ERNE LOOKS AT his mute phone and locks his fingers behind his neck. Nina’s life is in danger, and even if half the Helsinki police force will be looking for her in a second, something inside Erne tells him this isn’t going to end well. Soon he’s going to have the privilege of sitting in the conference room, explaining to Mikael why he sent Nina out for a drive with two murderers. This is the second time in forty-eight hours that Erne has encouraged someone to give a murderer a ride. And where the fuck is Jessica? He hasn’t heard a peep out of her since her text message.
“Two minutes to target,” a voice says through the radiophone on the desk.
“Roger.” Erne swallows a few times.
Rasmus appears in the doorway. The look of concern on his face has turned into something resembling bewilderment.
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t find Micke—”
“What do you mean, you can’t find him?”
“He . . . he left.”
Erne pulls his glasses from his furrowed brow. “What are you talking about?”
Rasmus takes a few steps until he’s standing in the middle of the room, hands on his hips. His voice wavers uncertainly. “That’s what I was told. That Micke left with Karlstedt and Lehtinen in cuffs. Apparently they were on their way to the elevators. Downstairs I was told they exited the building. With their coats on—”
“Where the fuck would Micke be taking our prime suspects in the middle of the night?”
“Maybe he heard Nina’s in trouble? Maybe he went to find her.”
“And took the suspects with him? That doesn’t make any sense. Besides, where would he have heard about Nina? Did you tell him?”
“I didn’t even find him. . . . Maybe Nina called him directly?”
“This is bizarre. I’m going to call him.”
Rasmus shakes his head. “I already did.”
There’s a knock at the door, and Riikka Woodward peers in, a pen between her teeth. “Here’s the information you asked for, Erne,” she says, and hands a paper to Rasmus, who has extended his hand. Rasmus takes a few steps toward Erne but then stops, frowning, as he reads the document.
“Camilla Adlerkreutz? The director of the foundation?”
“I asked Woodward to find out. . . . What does it say?” Erne is now on his feet, leaning against the desk with his full weight.
Woodward disappears into the corridor, and Rasmus hands the piece of paper to Erne.
“That her address is in Kulosaari. This is right across from the Koponens’ house.”
“Just a second . . .” Erne dives back into his chair and grabs his mouse. He pulls up one of the photographs from the foundation’s history. It shows an old, ornate wooden house. Villa Morgon.
Erne turns the screen to Rasmus. “Could this be the same house Jessica and Yusuf entered to see the Koponens’ roof—”
“The address is a match.”
“But . . .” Erne has risen to his feet again. He reaches for his gray sweater, pulls it on, and then slides his arms into the sleeves of his dark green coat. “I asked Micke a little while ago if the name Adlerkreutz meant anything to him. He said he’d never heard it before.”
A signal echoes from the radiophone. Erne picks it up and raises it to his chest. Point to HQ.
“But Micke got a list of all the neighbors from Yusuf,” Rasmus mutters.
“Maybe it slipped his mind.”
“Or else . . .”
Point to HQ.
“I hope that’s what happened, Rasse,” Erne says, and raises the radiophone to his mouth. “This is HQ.”