My First Murder (6 page)

Rane stared after Tuulia with disapproval. In Rane’s world a woman’s place was at home making babies, and he loathed Tuulia’s type. He remarked dryly that we were not allowed to be chummier with some people we were questioning than with others. At least that was what they had taught him twenty years ago at the academy.

I was forced to swallow my inappropriate retort because Pia Wahlroos walked in at that moment without knocking. She appeared more agitated than sad. She fiddled with her glossy hair and nervously twisted her wedding ring, which looked too big for her narrow finger—signs that she subconsciously wanted to get rid of both the hair and the ring. I had read that in some women’s magazine. Of course, similar personality tests had said that I was warmhearted and maternal.

Pia and Peter Wahlroos had been married for a little over a year and a half. Peter was currently away sailing for six months, and Pia wouldn’t see him for another three weeks, when she planned to travel to the States to meet him at the finish line. In contrast to all the terrible things that everyone else had said, it sounded to me as though she truly missed him.

“I let Riku drive my car to Villa Maisetta because I was feeling kind of anxious. I haven’t heard anything from Peter in a few days, and there have been such terrible storms that there haven’t even been any rankings for this leg of the race for a long time.”

It appeared that she was more worried about her spouse than Tommi’s death.

“What was your relationship with Tommi Peltonen like?” Best to get straight to the point. Skirting around the issue wouldn’t do anyone any good. At first Pia blushed, but then she lashed out almost violently.

“Oh, so the rumor mill has been hard at work! I’ve felt so lonely while Peter’s been away, and we don’t have enough money for me to be waiting in every port of call. Tommi is Peter’s old friend, and Tommi’s little brother, Henri, is also on the
Marlboro
. Of course Tommi and I have spent a lot of time together. Partly it’s because of the messages we get from the yacht, but we’ve also gone out to eat and to the movies. But that’s it! There hasn’t been anything else to it, though none of them seem to believe it no matter how many times I tell them. Sirkku even told our mother that I supposedly went to bed with Tommi, which I most certainly did not!”

“Well, did Tommi try to get you to sleep with him? I’m sorry to have to ask, but this is part of the investigation, and I don’t know yet what might be important,” I said hurriedly and then immediately regretted apologizing for doing my job.

“Yes, he did try. The last time was yesterday. But I didn’t want to.”

“Do you think Tommi wanted to give the others the impression that there was more between you than there really was?”

“I don’t know...Tommi wasn’t as one-dimensional as he might have seemed on the surface. Sometimes I almost believed him when he said he’d fallen in love with me. But since I knew his reputation, I couldn’t take him seriously. Yesterday was a little strange though. He said that he couldn’t stand being alone anymore and that he just wanted to have me close to him. Of course I didn’t believe that line—the last time he’d asked for that same ‘closeness,’ I ended up throwing him out of my house. But
now...I don’t know. Maybe he would still be alive if I’d given in.”

I watched spellbound as movie-star tears rolled down Pia’s cheeks. They did not smudge anything, did not make her nose run or her skin look mottled; somehow, they just belonged on her face.

“Do you remember exactly what Tommi said to you and when he said it?”

“We were on our way to bed. No one else was awake at that point except for Antti and Tuulia. Tommi asked me upstairs and, you know...we kissed and stuff, since I had been drinking more than normal, but Tommi got too intense, and I ended up saying something abrupt. Then it was weird because he started pleading with me. He whispered that he didn’t want to be alone tonight because he was nervous. I told him that Riku and Antti were just on the other side of the hall.”

“And then?”

“Tommi laughed a little strangely and said, ‘Riku and Antti, now that really makes me feel safe.’ I didn’t know what he meant, but at that point I was irritated and went back downstairs.”

“Do you have any idea why Tommi was nervous? Did he explain at all?”

“No. I just thought it was a new way of trying to get me in bed.”

I let Pia leave and followed her out into the hallway for a moment. The entire group was still out there waiting; Timo and Sirkku sat wrapped around each other, and Riku lay with his head in Tuulia’s lap. I asked them to stay in town for the next few days in case we needed to interview them again. They stood up and prepared to leave, uttering variations on, “Hey, we haven’t been arrested yet” as they walked out. Only Antti
Sarkela remained. Maybe Antti had actually had enough time to fully comprehend the situation, because his lean face was pale and lined, looking much older than thirty. As he sat down across from me in the interrogation room, I began to imagine that he intended to admit to the murder. He looked that unhinged. However, he went on to answer my routine questions calmly enough. I still felt like I was plucking a bass with the top string tuned a third of an octave higher than normal though.

Antti had known Tommi basically his entire life—the two boys had played together before even starting elementary school. They had always been in the same class, and both had started out in the math department during their first year of college. After the army, Tommi had decided to switch to engineering. Antti had done civilian service in Rovaniemi instead of joining the army. After getting out, he had moved with Tommi into an apartment downtown. When serious girlfriends entered the picture, Antti moved somewhere else with Sarianna, and Jaana began to spend half her time at Tommi’s place. I remembered quite well that she had never wanted to give up her own place though. Now Antti lived in a studio in Korso, out past the airport near the train line.

Antti had investigated the body superficially. He had done his civilian service as a hospital orderly, so he was used to doing basic triage and could tell when someone was dead.

“For the first time in a long time, we were really having fun. When we were driving out to the house on the East Highway, I thought Tommi was in a great mood. He was fooling around like when we were kids. On the news they said something about a drug bust, and he started playing mafia and racing with Riku, who he pretended had turned on the family, and Tuulia was right in on the game too. It felt like twenty years had suddenly
fallen away. Tommi always liked playing pirates and that sort of thing when we went sailing as kids. Then we got to the house and started practicing. I thought it went really well. It was nice to be singing the same part with Tommi because he was so precise. He was the most musical one in the whole group.”

Antti seemed to hesitate for a moment.

“Then, when we went to heat the sauna, I noticed that something was wrong. I thought it was because of Pia. I really couldn’t tell you what Tommi truly wanted out of that relationship. We all go way back with Peter, and he’s Tommi’s little brother’s best friend. I didn’t approve of Tommi fooling around with Pia, and I told him so. But now, in retrospect, I don’t think that was all Tommi was worried about.”

“How did this worry express itself?”

“I don’t know how to describe it. When you know someone really well, you can just sense their moods. A lot of times, Tommi started screwing around like a little kid when he was nervous. And he laid it on pretty thick during practice too, picking at Riku because he didn’t know his parts and telling Mira over and over not to sing so loud.”

“But you think he was more nervous than afraid?”

“Yes. Then that night, once we’d had a few drinks, everything seemed more normal again. We chatted about all the usual stuff, music and the upcoming performance and the choir’s other projects. Mira went fishing and there was a little commotion when she hooked a pike and started screaming for someone to bring a net. It was a nice one—want to see?” Antti kicked his bag. “No one else wanted it, so I’m taking it home to my cat. That is, if he’s willing to come live with humans again.”

“You were sleeping near Tommi’s room. Did you hear anything during the night?”

“I woke up when Riku snuck out to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I thought he had gone in there to puke, since he had drunk way too much again. I woke up one other time, when it was already light out. Some noise woke me up, and I’ve been racking my brain to figure out what it was—some bang anyway. We had the window open, and the birds were making a real racket. Maybe it was a door slamming. I really don’t know.”

“Who killed Tommi?”

“I don’t know,” Antti replied curtly. “But I’m glad that Peter is on the other side of the planet right now, because he would be entirely capable of murdering someone out of jealousy. He’s really possessive.”

“We’ll be checking on his whereabouts. Now you’re free to go look for your cat.”

After Antti left I slumped down with my head in my hands. Rane was busily tapping away at his notes. I had hoped that the interviews would shed some light on whether this was an accident, manslaughter, or murder. Suicide felt like the least convincing possibility, but we still had to consider it.

We still had to talk to Tommi’s parents and track down Henri Peltonen, Tommi’s younger brother. We also had to arrange for a warrant so we could go search Tommi’s apartment, and we had to interview his colleagues at work. I also needed to find out who his other friends were. None of the choir members had said anything about a permanent girlfriend, but he might still have had one—or more than one, given that this was Tommi we were talking about.

I was also going to have to look into Tommi’s financial situation. He had a surprisingly expensive car for such a young man, especially one who probably still had student loans to pay off.
What kind of money was Tommi making at work? Maybe his murder had something to do with his job.

It was important that I not focus too much on the choir. Some members of the group had a life outside the choir. Tommi certainly did. I knew there wasn’t any sense expecting to turn up much evidence in the first round of interviews, much less a direct confession tied nicely with a bow. But everyone had been so shockingly calm, as though it were the most normal thing in the world for a friend to die. It was possible that one of them was an exceptionally good actor. Or were they all innocent? But then, why would someone from outside the group choose a summerhouse buzzing with people as a site for a murder? It was unlikely there were even burglars prowling around during the vacation high season.

“If we assume that one of them murdered Peltonen, what would you say?” I asked Rane. He shrugged.

“Hey, listen, I’m perfectly happy that this isn’t my headache. They’re all strange birds, just look at the way none of them dares to break away from the others. But my favorite is definitely the round girl...Rasinkangas. She’s a regular ice queen. Just like my mother-in-law. Definitely has the nerves to bash someone’s brains in.”

“But what’s her motive?”

“Oh, you’ll find it. That feisty girl, Tuulia Rajala, said that Rasinkangas threw herself in Peltonen’s lap once. Maybe there were some unpleasant consequences that nobody knew about, and she’s been plotting her revenge for who knows how long.”

“It’s too bad I won’t be able to use your brilliant imagination on this case. This whole thing terrifies me. I knew Tommi, and I really can’t be objective on this one.”

“Take it easy. Use it to your advantage that you knew this Tommi guy and some of the rest of them. They seem to treat you as more of a friend than a cop. Maybe they won’t take you quite as seriously, but in this case, that may not be a bad thing.”

Over the summer Rane had witnessed other occasions when my role as a police officer hadn’t been taken seriously. I was surprised to find that he was trying to buck me up.

“If I were you, I’d talk to that Rasinkangas again. She definitely knows more than she’s telling. It looks like she’s a little more of an outsider in the group and makes a habit of keeping tabs on other people’s business. I’d also check out the kid, Lasinen. Maybe he was so drunk he doesn’t even remember clocking Peltonen.”

“OK, Uncle Rane. Have a good vacation.”

After his pep talk, I genuinely meant that.

But what is man?
A restless will-o’-the-wisp, a restless will-o’-the-wisp

On Monday morning I looked at my reflection in the mirror and was satisfied with what I saw. My narrow, navy-blue uniform skirt and carefully pressed shirt were no-nonsense. I had pulled my hair back in a tight bun and applied dark makeup, which made me look older. Thankfully, I could use clothing, hairstyle, and makeup to adjust not only how people saw me but also how I acted. In my uniform, I was mature and businesslike, but in jeans and tennis shoes I always seemed to end up swearing and running places when I should be walking. As I applied a layer of lipstick, I felt as though I were painting on a mask in order to hide my true self—which was exactly what I wanted. At ten o’clock sharp I was meeting Tommi’s father, Heikki Peltonen, who was some sort of engineer; before then, I needed to go over the results of the laboratory tests and the autopsy report.