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

‘No, of course you couldn’t know.’ Kovtun’s philandering is the least of his crimes, Iain thought but said nothing.

‘I feel so stupid. The woman seemed innocent. She looked so nice, smiled at me even when I saw them again…’

‘What do you mean you saw them again, where?’

‘They came out of one of the rooms when I was waiting at the top of the stairs.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ Iain said

‘Of course, I knew about the daughter, Vadi talked about her often. That’s why I…’ Leena put her head in her hands.

‘The daughter?’

‘Yes, Leena said, looking up at Iain, ‘he said Pia reminded him of her.’

‘And where is this daughter now? Moscow?’

‘No, she lives in Minsk. But she’s coming over for the Tournament.’

Iain stared at Leena.

The gym teacher got up and poured herself another large glass of vodka. She paced up and down the small flat, then sat on the chair and started sobbing.

Iain put his arms around the woman. She was slightly built, but her body felt muscular under the flimsy fabric of her blouse. She was wearing a strong perfume. Iain waited. Gradually Leena’s sobs lessened. Iain got up and sat down opposite her. She looked at Iain with red, smudged eyes and said, ‘I’ve been a fool.’

Pia woke up in the middle of the night to a bad dream. She’d been on the ship again. This time the Gestapo man had been Heikki. She’d seen a glimpse of his face and then confronted him. She woke up before she heard Heikki’s reply. She couldn’t get to sleep again. All she could see in front of her was the image of his laughing face beneath a shiny black cap and his buttoned-up dark uniform.

Pia crept into the kitchen to find her mother sitting and drinking tea in the dark.

‘I’ve decided you are not to take part in the Friendship Tournament today,’ she said.

‘But I want to win! You know how much this means to me. And I can’t let everyone down! Anni said…’

‘Anni said a lot of things.’

‘Have you spoken with Mr Linnonmaa?’ Pia asked.

‘No,’ her mother said. She looked tired. Pia wondered if she’d slept at all.

‘What about Iain?’ Pia said. You said you’d do nothing until you’d spoken with him.’

Maija sighed and walked to the hall.

‘It’s four o’clock in the morning, you can’t call him now!’ Pia said.

Her mother had already lifted the receiver. She’d done that at least a dozen times during the night, every ten minutes it seemed she was trying Iain’s number. By midnight she’d given up and told Pia to go to bed. They hadn’t discussed Anni’s father. Pia had a feeling her mother didn’t trust either Anni or Mr Linnonmaa.

Pia’s mother now turned around and said, ‘Why not?’ and started to dial the number.

Pia put her head into her hands. She was so incredibly tired. All she wanted to do was go to sleep. She felt her mother’s arms around her. ‘No answer,’ she said. She kissed Pia on the forehead and said, ‘I don’t use these very often but I think you should take one.’ She handed Pia a small white pill and got her a glass of water. ‘Sleeping pill,’ she said.

Pia woke to voices coming from somewhere in the flat. She felt groggy. When she was a child Pia spent all her summers at her grandmother’s place. Sometimes she’d wake up with her eyes glued together. Grandmother would fetch a bowlful of warm water and slowly remove the ‘sleep’ from her eyes, as she used to call it. The woozy feeling she now had was exactly the same but her eyes were clear when she opened them. Pia listened to the voices. It was a man and a woman arguing. She pulled on her jeans quickly and found a jumper on the floor of her bedroom.

The lights in the kitchen were bright. It was still dark outside. When Pia stepped into the room both Iain and Maija stopped talking. Pia looked at them. They’d been arguing. Her mother was wearing her pale blue dressing gown and her hair was a mess around her shoulders. Iain looked dishevelled too. He was unshaven, his trousers looked creased and there was no tie. He looked old.

‘What time is it?’ Pia said and slumped into a chair.

‘Half past six. You should go back to bed.’ Pia’s mother said. Giving Iain a quick glance, she came over and put her hand under Pia’s arm and started leading her out of the kitchen. As if she was a sickly child, Pia thought.

Pia pulled her arm away and said, ‘No, I want to hear what’s going on. Did you get to talk to Miss Joutila?’ Pia was looking directly at Iain, who sat down opposite her.

‘Yes.’

‘He spent the night with her,’ Maija said. She was measuring coffee into the machine, with her back to them. Iain lifted his eyes up to Pia, but said nothing.

‘What did she say?’ Pia said.

‘She’s been very badly treated.’

‘She has? And what about us?’ Pia’s mother turned around to face Iain.

Iain looked from Pia to Maija.

No one said anything for a while.

‘Did you tell him about Anni?’ Pia asked.

Pia’s mother stood with her arms crossed over her chest. ‘No, why should I tell him anything after the way he has treated us.’

Iain sighed heavily. ‘Look, I know it wasn’t right and I feel awful about the whole business. But, it’s my job, at least for now…’

‘What do you mean for now?’ Pia asked. She looked at her mother and saw her features soften.

‘Oh, it doesn’t matter. We haven’t got time for that now. Tell me about Anni.’

Pia’s mother sighed.

‘Please tell me – what about Anni?’ Iain pleaded.

Pia recounted what Anni had told her about the Finns wanting to get rid of Kovtun

‘That makes sense,’ Iain said. ‘Of course, we know he’s a trusted interpreter.’ Iain looked up, ‘It’s hard to get hold of Finnish Russian translators. Strange, but very few Finns want to learn the language.’

Maija lowered her eyes. ‘Were you aware of Mr Linnonmaa’s involvement?’ she asked.

‘Of course,’ Iain said.

‘But you said Anni was in danger.’ Pia was watching Iain carefully.

Iain took Pia’s hand and said, ‘She was, and is, in danger. How do you think the Russians will react to a Finn getting involved with a defection to the West? Not to mention the Finns. Anni’s father is playing a dangerous game. In my opinion…’ Iain hesitated.

‘So you knew about Jukka’s plan all along?’ Pia’s mother had moved closer to the table.

Both Pia and Iain looked at her. Pia didn’t understand who her mother was talking about, but Iain said, ‘Jukka?’

Pia’s mother’s mouth was slightly open. She was staring at Iain, as if she couldn’t understand what he was saying.

‘Maija?’ Iain said.

Finally her mother seemed to come out of her trance, ‘Mr Linnonmaa and I exchanged Christian names on the telephone after Pia’s little accident…’ She coughed and continued, ‘But the point is you knew what he was planning?’

Now it was Iain’s turn to look uncomfortable, ‘Well no, not exactly, but we did have information that Mr Linnonmaa was involved somehow…’

Again there was a long silence. Iain was still watching Maija. She turned around and started to busy herself with washing up cups and saucers left in the sink.

Finally Iain said, ‘I’m glad you two are OK.’

Maija stopped washing up and faced Pia and Iain again. Her arms were folded over her chest but she smiled.

Iain got up and said, ‘What time are you planning to leave here?’

‘I’m not sure we’re going yet.’ Maija said.

Iain said, ‘Look, I’ll be there all the time keeping an eye on Pia.’

‘Mum, it’ll be fine,’ Pia said ‘You’ll be there too, and all those people. What could possibly happen to me in the middle of all that? It’s a huge hall, it can seat at least 1,000 people and Miss Joutila has been going on about how many people there will be watching us. Then there are the other schools and their trainers and parents. Finnish and Russian officials, the police will be there, isn’t that right?’ Pia turned to Iain, who just nodded, then said, ‘Look Maija, it’s up to you. If you don’t want Pia to go, don’t let her.’