a university in Minsk for both of us.’ Heikki looked pleadingly at Pia, ‘You know how difficult it is to get into a university here, especially with the results I’m going to get.’ Heikki paused for a moment. Pia didn’t feel at all sorry for him, if he was so worried about his studies, why didn’t he work a bit harder? Heikki continued, ‘Anyway then the guy started talking about Anni.’

  ‘What did he say?’

  Heikki looked down at his hands. ‘He wanted us to find out about Anni and her dad. Just ordinary stuff, you know.’ Heikki’s head was hanging and he was looking at Pia and Iain from under his eyebrows. ‘Next time the Comrade came to the meeting we told him all we knew. He told us our scholarships were a certainty. Sash and I started talking about going to the USSR when we’d finished the Baccalaureate, but then weeks went by and we heard nothing. Then at last week’s meeting we had another Comrade in, and after his talk about the Moscow children’s homes, he came straight up to us as if he knew Sash and me and started asking questions.’

  ‘What was his name?’ Pia noticed that Iain was leaning closer to Heikki as if afraid he might miss a word he said, just like he and the Colonel had done when Pia came into the Council before. Where was the Colonel, Pia wondered. Shouldn’t he be here listening to Heikki too?

  ‘He didn’t tell us his name.’

  ‘Shame, but go on,’ Iain said.

  ‘This guy seemed to be very interested in what Vladsislas had promised us and he knew all about the scholarships, though he still wanted us to tell him exactly what the first Comrade had said. And he asked a lot of questions about Anni.’

  ‘Who was he? Did he tell you who he worked for?’

  ‘No.

  ‘The next Monday when I saw Vladsislas at school and Anni was behaving so oddly…both Sash and I were shit scared that it had something to do with this scholarship and the other bloke.’

  ‘Apart from spying for the Russians, what else have you been up to?’ Pia’s throat was dry. She could hardly bring out the words.

  Iain coughed, ‘I don’t think that’s quite fair.’

  Pia shot an angry look at him.

  ‘Nothing, really,’ Heikki said. ‘I thought you knew something about it, so I followed you around for a bit.’ Heikki was looking at Pia.

  Pia’s heart was pounding. She looked down and fought the tears filling her eyes. She wasn’t going to show Heikki how much he meant to her.

  But Heikki just carried on looking at Pia with that sheepish look. ‘Pia, I’ve always really liked you and…’

  ‘If you say so,’ Pia said. Her voice was high, too high.

  Heikki was quiet.

  Pia straightened up and trying to steady her voice said, ‘And what were you really looking for in Mr Linnonmaa’s study?’

  Heikki looked up at Pia. Leaning closer to her, he said earnestly, ‘I was desperate to find out what was going on, if Mr Linnonmaa knew about Kovtun’s visits to the Pioneers, and me…’

  ‘Just trying to save your own skin, that figures.’ Pia said. She looked away from Heikki.

  ‘Pia, please!’ Heikki tried to take hold of Pia’s hand across the table.

  The Admiral coughed, and said, ‘You two will have to sort that out later. Let’s go back to Kovtun. Did he mention Miss Joutila to you?’

  Heikki looked surprised, ‘No, why?’

  ‘What about the Friendship Tournament? Did he talk about that?’

  Heikki thought for a moment, ‘No, he just talked about all the good the Comrades were trying to do for the Finnish youth, you k
now to enable the continuing of…’

  ‘The friendship and mutual co-operation,’ Pia finished the expression all politicians were always harping on about. ‘More like exploitation of a weaker country!’ she said more forcefully.

  ‘No, it’s not like that at all!’ Heikki had got up but seeing Pia’s face he sat down again. ‘I knew you wouldn’t understand,’ he said.

  ‘You’re right!’ Pia said.

  * * *

  When the lift doors opened Maija saw a woman in a smart suit standing behind a reception desk.

  ‘Can I help you,’ she said.

  ‘I’m looking for Iain Collins.’

  ‘I’m afraid we’re shut today.’

  ‘But Mr Collins is here, I saw him come in. And the door was open.’ Maija didn’t like the woman’s superior attitude. As she spoke she looked Maija up and down, as if assessing the cost and age of her coat.

  ‘I’m sorry, you must be mistaken.’

  ‘But he’s English!’

  The woman laughed. It sounded more like a cough. She looked pityingly at Maija. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said.

  Iain, followed by Pia and Heikki appeared at a door behind the woman.

  ‘Pia!’ Maija shouted. ‘And Iain!’ she said, looking pointedly at the receptionist.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ the woman said to Iain in English. Iain looked at Maija, and then the woman. He came across and gave Maija a peck on the cheek. ‘What a nice surprise!’ he said unconvincingly.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Maija said looking straight at Iain.

  ‘Nothing, Mum, I’ve just come to the Council to borrow some books,’ Pia said. ‘And Iain happened to be here at the same time! Isn’t that a coincidence?’

  ‘I thought you were shut.’ Maija turned her head towards the arrogant woman.

  ‘The young lady was…’ The woman began, but Maija lifted her hand to stop her and said to Iain, ‘I think I’ll hear it from you. What’s Pia doing here?’ She stared at Iain who was not returning her gaze.