The Hummingbird (44 page)

They had decided to go later in the evening, so that the girl would definitely be at home. Anna and Esko went to the door, while the others kept watch in the yard to make sure nobody tried to run away. Anna and the interpreter ran up to the third floor. As a precaution Esko took the lift.

Anna rang the doorbell. The younger sister Adan opened the door and burst into tears upon seeing the police officers. Anna and Esko had decided to turn up in uniform, as this often commanded greater authority. Now nobody would try to pull the wool over their eyes. Now they would get him. Adan ran back into the apartment shouting something, and Payedar Chelkin appeared in the hallway. The man let out a stream of Kurdish words that sounded like curses. The interpreter remained silent.

‘Where is Bihar?’ Anna shouted. ‘Bring her out here! It’s time we took her somewhere safe. And as for you,’ she turned to the interpreter. ‘You will translate every word, every grunt, exactly the way it’s said. Everything.’ The interpreter tried to say something, but by now Bihar’s mother had come into the hallway. Everyone was shouting and screaming at once. Zera Chelkin was weeping and shrieking. Bihar’s father was bellowing angrily; Adan’s sobs could be heard from one of the bedrooms and Mehvan was peering through one of the
open doors, a look of shock on his face. The situation was chaotic, to say the least.

Anna shouted above the noise. ‘Everybody quiet, for Christ’s sake! This is the police!’

The interpreter shouted the same in Kurdish, but it was meaningless. The family had fallen silent.

It must be my Balkan roots, but I certainly know how to use my voice, Anna thought with satisfaction.

Zera lowered her head. Mehvan disappeared into his sister’s bedroom. Once the situation had calmed down, Payedar quietly explained what had happened.

Bihar had disappeared.

Anna and Esko looked at one another in the dimness of the hallway. Anna pulled the front door shut behind her; another door had opened on the floor above, the lights in the stairwell had been switched on and a nosy neighbour was creeping around in the corridor.

Bihar hadn’t come home from school.

This had never happened before.

Her parents seemed genuinely concerned.

They had planned to inform the police tomorrow at the latest.

Because this had happened before, after all. Several times apparently.

When Bihar had been with that Finnish boy.

‘Where have you taken her?’ Anna shouted. ‘Answer me. Where is Bihar?’ The parents looked distressed. They were unable to say anything. In the girls’ bedroom Adan started crying again.

Anna reported Bihar missing right there in the Chelkins’ hallway. They would have to alert the border agency and customs officials in case she tried to leave the country. How far away could she possibly be? The school confirmed that Bihar had been there all day, until four o’clock. Her last lesson was German. Now it was nine o’clock, so that was five hours ago. If she’d been taken somewhere by plane, she could be very far away. Either that, or she could be in Sweden.
Crossing the border into Sweden was easy; you could take anything across, at any time – even people. She would have to inform Interpol.

Then they would simply have to wait.

‘In cases like this, girls are often sent back to their home countries, where they are instantly married off to men considerably older than them,’ Anna later explained in the staff room at the Violent Crimes Unit. Night had fallen on the police station too; in addition to them, there were only a few officers on night shift.

‘Either that or she’s already dead. That’s how these things go. Girls just disappear, and nobody ever finds out what happened.’

Anna drummed her fingers on the table and drank her coffee.

‘How are you bearing up?’ Sari asked suddenly.

Pretty bloody terribly, Anna felt like responding. To be honest, I’m at the end of my tether.

‘It’s just that you seem to take this case so personally,’ Sari continued.

Yes, Sari, I do take it personally. Far too personally.

‘Sure, this is pretty difficult,’ she finally said out loud. ‘That girl really touched me. But I’ll be fine.’

Anna slumped against the table. Sari watched her, concerned, then gently stroked her back.

‘Any news on Rauno?’ Anna asked.

‘No change. All of his organs are functioning, but he’s still unconscious,’ said Sari.

‘Damn it. As if we needed that too. Damn it, damn it, damn it,’ Anna cursed.

‘I think we all need some sleep,’ said Esko. ‘There’s no point staying here worrying about things we can’t change. We need to be ready tomorrow. It’s been a long and draining day, and tomorrow will be no different.’

Not exactly music for going to sleep, thought Anna as she sipped beer straight from the half-litre can and tapped her left foot to the
mystical beat as though she were walking through the alleyways of a large city. The Sistol album she’d ordered had finally arrived. It had been lying on the hallway rug in a flat cardboard package beneath a pile of flyers and free newspapers.

Now rats were scavenging through the stinking rubbish bins. Homeless junkies lay by the walls watching her pass, their eyes gleaming. A blue wave of light washed across the graffiti-covered surface of the concrete walls as a police car sped along the adjacent avenue in hot pursuit of a criminal.

It was well past midnight. She had only just come home and hadn’t bothered to have a shower. Tomorrow she would have to go for a run, she thought and wondered who she was trying to fool. She hadn’t run a step all autumn. She was so tired that every part of her body ached. She tried to make sense of all the indistinct things that had burst from her past to her present, things that had suddenly jumped into focus and were now shouting at her so loudly that everything else was drowned out.

Vigyáz!

Fatigue pulsed in her body like a tumour. I have emotional cancer, she thought and fetched another can of beer. And I don’t think I’m going to overcome it. She smoked a cigarette on the sofa and fetched the ashtray from the balcony. Sistol’s strange techno sounds emptied her head one beat at a time.

She smoked another cigarette. Smoke rings rose up to the ceiling, shrouding the room in a grey mist.

Heavenly Father, anyone who’s listening, let me sleep just one night, was her final, desperate thought before the gates opened to a deep, peaceful sleep.

Juse is different from all the other boys I know. To be honest, I’ve always thought boys were a bit stupid. Mehvan is an idiot and all my boy cousins are idiots and all the snotty-nosed kids at Rajapuro primary are super idiots. Juse has light-blue eyes and his hair is cute the way it sticks up in every direction and he’s quite skinny. We were in the same group for a history project, then one day he came and chatted to me during break time and asked me out for a coffee. That’s where it all started. I fancied him straight away. He’s so funny, utterly crazy and always makes me laugh. He said he’d noticed me on the first day of school and wondered who that beautiful, quiet, smart girl was. I was embarrassed, but it’s really nice to hear someone saying things like that, especially if you’re not used to it. At first we were just good friends; we’d talk and talk, and all that free time I managed to swindle for myself we spent together, but it wasn’t long before the relationship got more serious. The attraction was really strong right from the start, and it was mutual. I told him all about my family and my background, everything. Juse had plans on how to soften up my parents, but with that he showed how naïve he was. No Finn can truly understand what honour,
namus,
really means to our people.

One of my aunts, or a second cousin of our second cousin’s neighbours or whatever she was, had seen me and Juse around the town holding hands when, according to my timetable, I was supposed to be at school reading up for my extended chemistry exam. That’s when all hell finally broke loose. After that, everything happened quite fast. They found out that there was no Kurdish club, and when she was threatened back home Piya told her parents about a couple of class parties I’d been too. So, in other words, it turned out that for the best part of a year I’d had plenty of opportunities to spend time alone with boys – Finnish boys – and that there was a special boy in the picture too. Which, of course, to them meant that I’d already lost my virginity and that I was essentially a slut. They would have to call off the engagement, because who wants to marry
a fallen woman? They could wave goodbye to the family’s honour; Bihar had destroyed that.

Dad was furious. Still, he managed to behave with surprising calm – he didn’t beat me or anything. That’s when I knew they meant business. It felt as though they’d been planning this day for a long time. Perhaps they had.

Juse received a death threat at the same time as they took me to my aunt and uncle’s place in Vantaa. Dad and my uncle were smart enough to send it from a prepaid phone and they didn’t mention any names. Juse decided to delete the message, he was so pissed off. I was really mad at him afterwards, because that would have been evidence.

35

THE
MORNING
MEETING
about Rauno’s accident was over. The corridor and offices at the Violent Crimes Unit were quiet, as though any noise might have disturbed Rauno as he lay in the hospital. There was a shocked and despondent atmosphere in the unit. Any motivation to catch the killer was gone, now replaced by concern for their colleague. What’s more, Bihar’s disappearance was distressing. Even Virkkunen could sense it. Now he had to lead his team, give them emotional stamina. With Rauno out of the picture, they would have to work harder than ever. The killer must not be allowed to benefit from the crisis enveloping the investigation. We mustn’t allow him that pleasure, that advantage, Virkkunen had said as he rounded off the meeting. The officers nodded woefully, but Anna felt as though she was on the verge of giving up. She had slept well all night and woken up feeling surprisingly alert, something she barely recognised any more. For once her head hadn’t been throbbing, and she’d almost felt like going for a run. Now the fatigue was creeping back. It wasn’t going to give up just like that.

A pale Virve was waiting in the corridor of the Violent Crimes Unit. She stepped into Anna’s office, sullen and nervous. She was wearing a retro-style dress with a large printed pattern and thick dark-brown socks. A Palestine scarf was tightly wrapped round her neck, and this time her long hair had been sloppily tied up in a bun. She took off her red duffel coat and held it in her arms.

‘How are you?’ Anna asked.

Virve scoffed but didn’t say anything.

‘Several matters have come to light as part of our investigation,
and I’d like to ask you a few questions about them. Then I’m going to take you down to the holding cells where we’ll register your details.’

‘What does that mean?’ Virve gasped.

‘It’s just a routine procedure. We’ll take your photograph, fingerprints, a DNA sample and note down any distinguishing features. I have a warrant for it here. The information will all be destroyed if you’re proven innocent.’

‘Am I being charged?’ Virve’s panic was rapidly beginning to escalate.

‘No, not at the moment. So it’s important that you tell the truth and don’t try to hide anything from me.’

Virve’s breathing was shallow and her eyes were shifting restlessly. She nodded to indicate that she had understood.

‘Where were you on Monday evening?’

‘At the cinema,’ she replied instantly. ‘With Emmi. You saw us together at Café Penguin.’

‘Which cinema were you at and what were you watching?’

‘We were at Aurora. Brad Pitt’s latest film. It was rubbish.’

‘What time was this?’

‘The showing started at nine and ended at eleven.’

‘And before that?’

‘I was with Emmi all day.’

‘And have you been to Mexico?’

‘Yes,’ she whispered.

‘When?’

‘Last spring, straight after our exams.’

‘Who were you travelling with?’

‘I was alone.’

‘Alone? Why?’

‘I wanted to go by myself.’

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know. I suppose I just wanted to get away from everything, friends, school, Mum, everything.’

‘Was it because you wanted to learn about the history of the Aztecs?’

‘It’s really interesting, but that’s not why I went.’

‘So why did you go?’

‘I managed to get a really cheap flight.’

Virve was extremely nervous. She fidgeted with her dress, kept touching her hair and bracelets, crossing and uncrossing her legs.