Jarkko Sipila - Cold Trail

“Got a sec?” Joutsamo asked. Without waiting for an answer, she entered and closed the door behind her. She was wearing a gray sweater. November was coming to an end, and it was already growing dark outside. The temperature was teetering above and below freezing.

“Well?” Takamäki asked, as Joutsamo sat down in the chair across from him. Takamäki was still wearing a white shirt and tie, because that morning they had had to attend some pointless meeting at the Ministry of the Interior. His sport coat was hanging from the back of his chair.

“I have a theory.”

“About what?”

“Everything, of course,” Joutsamo smiled. “But especially about this Repo case.”

Takamäki nodded. It had been six weeks since the explosion. The incident had been in the media for a few days, but had then been overshadowed by other news. The Office of the Attorney General had started investigating the matter, but nothing much had been heard from there. This came as no surprise to Takamäki-the office was known for its glacial pace .

“Lay it on me,” Takamäki said.

“I got the final DNA reports this morning, and I’ve been thinking about them. Of course they found Timo Repo’s and his wife Arja’s DNA on the belongings. But in addition, they were also able to pick up DNA from Arja’s shirt that belonged to Erik Repo.”

“That’s interesting, but it doesn’t prove…”

“Listen, I know it only indicates that Erik Repo was at the scene. It doesn’t put the knife in his hand. All I said was that I had a theory.”

“Continue,” Takamäki said.

“The items also included a stuffed animal that had been found on the kitchen floor, because it had blood on it, too. It turns out that it was-as I expected-Arja’s blood. But they found something else on that stuffed animal, too. In other words, the child’s DNA, of course, which was determined by that blood sample we acquired. Which leads us to my theory.”

Takamäki was listening.

“The child’s DNA looked strange, and my friend at the NBI lab took a closer look at it. Arja was the boy’s, Joel’s, mother, but Timo Repo was not the father.”

“Theoretically speaking, that would give Timo more of a motive.”

Joutsamo shook her head. “I checked the calls from the night of the explosion. Repo mentioned his son twice. He didn’t know.”

“But Grandpa Erik did?”

“Or found out,” Joutsamo said. “It’s pure speculation, but it fits the picture. Timo Repo passes out. Erik and his daughter-in-law start to bicker about something. That’s what Erik had told Timo, and according to the old interrogation reports, it wasn’t the first time. The situation escalates. They’re drunk.”

Takamäki interrupted, “As far as I can recall, in the preliminary investigative reports no one mentioned anything about shouting.”

“Maybe they didn’t shout. Maybe they just argued. Maybe they didn’t want to wake up Timo, who was passed out. Anyway, Arja insults her father-in-law and he dishes it right back. At some point, she pulls out the big guns and insults the family by telling him that the child was the result of an extramarital affair. Grandpa Erik can’t stomach it and slashes her throat. Then, in a panic, he frames his son.”

“Why?”

“This is just a theory, but maybe he considered his son just as worthless as the woman he killed,” Joutsamo said.

“Cruel father,” Takamäki said.

“Wouldn’t be the first. But like I said, this is just a theory. And we won’t be able to take it any further.”

Takamäki nodded. “I also have a theory. A drunk married couple gets into a fight. The woman insults the man by telling him the kid is someone else’s. The man panics, kills the woman, and doesn’t remember anything. They don’t always. The man’s father is on the scene or happens to come in a little later and sees what happened. He flees the apartment in horror and doesn’t call the police until he’s outside the building.”

“Cruel husband,” Joutsamo said.

“But the dad isn’t so bad after all. He sees his son languishing in uncertainty in prison and decides to ease his pain. He lies to his son that he committed the crime. He knows he’ll lose his son, but he’ll save him from going insane,” Takamäki said. “But this is just a theory, too. And we won’t be able to take it any further.”

“But the courts did, once upon a time,” Joutsamo mused. “All the way to a murder conviction.”