The girl looked at Ingela, still without saying anything.
“I thought that you and I could talk a little before Leona asks you a few questions. Is that okay?”
No reaction. Ingela gave me a meaningful look that showed she did not think this was going to be easy.
“Sören and I will leave you with Ingela for a little while,” I said. “We’ll be in the room next door and in a little while I’ll come back again so that you and I can talk some more.”
We went out. Anette was standing outside the door.
“Did she say anything to you?” I said.
“Not a word. Poor girl, either she’s mute or else she’s been completely traumatized by the incident. This is crazy. Only an evil person could treat a child this way.”
I went into the observation room with Sören behind me. The victim advocate was talking. The girl sat quietly. I turned off the sound in the observation room, as I had promised Ingela.
“Sören, will you please let Claes know that we have the girl here.”
“Of course.”
He left. After a minute or two Claes was standing in the observation room with a smile.
“Nicely done, Leona. I knew you were the right person for this. Did the girl have the money on her?”
“A tape recorder and dummy bombs, but no money.”
“I’ll be damned. Was the Bomb Squad on the scene that quickly?”
“Uh…we didn’t need to bring them in. I saw immediately that they were dummies.”
Claes raised his eyebrows.
“Yes, well, it was obvious that they were just toys,” I explained. “But the bank customers were presumably jittery…not to mention the girl herself…although she probably knew they weren’t really bombs…but it’s still a shame about her…she’s had to endure so much…it was good that I got hold of her so there’s finally an end to this…”
I noticed that I was babbling a little too much but I wanted to remove Claes’s focus from the girl’s things. I felt my phone vibrate again. Took it out of my pocket. There was a new text from abroad, asking if everything was done. I didn’t have time to answer now. Clicked it away.
“So someone had taken the money from the girl before you got hold of her? Without picking her up at the same time?”
“The most important thing is that we get hold of the perpetrator now, isn’t it? Through him we can trace the money. I’m just about to question the girl.”
Claes looked pensive. He turned his eyes toward the screen.
“Parent?”
“No. Victim advocate,” I said. “We don’t know who the girl is yet. Or even what language she speaks, because so far she hasn’t said a word. We’ll have to arrange for an interpreter, if that’s needed.”
Claes walked toward the door.
“Keep me informed.”
“Claes, I would really like for you to stay while I interview her. I’ll need your input.”
“Perhaps we should turn over the interviewing to a child interrogator,” said Claes. “Have you discussed that with the pros —”
“Nina wants me to do the interview. Since I know the case. We can’t wait for a child interrogator to get familiar with it.”
“You shouldn’t underestimate the interrogators at Domestic Violence. They can familiarize themselves with a case in no time.”
“Claes, this isn’t the first time I’ve interviewed a traumatized child. The girl has to be interviewed now. We can’t torment her anymore. It’s the prosecutor’s decision.”
Claes backed off. The decision was not his. In any case, he knew that I had experience in the area.
Anette looked into the room. Behind her stood Sören and a dark-haired man in his thirties.
“Leona, the guy from Social Services is here.”
The man extended his hand.
“Thomas Liljegren.”
“Good. I’ll start by trying to find out who she is so that we can get hold of her parents. Please sit down in here; you’ll see everything on the screen. Claes and Sören can fill you in if you’re wondering about anything.”
I turned on the sound again and went into the interview room. Ingela stood up. Shook her head slightly, before leaving the room. I sat in the armchair by the girl.
“I know that recently things have been extremely tough for you, but I have to ask you a few questions.”
The baggy hoodie made her look even smaller than she was.
“What we say here is being recorded on video so that others will be able to look at it. In the room next to this one Ingela and Sören, whom you just met, my boss Claes, and a very nice man from Social Services are sitting by a big TV. They are sitting in the next room so they won’t disturb us when we’re talking, but they hear everything we say and can see us through those cameras.”
I pointed at the cameras. The girl didn’t move. She didn’t even look toward the cameras.
“My name is Leona. What’s your name?”
No answer. I put down the pen I’d been holding, looked at her, and spoke in a softer voice.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Still no answer.
“Do you remember when I picked you up on the street? I did that because it’s very dangerous for children to be there. You know that, don’t you?”
Two blinks. Olivia nodded her head, but still didn’t say anything.
“Do you remember when I told you that I wanted to take you home, to your family?”
Two blinks. She nodded again.
“To do that I need to know your name and where you’re from, so I can find them, okay? So, what’s your name?”
Two blinks.
“Olivia.”
Her Finnish-Swedish was clear, even though she had only said her name.
“Hi, Olivia. What country do you come from?”
Two blinks.
“Finland.”
“Do you know from what city?”
Two blinks.
“Tammisaari.”
“How old are you, Olivia?”
Two blinks. The girl held up seven fingers.
“What are your parents’ names?”
No answer. The girl was sharp, no doubt about it.
“What’s your mother’s name?”
Two blinks.
“Katriina.”
“What’s your mother’s last name, Olivia?”
Two blinks.
“Tuulavaara.”
“Does she know where you are?”
Two blinks. The girl nodded.
“Visiting Grandma.”
I was impressed. She had followed the instructions to a tee.
“Olivia, can you wait here a moment while I go out and talk with the people in the next room. I will also call your mother so she knows that you’ll be coming home soon. I’ll ask my boss Claes to come in and sit here with you for a while. I’ll be back soon.”
I moved toward the door. Right before I left the room I turned around and winked with one eye at the girl. She had acquitted herself in an exemplary way so far. Now it was time for the real test.
I opened the door to the observation room.
“Claes, can I speak to you?” I said.
Claes came out quickly, closing the door behind him.
“Damn, that’s good, Leona. It will be easy to identify the girl now.”
“Yes, I’ll inform the Finnish police, CIS, and investigations. We have to get hold of the girl’s parents. Can you go in and be with her in the meantime?”
“No problem. I’ll go right in.”
I opened the door to the observation room and placed myself with my back to the screen. Nina had arrived. She gave me a look and nodded curtly from the other side of the room.
“As you heard, this is a little Finnish girl. I interrupted the interview so I could make a few calls but I also want to know if there’s anything in particular you think I should have in mind before I continue?”
Ingela, Sören, Nina, and the man from Social Servi
ces did not take their eyes off the screen behind me. When I turned around I saw what was happening in the interview room. Claes was standing a little farther into the room. The girl had gotten up from the armchair and was backing away from where Claes was standing. She had started running around, as if to get away from Claes.
“Olivia, Olivia, I’m a policeman, don’t worry,” said Claes, holding up his hands as if to calm her.
I ran out and tore open the door to the interview room.
“Leave, Claes, I’ll take care of this.”
“What’s happening? I don’t understand,” said Claes.
The girl was moving quickly back and forth between the back of the armchair and the corner at the far end of the room as she wailed.
“Go, Claes! You’re scaring her.”
Claes moved quickly to the door. I closed it behind him. The girl was sitting down in the far corner with her legs pulled up. Her head was lowered. I remained standing in the middle of the room.
“Don’t worry. He’s gone now.”
I crouched down and reached my hand out toward her. She looked slowly up at me.
“It’s just me here now.”
She didn’t move. I went slowly toward her.
“I’m coming up to you now. Don’t worry. Take my hand.”
The girl didn’t move. I went slowly the whole way up to her and carefully placed one hand on her knee.
“You can sit on my lap if you want. Do you want to?”
I knew that others would criticize what I was doing. In an interview situation with children you should preferably not show too much sympathy. Not hug or pick up a child, but these circumstances were different. I needed to show that this was a situation where no more questions should be asked. I got up slowly and carefully picked her up in my arms. I sat down in the armchair with her on my lap.
“It will be all right. Soon you’ll get to go home to your mother.”
I rocked her. She became calmer. Perhaps no one had hugged her in a long time. I stroked a strand of hair away from her face. She looked up at me.
“We’ll take a break. I think you should try some really good rhubarb juice I have in the refrigerator.”
Afterward I was told by Nina that there had been a mutiny in the observation room after the girl’s reaction to Claes. The victim advocate had become completely rabid and accusatory toward Claes. She refused to allow further interviews to be held without one of the girl’s parents being present. Sören had frantically written things down on his notepad. After wild discussions with the victim advocate Claes disappeared into his office. Nina had taken the victim advocate’s line and decided that the girl should not be interviewed more closely until the parents had been contacted and we produced more information about the case. If this couldn’t happen before tomorrow they would have to cooperate with the Finnish police and make sure the girl was interviewed in Finland.
Before I turned the girl over to Thomas Liljegren from Social Services I went down to the storeroom to look for clothes to borrow. In a basket of toys were a few different stuffed animals. No teddy bear, but there was a little green dragon with small dark blue wings.
When I got back, Thomas was holding the girl by the hand. I crouched down slowly and looked her in the eyes.
“Your teddy bear that was left at the bank needs to be examined before you can get it back, but here is another little creature who needs a friend.”
I handed the dragon to her. She took it slowly. Looked at me.
Thomas turned and moved toward the exit. The girl went with him.
The girl. Olivia.
She had a name.
For me, too.
I saw Thomas open the door and leave the police station with Olivia in hand. I remained standing. Frozen. I couldn’t take my eyes off them.
“Wait!”
I ran to the door and out onto the stairs.
“Where is she going to stay tonight?” I asked.
Thomas turned around.
“We’re trying to arrange temporary accommodation for her overnight so she can go home to Finland tomorrow.”
I wasn’t satisfied with his answer. Social Services were not known for arranging housing on short notice. Above all not for homeless seven-year-olds without any relatives or friends in the country.
“I think Olivia needs to be with someone she knows. Someone she has confidence in and who knows what she’s gone through.”
Thomas stood quietly. He didn’t seem to understand where I was going.
“She can stay with me and my family tonight.”
Thomas looked at me with surprise.
“I don’t think that’s appropriate. We have to know we are leaving children in homes that are…”
He stopped when he realized he was about to say that I would not be suitable for taking care of a child. That was true, of course, but he could not possibly know that.
“You mean that I wouldn’t be suitable for taking care of Olivia for a single night? For the record, I have two kids of my own, I’m a police officer, and I know what Olivia has gone through. Do you think that at Social Services you’re going to get hold of a safer family in two or three hours for a seven-year-old?”
“Sorry, that’s not what I meant. It’s just that things don’t usually work that way.”
“It’s not exactly common for seven-year-olds to commit such serious acts and end up in these kinds of situations, though, is it? Then you have to improvise a little. Isn’t the child’s well-being the most important thing?”
Thomas crouched down and spoke directly to Olivia.
“Olivia, would you like to stay with Leona?”
Olivia looked at me, back at Thomas, and at me again. I reached my hand out toward her. Our eyes met again. In a different way than before. There on the stairs it was as if I had made contact with her for the first time. I felt overwhelming feelings of affinity with this little girl. I was overcome with humility for what she, quite unknowingly, had done for me.
It was my duty to see that she recovered from all this.
She let go of Thomas and took hold of my outstretched hand.
EIGHTY-FIVE
Olivia was shy and reserved on the way home, but was livened up a little by Benjamin and Beatrice. Beatrice looked wide-eyed at her and asked if she was the girl from TV. Olivia, who didn’t understand the question, looked at me. She searched in my eyes for the answer. The answer to how she ended up here, and why. The answer to the connection between the two of us. I didn’t say anything. The most important thing now was that Olivia should feel safe.
The bag with the money was still in the locker at work. I decided to bring it home tomorrow after work when everything had calmed down. I had answered the text from abroad, too. Now I was longing for a good night’s sleep.
After Olivia had been fed I took her to the bathroom for a hot bath. Earlier, when we had taken off her borrowed clothes, I had been shocked, but I had thought that her body looked as it did because of the fake blood that was still on her. But when I saw the water rinse away the dye I could hardly breathe. Several bruises and two small cuts appeared on her light skin. Real injuries. She refused to tell me how she’d gotten them, but I understood.
Ronni.
Suddenly I was completely drained of energy.
I sat on the edge of the tub and stared straight ahead. I thought about what Ronni had said. That I was naive. That it wasn’t easy to get a seven-year-old to do something like this. I hadn’t understood. Was that it? Had I closed my eyes, not wanting to see? Been so fixated on my goals that I hadn’t taken in what Ronni was actually doing to her? Sure, I had understood that it would involve a certain degree of coercion, but this…I hadn’t seen that she had these kinds of injuries. The few times I had been in the apartment she had either been in the bedroom or worn a nightgown or pajamas. Sure, she had seemed tired and skinny, but I had not seen any bruises or other injuries.
I blamed myself for letting Ronni manage everything that concerned her. The
girl, as I had called her. In my thoughts she hadn’t even had a name until now. Until today. Olivia. Olivia. Olivia.
Now she was so present. I was on the verge of tears. Had I created the same conditions for Olivia that I had experienced myself as a child? No, it was not the same. Or was it?
I carefully put bandages on the wounds. Wrapped a warm towel around her and lifted her up in my arms to where I sat on the toilet seat. Rocked her. Whispered to her, to myself, I did not know which.
“Sorry, sorry…”
She looked up at me with surprise. Dried my cheek with her little hand. I gave her a T-shirt that was still too big for Beatrice. Picked her up in my arms again and carried her into our bedroom. Since Peter was sleeping in the guest room now, I laid her on his side of the bed. I lay down behind her and embraced her. The last thing I remember was stroking her cheek and saying that tomorrow, tomorrow she would get to go home to her mother.
EIGHTY-SIX
Many thoughts had been whirling around in my head when I’d gone to bed, but I fell asleep from pure exhaustion. Olivia had slept calmly beside me. She woke up once during the night and asked for her mother. After I placed an arm around her, explained where she was, that she didn’t need to be afraid, and that she would get to go home to her mother tomorrow, she fell back asleep.
Turning Olivia over to Social Services, who would arrange for her journey home to Finland, had been both hard and good. I had become attached to her somehow. She stirred up a lot of emotions in me. The same kind I had for my own children. Having her close to me was hard. Now she would get to go home to her mother.
After that I went straight to the office. I had just taken off my jacket and turned on the computer when I felt a vibration in my pocket.
“Leona, I have information for you about the voice on the tape. You have to hear it yourself.”
Johan Östberg from the Image and Audio Analysis Group spoke quickly on the phone. I went straight to the elevators. Johan met me with a look that resembled the one my kids had when they thought they heard Santa Claus’s reindeer on the roof on Christmas Eve, a kind of delight mingled with terror. He quickly closed the door behind me and put a disk into the computer.
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