FINGERS GRIP THE edge of the sink. Jessica takes deep breaths. She knows the nausea is the result of exhaustion and stress, and vomiting won’t make her feel any better. She sips water from the tap and raises her head. Her eyes look tired, and despite the minute she took to apply her makeup, her face is etched with worry. She ponders her reflection, which has felt somehow alien since the day before, not at all like her own. Jessica leans closer to the mirror, her features grow sharper, her pupils expand, and staring out at her from the mirror is her mother, her mouth twisted up in a vicious smile.
“Jessie?” Erne’s concerned voice carries through the door, followed by an eruption of the dry, deep smoker’s cough that has grown chronic over the past few months.
“I’m fine,” Jessica says, yanking a sizable length from the roll of paper towels and wiping her eyes. One final glance in the mirror. The sick grin instantly vanishes, but it forces Jessica to close her eyes. It is imprinted on her retinas. A few deep breaths. Then she opens the door.
“Are you?” Erne is leaning against the wall. When Jessica doesn’t stop, he follows her down the corridor, coughing into his fist. “You’re not—”
“I’m not what?” Jessica stops and whirls around so fast that Erne nearly slams into her.
“I’m just not used to seeing you—,” Erne stammers.
“See me what? Weak?”
“Not weak, just—”
“What? Is it against departmental policy now to be sick in the morning?” Jessica snaps, hands on her hips. She sees something in Erne’s eyes shift as she utters the words. “Fuck. And no, I’m not pregnant.” She stalks off toward the conference room.
“Jessica!” Erne growls. His tone has instantaneously turned to one of annoyance. Jessica stops. Erne walks up and takes her by the arm. “For all I care, you can be as nauseous as you want and be expecting triplets. But I want you to have your head on straight. Is it?”
“Yes.”
“Say it.”
“My head is on straight.”
“Say it again.”
“What is this, some fucking rock concert? Do you want me to shout it so everyone around here thinks I’m crazy?”
“OK.” Erne steps aside as the usual anxious smile reappears on his face.
The second she sees it, Jessica regrets her outburst. For some reason or other, Erne has been losing his temper just about every day lately, but she can never be angry with him for more than a minute. Erne’s big heart compensates for his deranged need to coddle his subordinates. To coddle Jessica, who she figures is the daughter Erne has always wished he’d had.
“The case on our desks right now is the most unusual one any of us has ever dealt with. You understand I’m under incredibly intense pressure to solve this case,” Erne says.
“Of course.”
“I need results fast. So I need to take everything into consideration—including my team’s physical and mental well-being.”
“I understand.”
“There hasn’t been much time to digest the scale of this case. Last night when we talked in the car, there was one body.”
“Now there are four.”
“And if the signs are accurate, there will be three more before long—”
Erne’s sentence cuts off when a door at the end of the corridor opens and clipped footfalls fill the quiet space. They see a woman in a skirt suit enter the conference room, along with a tall man wearing the uniform reserved for the brass.
“Lönnqvist from the National Police Board. A total prick,” Erne says in a low voice. “He’s coming to the briefing for the press. Along with someone from the ministry—”
“What if there already are seven of them?” Jessica says quietly. Her eyes fix on the unfastened button on Erne’s dress shirt.
“What do you mean?”
“What if the murders did take place in order after all, and we just haven’t found the other bodies yet?” Jessica can tell from the look in her boss’ eyes that the notion is painfully fresh—and not at all out of the question.
“Either way, I’m sure we’ll be finding out soon,” Erne says.
“I was thinking of taking Yusuf and going out to the drug-manufacturing facility where Maria Koponen worked.”
“The medical examiner should be here in a minute. Wait until after.”
“Who was on duty last night?”
“Who do you think?”