Free Snow Angels by James Thompson

national chief of police. He failed to mention that he knew Sufia when we spoke this morning. I wonder why.
    I keep looking through her records. Sufia received many calls from a particular cell phone while making few calls to the same number in return. She did, however, send a quantity of text messages to the number, and this suggests to me that she wasn’t supposed to call it directly.
    She made only eighteen hundred euros from
The Unexpected III
, her last film, and she had no other source of earned income, no permanent residence. She’d been receiving injections of cash into her account for the past couple months from a private source, and hasn’t been paying the rent on her vacation cottage herself. Sufia Elmi was a kept woman.
    I call Pine Woods Cottages and get the credit card number used for payment. I run checks on the credit card, bank account and cell phone. One name comes up. Seppo Niemi.
    My ex-wife left me for Seppo thirteen years ago. Seppo is from Helsinki. He’s rich and owns an expensive winter cottage here, bought it before he intruded on my life. He doesn’t visit Levi often. We’ve seen each other in Hullu Poro a few times since then. We never speak, but when we make eye contact, he cowers. I suppose keeping the cottage is a way of trying to convince himself he’s not intimidated by me.
    I check his vehicle registration myself. He owns a BMW 330i. I’m shaken. The irony is so great that I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry.
    I call Jyri. “I have a suspect,” I say. “His name is Seppo Niemi. He funneled money into her bank account and paid her rent. Odds are good the car used in the crime was a BMW 330i, and he owns one. How do you want me to handle it?”
    “You mean the rich guy from Helsinki?”
    “Yeah.”
    He considers it for a minute.
    “Another thing,” I say. “She knew a lot of important people, including you.”
    “So what? I have an active social life.”
    “I just thought I should mention it.”
    “I’ve heard a few things about Seppo Niemi,” Jyri says. “By all accounts, he’s an ignorant piece of shit. Bring him in, treat him as a dangerous suspect.”
    “No interview first?”
    “Nope. Fuck him. Arrest him first. And there’s no reason to mention Sufia’s more important friends to the press.”
    “Okay,” I say.
    “Let me know what happens.” He hangs up.
    Given the nature of the crime, it’s within the boundaries of the law to drag Seppo’s ass to jail without checking his alibi first, but Jyri’s reaction makes me think maybe he has reasons of his own for handling the arrest like this. I apply for arrest and search warrants, and request subpoenas for Seppo’s phone records and financial information.
    I go back out to the common room where Jussi and Antti are still hard at it. “Go home,” I say, “get some sleep and be back here at eight in the morning. We’re going to make an arrest.”
    Antti brightens. “Who?”
    My cell phone rings. “Vaara.”
    “This is Dr. Jukka Tikkanen from Kittilä Health Center Emergency Services. Your wife has had an accident.”
    My heart pounds and the phone trembles in my hand. “What kind of accident?”
    “She took a fall while skiing and fractured her left femur.”
    “Is she all right?”
    “All things considered.”
    “I’m on my way.”
    Jussi and Antti are staring at me, wondering what bad news I’ve received. “Kate broke her leg, I’ve got to go.”
    I run to get my coat and then remember Antti’s question as I button it. “Oh yeah, we’re going to arrest a guy named Seppo Niemi.”
     
    I PULL UP TO the emergency room entrance and leave the Saab in a no-parking zone. An old man sits outside smoking a cigarette. I bump into his wheelchair and apologize. The automatic doors slide open too slow and pushing them doesn’t help. The admissions desk has a line. I’m supposed to take a number and wait my turn. I go to the window and flash my police card. “Kate Vaara. Where is she?”
    The