Read Online The Hummingbird by Kati Hiekkapelto - Free Book Online

with a sense of confidence and routine. It looked so clean and easy, as though this wasn’t a real human being at all, someone who had been alive only a moment ago. As Riikka’s stomach and internal organs came into view, Linnea explained that people were always shocked to hear what she does for a living, and that in bars she generally said she was a doctor – or preferably a nurse. Telling someone you’re a pathologist or a coroner was likely to scare off even the most self-assured flirts, while calling yourself a doctor meant that half the bar expected you to be holding opensurgery over your pint glass. Being a nurse was a safe option. For lots of people it sounded just stupid and subversive enough to be attractive. The only problem was that Linnea wasn’t the least interested in the kind of men that would be interested in that kind of woman.
‘Five years as a single parent is starting to get me down. I need a man,’ Linnea chortled as she weighed the liver. ‘Even a quick bit of fun would do.’
That shouldn’t be too difficult, thought Anna as she watched the good-looking blonde at work. She was beautiful and well educated, and probably fairly affluent too. Not from Koivuharju, that’s for sure.
‘Nothing out of the ordinary here,’ Linnea concluded. ‘A healthy young woman, no pregnancies. She’d eaten a small portion of something a few hours before her death. Judging by the colour she’d washed it down with a glass of orange juice. I’ll take a closer look at the stomach contents later on. Internal organs all fine, intestines fine, no signs of drug or alcohol abuse. We’ll send of blood samples for testing, but I’m pretty sure nothing will show up. Lungs are clean – this girl didn’t even smoke. Well behaved, I’d imagine. Except for the sperm. I’ll extract the DNA, see if we can identify Mr X.’
Linnea continued somewhat more quietly.
‘The shower of bullets destroyed the head entirely. She died instantaneously. The shot came from right in front of her, and the shooter was so close that the barrel of the gun could almost have been touching her. Terrifyingly brazen, don’t you think?’
‘It certainly is. What about time of death?’ asked Anna.
‘The victim was discovered at nine in the morning. I arrived at the scene around midday. My initial estimate put time of death around ten o’clock the previous evening, and that still stands. Ten p.m., give or take an hour or so, because last night was so cold and wet. Funny time to go out jogging, isn’t it?’
‘I suppose,’ Anna sighed. It was late.
 
‘Join me for a drink on Saturday?’ asked Linnea as they pulled off their scrubs and masks in the coroner’s changing room.
Anna was almost taken aback. She drew a deep breath.
‘I can’t. My brother’s coming round,’ she lied and could feel herself blushing.
‘My kids are with their dad this weekend, and I’m not planning on lounging around the house. Bring your brother along, too. Is he as good-looking as you? Single? How old is he?’
The redness of Anna’s cheeks deepened.
‘Thirty-nine. And yes, he is single, I think. He can’t speak Finnish though.’
‘Doesn’t matter, I’ve got a first in body language,’ said Linnea with almost a cackle.
Anna tried to laugh with her, though all she wanted to do was run out of the room and make her way up into the daylight. Ákos and the doctor of pathology. The mere thought was a catastrophe waiting to happen.
Anna had lunch in a good Thai restaurant in the city centre and swore she’d never again poison herself with food from the station canteen. With the harmony of coconut milk and lemongrass still lingering on her tongue, she retreated into her office, uploaded the autopsy photographs to her computer and wrote up her notes. After this, it was time to prepare for the interview with Riikka’s parents. Virkkunen had told her to oversee the interview with Esko, but Anna had no intention of reminding him. She noted down a few key