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

ducks, hares, grouse. He travelled to Lapland to shoot ptarmigans; Riikka often went with him. He was a member of an elk-hunting club too.’
‘So he had access to firearms,’ Esko stated.
‘Yes, well, I imagine so, without them you wouldn’t really…’
‘We’re going to need Jere’s contact details. You do have his telephone number?’
‘Yes, of course. We tried to call him last night when … when Riikka … But he didn’t pick up.’
Anna and Esko glanced at one another. Esko nodded. He tapped Jere’s address and telephone number into his mobile.
‘You carry on,’ he instructed Anna. ‘I’ll bring him in straight away.’
That went smoothly, thought Anna, bewildered. Almost as though we were working together.
 
It was hard to continue once Esko had gone. A sense of suspicion had descended on the room, and even thinking about it was uncomfortable. Juhani and Irmeli looked anxious and concerned.
‘We just can’t believe…’ Irmeli stuttered.
‘You appreciate that we have to check everything,’ Anna interjected. ‘We have to turn every stone, rule out all possibilities until there’s only one left. But tell me more about Riikka and Jere, their relationship.’
That was at least three questions, Anna again berated herself. What a lousy interviewer.
It was clear that Juhani and Irmeli were reluctant to go on. Irmeli’s whole body was trembling gently, and Juhani was holding back tears. They were exhausted and beside themselves. Anna poured them more coffee and waited. Juhani eventually pulled himself together and began speaking, his voice taut with agony.
‘Like I said, Jere is a good boy, he studies hard and enjoys being outdoors. Riikka had taken up hunting and rambling with him, and fishing. She was even thinking of applying for her own hunting licence, so she could take part in the annual hunt. We were a bit surprised; we’ve never done anything like that ourselves, though we enjoy eating game like anyone else.’
‘Even berries we’d rather get at the market,’ said Irmeli with a forced laugh.
‘Riikka took her high-school exams this spring. All As and Bs,’ said Juhani.
‘Smart girl,’ Anna commented. Juhani wiped his eyes.
‘Did she have lots of friends?’
‘Oh yes. The same group of girls had been friends since nursery school. Her closest friend was Virve Sarlin; they’d been in the same class from primary school right through to the end of high school. Two of a kind, they were.’
Anna noted down the name.
‘And how long had she been living with Jere?’ she asked.
‘She moved in with him straight after the school exams.’
‘What did you think of the move?’
‘Well, it didn’t make any sense, especially as she’d applied to university in Jyväskylä and got a place there. We told her moving twice in a year would be too much, but she moved anyway. She didn’t have to ask our permission, she was eighteen, after all.’
‘Did they ever argue?’
‘I don’t imagine so,’ said Irmeli and gave her husband a questioning look. Juhani shook his head. ‘We thought they were quite settled.’
‘And what about recently? Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary?’
‘About Riikka or the relationship?’
‘Both. What about Jere?’
Again the couple looked at one another, as though searching for an answer in the other’s eyes. They seemed uncertain.
‘We don’t really know,’ Irmeli began. ‘Riikka only visited a few times this past summer, only to do her laundry, really. Perhaps she was a little quieter than usual, now that I think of it.’
Juhani nodded his head.
‘But was that out of the ordinary?’ Irmeli continued. ‘It’s hard to say. Even as a child she was a quiet one. Come to think of it, I don’t think the two of them visited us at all this summer, did they, Juhani?’
For a moment Juhani was silent.
‘They visited at Midsummer. And they turned up together at Riikka’s great-grandmother’s birthday. That was on the fifteenth of June.’
‘Wasn’t