Robert Goddard - Found Wanting

Eusden slept for a few hours on the sofa in Tallgren’s lounge, his sleep the dreamless unconsciousness of utter exhaustion. He woke before dawn, reluctantly ate some porridge and less reluctantly drank a mug of strong black coffee. Then Tallgren drove him over the bridges of Suomenlinna through the frozen twilight to the quay in time for the first ferry of the day. Tallgren had done his best to explain the mechanics of the gun and the intricacies of his tape recorder. Beyond that he only ventured the opinion that what Eusden was doing was madness. An admirable kind of madness, perhaps, but madness nonetheless.

‘I fear you’re about to make the biggest mistake of your life, Richard,’ he said as Eusden climbed out of the car.

‘I don’t think so,’ Eusden replied with a wry smile. ‘A bigger mistake would be to do nothing.’

The cream gables of the Villa Norsonluu would have glowed warmly in summer sunshine, bowered in greenery, doves cooing peacefully. Late winter dawn revealed a different place. Snow obscured most of the roof, coated the branches of the leafless trees and blanketed the garden in white. There was no sound or movement from the dovecot that Eusden had seen through the boundary hedge, nor from the house behind it.

Now that he was standing there, alone, surrounded by silence, Eusden began to wonder if what he had embarked on was indeed an act of madness. He looked down the road and saw in the distance the Tricolour and the Union Jack flying over the French and British Embassies. Of all the places in all the world for him to do what he was about to do, this had to be potentially one of the most scandalous, the most ruinous, most irresponsible of all.

And what, when it came down to it, was he going to do? He had forgotten to ask Tallgren if Falenius lived alone. The size of the house suggested not. Was he married? Did he have children? Did Eusden seriously intend to force his way into some scene of domestic normality, brandishing a gun, issuing demands, crossing a line he could never step back over?

The entrance to the villa was sealed by a high locked gate. There was no camera in sight, though there might of course be one on the house, ready to record any incursion he made. He stood in the lee of the hedge, willing himself to act, facing down the doubts and fears that swarmed in his brain. The railing-topped wall behind him was scaleable, the hedge penetrable. It was the only way to get in. He had to attempt it. And soon. The longer he delayed, the likelier he was to be spotted.

Suddenly, there was a sound, breaking the silence. A door was opening, electronically operated. Eusden peered through the hedge, but could see nothing. Then a car engine started in a throaty growl. And in the same instant the gates at the entrance whirred into operation, swinging back on their expensively automated hinges. There was a rumble of fat tyre on gritted snow. A shape, low, pale and metallic, moved somewhere beyond the hedge.

Falenius was leaving. And Eusden had to stop him. He ran to the gate and reached into his pocket for the gun. The driveway curved out of sight towards the house. He stood waiting for the car to come into view, waiting and wondering what he should do. Then it appeared: a Bentley, silver-grey and sleekly profiled, nosing round the corner. A glimpse of the driver was enough. It was Arto Falenius.

If Eusden drew the gun, what, he asked himself, would Falenius do? Stop? Or accelerate towards him? Could that raked and tinted windscreen possibly be bullet-proof? There had to be another way, one that was safer for both of them. He dropped to his knees and sprawled across the pavement, blocking the entrance.

The Bentley came to a halt in the gateway. Falenius gave the horn two short blasts. Eusden did not move. All he could see of the car from where he lay was the headlamp array, the number plate and the radiator grille, with the distinctive Bentley B above it. He heard the engine cooler roar, then the driver’s door slam. Arto Falenius, pinstripe-suited as in his newspaper photograph, strode towards him, gleaming brogues crunching on grit and ice. He said something in Finnish that sounded impatient. Eusden made a show of struggling to his feet.

‘Sorry,’ he mumbled. ‘I must’ve slipped.’

‘Are you OK?’ Falenius asked, with little obvious concern.

‘Yes. Fine, thanks. But you aren’t.’ Eusden pulled the gun from his pocket and pointed it at Falenius’s midriff. ‘Do exactly as I say.’

‘What is this?’ Falenius looked shocked and angry and alarmed in equal measure.

‘What do you think?’

‘You want… money?’

‘No. I want a ride. And a talk.’ Eusden kept the gun trained on Falenius as he walked to the passenger door of the Bentley and opened it. ‘Get in. We’re leaving.’

‘You can’t do this.’

‘But I am doing it. Get in. Now.’

Falenius was breathing rapidly as he moved to the car. Eusden lowered himself carefully into the passenger seat as Falenius settled behind the wheel. The doors clunked shut, sealing off the chill of the morning.

‘Drive to the seafront.’

‘Who are you?’

‘Richard Eusden.’

‘I’ve… never heard of you.’

‘Really? Well, your good friend Tolmar Aksden has heard of me. And it’s him we’re going to talk about. Start moving.’

Traffic on the seafront road was light and none of it was stopping to admire the view of the frozen harbour, covered with snow and differing in appearance from Kaivopuisto Park on the other side of the road only by being flatter. When Falenius turned off the engine of the Bentley, his shallow breathing became audible in the muffled interior of the car. He did not look directly at Eusden, staring out instead through the windscreen at the grey hummocks of islands scattered across the white-carpeted sea. He moistened his lips and asked hoarsely, ‘What do you want to know?’

‘The truth.’ Eusden propped the recorder on the dashboard between them and switched it on. ‘In your very own words.’

‘The truth… about what?’

‘Your relationship with Tolmar Aksden.’

‘He’s the new owner of Saukko Bank. We’re business associates. And friends. That’s it.’

‘Listen to me, Arto. I already know what you’re going to tell me. But I need to hear you say it. On the record. So, don’t lie to me. The consequences could be fatal. You understand?’

Falenius swallowed hard. ‘I understand.’

‘Good. Now, I’ll ask you some questions. All you have to do is give me honest answers. Are we clear?’

‘Yes.’

‘You’re Arto Falenius, son of Eino Falenius, grandson of Paavo Falenius, the founder of Saukko Bank. Correct?’

‘Correct.’

‘Where did Paavo get all his money from – the huge influx of cash in the early nineteen twenties that no one seems able to account for?’

‘He… attracted some big investors.’

‘Was one of them Sir Peter Bark, investing on behalf of Tsar Nicholas the Second?’

Falenius sighed and bowed his head, as if oppressed by the fulfilment of his worst fears. ‘ Kristus! Not this. Please not this.’

‘Did Bark pump the Tsar’s money into Saukko Bank?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You don’t know?’

‘It’s true. My father never trusted me enough to tell me the whole story. And Tolmar always says I’m better off not knowing. The Tsar’s money? That could be it. If you say it was, then, OK, it was. Is that good enough for you?’

‘No.’

‘I didn’t think it would be. So, go ahead. Ask about my grandfather, this man Bark, Hakon Nydahl, Karl Wanting. Ask me and tell me what I’m supposed to say. Then I’ll say it. I’m too young to have met any of them. But apparently I have to live with their ghosts.’