Helena Halme - The Red King of Helsinki - Lies, Spies and Gymnastics

‘I wonder where they all are,’ she whispered to Heikki.

‘What are we doing here?’ Heikki whispered back.

Pia said nothing. She was thinking. They heard a door opening at the other end of the floor. An elderly man in a dark green wool coat and felt hat came out of the door.

‘Good evening,’ he said.

‘Evening,’ Pia and Heikki said.

‘You won’t find anyone there,’ the man said, nodding his head towards Anni’s door.

‘Oh?’

‘Left for Moscow yesterday. An urgent assignment, they said.’

‘Who said that? Mr Linnonmaa?’ Pia asked.

‘No, they had two foreign chaps doing the moving for them. Didn’t see the Linnonmaas at all, actually. Must have travelled ahead.’

The man stood looking at Pia and Heikki. Suddenly Pia realised he was expecting them to leave the apartment block. She nudged Heikki and smiled to the man. They went down the spiral staircase and out into the cold street.

‘Hello!’

Pia heard someone shout from the other side of the street. She watched as Sasha ran towards them.

‘Did you tell her to follow us?’ she said to Heikki.

Heikki was looking at his feet, ‘Of course not.’

Pia could have hit him. Instead she put on a false smile. Sasha stood in front of them, panting.

‘What are you doing here?’

Sasha looked from Heikki to Pia. ‘It’s a free country, isn’t it?’

‘Hi,’ Heikki said feebly.

Pia didn’t speak.

‘My aunt lives on Tehtaankatu, if you must know. She’s just had a baby.’

Pia considered this lie. She knew Sasha lived in a big house in Meilahti, the other side of town. She’d never seen her around Ullanlinna.

‘The point is: what are you two doing here, hanging around Anni’s apartment?’ Sasha looked triumphant.

Heikki gave Pia a sideways glance, and said, ‘Oh, you know, we were just having a ciggie, thinking we’d ask Anni to come out.’ He put his arm proprietarily around Pia’s waist. She smiled, but could not help wondering how Sasha knew where Anni lived. She was glad Heikki hadn’t spilled the beans, though.

Sasha looked at them and said, ‘Oh.’ On tiptoe, she moved closer to Heikki and whispered into his ear, ‘Give me a call later.’

Pia was furious. She watched Sasha’s pink down jacket turn the corner of Tehtaankatu.

‘What was that all about?’

‘Dunno.’

‘Did she really think I wouldn’t hear what she said when I was standing right next to you?’

Heikki didn’t reply. Pia wanted to ask if he often spoke to Sasha on the telephone in the evenings, but they had to hurry. Pia knew the Russian would not be far away, and now they’d shown themselves twice outside Anni’s house. Pia told Heikki to run to the door and hide by the entrance. She looked around. The street was quiet, only a drunk in the distance talking to himself and holding a bottle. She followed Heikki to the door of the block of flats.

‘Quickly, you know what to do.’

Heikki looked at Pia, his eyes wide. They were both tense.

‘We can’t trick a second person. C’mon before anybody sees us,’ she said, and added, ‘Don’t tell me you don’t know how to do this?’

‘You’re incredible,’ Heikki said. He removed something that looked like a thin silver knife from his school bag. He pushed the implement into the lock, and wiggled it about for a while. Pia looked down the stairwell through the glass door. No one.

‘There you are, Madam!’ Heikki said triumphantly. He opened the door for Pia and they went inside. The door locked behind them.

This time the stairwell was quiet, and even Heikki managed to walk noiselessly up the stone steps. Outside Anni’s door they stood for a moment and listened.

‘I suppose you want me to undo this lock too?’ Heikki whispered.

Pia gave him a look. It took him a lot longer this time, there seemed to be something slipping inside the lock. Eventually on the third try, the mechanism caught and the door opened.

The flat was cold. Some furniture had been removed, like the rug, and a lamp, but it looked as it always did when Pia came to visit. The lights were on in the hall. Why hadn’t she seen their reflection from the street? All the curtains must be drawn, she thought. She went into the kitchen. Heikki followed. She put the light on. This window overlooked the inner courtyard, and she hoped, if the Russian was watching them, he wouldn’t see the light from the outside. The kitchen was neat and tidy, just as it had been after the KGB left on Wednesday night. Pia looked inside cupboards, nothing seemed out of place. She walked slowly into the room where she’d been held together with Anni and her father. The small table was there, and the bed, covered with a lace bedspread. Just as she remembered it. The dusty smell of the room made her shiver.

Pia went back into the kitchen. Heikki wasn’t there. She heard a door shut and followed the sound into Mr Linnonmaa’s study. It was the third door on the left in the hall. She’d seen him come out of the room many times carrying a bundle of papers, but had never been inside. Pia saw Heikki bent over something. He was looking into one of the drawers of Mr Linnonmaa’s large desk. A lamp on top of it was lit. Pia saw the heavy curtains were indeed drawn.

‘What are you doing?’ she said.

Heikki jumped up. Pia realised he hadn’t heard her come in. She saw the silver thing he’d used to open the door to the apartment lying on the desk. Heikki grabbed it quickly and shut the drawer. He looked fleetingly at Pia. ‘Oh, nothing, just wondered if we’d find out where they’ve gone.’

Pia looked at Heikki’s face. He was lying. Why?

‘What do you have to do with all this?’

‘Nothing, I’m just helping you, remember?’ Heikki put his arm around Pia. He turned off the lamp on the desk. The room descended into darkness and Heikki started kissing Pia. ‘Not now, we have to make sure no one’s here!’ Pia said. She turned towards the thin strip of light showing under the door.

They looked into every room. The lounge looked empty of furniture. Only a coffee table remained, but the dining room was untouched. Pia lingered a moment longer in Anni’s room. Her clothes rail was half full, as if someone had grabbed a bunch of clothes and left the rest. On her desk were school books in a neat pile and make-up arranged in a tiny box. In Anni’s parents’ room some of her mother’s dresses were hanging at one end of the rail. As with Anni’s clothes, it looked as if the rest had been taken away in a hurry.

Pia sat on Anni’s parents’ bed. The cover was made out of quilted satin. Heikki stood in front of her. She looked up at him and said, ‘I’m worried about Anni. What if the KGB have taken them somewhere horrible?’ She felt like crying, but held the tears back. She must stay strong. She put her head in her hands. It was hopeless, how could she help her friend when no one told her anything. What did Anni’s father have to do with a Russian defection? How had she, Pia Mäkelä, got involved in something like this?

Pia felt Heikki’s arms around her.

‘It’s OK, baby,’ he said.

‘How do you know?’ Pia saw Heikki’s eyes flicker, just for a moment.

‘Mr Linnonmaa is a celebrated diplomat. He can look after his family, I’m sure. They probably just left in a hurry and will send for the rest of the furniture and clothes later. And,’ Heikki squeezed Pia harder, ‘diplomats have immunity anyway, the Russians aren’t allowed to touch Finnish diplomats.’

‘But they did!’

‘Yes, but they let them and you go. I’m sure the KGB guy just didn’t know who he was dealing with.’

‘Heikki,’ Pia said.

‘Yes?’

‘What were you looking for in Mr Linnonmaa’s desk?’