Jarkko Sipila - Nothing but the Truth

“But you’re a hero, a police officer.”

“It’s a shitty job… Ain’t much different than a criminal’s-except the government gives us the guns, so we don’t have to buy them off the black market.”

Salmela waited a while before responding, “I’ve always considered you a hero.”

Suhonen laughed. “Right.”

“If there’s anything I can be proud of, it’s that I can call you a friend.”

Suhonen gulped. “Getting kinda serious here.”

“Gotta be serious sometimes. If you don’t, you never realize what really matters.”

“Yeah…you’re right.”

Slowly, the forty-horse engine pushed the boat onward through an empty sea. The fish weren’t biting, but the coffee was good.

* * *

Takamäki was on the phone when Joutsamo stepped into his office at Pasila police headquarters. “Hockey? Sure, I can bring him,” Takamäki was saying as he glanced at Joutsamo. “Least I think so… Let’s see, one-thirty now. I suppose around three I’ll know for sure… Yeah, I’ll be there… Bye.”

“Driving the hockey shuttle?”

“Among others. How’s things with our interview subjects?”

“Neither one’s much of a talker.”

“No surprise.”

Joutsamo sat down on the opposite side of Takamäki’s desk. “What about Guerrilla? Hold onto him or let him go? The twenty-four-hour holding period will be up soon.”

“The prosecutor’s position on that was pretty clear. And I’m not arguing, either. He wasn’t in the car and nobody’s fingered him, but still, if he’s not Korpi’s right hand, then he’s his left. If the hit was planned, then what are the chances he would’ve known?”

“I’d say pretty good.”

Takamäki looked his best detective in the eyes. “How good? What standard of proof are we

looking at?”

“What, this the lieutenant-level test?”

“No. You already know I think you ought to go for lieutenant. Just mulling some things over.”

“Like what?”

“Like might Siikala cross the threshold of reasonable suspicion for murder based on the fact that the NBI classifies Korpi’s outfit as an organized crime ring and Siikala is high up in the ranks.”

“So you want to keep him?”

“Well, no, actually. If he’s not talking, he’s no use to us. But might he talk to someone else?”

Joutsamo nodded. “I see where you’re going. Phone tap or bug?”

“Why not both? Let’s start with a phone tap and see how far-reaching Korpi’s outfit really is. That might tell us if there’s any cross-over between their contacts and Tomi Salmela’s.”

“With Korpi and Nyberg both in jail, it stands to reason Siikala might be up for a promotion. That might put him more in the jurisdiction of Narcotics, though.”

“I’ll have a chat with them. If it starts looking more like their case, then they can have it. But as long as you’re in agreement, I’ll say we have reasonable suspicion to suspect Siikala and that we’re only letting him out for strategic purposes. Then we’ll get a warrant for a phone tap and see who he calls.”

That made Joutsamo pause. “And what if he just gets a new prepaid SIM card?”

“Didn’t he just have some old beat-up Nokia? Least that’s what I remember seeing in the report.”

“Yeah. I don’t remember the model, but it

was old.”

“Well, at any rate, if he bought a new SIM card he’d still have to turn on his old phone to save the numbers onto it, so the phone will connect to the network then. Once we see that, we’ll just wait for the new prepaid number to come up in the same location and get the new number.”

“I already copied all the numbers from his cellphone directory.”

“But the court won’t grant warrants for those numbers in relation to this case. Maybe Narcotics could get one, but not us. So based on the info we have so far, the trail seems to end with Siikala.”

Joutsamo nodded. “OK. Fair enough. So you’ll get the warrant for Siikala’s phones and I’ll set up the tap. You think Siikala’s phone calls for round-the-clock surveillance?” she asked, conscious of the resources such an operation could devour.

“Let’s assess it on a daily basis. Initially, at least in the daytime, we’ll have someone listen in live so we can see when he changes his SIM card, but no need to burn the midnight oil. The case is not at a critical stage at this point,” said Takamäki. All conversations and call data would be saved on a computer hard drive anyway.

“Alright. In other news, Kannas says they’re still working on the laptop, but that they did pick up some information from the Mazda’s onboard computer.”

“What’s that?”

“The engine was started on Sunday afternoon about three o’clock and ran till almost five. Went about thirty miles.”

“So that supports our case.”

“It sat idling somewhere for a while, but we don’t know where.”

“And the gas tank?”

“Half full, so I don’t think we’ll find them on any service station cameras.”

“Well, we’ll have time to think about that for a day or two. Some other places might have got them on camera. But this isn’t the kind of case where we’d really need to determine the car’s route. We have Nyberg’s picture from the store by Salmela’s apartment and a statement from an eyewitness that puts Korpi in the car. That’ll take us a ways.”

“Hopefully far enough for a conviction,” said Joutsamo.

“Well, sometimes it’s a sprint, but just as often it ends up being a marathon. Anybody heard anything from Suhonen, by the way?”

Joutsamo shook her head. “Nope. One more thing: I’m having a chat with Mari Lehtonen this evening. She wanted to meet.”

TUESDAY, 5.30 P.M.

GULF OF FINLAND

The bait had been in the water for three hours already without a single bite. No coffee left, either.

“You got anything going on tonight?” asked Salmela.

“I’m in no hurry,” said Suhonen, despite the boredom that had set in after the novelty of a majestic, desolate sea had faded. His life vest kept out the cold and he could piss in the sea-all was well.

They didn’t broach the topic of Salmela’s son again, nor any other difficult subjects. On their last coffee break, Suhonen had promised to help with the funeral and other arrangements, but that having been settled, he didn’t care to bring it up again. Of course, he was more than willing to continue that conversation if that was what Salmela wanted. But Suhonen had said his piece about grief and getting over it, and there wasn’t much more he wanted to add.

“Let’s give it another hour,” said Salmela. “Should make land before nightfall.”

“Fair enough.”

“Who knows, might even get something once it gets a little darker.”

“What, like a fine for fishing without a license?”

Salmela was quiet, which made Suhonen pensive.

After a minute, Salmela spoke up again. “About Tomi…”

“Uh-huh.”

“I heard some things that might interest you.”

Now it was Suhonen’s turn to keep quiet. Of course it interested him, but not more than his friend’s grief. He allowed Salmela to continue.

“I heard Tomi had got mixed up in some… Well…why the fuck should I sugarcoat it-only fair I give it to you straight. He was selling coke to a bunch of soap stars. Business was booming, and he was looking to expand. Heard that from one of his buddies.”

“What buddy?” said Suhonen. The tip could be related to a possible motive, so Suhonen tried to ferret out a bit more. He doubted Salmela would reveal his source, but he wouldn’t lie either.

“Can’t tell you, but it came direct from the source. Put a piece to the guy’s head last night. Pretty sure he was telling the truth.”