Jarkko Sipila - Against the Wall

“Maybe we’ll find some on the computer.”

Takamäki nodded. “Good. At least we have a couple leads. The girl and the computer. Kohonen?”

“Kind of quiet on my end,” answered Kirsi Kohonen, who had canvassed the houses near the crime scene. “Not a very curious crowd in the neighborhood. Several people noticed the police cars, but that doesn’t do us much good. The house has been vacant for several years, and there are plans to build some kind of community center on the site, which the neighbors of course have opposed. The construction project has been frozen due to the complaints. Occasionally, some people related to the project have been running in and out of the house, but the neighbors didn’t pay much attention. In other words, I don’t have much. Nobody saw anything, heard anything, or said anything.”

“Said anything?” Takamäki looked skeptical. “Should we have another go at it?”

“It was a figure of speech,” Kohonen said, though she didn’t have anything against another go-around. It had occasionally paid off in the past.

“Anything else?”

“That’s it for now.”

Joutsamo interjected. “We’ve obtained a permit to search the records for the cellphone towers in the area surrounding the crime scene. That should give us some idea of whose phones have been in the area.”

“Good,” Takamäki said. “Before we get into forensics, I’ll talk about my trip to Customs… They didn’t know anything about Eriksson. In other words, we don’t know whether the murder had anything to do with Customs. But they’re going take a closer look.”

Takamäki waited for a moment. No questions, so he continued around the table.

“Kannas?”

The imposing, fifty-something-man’s hair was a bit tousled, and his heavy blue sweater seemed awkwardly warm for the stuffy office. Takamäki and Kannas had been friends since their academy days. They had also patrolled together around the Presidential Palace in the eighties.

“Ahem! Sorry, getting over a cold. We did find something at the crime scene… The body.”

Nobody laughed.

Kannas decided to cut to the chase. “First off, your assumptions about the body were correct. We ran the fingerprints, and were able to verify that the victim is, in fact, Jerry Eriksson. He was shot in the forehead. One interesting detail was that the victim was wearing a Los Angeles Lakers cap. There’s a basketball on the logo, and the bullet entered in the very center of the ball. Any basketball coach would have to admit that’s a pretty good shot ,” Kannas quipped, glancing at Kulta, the hoopster. Nobody smiled.

“At any rate, it wasn’t from point-blank range. The weapon was a hand gun.”

“Do we know whether it was a pistol or a revolver?” Kulta asked.

Kannas glared playfully at Kulta. “A machine gun can be a hand gun according to our official manuals, though we can rule out cannons and grenade launchers. In other words, we don’t know whether it was a pistol, a revolver, or a rifle. We didn’t find any casings, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything-the shooter could have picked them up. Based on the entry hole in his forehead, I would say it was a small-caliber handgun. The coroner should be able to verify that when they dig out the bullet.”

“When was he shot?” Joutsamo asked.

“Well, he was pretty chilly. Wasn’t quite fresh, so I’d estimate sometime between Sunday and Tuesday morning.”

“That’s a big range.”

“True, but it’s the best I can do.”

“Shame.”

“A little more about the garage. The cement floor was rough enough that it didn’t show any prints. The doorknobs had been wiped clean or something, so no prints there either. There’s a sandy spot in the yard, just in front of the house, where we took a plaster cast of some tire tracks. They’re worn GT Radials, made for vans.”

“For a van?” Takamäki asked.

“Yup. You can tell from the size and the tread pattern.”

“What make and color was it?” Kulta joked.

“Bring me the van and I’ll tell you if the tires match,” Kannas shot back. “A couple more things. There were a lot of cigarette butts and a wad of chewing gum in the yard, which we submitted for DNA testing. We put a rush on them, but who knows when the results will come back. And we don’t have anything right now that would connect those items to the crime.”

Kannas continued, “Eriksson didn’t have a phone on him. We’re not sure if it was taken, or if he didn’t have one to begin with.”

“These types always have a phone,” Kohonen interjected.

“Tell us where it is then.” Kulta said.

“Mikko, stick to the case,” Takamäki snapped. “If you don’t have anything to contribute, then let the rest of us think.”

Kannas bent over and took a Ziploc bag out of the briefcase beside his chair. Inside was a Belgian-made FN pistol. “Instead, we found this in his pocket. I guess it’s your job as detectives to draw the conclusions, but from our standpoint, I can say that there were no bullet holes in the walls, and we didn’t find anybody else’s blood. In other words, Eriksson probably didn’t have time to use it.”

“Kirsi, track down the history on this weapon,” Takamäki said.

Kannas handed the plastic bag to Kohonen. “The serial number is intact.”

Kannas took another plastic bag out of his briefcase. “These are the contents of Eriksson’s pockets. You should go through them when you get a chance. I haven’t personally inspected them, but we took photographs of everything.”

“Anna, you can take care of that,” Takamäki said, and Joutsamo took the bag. At a glance, it contained some tattered papers, candy wrappers, coins, keys, and a small black wallet.

* * *

Joutsamo was wearing latex gloves, and had spread the contents of Eriksson’s pockets out on the conference room table after the others had left. Eriksson had had a single five-euro note and coins amounting to eight euros and twenty cents. Joutsamo set the money, some rumpled papers she assumed to be receipts, and a pack of chewing gum aside. She also had a notepad and a green pencil stub for notetaking.

There were four keys: two regular door keys, a deadbolt key, and a Saab car key. Joutsamo guessed that one of the ordinary-looking keys and the deadbolt key were for the Kannelmäki apartment. But what was the other door key for? And did Eriksson have a Saab? They’d have to go check out the Kannelmäki apartment building’s parking lot. Or could it possibly be for Eriksson’s parents’ car? A car would be interesting if it was indeed his-they might find something to generate some new leads.

It was clear that Eriksson had been murdered for a reason, though the motive remained a mystery. Based on the facts they had compiled, it was extremely unlikely that Eriksson was the victim of a random killing.

Joutsamo sketched an outline for the murder. In many instances, it was easy to extrapolate a motive from a few basic facts. This murder didn’t seem the slightest bit emotional. On the contrary, it was coldly mechanical. The remote location of the crime and the nature of the act pointed to that conclusion.

Since it didn’t appear to be a crime of passion, the perpetrator was probably not among the victim’s immediate family. Typically, in these kinds of cases, the killer was motivated by money. In addition, the murderer was probably antisocial and had an existing criminal record. Joutsamo recalled some research, which showed that one third of murderers who killed for personal gain had previously been convicted of property crimes.

She didn’t have enough facts to draw more detailed conclusions-she needed more information. If the police were able to figure out what Eriksson had been doing recently, they might be able to figure out some possible motives. Had he met with any of his friends recently? Would they know of any enemies he might have had?