x x x x x x x x x x
”With another girl?”
”Yes”
Sara was genuinely surprised.
”That bastard. But to be honest, he didn’t seem like the type though”
“He was; they all are, given the chance” Petra said.
“You don’t really believe that do you?”
“I always thought anyone but him...I mean he would’ve never hurt me like this. But he did and I feel so confused and out of place right now”
“Maybe you should take a sick leave for a day two”
“Are you kidding? I’ve just started here. I don’t wanna give the wrong impression”
“Julia would understand. I know her; she’s fair woman, believe me”
“No I’m fine, really”
“If you need any help just tell me”
“I will. You know what the worst part is? We had started dating in Summer time. That’s when you feel great anyway. You meet someone and all the positivity in the air gets associated with that person. Sunny days, walking at the Esplanadi Park; lying on the grass; drinking beer, cider and whatnot until we couldn’t control our giggles anymore; the first day we moved in together; his first birthday present to me: an elephant doll. All those memories keep swirling in my head. I just can’t stop them. I want to throw up”
x x x x x x x x x x
She didn’t know how long she had been sitting on the bathroom floor, her back against the door thinking about Lauri again. Was the creature still outside? It had to be. It was probably dead anyway. The final howling of its last agony was still ringing in her ears. She slowly got up, unlocked the door; opened it a few inches and looked out at the corridor. It was dark except for the weak light coming from the living room window. The beast wasn’t lying dead in front of the bathroom door as she had anticipated. As far as she could tell there were no traces of blood or that disgusting fluid on the floor either. Then she noticed the main door; it was right in front of her; only a few steps away. She was still scared to go out though. Was the creature really dead or could it be hiding somewhere in the dark? She realized that she was thinking too much. If she wanted out of this situation she just had to bite the bullet and do it; walk out of this terror for good. Before she even knew how she did it Petra was already at the door. She opened it; “almost there” she enthused. As she was about to go out, in that weak light, she saw her purse on the living room couch. She was going to have to leave it there. But then she remembered that her smart phone was in it. It was a very expensive model and the naughty photos that she and Lauri had taken of themselves were still in there somewhere. She just hadn’t had the heart to erase them like most girls in her situation would have. She thought
“What the hell. I haven’t heard any sound for hours. It can’t still be around. It’ll only take a few seconds anyway. Go Petra go!”
She left the door open and ran to the living room in the dark. She picked it up and turned around. She was half way there. She finally got to the door. But now… It was closed!
“What the f.ck?!”
“Hello…?”
There he was: Mika Mustonen standing in front of her.
“Mika?!”
Mika turned on the light.
“Yes...? Why are all the lights turned off?”
She was shaking uncontrollably now. Mika seemed surprised but continued.
“What’s your name?”
“You...you know it”
“No”
“What?”
“What’s wrong with you? Where’s the baby? Sleeping?”
“What baby?”
Mika seemed concerned; he ran to the room in panic that a fierce fight had taken place in only a few hours ago.
“Don’t!” Petra screamed.
Mika opened the door. He stopped in terror and stepped back. Through the crack, she could see the bed that was back in its original place now. There was an old woman’s body lying lifeless on it. She was wearing a white nightgown covered in blood. Petra wanted to scream but she couldn’t; her abdominal muscles were unable to push the air out of her lungs. Mika came back to her; grabbed her by the arms and yelled.
“Where is the baby?!”
“I don’t know”
“Answer me!”
He was clearly in a state that was worst than hers and really out of control now. He grabbed her neck and squeezed it hard.
“Tell me bitch! Tell me now! Where is the baby?!”
Petra couldn’t possibly answer that; not even if she had known the answer; not while she was being strangled like that. She felt dizzy. Suddenly his gripped loosened and in a split second she realized she could breathe again. A force had pulled Mika off of her and slammed his body to the mirror next to the door. Petra was on the floor that she had come to hate so much by now trying to catch her breath. She looked up.
“Lauri?!”
It was him alright. Lauri kept punching Mika repeatedly until he was unconscious.
“What are you doing here? How did you find me?”
“Your text...”
“What?”
“You send me the address”
“Did I?”
“Yes it said ‘danger, help, Hakaniemi 55 and all that”
“But that’s impossible”
“What are you talking about?”
“It was in my purse the whole time! I’ve just picked it up”
“Come on let’s get out of here”
“We can’t. We gotta wait for the police”
“For what, to get arrested on the spot?
We’re the ones in somebody else’s apartment.
I’ve just beaten the daylights out of him and trashed his place in the process. It was dark he won’t even remember what we look like. Let’s go”
“You don’t understand. Things happened here; weird things”
“We’ll talk about it later”
“I was attacked”
“I know! I SAVED you, remember?”
“No, before that...there was a thing. Look at my clothes”
She got startled by what she saw. Not only were her clothes completely clean and undamaged, these weren’t even the ones she came here in.
“What about them? Your blue sweater; the one I bought you”
“This is not what I was wearing when I came here! I swear”
“You’re in shock. I’ll get you to a hospital. We can tell them that a dog attacked you or something”
“There’s a dead body in there”
“Where?”
“In that room; on the bed”
Lauri pushed the half open door and looked inside.
“Nothing. You see?”
She was trying to keep him there but the turn of events had started to make her feel dizzy. She walked out slowly without even waiting for Lauri to join. Her finger prints were all over the place and an unconscious man, possibly a monster that wasn’t going to stop unless it was dead, was lying on the floor. She just wanted all this to stop; at least for now. She wanted to go home, get under the covers and sleep for days on end. And she wanted Lauri on her side all the while. She had realized that she needed him more than she thought.
x x x x x x x x x x
The next day in Vuosaari, another part of Helsinki, Lieutenant Sami Salminen and Officer Kari Peltonen, two experienced policemen were investigating a crime scene.
“So...Is that the woman?”
“What do you mean ‘is that the woman’? Of course it’s her. Do you see anyone else lying dead around here?”
“Sorry lieutenant. It’s just one of those questions. You know?”
“Did you talk to the neighbors?”
“Only to the young man who called us”
“I thought I’d told you to talk to all of them”
“No one opened the door”
“That’s no excuse! You’re the police. They HAVE TO open the door. This could possibly be a murder case”
“I’ll do my best ne
xt time”
“Well THANK YOU...No less will do”
“Yes sir”
“What I’ve found here is strange. The door was wide open the young man... what was his name again?”
“Antero Salo”
“Antero Salo knew her well, right?”
“Yes. He said that he took care of her cat every now and then when she visited her relatives in Kotka”
“Antero sees the door open, walks in and finds her sitting on a chair bent over her desk, an antique by the way. At first he thinks that she has fallen asleep or something. He pokes her but she doesn’t wake up. She has a pen in her hand. She was writing a letter”
“So it’s a suicide then”
“That’s what I thought too. But it turns out it was a complaint letter. She had an envelope with an address and even a postmark on it right in front of her”
“A complaint letter? To whom? About what?”
“To a café she had visited earlier; about a girl who worked there: Petra Korhonen”
“So she was writing a complaint letter and she couldn’t handle the anger and the excitement and she dropped dead on her desk”
“No I don’t think so; especially not after realizing both her wrists were slit”
“What? Antero didn’t say anything about her wrists”
“He probably hadn’t noticed them, considering how there was no trace of blood anywhere; not on her wrists; not on the desk. The cuts are very deep yet the bones aren’t damaged at all”
“How do you explain it lieutenant?”
“I don’t. I can’t; not yet anyway. But I’m gonna ask you to be discreet about this okay? At least until we get some lab reports. Don’t tell any details about this to anyone; especially the possible witnesses. Just tell them it’s a routine questioning; she probably died of heart attack; nothing to worry about; blah... you know the drill”
“Of course”
“Now go and knock on those doors again”
x x x x x x x x x x
It was a sunny morning. Petra and Lauri were still asleep on their bed. They had spent the night together having sex a few times in an attempt to reduce the stress of the recent unpleasant experiences. She was under the influence of the pills the doctor at the hospital had given her so she hadn’t fought the urge but deep down she knew she wanted this to happen anyway.
The coffee smell from the neighbor’s open window managed to reach Petra’s nose. She was awake but didn’t want to get up just yet. She listened to the noises coming from outside reminding her that today was a new day; it was time for a fresh start. She wanted to lie there forever with Lauri beside her. She couldn’t gather her thoughts yet but she was fine with it. She decided to let words flow around her while she lied there eyes closed. Then she noticed that they were moving towards an imaginary cone suddenly creating an unbearable whirlpool effect inside her head. She jumped up; opened her eyes
“I know where the baby is!”
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