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

‘Mum, is she going to be alright? What if the Russian follows her, and…?’ Pia burst into tears and Maija took her daughter into her arms once more. She looked at the number Anni had written on the piece of paper in her hand. Would speaking with Jukka again plunge her and her daughter deeper into the world of intrigue and danger? Maija needed time to think before she spoke to anyone.

Leena was waiting for Vadi. He was over an hour late. The rage that she had started to feel after the first half hour was now subsiding. Instead she was worried. What if something had happened to him? Perhaps it had something to do with the Englishman. Leena hadn’t yet tried to contact him. She didn’t really know how. But Vadi had been in such a rage, she hadn’t told him that at the school that morning. Leena decided not to think the worst; the man was probably just working late. She looked at the small table she had set with two plates and two glasses. The lace tablecloth she had bought from a large Gypsy woman who had called at her door. She should never have bought anything; now the same woman was there almost weekly, though Leena did not open the door when she spotted her wide black skirt through the spy hole.

Now she was going up to the spy hole every time she heard the lift move in the hallway. But there was no one outside her door. No sign of Vadi. Leena looked at her watch; it was past seven o’clock and he’d promised to be there by six.

Leena had been quite upset about Vadi shouting at her. Luckily no one had been around, but even so, right in her office at school.

After she had left the Rixi Bar, she felt exhilarated at her ability to bluff the Englishman. Back in her office, before Vadi’s unannounced appearance, she guessed it was because some of what she’d told him was the truth. She did want to win the Tournament. It was important for her as well as the Lyceum. And Pia. Though she couldn’t understand why Vadi wanted the Finns to win. How did that further his cause? The way he was behaving towards her lately, she’d decided it wasn’t any sort of reward for her either. If Vadi was worried about keeping Leena on his side, he was going about it in a strange way. But by now Leena had learned that Vadi was not one to explain things in too much detail.

Leena heard the lift move again. She pressed her eye to the spy hole and waited. It stopped somewhere further up. Leena could hear a woman laughing, and then the lift descended and stopped at the ground floor.

Where was Vadi? It was nearing half past seven. The cabbage rolls she’d bought from the corner shop would be stone cold now. She’d need to reheat them. At least the Koskenkorva was chilled.

Just then her telephone rang.

‘Hello, can I speak with Leena Joutila?’

‘Speaking’ Leena was disappointed. It wasn’t Vadi.

‘Hello, it’s Iain Collins. We met yesterday.’

‘Hello’ was all Leena could think to say. How had the man found her number? She wasn’t in the book, mainly to stop the students finding out where she lived. Besides, the man had been in a hurry to leave Leena, so much so, that he’d left his coffee untouched.

‘I wondered if we could meet?’

Leena was thinking hard. If she said no, he’d certainly suspect something was up.

‘Yes, why not,’ she heard herself reply.

The man suggested the bar at the InterContinental Hotel. Leena had been there once with a friend who’d gone to teach in the USA for a year and had come back engaged to an American. The wedding reception at the hotel had been a grand affair. Leena wondered what she should wear there on a Sunday night, and decided on a pair of flared black pants and a colourful top. Shoes, as always, were a problem. Nothing less than her thick-lined winter boots would negotiate the walk to the tram stop. Usually on an evening out, she took a pair of indoor shoes to change into, but somehow that seemed wrong tonight, as if she was expecting to go dancing with the foreigner. Leena decided to take a pair of black patent shoes with her anyway, and see when she got there whether she’d have an opportunity to change into them unnoticed.

Vadi, too, was a problem. What if he turned up while she was away? When she was ready to leave, it was already eight o’clock. He was now two hours late. Then Leena had a thought. Her not being there – if, and when, he turned up – would teach him a lesson. Why did he assume that she didn’t have better offers? That she didn’t constantly refuse other men to be with him? She was sticking her neck on the line for him, the least he could do was to keep a date they’d arranged.

The bus dropped Leena off at Töölö Square, and she walked down the hill to the main entrance of the hotel on Mannerheimintie. It looked even grander than she remembered, but Leena took a deep breath and walked confidently in through the large revolving doors. She looked around the lobby and suddenly stopped. She only saw the man’s back, but she would have recognised him anywhere.

Vadi stood with his arm around a woman’s waist. They were talking to a receptionist at the desk. On the floor next to him was a holdall. The receptionist laughed at something Vadi said. She caught Leena’s eye. Leena ducked sideways and hid behind a pillar. Then she saw a sign, ‘Toilets.’ She walked briskly towards a set of doors to the left of the lobby and went inside. There was no one inside. She opened a door to a cubicle and sat down on top of the toilet pan. Her hands were shaking as she took her boots off and placed the high-heeled shoes on her feet.

Although she hadn’t seen his face, Leena was sure the man was Vadi. She recognised his long coat, his black boots and his blond hair. The way he stood, the way he waved his hand while talking to the receptionist, were the same. She even thought she had heard him laugh. The woman standing next to him had looked as if she did it all the time. They were very comfortable together.

When Leena saw Iain Collins, she was relieved, though a little disappointed by his appearance. He looked unshaven, and his jacket was scruffy, as were his boots. Still, he got up when he spotted Leena and offered her a drink.

‘Cuba Libre,’ Leena said immediately. She had decided what she was going to ask for while in the bus, and now she was glad. That way she appeared confident and would have the air of a woman of the world. She knew she’d get nervous and now after seeing Vadi with the woman her heart was racing as if she’d just run five kilometres. In the bus here, it had occurred to her that if this man was an enemy of sorts to Vladsislas, he would probably harm her too. But now, with Vladsislas here with another woman, the situation was even more terrifying. What Leena really wanted to do was go home and cry into her pillow. Everything was lost – Vadi, the Tournament, her pride. But, in the small cubicle of the ladies’ room, she decided that she would pull herself together. She would make the best of if. If Vadi had been unfaithful to her all these months, so what! Leena could get over him as she had got over other men she’d fallen for before. Not having to be involved in Vadi’s scheme would be a relief. If the foreign man started acting funny, she would simply say her farewells and leave. They were in a public place after all. What harm would come to her in front of all these people? She looked around the room. As she remembered, there was a long bar to one side, a dance floor in the middle, and tables arranged around it. Each table had a small lamp, giving a red glow to the people sitting there. But the rest of the room was so dark that Leena could barely make out the features of the people on the bar stools from where they were standing. When the barman brought Leena’s drink, Iain Collins took it and led Leena further down the dimly-lit room. The place was half full, but Leena spotted a free table in the corner and said, ‘Can we sit there?’