The Lion of Justice (24 page)

Trankov looked like he was straining not to hit Laitio when he listened to his boss and frisked Laitio roughly. His gun was in his coat pocket, and Trankov handed it over to Rytkönen.

Then it was my turn. How could I have once been turned on by the touch of those hands? Trankov also knew I had a fake identity, a man called Reiska. Did he guess it was me behind this mustache? If he did, did it even matter at this point? Trankov didn’t look at my face; he just went for the Glock. I realized he might recognize the gun. After all, he had held it in Långvik. But Trankov’s face revealed nothing. He looked like a lifeless wax figure. He pulled out my gun and took a few steps back, but instead of handing it to Rytkönen, he removed the bullets and put the gun in his breast pocket.

“Are you sure they’re clean?” Rytkönen asked in thick, stumbling English.

Trankov nodded. He looked nauseated.

Rytkönen weighed the two guns in his hands, then decided to go with Laitio’s.

“It’s best to take care of it with this one. It won’t lead back to me,” Rytkönen said.

“Do you have to?” Trankov’s words came out as a sob.

“I’ve always hated that bastard,” Rytkönen said, aiming at Laitio, who was still standing in front of me.

Acting on pure instinct Laitio dived, but the bullet hit him in the thigh. He fell down cursing, pulling me with him to the ground.

“And don’t you try any funny business. This is the end.” Rytkönen raised the gun again and walked close enough to Laitio that he could press the barrel of the gun against his head. I didn’t dare move an inch, but Laitio rolled himself over me, as if he’d be able to protect me from Rytkönen’s bullets.

“Stop it!” Trankov yelled. “Don’t you recognize who that is?”

Rytkönen turned to look at Yuri while aiming the gun at Laitio. I propped myself up enough to see Trankov. He was holding a gun, and he was aiming it. At Rytkönen.

“Lower your weapon, Mara!” Trankov screamed. “Let them go! That’s Hilja!”

“Hilja what? You mean Stahl’s whore? What do you care?”

“Let them go, or I’ll shoot you,” Trankov said.

“You moron! Don’t you know whose side you’re on?” Rytkönen was now yelling at Trankov.

“No! I wanted to begin a new life and not kill people with you. Lower your weapon or . . .” I saw how Trankov closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. His face was completely void of color when he shot Rytkönen in the head. Rytkönen had no chance of surviving a shot like that.

I barely managed to pull myself and Laitio out of the way before Rytkönen fell. I don’t know which one of us was screaming the loudest.

Trankov fell onto his knees in the snowbank and burst into tears. He muttered something in Russian and dropped the gun. I crawled away from Rytkönen’s body so his blood wouldn’t touch me, and I kept on yanking Laitio away, too. He was pale and breathed laboriously. I removed the mustard-yellow scarf from around his neck and used it as a tourniquet on his thigh.

22

Laitio lucked out—the bullet had only nicked him. After I’d bandaged the wound, I crawled over to Rytkönen to check his pulse, but I couldn’t feel it through my gloves. Then I looked at the brain matter splattered on the ground and realized there was no point. I checked his pockets for the envelope that contained the doctored images, and I was startled by the warmth of his body. It was snowing harder now, and the wind had picked up, so the dead body would be soon covered in snow.

Trankov was still on his knees in the snow, crying. I took off my fur hat and the wig and ripped the mustache off, hurting my skin. I walked over to Trankov and put my hand on his shoulder.

“Yuri . . .” I didn’t quite know what to say.

“I killed a man. I’m going to jail.” Trankov had cleared his head enough to speak in English again. “I couldn’t let him . . . Not you.”

I wasn’t sure who’d end up in jail from our little group. Trankov had shot Rytkönen, but Laitio and I were in quite a pickle. My next mailing address could very well be in the Hämeenlinna prison. Surely Laitio knew how we were supposed to deal with this, him being a cop and all. I knew the law, too, but following it seemed absurd at this point.

I walked back to Laitio. He was grimacing, but other than that he looked oddly pleased. Maybe he was in shock.

“I would’ve never in a million years expected Rytkönen to be the shooting kind. He’s a bigger piece of shit than I even imagined. Are you okay, Hilja?” Laitio asked.

“I’m fine. How about you?”

“It hurts a bit, but I’ll be all right. Did you get that gun from him?”

I kicked Yuri’s gun over to Laitio, because I didn’t want to touch it.

“Where’s Rytkönen’s blaster?”

“Probably under him.”

“Let him have it then. That works.”

“What do you mean
works
?” I asked. It was cold, so I pulled Reiska’s fur hat back on.

“The plan I’m hatching right now. Listen here, kids. If someone gets in trouble, it should be me. Everyone at the Bureau knows how poorly Rytkönen and I got along. Apparently it escalated to a point where we drew guns. You two were never here. You’ll leave Trankov’s gun with me and get out of here.”

“What are you trying to do?” It took me a moment before I understood. “But that won’t work. You have no gunpowder residue from Yuri’s gun. Ballistic experts will figure out in a second that you’re trying to fool them.”

“I’ll use it to take another shot. Then, because of my heart condition, I’ll have to be taken immediately to the hospital because I’m so damn shocked. I’ll have plenty of time at the hospital to pretend I can’t remember all the details and come up with a great story. I’m not the newborn cub you think I am, Hilja. This is incredibly awkward for the Bureau heads. One of the rising stars turned out to be a snitch for the bad guys.” Laitio frowned as pain shot up his thigh. “Come on. Get out of here. I’ll call the ambulance and the police. Share this information with Trankov in English. I guess I need to update my opinion of him now. Wasn’t your car somewhere close? Take Trankov with you and tell him to shut the hell up. I’ll give you about twenty minutes, and by that time you should be at Kirkkonummi.”

“What about all these tracks and everything else? I’m telling you, this won’t work,” I argued.

“Don’t underestimate me, girl. Make sure you take our guns. And destroy our recordings as soon as possible.” Laitio handed me his video camera, which had been hidden under his bill like a headlamp. “Light me one more cigar, will you? It’ll help me get through this.”

I found the box of cigars and some matches in his breast pocket. I bit off the end of the cigar and lit it. When I turned to look at Trankov, I saw him standing, swaying like a drunk. I walked over to him and took him by the arm.

“Yuri, let’s go. It’s all over.”

He looked at me in disbelief.

“But the police . . .”

“Laitio is going to take care of it. My car is close by. Come on.”

I felt bad about leaving Laitio bleeding alone in the forest with Rytkönen’s body. What if the police took their time and I hadn’t dressed the wound well enough and he began to bleed profusely? I just had to trust that Laitio knew what he was doing. He had pushed between me and Rytkönen’s gun and protected me with his body. I almost walked back to him.

Instead, I gave Trankov a slightly soiled handkerchief I’d found in Reiska’s pocket and told him to stop sniveling. We trudged back on the snowy road to the Dacia, and luckily I got it running without problems. We drove in silence until we hit Hanko Road. Trankov sat with his eyes closed, his head back. I didn’t know where I should drop him off. If anyone else was staying in Långvik, they’d see immediately that Yuri was upset. If I brought him to our Yrjö Street apartment, I wouldn’t hear the end of it.

“Yuri, listen to me carefully. If you’ll do exactly like I say, you’ll be fine. Laitio is going to take the fall. You weren’t even near Kopparnäs tonight. Laitio shot Rytkönen. You and I weren’t there.”

He didn’t seem to be listening. I repeated my message.

“Can you really pull this off in Finland?” he asked.

“We’ll try.”

“Hilja, I didn’t want this. Rytkönen made me work with him. He said he could have me thrown in jail for kidnapping Helena Lehmusvuo if I didn’t do exactly as he told me. And I was looking forward to starting a new, law-abiding life.”

“So that’s the reason why you became friends with me? To find out for Rytkönen where David Stahl might be?”

Trankov closed his eyes again and sighed.

“I wanted to pay you back for what you did to me in Bromarf. Believe me, I stopped feeling vengeful very quickly. I realized how lucky Lehmusvuo had been when you’d saved her from Paskevich. Maybe you had given me a chance at a new start in life. I seriously wanted to paint you, to be with you . . . But you’re in love with Stahl.”

“Yuri, even I’m not so sure about that. Does it really matter? You saved me and Laitio tonight, and I’ll be forever indebted to you because of that.” I let my right hand go off the steering wheel and tousled Yuri’s hair like he was my little brother. “When did you realize it was me?”

“I know your features well, Hilja. I’m an artist, and I can see the bone structure underneath the mask of makeup. I couldn’t let Rytkönen shoot you. I had to make a choice, and now I’m a murderer.”

I was a murderer, too. Laitio and I had cooked up this plan, and now one man was dead. It didn’t really matter who had pulled the trigger. We were all guilty. My father’s blood flowed in my veins, and when it came down to it, I was no better than him. I looked at myself in the rearview mirror and saw Keijo Suurluoto’s eyes staring back at me. I wanted to scream. I hit the brakes when the car in front of me suddenly slowed down and signaled left. The Dacia almost slid off the road. Trankov was muttering in Russian again, and I wondered if he was praying.

“Where should I take you?” I asked him once I had the car under control again.

“I left my car at the Kirkkonummi station. Rytkönen picked me up from there.”

“Are you all right to drive?” I asked.

Trankov didn’t answer, because he was crying again. We saw an ambulance approach us with its sirens screaming, followed by a police van. The blizzard had grown so thick I had no need to worry about my tracks in front of the dance gazebo at the inn.

We located Trankov’s Jaguar in the parking lot at the station. I hoped I wouldn’t be accused of neglect when I just dumped him out of the car and told him to drive home. I knew what the best medicine for death was, but I doubted Trankov would be much use for me in bed. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted him anymore. I put him behind the steering wheel and made sure he fastened his seatbelt. I leaned over to kiss him and assured him that everything would be all right. Rytkönen wouldn’t make him do anything anymore.

When Trankov finally took off, I felt drained. I had barely enough energy to open the car door, and once I got in I shook so hard that even the heater at full blast didn’t make it stop. I didn’t pity Rytkönen, but I knew I’d blame myself and Laitio for the rest of my life for having been such fools. Rytkönen played in the international field, whereas Laitio and I had a stake only in the municipality games.

I remained alert all Tuesday and checked my cell phone every few minutes, but there was no word from Laitio. Even the media and the Bureau’s database remained quiet about the incident in Kopparnäs. As if it had never happened. Laitio was a real magician. Still, I wasn’t able to sleep, and each time I heard a siren, I was startled to a point where Jouni asked if I had been speeding with his car and gotten into trouble with the police. I didn’t throw a rutabaga at him; after all, I’d promised to show him my utmost respect.

Laitio let me wait until Thursday morning.

“Greetings from the hospital. They said I’ll get out by Christmas.”

I was about to say something careless before I realized I had to pretend to know nothing.

“Why are you at the hospital?” I asked innocently.

“A bullet scraped my thigh a bit, and it startled me enough to cause problems with my heart. My blood pressure is also too high. I could split it among three men of my age.”

“Someone shot at you? What happened?” I asked.

“Rytkönen decided we should clear the air between us—with guns. A nasty situation, I tell you. But you know how he had never gone to the police academy? He didn’t know how to aim, but I did. I know I’ll get into a hell of a lot of trouble because of this. Will you come see me if they throw me in jail?”

“I’ll be there.” Tears welled up in my eyes.

“You can also come see me at the hospital. I have something to tell you. I almost forgot about it with all this hassle with Rytkönen. Let’s just say it’s sort of a Christmas present,” Laitio said.

“Is it all right if I come in the morning? Jouni’s calling me to peel the rutabagas. I owe him for borrowing his car.”

“Sure, and bring some cigars. Damned wife, telling me I should quit. I’d rather quit the force.”

The following day I walked into the best tobacco store in Helsinki and bought ten of Laitio’s favorite cigars. I was curious to know whether his Christmas present was about David, but I wasn’t sure if I was in need of such a gift.

Laitio lay in the hospital bed dressed in ugly pajamas. He looked ancient. Someone had cropped his mustache, and it looked oddly short. At least he smiled when he saw me come in.

“Teppo! What’s all this about you fighting with Rytkönen? I haven’t seen anything about it in the news,” I said.

“I’m sure the story will come out after Christmas, but for now we’ll keep it hush-hush. Sit down.”

I pulled a chair next to the bed. Laitio was surrounded by that hospital smell, and I saw a large bruise on the back of his hand where the IV had been inserted.

“Rytkönen asked me to meet him in the sticks somewhere in Inkoo. He said we could talk privately there and find a solution to this situation we were stuck in. Besides, if we were outside I could smoke. Just to piss him off, I agreed to the plan, but he started to wave his gun around as soon as I got there. He shot me in the leg, but I was able to take him down. I had brought along a gun I usually use for recreation.”

The gun license was a problem Laitio still needed to solve. If Trankov’s weapon was illegal, it couldn’t have been traced back to Laitio, but if it was legal, he had a lot of explaining to do. Even if Laitio could convince his colleagues that he’d bought the gun directly from Trankov and the license hadn’t been transferred over yet, I didn’t trust Yuri to keep his cool during interrogation. Maybe Trankov should leave the country for a while. He could always claim the gun was stolen from him when he was still living in Russia, and Laitio could come up with another story about how he had obtained it.

“Are they pressing charges?” I asked.

“Undoubtedly. This could turn into a huge mess, Hilja. I’ve been suspended for now, but before that I got in touch with Eini and asked her to start rooting through the files. That woman will do anything for me. Did you bring me those cigars?”

I took out the box, the cutter, and the lighter from my purse. “Here you go.”

“Let’s go up on the second-floor balcony. Hand me those crutches, will you?”

Laitio’s thigh was wrapped in a thick layer of bandages, but I doubted his leg was the sole reason for his stay at the hospital. He limped slowly, cursing all the way to the elevator. Smoking wasn’t allowed on the second-floor balcony, but Laitio lit up.

“I’m officially a bad guy now. Breaking the tobacco laws is the least of my concerns. Want some?” he asked.

“Thanks, but not this time. I’ll have a smoke when I visit you on Urheilu Street.”

Laitio took a few drags. I was surprised he wasn’t freezing in his thin bathrobe that flapped in the wind. Suddenly he was coughing up a storm, bending at the waist. He straightened up and spat a disgusting, bloody lump off the balcony.

“My health might not be up to appearing in court. As if my heart failure wasn’t enough, my lungs are shot to hell. So really, it wouldn’t have mattered if Rytkönen had shot me. You just don’t want crooks like him to decide if you live or not, you know? Then again, who knows if another type of a crook will come to power next, and maybe they’re not as bad as they appear.” Laitio winked. He had to be talking about Yuri Trankov, but we couldn’t mention him in public.