EVERY LAST TABLE in the cafeteria is filled with patients and their visitors. Jessica has managed to down the contents of her tea mug by the time a harried Yusuf takes a seat across from her.
“Am I a suspect now too?” Jessica wraps her fingers around the mug. Even though it’s empty, it’s still warm.
“Laura Helminen was abducted from her house in Laajasalo last night, only a few hours prior to Maria Koponen’s murder. She remembers watching TV on her couch when the doorbell rang. What happened next is a little less clear. She said she came to in some dark, musty place where there was another woman.”
“The other woman being the Ice Princess?”
“You got it. Helminen ID’d her from a photograph. But she didn’t know her from before.”
“What else?”
“His Bearded Holiness said we could continue questioning her in a minute. That because Helminen couldn’t describe the perpetrators—”
“Nothing?”
“All she could say was there was more than one abductor. Men, based on their voices.”
“So why was she afraid of me, then?”
Yusuf falls silent and starts stroking the disposable tablecloth. “There was a painting hanging on the wall of the room where she woke up.”
“What painting?”
“Helminen said it was a painting of a woman with dark hair—”
“And this painting . . . was of me?”
Yusuf chuckles. “Jessica, hey, she’s confused. She’s still in shock. Come on, think about it.”
“Goddamn it, Yusuf. What if it really was me? What if the victims were shown a picture of me? Maybe this whole show was put on just for me; maybe someone wants to get back at me.”
“I don’t buy that for a second.” Yusuf reaches across the table and lowers his fingers lightly to Jessica’s knuckles. “We’re going to solve this case. Soon. We’ll catch those lunatics, and you’ll see none of this has anything to do with you.”
“Maybe I should ask Erne to take me off it.”
“What do you mean?”
“For the first time in a long time, I’m starting to feel like I can’t keep it together.” Jessica looks up at the fluorescent tubes on the ceiling. Her ears can almost pick up the sound of mercury vaporizing. Her cheeks are burning; she can’t stop blinking.
“You have to pull yourself together, Jessie. We need you.” Yusuf takes a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and stands. “I’m going to have a smoke. And then I’ll wrap things up with Laura Helminen.”
“OK. Maybe it’s better if you handle it alone.”
“In the meantime, look for your phone. Everyone keeps calling me because they can’t get hold of you.”
“Is there something new?”
“The lovebirds found a lead from the surveillance camera at Savonlinna Hall. It has to do with the creepy bald guy.”
“OK. Don’t leave without me.”
“I won’t.”
“And hey, my wallet’s in my coat too. They said I could pay when my friend got here.”
Yusuf grunts, pulls out his wallet, and lays his debit card on the table. “You know the PIN. Don’t empty the display case,” he says, then beats a quick retreat toward the elevators.