Found Wanting (29 page)

Other residents were out by now, gaping at the devastation that had once been Osmo Koskinen’s house. They paid Eusden no attention, their gazes fixed on the burning, smoking ruin of number 27. He upped his pace.

As he neared the end of the street, he saw a big black Saab SUV pull over as it passed the junction. Its driver stared keenly along Luumitie towards the plume of smoke and a faint smile crossed his face.

The driver was Erik Lund. He was alone in the car and he seemed wholly unaware of Eusden’s presence. He looked straight past him, seeing nothing but what he expected to see. The pedestrian crossing the road in front of him was a mere shadow.

All that changed when Eusden yanked open the passenger door and jumped in the car.

‘
Hov! Hvad
—’ Lund’s expression froze. He clearly could not believe what he saw: a man he confidently supposed dead sitting right next to him – and holding a gun.

FORTY

Several long, silent seconds passed as they stared at each other. Then Lund swallowed hard and said, ‘Don’t shoot. Please.’

‘Why shouldn’t I? You set me up, you bastard. You expected them to kill me, didn’t you?’

‘I was . . . following orders.’

‘Go on doing that and you might live. Drive.’

They started moving. ‘Where are we going?’

‘Head for the airport.’

‘Listen, Eusden, I—’

‘
You listen
. Just answer my questions. OK?’

‘OK.’

‘Did Tolmar Aksden know this was going to happen?’

Lund nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘He knew everything from the start?’

‘Yes.’

‘What were his instructions?’

‘Destroy the case. Force the Opposition to back off with a show of overwhelming strength. And get rid of you.’

‘As well as Pernille?’

‘Yes.’ They turned on to the main shopping street of Munkkiniemi. A fire engine was speeding towards them, light flashing, siren wailing. Another siren was wailing further in the distance. ‘He always says . . .a problem is an opportunity.’

‘You killed Burgaard as well, didn’t you?’

‘We’ve killed no one. Everything is . . . contracted out.’

‘How very businesslike.’ The fire engine roared past. ‘Hold on. What about the security you were supposed to supply?’

‘I had two men in the house. They were there to reassure Pernille she’d be safe.’

‘And you just . . . sacrificed them?’

‘I did what had to be done. I don’t know how you got away, Eusden, but I promise I won’t tell Tolmar you did.’ A rivulet of sweat was trickling down Lund’s temple. ‘The airport is a good choice. You can fly to England tonight. No one will find out.’

‘Of course they will, Lund. You’ll tell them.’

‘No.’

‘Just keep driving. And go on answering my questions. Did Koskinen know what was going to happen as well?’

‘Not the details. But he does as he’s told. Like me.’

‘Where is he now?’

‘He’s gone to stay with his brother.’

‘Address?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Don’t give me that.’

‘I swear I don’t. I could make something up, couldn’t I? How could you tell? Truthfully, I don’t know.’

A police car swept past them. Then another.

‘What about Tolmar? Where’s he?’

‘Out of town.’

‘When will he be back?’

‘Tonight. Tomorrow. I’m not sure.’

‘Where’s his apartment?’

‘Mäkinkatu six. But you won’t get to him there. It has state-of-the-art security.’

‘Was Birgitte Grøn in on all this?’

‘No. She wouldn’t have cooperated if she’d realized what Tolmar had decided to do. She thought he was going to pay as agreed.’

‘So, there is someone in Mjollnir with a conscience, is there?’

They were leaving the centre of Munkkiniemi now and approaching a big interchange. Lund joined the queue at the lights for a left turn on to the main road heading north.

‘You have no idea how it works, Eusden. You can’t imagine. The money. The luxuries. The things he sees you want and gives to you . . . in exchange for other things. You’re in too deep to get out before you know it.’

‘Is that your excuse?’

‘I just do what I’m told to do.’

‘In this case, help Tolmar murder his ex-wife.’

‘There’s been no murder. The explosion was caused by a gas leak.’

‘I know better.’

‘I’m only saying what I think the Finnish police will say in the end. A terrible accident. Why Pernille was there . . . Who knows?’ Lund accelerated on to the main road. The light was beginning to fail, the sullen sky filling in from the east. The afternoon was fading fast. ‘You can get away clean, Eusden. Tonight. I won’t tell Tolmar. Truthfully. It would look bad for me if I admitted you got away.’

‘You really are a heartless bastard, aren’t you?’

‘I’m a realist. Pernille’s dead. You’re alive. You should do everything you can to stay that way.’

‘What will Birgitte do when she finds out you deceived her?’

‘Nothing. She’s a realist also.’

‘Where does Lars Aksden come into this?’

‘He doesn’t.’

‘But he’s here in Helsinki. Why?’

Lund shook his head. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. Lars isn’t here.’

‘I saw him with my own eyes. Near Matalainen’s office. This morning.’

‘Koskinen didn’t say anything about that.’

‘He didn’t see him. I did.’

‘Maybe you were . . . mistaken.’

‘No. It was him.’

‘Then, I don’t know. It doesn’t make any sense. He shouldn’t be here.’

‘Maybe he wants to find out what the family secret is.’

‘He never will.’

‘But you could enlighten him, couldn’t you? You and Birgitte read the faxed copies of the letters.’

‘No. The number they were faxed to was Tolmar’s. Only he read them. Everything we told you and Pernille . . . he instructed us to tell you.’

‘Because we’d have refused to go through with it if we’d known Tolmar was in charge. So, we had to be suckered into believing you were going behind his back.’

‘Exactly.’

‘Throwing me to the wolves was one thing, Lund, but Pernille? How could you do that to her?’

‘It was stupid of her to think she could just walk away from Tolmar. She should have known he wouldn’t let her treat him like that.’

‘And that’s your rationale, is it? Do what he wants or suffer the consequences.’

‘It’s how it is.’

‘My God.’

Silence fell between them. Eusden had no questions left to ask and no words to describe the disbelief he felt that any man could live by such pitiless rules. They had joined a dual carriageway by now, tracking north and east. The airport symbol had appeared on signs beside the road. There were only seven kilometres to go. Eusden’s thoughts drifted to how it must have been at Koskinen’s house, less than an hour ago: Pernille, Matalainen, Brad and Vladimir seated round a table, with Lund’s two security men in the background; the wary discussions; the telephone call; the rotation of the combination cylinder on the case Pernille had brought with her; the release of the—

Eusden was flung forward as Lund slammed on the brakes. He had forgotten to fasten his seat belt. He got his hands up just in time to prevent his head hitting the windscreen, but the gun slipped from his grasp and clunked to the floor. The car swerved to the side of the road and skidded to a halt a few inches from a crash barrier. Lund made a dive for the gun and had his fingers on the butt when Eusden’s reactions caught up with him. He stamped on the Dane’s outstretched hand. Lund cried out in pain. Then Eusden grabbed him by the nape hair, yanked his head up and punched him hard on the nose. As Lund fell back, Eusden bent forward and retrieved the gun.

Blood was welling from the Dane’s nostrils. He was breathing heavily through his mouth and clutching his nose with one hand while he shook the other to ease the pain in his fingers. He cowered away from the gun as Eusden pointed it at him. ‘I’m sorry,’ he panted. ‘Sorry.’

‘Get out of the car.’

‘What?’

‘Give me your phone and your wallet and get out of the car.’

‘Look, I’ll drive you to the airport. It’s OK. I won’t—’

‘
Get out!
’ Eusden edged the barrel of the gun closer to Lund’s face. ‘Or I swear to God I’ll do the human race a big favour and put an end to your miserable, morally bankrupt life here and now.’

FORTY-ONE

Night was falling by the time Eusden reached Vantaa airport. He left the Saab in one of the car parks, with Lund’s wallet locked inside. He had only taken it to slow the man down. He had no faith in Lund’s promise to say nothing to Tolmar Aksden. He tossed the key into some bushes next to the car park. Using the Saab again would be too risky.

Not that he had any clear idea of what he was going to do from this moment on. How much to tell Regina Celeste was the first problem he had to confront. She would soon realize all was not well with him. He cleaned himself up as best he could in the airport toilets, but his reflection in the mirror told its own story. He looked haggard and distraught. He looked like a man whose resources were failing him.

They undeniably were. The grief he felt for Pernille Madsen, a woman he scarcely knew by all logical criteria, had shocked as well as sapped him. Her death cut off a future he had just begun to dare to imagine. It had stripped him of hope. What remained was an urge to avenge her. He had come closer to killing Lund than the Dane probably imagined and certainly closer than he himself would ever have expected. If Tolmar Aksden had been in the car instead of Lund, Eusden would have pulled the trigger. He had no doubt of that. And he still had the gun.

He used a wad of euros from Lund’s wallet to buy a warm coat from one of the airport shops. It had pockets large enough to conceal the gun and made him look rather less like a man who has recently been roughed up by gangsters. He checked the arrivals board for news of Regina’s flight. It was expected in on schedule. Then he noticed another flight due in a quarter of an hour earlier, from Zürich. He remembered Brad’s reference to the Orson Welles jibe about cuckoo clocks and wondered if Bruno the fingerprint expert would be on board. If so, there would be no one waiting to meet him. Unless Eusden did the honours.

There were several limo-drivers holding up name cards when the first of the Zürich passengers made it to the arrivals hall. Eusden loitered among them, with BRUNO blazoned on the lid of a box he had cadged from a fast-food kiosk.

The man who approached him was short and tubby, clad in well-cut tweed and a python of cashmere scarf. Groomed dark-brown hair, clipped moustache and tortoiseshell-framed glasses gave him the appearance of a vain and fussy professor.

‘Who are you?’ he demanded in Italian-accented English.

‘A friend of Brad’s.’

‘Name?’

‘Marty Hewitson.’ Recourse to Marty’s identity as a pseudonym was so instinctive that Eusden was surprised when he heard himself say it.

‘Brad’s never mentioned you. Why isn’t he here?’

‘Unforeseen circumstances.’

‘I should have had a message if there was a change of plan.’

Eusden shrugged. ‘Sorry.’

Bruno pulled out his phone with a put-upon harrumph and stabbed in a number with a cocktail-sausage forefinger. The response did not please him. He tried again, with the same result. ‘There’s something wrong. Brad’s phone is dead.’

‘Look, Bruno, I—’

‘My name is Stammati. I am Bruno to my friends. You I have never met.’

‘OK, Mr Stammati. Sorry, I’m sure. Now, as you know, Brad wants you to confirm a match between two sets of fingerprints. I have one set with me. The other’s arriving with a Mrs Celeste on a flight from Copenhagen due in very shortly. Any objection to casting your eye over them while we wait for word from Brad?’

Stammati looked as if he did object, but was constrained by his obligation to Brad. His moustache twitched querulously, then he said, ‘I will wait in that café’ – he pointed to a coffee-bean logo in the middle distance – ‘for one half-hour.’ And with that he bustled off.

Eusden decided against following Stammati. He suspected attempts to charm the man would prove disastrous and was not equal to making the effort anyway. He did not have to stick it out long in the arrivals hall, although Regina was not among the first clutch of Copenhagen passengers to emerge from Customs. Delayed by collection and trolleying of a gigantic suitcase, she finally appeared with only five minutes of Stammati’s allotted half-hour remaining.

‘I expected a triumphant greeting, Richard,’ she said, looking him up and down. ‘What in the world’s happened to you?’

‘It’s been a stressful day.’

‘So I see.’

‘I have a not-so-tame fingerprint expert parked nearby, Regina. He’s liable to walk out on us if we don’t step on it.’

‘Who needs an expert? You and I are perfectly capable of judging whether two sets of fingerprints match. And match I’m confident they will.’

‘Me too. But we may as well get a neutral opinion while it’s available.’

‘All right, all right. Just let me catch my breath. And steer this for me, would you?’ She swung the handle of the trolley towards him. ‘Then we’ll go see this so-called expert. Where’d you find him?’

‘It’s a long story.’

‘Can I at least take a peek at what you have before we meet him?’

Eusden took the envelope from his pocket and showed it to her. At the sight of the double-headed eagle of the Romanovs, her eyes rolled.

‘Be still, my beating heart,’ she gasped.

The pastelly plasticated decor of the Café Quick appeared to have done nothing to soften Stammati’s temper. He broke off from glaring grumpily at his pseudo-espresso to announce, ‘Brad has not phoned me.’

Eusden synthesized a smile. ‘Mr Stammati, this is Regina Celeste.’