Read Online The Hummingbird by Kati Hiekkapelto - Free Book Online Page A

questions that she mustn’t forget, and otherwise decided to let the interview progress at its own pace. At the outset it was hard to put down anything too concrete. Most important was to get a broad overview of Riikka’s life and her circle of friends. That should take the investigation a long way. At the very least it would sprawl out around her like a battlefield around a lonely soldier. We’re going to need reinforcements, Anna guessed. This is going to be big.
 
Anna didn’t need to remind him or go to Saloinen by herself; Esko appeared at the door of her office at two o’clock sharp and informed her in typically abrupt fashion that it was time to go.Again, the drive was as quiet as the open-sea ice in the heart of winter.
After a night of agony, Riikka’s parents sat in their living room, lost and anxious. Esko placed a Thermos flask and packet of biscuits on the coffee table in front of the couple, a look of empathy in his reddened eyes.
‘I thought I’d bring you some coffee,’ he said and the Rautios nodded, touched.
He knows what he’s doing, thought Anna. Have I been too quick to judge him?
‘Tell us about the boyfriend with whom Riikka had been staying. How long had they been dating?’ Anna began the interview and immediately cursed her elementary mistake: only ask one question at a time.
‘His name is Jere Koski. He studies mathematics at the university. They’d been seeing each other for almost three years,’ Juhani answered. The man’s voice was hushed. Speech seemed difficult, as though forming each word caused him great pain.
‘Where did they first meet?’
‘There was a get-together for high-school students a few years ago. I think that’s where it started. But they’ve always known one another. Jere is a few years older than Riikka, but he’s from the same village.’
‘What did you think of their relationship?’ asked Anna.
Juhani seemed at a loss for words. Irmeli stared at her feet as though wondering what on earth they were doing there.
‘Well … what do parents normally think of their only daughter’s boyfriends? At first we weren’t exactly thrilled, especially given his…’ Riikka’s father cleared his throat. ‘His background. But…’
‘But what of it?’ Irmeli interrupted her husband with a scowl. Anna was somewhat startled by the chill in her voice. ‘You can’t – and shouldn’t – try and get in the way of young love.’
‘Jere’s a good boy, he studies at the university and everything. Riikka seemed content, so we accepted the situation and were happy for her,’ said Juhani.
‘What was wrong with the boy’s background?’ asked Esko.
‘Well, there’s nothing wrong with it as such,’ Juhani Rautio seemed a little embarrassed. ‘Jere’s father, Veikko Koski, is long-term unemployed and he likes a pint. He’s off work on disability leave, for his back apparently, but everybody knows it’s because of the booze. His wife’s a cleaner at the local school. She’s nice.’
Was that the problem, Anna wondered. Better folk didn’t think a boy from a poor family was right for their daughter?
‘Did Riikka have any boyfriends before Jere?’ asked Esko.
‘They’d been together for so long,’ said Irmeli. ‘She was too young to have any others.’
‘What kind of man is this Jere? Describe him for me,’ asked Esko.
‘Just an average young man, not a drunk like his father, not yet anyway. He’s an outdoor kind of person, always off camping or fishing,’ said Juhani.
‘Does he go hunting, too?’ asked Esko.
The room fell silent. An expression of restlessness crept across Juhani’s face. The corner of Irmeli’s mouth twitched nervously. She looked at her husband in horror.
‘You don’t think…?’
‘Of course not. You said that Jere is the outdoor type. Does he go hunting or not?’ Esko continued unflinchingly.
‘Yes, he does.’
‘Can you expand on that?’
Juhani considered this for a moment before continuing.
‘He hunts a lot –