“Make it three.”
“Two and half, and don’t try to bargain.”
“Very well. May I ask your sudden interest in the collection of blackmail material?”
“No. You have a duplicitous nature. You receive no unnecessary information.”
He snickers. “We all have our flaws.”
“In this instance, you’ll suppress them, or you’ll pay a high price.”
He snickers again. “Will you have me shot?”
“No, but given the choice, you might prefer it. You’ll be fired by all of your employers. You’ll find your bank account emptied. You’ll lose your home. You’ll receive bills for loans you never took out. You’ll be convicted for crimes you didn’t commit, and I’m pretty sure they would make you the jailhouse sissy.”
“Inspector, you seem to have become a man of importance. I’m impressed.”
“I’m so pleased. It’s important to me that you hold me in high regard.”
“I’ll do a good job. And I’ll be your lapdog. No duplicity.”
“I’m glad we understand one another,” I say, and ring off.
The skank dreck sheet will never be published. It will, however, be written and prepared, and the mock-up will be in the possession of the minister of the interior in the event that I need to entrap and extort him. My own version of the slander skank rag, featuring such gems as a round-heeled slattern giving him skull in the alley behind a bar, might just possibly make it to print.
I received messages while I talked to Jaakko. Mirjami and Jenna will be coming with us tomorrow. Kate is coming to on the sofa. I tell her all the arrangements have been made for the trip to Turku.
“What trip?” she asks.
30
Kate pretends that she’s just sleepy, acts as if she hadn’t blacked out. With a little assistance from me, she remembers everything and exhibits enthusiasm for the trip. Whether real or feigned, I don’t know. I see that she has that kind of nerve-jangled hangover that comes from days of drinking, but puts on a perky face rather than admit how bad she feels. She doesn’t comment when I feed Anu with formula from a bottle rather than hand her over for a suck on a tit. She doesn’t want to discuss her behavior. I don’t want to make her. She sits with her laptop and researches Turku, plans her day as a tourist. I go to the grocery and load up on snacks, beer and soft drinks for the trip.
EVERYONE SHOWS UP at eight a.m. sharp. The men will take the Jeep Wrangler, since we have Milo’s guns to transport, and the girls will ride in the Audi. Kate is nervous but excited and looking forward to her first long-distance Finnish driving experience. Mirjami, once again in Hello Kitty attire, has a license, and says she’ll give Kate driving pointers.
However, they have differing ideas about how to spend the day. Turku was Finland’s original capital—its cathedral was consecrated in 1300, and it still has remnants of the Middle Ages, or re-creations of it along cobblestoned streets. Established by Sweden, it still feels more Swedish than Finnish, and Swedish is spoken at least as much, if not more, by its residents. The Aurajoki divides the city.
Kate would like to see handicrafts and go to the tourist area, where people in authentic clothing, blacksmiths and weavers and such, make things the old-fashioned way. Also, Turku Castle is, if not the biggest in Finland and the Scandinavian region, close to it. She suggests that exploring it could also be a fascinating way to spend the day.
Mirjami and Jenna want to go to Muumimaailma—Muumin World. Kate doesn’t know what it is. We’re all surprised. The Muumit—Muumi plural—are one of those things you just take for granted everyone knows about.