Jarkko Sipila - Nothing but the Truth

Lehtonen took a sidelong glance at Römpötti as she spoke into the receiver. “I don’t want to hide anymore.”

Joutsamo was quiet. “Well, let’s talk face to face at least. Can I pick you guys up? Where are you?”

“I don’t see why we should meet,” said Mari. “I mean…what’s the point if you can’t help me. I think I’m just gonna have to change my game plan.” Lehtonen looked at Römpötti and hung up the phone.

Römpötti didn’t say anything. The woman would have to take the initiative, and Römpötti was all ears.

“It was a real bomb. In a car, in front of our building,” said Mari in a low voice.

“Maybe it has something to do with you?” said Römpötti. Lehtonen nodded. The story was shaping up into headline news: Car Bomb Planted at Murder Witness’s Doorstep.

“So do you want to hear my story?”

She did, and Mari told her everything.

SUNDAY, 12:00 P.M.

PASILA POLICE HEADQUARTERS

Fifteen or so grim-faced police officers had assembled in the VCU conference room. In addition to Takamäki’s core group of detectives, a few other VCU investigators, VCU Chief Karila, Kannas from Forensics, Nykänen from the NBI and Syväoja from the Finnish Security Intelligence Service were present. The FSIS was in charge of national security and took an interest in the bomb since Finland was the current president of the European Union. Because Finland’s term expired at the end of the year and no important conferences remained, Syväoja was the lone FSIS representative needed at the meeting.

The time was two minutes to twelve when Deputy Chief Skoog walked into the room and greeted everyone with a tight-lipped nod.

Takamäki took a final glance at the clock and commenced the meeting with a briefing on the background of the case, including Mari Lehtonen’s testimony and the subsequent threats, after which he went into the events of the day.

“At nine o’clock this morning we found the most serious threat so far,” said Takamäki. “A car parked in front of Lehtonen’s apartment building with an explosive in the back seat footwell. This resulted in an extensive precautionary evacuation of all residents in the area. The full story hasn’t yet been revealed to the residents or the public, but we’ll go through the media process later. Let’s start with Lehtonen. Joutsamo, what’s the latest?”

Joutsamo shrugged. “I chatted with Mari. She doesn’t want to cooperate with us. Thinks we’re trying to solve her problems by locking her up in some kind of quasi-prison, which she’s opposed to because she doesn’t feel she’s done anything wrong.”

“What? Is she nuts?” said Deputy Chief Skoog.

“Not nuts,” said Joutsamo. “More like a woman of principle. Once she’s made up her mind, she doesn’t change it.”

“Sounds nuts to me,” said Skoog. “Have you explained the gravity of the situation to her?”

Joutsamo ignored the comment and went on, “At this point we don’t know exactly where she is. Apparently still in the city somewhere, but she hasn’t returned home. The blockade was lifted as soon as the explosives were removed. We posted a squad car in front of the apartment building, but there’s been no sight of her, nor her daughter. In a way, that’s a positive sign, since if we don’t know where they are, then it’s unlikely Korpi’s henchmen do either.”

Takamäki interrupted. “An even better sign would be getting them back into the safe house.”

“I don’t think it’s possible… We can’t force them.”

Skoog looked pensive. “Can’t force them… Well, if we can’t, maybe a psychologist can. We could have her committed, and the girl could go into foster care.”

Joutsamo scowled in Takamäki’s direction. “Hmm…”

Skoog was unfazed. “That’s my recommendation at this point. We can’t let a woman targeted by these kinds of threats prance around town while we sit around and wait for the next bomb threat. That’s a good way to get innocent bystanders killed.”

“So Lehtonen’s not an innocent bystander?” said Joutsamo.

Skoog glared at the sergeant. “She’s the target-that’s what she is. No question about it. The centerpiece of this case.”

“We’ll talk tactics later,” said Takamäki. “We haven’t even gone through the incident yet. Kannas, what about the explosive? What do we know

about it?”

Kannas stood up. “We’ve received the preliminary results from the NBI lab. The backpack was filled with a plastic explosive by the name of hexogen, also known as RDX, developed during the Second World War. Chemically, it’s a nitroamine organic compound, which is basically military grade, so the same stuff the pros use. As far as its composition, more precise tests are still underway, and I’m sure we’ll hear more soon. Provided they don’t blow up their lab in the process,” said Kannas with a campy baritone and a smile.

The others weren’t amused. Takamäki was about to guide him back on topic, but for once, Kannas checked himself, “I won’t go into the technical details; we can talk about that later as needed. The origin of the explosive is still unknown…” said Kannas, looking straight at Syväoja, who would take an interest in this aspect, since it was the same explosive used by the Chechen rebels in Russia. “…But we did find one fingerprint on the bomb’s detonator, which, by the way, wasn’t set properly. The bomb could never have exploded because one of the safeties was still engaged. No telling if that was accidental or intentional. At any rate, based on the timer, the bomb was set to go off at 10:28. The scariest part was the fact that cold weather makes the explosive very unstable. We had to warm up the car before moving…”

“Kannas. The fingerprint,” said Takamäki.

“Right. The print belongs to a man from Korpi’s gang by the name of Matti Ahola, at least presumably he’s still with Korpi. Twenty-six years old with a history of drugs and debt collection.”

“One of Korpi’s lieutenants, according to the information we have,” said Takamäki. “He is-or at least was-a former drug addict himself, but Korpi’s been using him mainly as a torpedo. A warrant for his arrest has already been issued. Based on Suhonen’s description, it’s possible the driver of the Escort was Ahola, but that’s still unconfirmed.”

“The car is at our lab for further analysis, but I haven’t received any results yet,” said Kannas.

“Photos of Ahola have been posted at all border checkpoints,” said Takamäki.

Joutsamo had made copies of Ahola’s photo for everybody. His nose, broken at some point in his life, was raked sharply to the left. “Ahola is one of three lieutenants responsible for his own branch in Korpi’s organization. We don’t really have a complete picture of everyone involved, but here’s a diagram with some of Ahola’s potential connections,” said Joutsamo as she handed out copies. “Moving down from Korpi we have three main offshoots: Ahola, Siikala and Nyberg, and then a bunch more subordinates as you go down the line.”

The names, telephone numbers and other contact information were written beneath the photos. “We matched the fingerprint to Ahola twenty-five minutes ago, so he’s got about a two-and-a-half-hour head start.”

“Does he have any connections to foreign operatives?” asked Syväoja, his eyes scanning the handout.

“Some Russians and Estonians, but no links to known terrorist groups.”

Syväoja seemed satisfied.

Kulta spoke up, “Any link between Ahola and the envelope the Lehtonen girl got?”

“Nope,” said Joutsamo. “We don’t have his DNA on file, and so far we’ve found no matches to the DNA on the envelope.”