Against the Wall by Jarkko Sipila

Author:Jarkko Sipila [Sipila, Jarkko]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Police Procedurals
Amazon: B002OHD1YO
Publisher: Ice Cold Crime
Published: 2009-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

The elevator clunked to a stop on the fourth floor, and Joutsamo gestured for the girl to proceed. From the elevator, a door on the left took them into the hallway. The walls were light gray, the floor a darker shade. The building had been used heavily since the eighties, and it showed. A major renovation had been due for some years now, but budget cuts had pushed it back.

“And another left here,” Joutsamo directed.

The detective had immediately recognized her as the girl from the photo in Eriksson’s apartment. Joutsamo had asked the young woman to follow her upstairs. Both had on jeans, but the younger one wore a tighter fit.

Fear showed in her eyes when she saw the white sign on the glass door: Violent Crimes Unit. “What’s happened?”

Joutsamo tried to smile. “Probably nothing. All reports of missing persons go through the VCU. We get dozens of these cases every year and the vast majority have a happy ending.”

The pair stopped at the door of a small interview room. Joutsamo peeked inside to make sure it was empty, then escorted the woman inside. The room was just large enough to accommodate a table, computer, and three old office chairs. A large map of Helsinki hung on the wall.

“Have a seat there,” Joutsamo directed. She took her own seat behind the computer, but didn’t turn it on.

The blond girl’s face was thin, and her eyes red from crying.

“Tell me what happened,” Joutsamo began. She wanted to hear the story as candidly as possible before even checking the woman’s ID.

“Well, I haven’t heard anything from Jerry for a couple of days. He hasn’t called or answered any of my calls. I’m afraid that something happened.”

“What could have happened?” Joutsamo asked calmly.

“I really don’t know, but he hung out with some strange guys sometimes…” she left the thought hanging.

“And what?”

“I really don’t know. Some of them are just weird, like, you know,” she said and swept her hair back.

“And Jerry Eriksson is your boyfriend?” Joutsamo asked.

“Yeah. He’s my boyfriend. He’s never done anything like this.”

“When did you see each other last?”

“On Monday night we went out to eat at Tenkka Bar, and Jerry got a call around nine. He left pretty soon after that to meet someone…”

“Who?” Joutsamo interrupted.

“I don’t know. He doesn’t tell me about that stuff.”

“Was it just the two of you at the restaurant?”

“Of course there were other customers, but we sat by ourselves. One of his friends had recommended it, and Jerry wanted to try the place.”

“Did he seem worried when he left?”

“Not that I could tell. More like excited, somehow. He said it would probably take a couple hours, and he’d call me afterwards, but he never did,” she said. A tear rolled down her cheek.

“There was nothing unusual about that?”

“Well, no. Every now and then he takes off somewhere, but he always calls. Later that night, we were supposed to go to another bar with some of his friends, but I got tired of waiting and went home at about midnight.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.