Copper Heart

by Leena Lehtolainen

  “That Meritta is dead. That she fell off the Tower.”

  “It’s true,” I said. I didn’t move around the desk to hug him, even though I should have. We hadn’t hugged the previous night, so why should we now?

  “Goddamn it. I knew this would happen someday if she kept sitting on that railing when she was drunk!” Johnny hid his head in his hands, and I moved toward him, but the police officer in me overcame the person.

  “What did you say? You saw Meritta sitting on the edge of the Tower?”

  “She always sat up there. She’d swing her legs and laugh and make fun of anyone who was afraid of heights. She said it was like sitting on top of the world…” Johnny’s shoulders were heaving. Now I remembered a newspaper story from a couple of years before with a picture of Meritta sitting on the railing of the Tower with her black hair shining against a backdrop of white clouds and blue sky.

  “Did you see her go up in the Tower last night?”

  “No. I did talk to her a little before I left. She said she wanted to be alone.”

  Well, well. Just like in high school. Johnny couldn’t get Meritta to leave with him, so he had nothing better to do than walk me home. I didn’t know which annoyed me more, that he was still using me as his fallback or that I still cared.

  “Was that a change of plans? Had you arranged to leave together?” My voice must have been sharper than normal because Johnny glanced at me with a puzzled look.

  “We hadn’t arranged anything. So you know that…”

  “That you two were involved. At least that’s what everyone says.” My voice was still too cold, almost angry. “Do I understand correctly that you think Meritta was drunk, climbed up the Tower, and fell by accident?”

  “Yeah, I guess so…I’d been up there before with her to watch the sunrise.”

  “But you weren’t with her this time?” I asked, watching Johnny closely. Under his beard shone a fresh-looking bruise, and the knuckles of his right hand were split. I closed my eyes, but when I opened them, the injuries were still there.

  “How did you get banged up?” The tremor in my voice made me sound angry, although really it was from fear.

  “I fell off that stupid Jopo on our lane. I didn’t realize its little tires wouldn’t go over the rocks like a mountain bike. Why do you ask?”

  “So you didn’t get that bruise…last night at the Tower, for example? Do you have any injuries other than on your jaw and hand?”

  “What the hell are you implying?” Johnny’s tone was even angrier than mine, and all the color had drained from his face.

  I was ashamed of myself. “Sorry, forget I said that. I’m tired too. I saw you leave for home. I just feel so crappy about Meritta, even though she was almost a stranger, and I feel bad for you too. Go home and rest. We’ll call you if we have any more questions.”

  Johnny left without saying good-bye. I poured my seventh cup of coffee from the thermos, and had almost finished it when the medical examiner called. Some of the contusions on Meritta’s body had come from before her death, probably in a “wrestling match,” as Doctor Turunen put it. The scratches on her back indicated that she had been pushed over the edge of the Tower. The blood type of the samples taken from the Tower matched Meritta’s, and they were conducting further analysis as we spoke.

  “We ain’t had no murders in a while now,” Turunen concluded in his broad Savo dialect. Before I could relay the results to Detectives Järvi and Antikainen, the phone rang again.

  “Hey, it’s Koivu. I’m with Sergeant Järvisalo headed your way. Oh, Turunen called you too? Can we meet up at the Tower in half an hour?”

  At least there was one bright light in all this misery. I was going to get to work with my old partner Pekka Koivu again. My desires to the contrary notwithstanding, I knew that the case was going to pull me in even if the county detectives did take primary responsibility for the investigation. Koivu would want my help because I knew the town. And I knew myself. No matter how difficult it was, I wasn’t going to be able to stand on the sidelines. Even if it meant arresting Ella or Johnny in the end.

  5

  The phone rang just as I was leaving to go back to the Tower.

  “Is it true that Meritta Flöjt has been murdered?” a female voice dripping with curiosity asked before I could even say my name.

  “Hi, Mom. She’s dead, but…That’s all I can say so far.”

  “Even to me?” My mother sounded incredulous. I had heard those words before, like when I used to cry over Johnny but refused to tell anyone what was bothering me. God, why did I ever come back to this stupid town?

  “So you’re going to have to investigate?”

  “Yeah, a little, but other people will be handling most of it.” My decision to go into the police academy had always horrified my parents. The law was a much more appropriate profession in their eyes, even though I would be dealing with the same dirty business. Although lawyers never needed to handle dead bodies.

  “Do you have time to come out to the cabin tonight? Eeva and Saku are coming.”

  “I’ll try. It would be nice to see Saku. He’s growing so fast. Oh, by the way…What time did you and Dad leave the party last night?”

  “Who, us? Right after the fireworks. Don’t you remember? Why do you ask?”

  “No reason.” Someone else could handle interviewing my parents. “I have to go now, but I’ll see you tonight.”

  Flocks of curious onlookers had gathered at the base of the Tower, some willing to pay the entrance fee to the mine area just to get closer to the crime scene. Apparently having a murder on opening day wasn’t such bad publicity for Kivinen’s business after all. A few of the rubberneckers, apparently reporters, were armed with professional cameras. Who had tipped them off? Kivinen? Had he realized the news value of a mysterious death after all? One of the people who looked like a journalist started accosting Antikainen, who was in uniform, but he sent the journalist my way. After the reporter identified himself as a representative of the county paper, I said something evasive, wishing I were somewhere else.

  When Koivu finally stepped out of the shiny county Saab cruiser, I felt like throwing my arms around his neck. At least with him I didn’t need to put on an act. The detective sergeant, a heavyweight wrestler type in his forties who spoke in a southwestern Tampere drawl, immediately went up the Tower with Antikainen and Järvi while Koivu and I hung back on the second-to-last landing and chatted.

  Koivu’s blond hair was mussed and he looked more tired than usual, like a bear cub woken up in the middle of his winter sleep.

  “I only got an hour and a half of sleep before Järvisalo called. You probably haven’t heard yet that we had a real knock-down, drag-out last night in Joensuu—Somalis on skinheads. Luckily no one died, but three from each side are in the hospital. I was questioning them all night. I know the Somalis aren’t little lambs and I have no doubt some of them are just sponging off the government, but I still don’t get skinheads. One of them said to me last night with a totally straight face that Hitler was an ‘awesome dude.’ And I thought I was getting away from all the crazies by coming out here to the country.”

  “And I thought I was getting away from all the murders, at least ones where I know people involved. And now…” I didn’t really know what to say. “The victim, Meritta Flöjt, was dating a man who…well, was my biggest crush during high school. And her brother used to play with me in a band.”

  I still didn’t want to mention Ella to anyone until I verified that the brooch really was hers. Koivu grinned wearily and then swung his right arm around my shoulders.

  “Don’t worry. We’ll get through this.”

  “What are you two dawdling for?” Antikainen put his head down through the hatch, and Koivu recoiled from me as if he had been doing something wrong. Antikainen looked at us strangely but fortunately didn’t say anything.

  The top of the Tower was windy, and clouds were gathering. Especially to the north, the landscape had
begun to darken. The pond to the southwest was like a gaping wound. At the north end of the pond, where the other mine tower used to stand, was now just a hole. A few years before, the mining company had tried to unload the mine for next to nothing, but of course no one was interested at any price because the deal also would have included millions in liability for rehabilitating the sinkhole area. The mining company hadn’t wanted to invest their money in any kind of restoration work, so they leveled the mine buildings with explosives. But without the other tower, the landscape looked strangely barren, like a face missing an eye. Rising farther off in the distance, the tower of the third local mine awaited the same fate. Fortunately, Kivinen had come to rescue the main mining complex.

  “I’ve heard our victim used to sit up on that railing,” I said to Detective Sergeant Järvisalo. “Maybe she did just fall.”

  “The ME thinks otherwise, based on her bruises.”

  “Maybe we’ll find some other explanation for them after we interview the party guests.”

  Silently I wondered what Järvi and Antikainen were still doing up in the Tower instead of starting the questioning, which would have been a better use of their time.

  “She could have been sitting on the railing, and the killer started to push her off, and there was a fight,” Koivu suggested. “In that case, the killer could be of any size and strength. On the other hand…If both of them were standing here, and the vic was resisting, getting her up and over the railing would definitely have required some muscle. Should we try it, Maria? Wasn’t Flöjt about your size?”

  “A little taller, but more slender. Probably about the same weight.”

  Koivu and I staged a demonstration fight, which ended with him dangling me headfirst over the railing. The yellow sand below was awfully far away, yet simultaneously seemed to call me back into the arms of Mother Earth. I wondered whether Meritta hung like this, trying to keep a grip on her attacker, or whether she clung desperately to the railing as someone struggled to break her hold…I felt like screaming. Had Meritta screamed? Did she imagine she was flying for a moment as she fell?

  “Koivu, that’s enough!”

  I felt sick. For a few minutes I had to sit on the bench in the middle of the observation deck and breathe deeply, waiting for the shaking in my legs to stop. It wasn’t until everyone else started talking about going to lunch that I realized I was hungry too. Detective Järvi suggested that we have pizza delivered to the station. After that, he, Antikainen, and Koivu would head out to start questioning party guests. Sergeant Järvisalo was in a hurry to get back to Joensuu and promised to call on Monday unless something important came to light before then.

  Well then. County Detective Sergeant Arvo Järvisalo was supposed to head up the investigation. But he wasn’t going to be here. So in reality, Maria Kallio, summer sheriff, was in charge. That was exactly what I had been afraid of. Detectives Antikainen and Järvi, on the other hand, seemed pleased.

  As we went back to the cars, I noticed someone wearing a familiar leather jacket standing near the restaurant.

  “Save me a couple of slices. I’ll be there in a minute,” I said to Koivu and then went over to chat with my old bandmate.

  Jaska’s face was swollen, and I could smell the stench of liquor on his breath from three feet away. A plastic bag with clinking bottles inside hung from his wrist.

  “Hi. Are you working?” I asked when I couldn’t think of any other way to start the conversation.

  “No. Kivinen gave me the day off.”

  “I’m sorry about your sister.”

  “I know. Where did they take her?”

  “To Joensuu for an autopsy.”

  Pulling a beer out of his bag, Jaska tried to open it with his teeth.

  “Don’t start drinking here. Come on. I’ll give you a ride. Do you want me to take you home?”

  “Is this you expressing your condolences or is it a police interrogation?”

  “Both.”

  “Not home then. Let’s just drive around.”

  Back behind the Old Mine, I turned toward the Sump and then drove through the cemetery. Jaska stared at his bag of beer but still hadn’t successfully opened a bottle.

  “Forget about the condolences,” he said as we turned onto the highway and headed out of town. “It was good Meritta died.”

  “Why?” I didn’t recognize Jaska’s voice. I had never heard him so bitter.

  “I hated Meritta! At least sometimes,” Jaska said. “She just had to come back here and show off what a big success she was. If she would have just stayed in Helsinki. Or kept her damn trap shut about her musically gifted little brother who never got his big break. Shit!” As he talked, Jaska tried to open a bottle with his teeth again, but it slipped and the cap left a nasty-looking cut on his lip.

  “Be careful. Here’s an opener.” I threw my house keys to Jaska, who was suddenly as white as a sheet. Blood was running down his coat, so I pulled a handkerchief out of my pocket too.

  “Goddamn Meritta! Just talking about her makes things go wrong. She always said she cared about my future. But instead of helping, she just bitched about my ‘failed rock ’n’ roll dream.’”

  He must have swallowed some blood along with the beer, because he gagged after the first swig. The second went down easier. “Is there anyone else who could have been fed up with her enough to push her off the Tower, or do you think she jumped? Maybe she finally realized that the best thing she could do for everyone was die. At least for me and Aniliina…”

  “We don’t know yet. By the way, what were you doing at the Old Mine yesterday?”

  “Gate-crashing, of course! They don’t invite ordinary working stiffs to parties like that.” Jaska was already opening his second bottle of beer. I wondered how many he had already gone through.

  “Where did you go from there?”

  “To the Copper Cup to get wasted. I was there until closing at two. Then I guess I went home. I don’t really remember. Ask my mom what time I got home. She usually knows.”

  Blood was still flowing from Jaska’s lip, with drops falling onto his dingy gray T-shirt. Stopping at an intersection with a side road, I turned the car back toward town. When Jaska was in a mood like this, talking to him was pointless. I remembered the Jaska from our school days, the boy who everyone supposedly kept down. School went badly for him because he said the teachers played favorites. Band practice had to end early because his fingers were sore or his head hurt. His mom didn’t give him enough money, and the boss at his summer job was a dick. His girlfriend, when he happened to have one, never understood.

  Jaska had repeated the tenth grade but then somehow managed to wriggle his way through the matriculation examination. After the army, he tried technical school, but it wasn’t interesting enough. The only thing that did hold his attention was playing guitar. He had to have known he wasn’t very talented, but he still kept his dreams of rock stardom alive. Year after year those dreams became more tattered. Jaska was still grasping at the shreds though, trying to make himself believe he was something other than an alcoholic amateur musician in his thirties with no salable skills whatsoever.

  Although he was never the type to make friends with women, we had nevertheless been good pals during school. I knew his tantrums, and I knew he easily could have shoved his sister over the railing if she was laughing at him—especially if he was drunk. Maybe he didn’t even remember doing it. Or didn’t want to remember.

  Here I was again, full speed ahead, suspecting my friends and acquaintances of murder. Jaska, Ella, Johnny…Who else? As we passed a little hill, the Tower came into sight again. It would watch over us for the entire ride back into town. Meritta wouldn’t have wanted to die anywhere less public. Was it possible no one had seen what happened?

  “How are your mother and Aniliina coping?” I asked as I pulled onto the main drag.

  “At first Mom was hysterical and then she started planning the funeral. I guess my other sisters and my brother’s wif
e are coming tomorrow to help. I don’t know about Aniliina. She won’t come over to our house. Just wants to be at home. Maybe her dad will come if anyone can get a hold of him.”

  “Is Aniliina all alone now then?”

  “No, Kaisa Miettinen is there. She’s the only person Aniliina can stand these days.”

  “How long has Aniliina been anorexic?”

  “Just last summer she was still a little butterball. She wasn’t a total fatso; her tits and ass were just a little too big for her age. Then she just started shrinking. This spring she was even in the hospital for a while because she wasn’t eating anything at all. Maybe now she’ll get better because her crazy bitch mother is gone. I saw a program on TV once that said anorexia comes from a bad relationship with your mother.” Jaska said this last part cheerfully.

  I snorted. “I’m surprised they haven’t decided hemorrhoids are caused by a bad relationship with your mother,” I said. When we drove by the Copper Cup Bar & Grill, Jaska asked me to drop him off.

  At the police station, only Lasarov remained. Everyone else had left to start doing interviews. After eating the remaining pepperoni pizza, which had long since grown cold, I left Koivu a message and headed home. I needed to feed Mikko since I had decided that I might stay over at my parents’ cabin. At least the idea of a sauna, a few cold beers, and my mother’s cooking was tempting. And seeing Saku, my eleven-month-old nephew, would be fun.

  Mikko purred and rubbed up against my legs as if I had been away for days. I plunked down a full can of cat food and a cup of milk and left the bathroom window open a crack so he could get out in case of an emergency. He could survive one summer night under the stars if he did get shut out. I wondered how many mice Einstein had caught in Inkoo at Antti’s parents’ home. And how Antti’s work was going in Chicago. Two months left now. He had promised to bum around here with me for the last few weeks of my summer job when he came home.

  I looked at my naked left ring finger. Was it missing something? Antti thought that if we wanted to continue our relationship and live together, we should just go ahead and get married immediately. The thought of me with a veil on my head was so ridiculous that I laughed out loud. Mikko glanced at me, looking hurt.