My First Murder by Leena Lehtolainen

Author:Leena Lehtolainen [Lehtolainen, Leena]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: cookie429, Kat, Extratorrents
ISBN: 9781612184371
Amazon: 1612184375
Barnesnoble: 1612184375
Publisher: AmazonCrossing
Published: 2012-12-11T06:00:00+00:00

9

Sea and sky and land—all, all shall fade away

Work remained chaotic. For the rest of the week, it felt like half the city had decided to start abusing their families. After dealing with five domestic violence cases in three days—one dead elderly mother, two beaten wives, one drunk husband pushed off a balcony, and one little brother with his foot shot off by his father’s hunting rifle—I was ready to swear off ever getting married or having children. I only had time to think about Tommi’s case intermittently, but when I finally got a chance to do another read-through of his papers, I found I had only more questions.

Though it was not imperative that I be there for the investigation, I wanted to be present for Tommi’s funeral. Tommi’s father had told me about the funeral arrangements when I called him to inquire further into Tommi’s finances. Although Heikki Peltonen had denied any illegal prepayment of an advance on Tommi’s inheritance, I didn’t fully trust him. The family’s doctor had forbidden anyone from questioning Tommi’s mother so far. I knew that I could get permission if I needed to, but I didn’t want to pressure her.

The forensic technicians didn’t find anything worthwhile in Tommi’s car. It was covered with several people’s fingerprints, some unidentified, but none of them raised any flags in our database. There were no bloodstains, and nothing was stashed in there. As far as I was concerned, the impound could release the car to the Peltonens.

On the day of the funeral, I walked to Temppeliaukio Church from home. My old black dress was tight across my shoulders. My parents bought it for me for my high school graduation, but I hadn’t been lifting weights back then. Black stockings covered my unshaven leg hair. I hadn’t bought any flowers, because Tommi didn’t need them, and the living might take a dim view of a police officer bringing them. Besides, I wanted to concentrate on the other people with flowers, to see whether Merike, Emma, Tiina, or this M person might be among them. I had no intention of invading the private memorial service that was to take place after the funeral.

The day was cloudy and it looked like it might start raining at any moment. Perfect funeral weather. There was no thunder, just a resigned, almost thirsty anticipation of rain. The groundsels growing on the slopes of the bedrock into which the subterranean church was built looked like they were yearning for moisture after several weeks of drought.

I slipped unnoticed into a corner of the balcony. I thought about the last time I had been in a church—it had been my friend Annikka’s wedding the previous winter. Churches always felt foreign to me, and I didn’t know how to act in them. I always felt clumsy and loud, and the priests’ sermons never succeeded in getting through to me. Religion was something I thought about only rarely, mostly because I didn’t want to. Now, however, I tried to think about where Tommi had truly gone.

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