“For the time being.”
He rings off, and I change direction toward Vantaa. I call Milo and tell him to meet me at Filippov Construction.
I get there before Milo. The other cops are hidden in their vehicles around the area. I park. They spot me and follow to the front door. I explain to them that we’re looking for video disks, which they’re not to watch but to hand over to me for inspection, for camcorders and cell phones, for any device capable of shooting video, for bloodied protective gear and a taser.
I assign three detectives each the task of searching Linda’s Mustang and Filippov’s Dodge Journey. Filippov must have been watching us on a security camera and sprints out of the building in a rage. He’s not even wearing a coat. “Inspector, who the fuck do you think you are, and what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“What does it look like? Search and seizure of your property.”
He screams. “This will not stand! Show me your search warrants!”
“In urgent cases,” I say, “any police officer can conduct a search without a search warrant. Additionally, I have verbal authorization from the national chief of police. Give me your car keys.”
He folds his arms, adamant. “Not a chance in hell.”
Jyri wasn’t joking, the detectives have brought crowbars with them. I borrow one and use it to snap open the Dodge’s passenger’s-side door, then take out my pocket knife and slash a seat open. The cushioning comes spilling out. “I can search your houses and vehicles like this if you want, or I can be a little more gentle. You pick.”
He’s near to foaming at the mouth from fury, calls me a fucking cocksucker. I hold out my hand. He slams a key ring into my palm.
“Do these open all the locks to your vehicle, home and business?”
“Yes, you motherfucker, they do. I’ll get you for this.”
“Maybe,” I say.
“Where do you expect Linda and me to go while you violate our property and privacy?”
I stamp my feet and rub my gloved hands together against the cold. “I couldn’t care less. Take a taxi somewhere. Have a couple drinks and something to eat. Enjoy yourselves.”
He’s already fringed white with snow, calms down, sees the wisdom of this. “When can we have our property returned to us?”
I shrug. “It depends. I’ve got a lot of manpower. Probably just a few hours.”
“And when will you release my wife’s body to me for burial?”
“When I’m done with it.”
He goes back into the building in a huff. I follow, repeat the routine with Linda, take her keys and both their cell phones.
The detectives begin to search in earnest, rip construction equipment from shelves, go through it, dump it on the floor.
Milo arrives. I usher him into Filippov’s office so we can speak in private, and we sit at his worktable.
Milo looks pissed off. “You’ve been hard to reach,” he says.
“I’ve been busy.”
“You’ve been cutting me out of this investigation.”
“Now you’re back in.”
I fill Milo in on the deal Jyri offered me. I ask him formally, but, of course, I already know the answer. “Do you want to be part of a black-ops unit? Are you in?”
His smile is broad. The circles around his eyes gleam. He’s in heaven. “I want certain things,” he says.
“What?”
“An H amp;K machine gun. A. 50-caliber Barrett sniper rifle. Flash-bang stun grenades.”
Milo, the boy and his toys. “We can arrange that. Maybe even get somebody to teach you how to use them.”
He ignores the slight. “Then I’m in.”
“First, we need to recover the evidence against Jyri.” I point at Filippov’s computer. “You can start there.”
“I’ve already been through the computers here. There’s no evidence in them.”