Death Spiral (5 page)

“Yeah, go ahead. He’s our most likely suspect. But Silja wants to talk to you. She doesn’t think this case is as simple as it seems.”

“Oh, why?”

“Go ask her yourself. This will be hard on her, but I want everything run by the book.”

“Silja isn’t eighteen yet. Can I just interview her?”

“Her mom is home, so you don’t need a child-welfare officer. Just take someone else with you. Silja is ready to make a statement.”

Taskinen’s tone was serious, which made me wonder what could be going on. I knew my boss well enough not to ask for an explanation. His private life crossing into his official role was probably weighing on him. I was surprised he hadn’t requested that another unit take over the case.

“Ulrika Weissenberg called too. Take it easy with her. Ulrika is pretty conceited, but we may need her help.”

I nodded. This wasn’t the first time Taskinen had felt the need to step between me and someone else. My usual sparring partner was the current head of the Criminal Division, who couldn’t stand me.

“I was thinking of contacting Janne Kivi and Rami Luoto next.”

“You should go to our place first. You’ll be able to find Janne and Rami at the ice rink tonight if you’re up to pulling some overtime.”

“Yeah, I’m up to it.” I tried to grin, but something in Taskinen’s expression frightened me. What on earth did Silja have to tell me that was so horrible?

Koivu had just arrived back from the shopping center, so I took him with me. He and Lähde had managed to find two people who were in the parking garage last night just before eight. Lähde promised to call Koivu’s cell phone if anything relevant to the investigation came out of it. But I was more interested in what Silja Taskinen had to say. Did she know who Noora’s murderer was?

3

“Are you nervous about interviewing the boss’s daughter?” Koivu asked as we turned off the Ring I beltway.

“It’s a strange situation, but I’ve dealt with something like it before. You remember the Meritta Flöjt murder? Almost all of the suspects were my old school friends.”

“Didn’t you meet Antti during a murder investigation?”

“Yep. Actually, he was a pretty strong suspect at one point. It’s a little silly now, thinking I ever suspected him. He doesn’t even like killing the fish he catches. It’s that building there, behind the church.”

The apartment building looked a little worse for wear. It was relatively new but built quickly out of poor materials. Most of the Taskinen family’s income went to supporting Silja’s skating, but I had never heard Taskinen complain. Although the Taskinens definitely needed the sponsorship money Ulrika Weissenberg had mentioned, Noora’s death wouldn’t necessarily affect Silja’s position. At number twelve in the world, a beautiful ice princess like her would see many more advertising opportunities come along.

Terttu Taskinen answered the door.

“Silja insisted on talking to you today, but I have to tell you, I’m not sure I think it’s a good idea.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “We can stop if we need to. It would be good for you to stay with us, though.”

“Silja wants to see you without me. I’ll wait in the kitchen. She is in her room. Go on through.”

Silja’s bedroom was narrow, with only room for a bed, desk, and a small armchair. We found her sitting curled up on her bed surrounded by a flock of stuffed animals. In her arms she clutched a life-sized raccoon. Her eyes were swollen, and a fresh-looking coat of lip balm couldn’t conceal how chapped her lips were. She didn’t look like she was in any shape for an interview, but she responded to my greeting surprisingly energetically. I didn’t really know how to start. Koivu sat down in the chair at the desk and started setting up the tape recorder. I thought about whether I should sit in the armchair or on the bed next to Silja. I didn’t know her very well, so I chose the chair.

“We’re going to make this official,” I told Silja, then started reciting the time and location for the tape. The familiarity of routine helped me slip back into my professional role and forget, at least partially, that Silja Taskinen was more than just another witness.

“You must have known Noora Nieminen pretty well, since you practiced together a lot and went to the same school. She was your friend. Do you have any idea who could have killed her?”

“Well, she wasn’t actually my friend. But we’ve spent years around each other because we had to.”

“You both went to school at TYK, right?”

“Yeah. Noora was one grade below me. She was going to be a second year.” Silja pulled a handkerchief out of the pocket of her hoodie and blew her nose before continuing. “She must have started school when she was six or something, since she was actually two years younger than me. She was a really unique girl. Sometimes she seemed a lot older than me, but sometimes she seemed like a little kid. She was so intense about everything.”

“I heard about the issue with the commercial. What did you think about that?”

“Well, I didn’t think it was the greatest idea in the world, and Janne didn’t either, but what were we supposed to do? All three of us are basically right at the edge of breaking through, but you don’t get on the medal stand without money. Maybe Noora could turn up her nose at it, since her dad’s company makes so much, but me and Janne . . .”

“Were you angry at Noora?”

“I didn’t want to get between her and Ulrika. Noora was always fighting with someone. Janne was the only one she ever listened to. But they’ve been having a really hard time the last couple of weeks too. After how well they did in Edmonton, I think Noora decided she was going to be world champion someday, and she didn’t think Janne was invested enough. But Noora didn’t have another choice for a partner because there isn’t anyone else as good as Janne in Finland.”

“And Noora didn’t have any prospects as a singles skater?”

“No, and neither did Janne. See, look at me. I represent the ideal skating body type,” Silja said without conceit. “A good figure skater has a slender, short build. Being too tall just makes jumps harder. Janne is just over six feet, which is like a couple inches too tall for a good triple axel. And Noora’s legs are too short and her hips are too wide, and she puts on weight easily. But she’s crazy flexible and so talented. Wait, what am I saying?”

Silja realized she had been using the wrong tense and started crying. I’d been surprised how well she had controlled her nerves up to that point. I asked whether she wanted to stop the interview, but she said she could continue.

“Rami and Elena were pretty tired of Noora’s tantrums too. I know Rami’s been trying to calm her down, but it hasn’t helped.” Silja choked on another sob. Koivu handed her a packet of tissues that was lying on the table, and I noticed he was blushing. Silja was gorgeous even when she was blubbering.

“So, things have been pretty tense on the team lately, despite all the success. How did Elena Grigorieva and Rami Luoto divide up their work?”

“Elena just moved to Finland a couple of years ago. In Russia she specialized in training pairs skaters, but now she also trains singles because there just aren’t very many pairs here. Rami has been coaching all of us since we were kids, and it was his idea that Janne and Noora should try pairs skating. He got pretty far with them, and now he’s started doing choreography for juniors and beginners competitions. I think he’s more interested in that than coaching. How they divide things up can be pretty confusing, though. Sometimes Rami handles things and sometimes Elena does, and I think that irritates her. But their results have been good.”

Talking about skating instead of relationships was clearly helping Silja calm down. But we needed to get back to that.

“And Rami and Elena’s relationship? Did they fight? Whose side did Noora take?”

“No, they didn’t actually fight. Rami is sort of . . . he always gives in. I think he’s a little afraid of Elena. And Noora definitely trusted Elena more than him. Janne says Rami’s style fits him better, though.”

Silja took another nose-blowing break and sat quietly as if considering something.

Then she straightened her shoulders and looked at the wall as she said, “I’m really afraid Janne killed Noora. He was totally pissed last night. I’m surprised he didn’t throw Noora down on the ice in the middle of a lift. When I was leaving the rink, he came into the box where I was taking a drink. Elena was just showing Noora a free-foot position for the death spiral. Janne was furious. He said, ‘Stupid bitch, I could kill her right now.’”

Silja burst out crying again, and I leaned forward in my chair to pat her on the shoulder, since I didn’t know what else to do. Koivu looked as if he would have liked to caress Silja’s hair pulled back in its ballerina bun.

“Plenty of people say things like that without meaning anything by it,” I said. “I understand you feel like you’re betraying Janne by telling us, but don’t worry. We don’t go around arresting people just because of words. Is this the only reason you wanted to meet with us?”

“No, not just that. Dad didn’t tell me how Noora was murdered, but I heard him talking to Mom . . . I don’t think they knew I could hear. Was Noora really beaten to death with her own skates?”

I didn’t know what to say. Silja looked from Koivu to me with hopeless pleading in her eyes.

“Please tell me the truth! If I don’t know what happened, I’m just going to imagine something worse!”

“Noora was beaten with her skates, but the cause of death was a smashed skull,” I said quietly.

“How long did it last? How much did Noora suffer?”

“I don’t know exactly, but everything must have happened pretty quickly if Noora left the rink around seven and was found just before eight.”

I had been trying to comfort myself all day by telling myself that at least Noora hadn’t had to suffer much. But who could measure another person’s pain and fear, and did it really matter in the end how long the fear of death lasted? I remembered Noora’s gaze again as she played a girl looking her own death in the eyes. I didn’t want to imagine how she had looked in the actual situation, so I quickly asked another question.

“You left the ice rink around six, right? Had Ulrika Weissenberg already left too? Did you see anyone around the building who wasn’t usually there?”

“Ulrika’s gold BMW was still in the parking lot. I remember because it had started raining and I wondered whether she could drop me off at the bus stop. When I didn’t see her, though, I just ran. Tomi, Elena’s husband, drove up while I was leaving.”

“So you didn’t see Vesku Teräsvuori?” I asked directly.

“No, although he does hang around the rink sometimes, waiting for Noora and her mom. I didn’t notice him yesterday, though.”

Silja went quiet again and grabbed a furry teddy bear to hold too. The pile of animals seemed strange in the otherwise grown-up girl’s room, but maybe they were presents from fans. Nothing in the room indicated that a top-level figure skater lived in it. On the walls there were a couple of posters of calming forest landscapes, and the dried bouquet of roses on top of the bookshelf looked more like a confirmation gift than anything from an admirer. A trophy case wouldn’t have fit in the room. Maybe the cups and medals were in the living room.

Silja blew her nose loudly but still managed to look elegant while doing it. She squeezed the bear and the raccoon tightly.

Suddenly she looked up and almost yelled. “You know the skates are a really important piece of evidence, right? Whoever killed Noora knew that she had the perfect murder weapon in her bag. It had to be someone who knew her!”

“Since Edmonton, a lot of people know Noora,” I replied, although I had been thinking the same thing. “But yes, whoever killed Noora may well have been someone who knew her, even if she didn’t know them. And it wouldn’t have been hard to guess that Noora had skates in her bag, since she was coming out of the ice rink.”

“But how would a stranger have been able to get the skates in the first place? Actually, though, I can imagine exactly how it happened.” Silja blew her nose again before continuing. “Noora had a really deep hollow sharpened in her blades so she could get a really tight, low arc on her death spiral. We were all looking at it yesterday at the rink. Someone must have asked Noora to show it to them on the way home. Someone Noora trusted . . .”

Silja started sobbing so hard it was difficult to understand her. “Instead of looking at the blades, whoever it was started hitting her with them . . .” Silja buried her face in the raccoon.

Koivu glanced at me. He clearly wanted to stop the tape and end the interview. Terttu Taskinen came to the door, but she didn’t say anything. She just sat down next to her daughter and wrapped her arms around her.

“Let’s stop now, Silja. I respect your theory, but try not to think too much about Noora’s murderer being one of your friends. It’s more likely it was someone else. You’re very brave for talking to us.” I gingerly patted her trembling shoulder.

After wrapping up the interview tape, I nodded to Koivu that we should go.

“One more thing,” Silja said as we were leaving. “Noora had this big blow up because she couldn’t find her skate bags. Her mom must have left them on her old ones. Because her skates were in her bag with everything else, she put blade guards on them. She was worried about them rusting even though they were brand new.”

Rubber skate guards were soft and porous, so fingerprints would stick to them. Where were they now?

In the car my blond bear cub of a partner was strangely quiet.

“Have you seen Silja skate?” he finally asked, glancing at me as if ashamed.

“Yes, in person and on TV. I like her style. A lot of female skaters are too sugary for my taste, but Silja has just the right edge.”

“Yeah, even though she looks like that princess from Monaco when she was young.”

“Yeah, you’re right. She’s just like Grace Kelly in
Rear Window
! But Koivu, Silja is ten years younger than you.”

“So what! Age isn’t everything,” Koivu said, blushing disarmingly. He had a serious crush on Silja Taskinen. “Is Silja dating this Janne Kivi character?” Koivu continued. “I just mean, Noora might have been jealous. And Silja was so worried about him . . .” Koivu tripped over his words, but his clumsy inquiry felt refreshing in the midst of all the darkness. The rain had started falling again, and the blanket of gray clouds had fallen almost to tree level. Tiny droplets drizzled on the windshield.

“I haven’t heard anything like that. As far as I know Silja is single. I promise, I’ll let you go get her signature for the affidavit on the interview transcript.”

Koivu blushed even worse, and I mussed his hair as if he really were my little brother.

Then I took my phone out and called Antti to let him know he shouldn’t expect me for a few more hours.

“Something bad?” Antti asked cautiously. He was used to me not saying much about my work.

“A murder.”