TEO OPENS THE door, and Yusuf steps in, tablet under his arm. Laura Helminen is awake, the television is on, and she’s tapping away at her smartphone.
“Hi, Laura,” Yusuf says as the door behind him shuts.
“Not again,” Laura groans in a bored voice. “I already told you everything I remember—”
“I’d like to show you a few photographs.”
“I’m really tired—”
“This will only take a second, Laura.” Yusuf smiles empathetically, pulls a chair over to the bed, and turns the iPad screen toward the young woman. “Would you take a look at these photographs one more time? Are you sure you don’t know any of these women?”
“I already looked through them once—”
“It wouldn’t be unheard-of for something to come to mind a little later.”
Laura looks at the pictures and shakes her head. “No . . .”
“Wait a second. Whoops . . . ,” Yusuf says absentmindedly. “There’s one picture here that doesn’t belong.”
Laura looks at Yusuf suspiciously. “Which picture?”
“My colleague’s . . . the female detective who was here earlier. Who saved you from the freezing sea,” Yusuf says, shaking his head.
Laura’s face is now grave.
“You were frightened when you saw her earlier today. Do you remember?”
“Like I said, I’m exhausted.”
“I’m sure you are. This has been a pretty rough day for everyone, especially you. But we police take all suspicions seriously. The fact that you reacted so strongly to Sergeant Niemi’s face today led to her being shelved from the investigation.”
“What?”
Yusuf yawns lazily. “Someone else is taking over for her.”
“But—”
“But what?”
“As you can tell, I was clearly exhausted. I didn’t recognize her just a second ago—”
“Don’t worry about that. The decision has already been made.”
Yusuf stands and turns to leave.
“Wait,” Laura says, now looking shocked. “She has to stay on the case—”
“What do you mean?”
“I take it all back. I never saw a painting of her.”
“What do you mean, you didn’t see a painting of her?”
“I wasn’t even in a basement,” Laura says, and tears start streaming down her cheeks.
Yusuf pulls his phone out of his coat pocket. “Did you hear that, Jessica?”
The door opens and Jessica steps in. “Try not to scream this time,” she says, shutting the door.
Laura looks at each of the detectives in turn.
“Start talking, Laura. What do you mean, you weren’t in a basement? You described everything you saw there in pretty exact detail. Including a painting of me,” Jessica says, walking up to the bed. Laura looks around in a panic, tries to press the call button hanging next to the bed, but Jessica pulls it out of her reach.
“Talk. Or you’re going to find yourself in even deeper trouble.”
“They’ll kill my family.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. They gave me simple instructions. . . . I was supposed to make up a story.”
“Why didn’t you just tell the truth, Laura? They can’t find out what you tell us. No one can hear us.”
“That’s not true!” Helminen says tearfully.
“What do you mean?”
“Because they said there’s someone close to you who will find out everything. Who’s watching and controlling things.”
“What the hell?” Jessica murmurs, and glances at Yusuf, who looks equally confused. “Close to me? Who? A member of the police force?”
“I don’t know. . . . I swear I don’t know.”
“Why was it so important to you that I not be removed from the case?”
“They said it had to be you.”
“‘It’?”
“The one who solves the case.”
Jessica knocks a tray from the nightstand to the floor. Then she raises a forefinger at Laura. “You’re going to tell us the whole story now! What else did you lie about?”
“The only thing I lied about was the basement. Because they told me to! All I remember was that I was leaving the house . . . and then I came to in a strange place and got instructions from a masked man. He told me they would let me live as long as I stayed calm and did exactly what they told me to.”
Jessica sits in the free chair next to the bed and buries her face in her hands. “All right, Laura. You’re safe; they can’t hurt you.” She touches Laura’s shoulder, then nods at Yusuf. “Let’s go.”
“There’s one more thing,” Laura says.
“What?”
“Something I heard—”
“What did you hear, Laura?”
“That all you saw was the message stamped into the snow, but you missed the most important thing.”
“Something from the window?”
“Yes.”
“Nothing else?”
“They said my family is dead if I tell the truth. . . . You have to protect my parents, my brother. . . .”
“We’ll take care of it.” Jessica walks past Yusuf to the door and opens it.
“YOU GIRLS DON’T seem to get along very well,” Teo says with a dry smile as Jessica and Yusuf step into the corridor.
Jessica glares at him sourly. “We have a little job for you.”
“I almost feel like telling you to review the chain of command, Ms. Niemi. I take my orders—”
“I’ll have these orders faxed to you, with all the necessary stamps. While you’re waiting, do me a favor.” Jessica steps up to the brawny man, arms folded across her chest. She catches the scent of a citrusy cologne. She used to like the smell, but now it makes her nauseous.
“What do you need, Jessie?”
“First of all, be careful with that patient. We don’t trust her. Secondly, confiscate her phone. Tell her it’s for security purposes. Make sure it gets to Rasmus Susikoski at HQ. Have someone pick it up.”
“Why don’t you just take it yourselves?”
“Because we’re in a hurry. And because I want to know if Helminen makes a call over the next fifteen minutes.”
Teo smiles, revealing a row of straight teeth. “Fine. You can forget the fax. But you could return the favor and go for an ice cream with me someday.” He stares intently at Jessica.
“I’d love to. Be sure to bring the wife and kids.”
Jessica turns toward the elevators. Yusuf follows along behind like a tentative shadow.