Free Copper Heart by Leena Lehtolainen Page B

things had come of them—the first case had reintroduced me to Antti and in the second case, a relative of Antti’s sister would have ended up in jail if it weren’t for me—recovering had still taken time.
    “I was at the party myself, as were my parents and a few of my friends. I may not be a suspect, but someone will still have to question me. And are any of you really looking forward to running around grilling your friends and neighbors?”
    “That’s all we ever do. I even had to lock up my brother-in-law once when we caught him drunk and waving a knife around,” Lasarov said.
    Still, I decided to stick to my guns. “The county is a resource, not a liability. They aren’t going to take over the case. I’ll call them in a few minutes. In the meantime, let’s figure out what we need to do first.”
    The county forensics team took the evidence back to their laboratory in Joensuu. Antikainen and Järvi stayed behind to gather addresses for everyone on the guest list, and Lasarov went to spell the guards at the Tower while they took their lunch break. I retreated to my office to call the county crime division. Their lead detective, a Sergeant Järvisalo, promised to come and bring another detective provided that the medical examiner’s final report indicated a crime had in fact occurred. So I stayed inmy office to drink coffee and wait. I imagined Mikko would have found himself something to eat by now. I only hoped the front porch wouldn’t be covered with bird carcasses when I got home.
    I may have nodded off at my desk, because Antikainen’s shrill voice outside my door snapped me out of a strange, dazed state. “You can’t go in there!”
    “Just try to stop me.” When I lifted my eyes, Johnny was standing at my door, looking like he hadn’t slept in a year.
    “Maria. I had to come. Is it true what they’re saying in town about Meritta?”
    “What are they saying?” I motioned for Johnny to sit. How had he managed to grow three days of stubble in one night? When I looked into his eyes and saw their empty depth, I knew the truth about his relationship with Meritta.
    “That Meritta is dead. That she fell off the Tower.”
    “It’s true,” I said. I didn’t move around the desk to hug him, even though I should have. We hadn’t hugged the previous night, so why should we now?
    “Goddamn it. I knew this would happen someday if she kept sitting on that railing when she was drunk!” Johnny hid his head in his hands, and I moved toward him, but the police officer in me overcame the person.
    “What did you say? You saw Meritta sitting on the edge of the Tower?”
    “She always sat up there. She’d swing her legs and laugh and make fun of anyone who was afraid of heights. She said it was like sitting on top of the world…” Johnny’s shoulders were heaving. Now I remembered a newspaper story from a couple of years before with a picture of Meritta sitting on the railing of the Tower with her black hair shining against a backdrop of white clouds and blue sky.
    “Did you see her go up in the Tower last night?”
    “No. I did talk to her a little before I left. She said she wanted to be alone.”
    Well, well. Just like in high school. Johnny couldn’t get Meritta to leave with him, so he had nothing better to do than walk me home. I didn’t know which annoyed me more, that he was still using me as his fallback or that I still cared.
    “Was that a change of plans? Had you arranged to leave together?” My voice must have been sharper than normal because Johnny glanced at me with a puzzled look.
    “We hadn’t arranged anything. So you know that…”
    “That you two were involved. At least that’s what everyone says.” My voice was still too cold, almost angry. “Do I understand correctly that you think Meritta was drunk, climbed up the Tower, and fell by accident?”
    “Yeah, I guess so…I’d been up there before with her to watch the sunrise.”
    “But you weren’t with her this