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route he did? How did they know to have a car at the right spot? They didn’t. The problem was solved by using two cars. The killers were in telephone contact with the cars and were giving them instructions the whole time. When the target approached the Linnunlaulu bridge, one of the cars was sent to Eläintarhantie, the other to the City Theatre. With only one car, they would have lost the guy by the railway bridge at the latest.”
    “Sounds like a police operation,” Huovinen reflected.
    “Or military,” I said.
    “Are you implying that a group of terrorists has set up shop here and some huge posse of foreign agents is after it?” Leivo snorted, an even more dubious expression on his face. “And why did it all happen right there on the bridge?”
    “They were following Ali Hamid’s cousin Tagi, because they were looking for the person he was supposed to meet. Afterwards the target was no longer of any use to them, and he was killed. The victim’s face was mutilated so that he wouldn’t be identified too soon.”
    “What do you mean, too soon?” Sillanpää wondered.
    “Because they knew that, whether or not his face was mutilated, the deceased would eventually be identified. It’s obvious that it’s only a matter of time. So whatever they’re planning on doing here will take place within a very short time frame.”
    My words were followed by a silence. It was broken by Deputy Chief Leivo.
    “It seems to me that the theory cuts too many corners. The commander and I – and I have already discussed this matter with the commander – feel that you have much more plausible theories. I mean the one in which two men, potentially skinheads, kill a foreigner who’s waiting for his friend on the bridge. The friend shows up and tries to run from them, but falls in front of a train.”
    “That was the best theory until we found the two new victims at the body shop,” I agreed. “After that, it was clear that this wasn’t a coincidence.”
    Leivo ignored me.
    “Or drugs. Maybe they simply had a drug deal that led to an argument and the murders. That would give them a good motive for keeping quiet. Drugs would also explain Hamid’s torture. He was either being punished, or they wanted information from him.”
    “That’s possible, too… but I don’t believe it.”
    “You don’t? Well, since you’re sure, why don’t you tell us who the killers are?” Leivo said testily.
    “If we’re dealing with the kind of operation I think we’re dealing with, I can only come up with two alternatives. Either a disagreement arose within a terrorist group and the more fanatic wing killed the others, or else the killers belong to the intelligence agency of some country.”
    Half a dozen pairs of eyes turned to look at Inspector Sillanpää. We were clearly in SUPO territory now. Sillanpää didn’t even bother standing.
    “We don’t have any indication that a terrorist attack was being planned, and I venture to claim that we’re the ones who know most about such matters. In addition, we collaborate with the intelligence agencies of numerous other countries and are immediately informed if even a single suspected terrorist approaches our little northern paradise. Agents of foreign powers aren’t in the habit of coming here to carry out operations, at least on the scale that the aforementioned theory would require.”
    Sillanpää’s delivery was convincing. And yet I still sensed that he was steering and slowing the investigation. I was good about picking up on stuff like that, or at least that’s what I liked to believe.
    “Simply the fact that all of the victims are Arabs shouldn’t make us jump to hasty conclusions,” Sillanpää continued. “Of course we shouldn’t discount the possibility of terrorism either. We’re looking into the backgrounds of the deceased with the help of our international contacts. I would, however, continue to urge caution in the use of the word terrorism. If it leaks into the