Fatal Headwind Read Online Free PDF

you have anything else or can I get back to work?” he said, indicating his computer screen, which had already gone dark. I could have sworn he’d been playing Tetris before I came into his office.
    “Friday at three in my office,” I said pointedly, emphasizing my right to the boss’s office and position. I wasn’t going to let Ström smoke there anymore, even though I knew he would become increasingly difficult as the level of nicotine in his blood fell.
    By Friday my stylish safari pants were dingy, so I decided to head to work in an old black sports coat and jeans. In the pocket of the pants, I felt something stiff. Anne Merivaara’s business card. I had completely forgotten my promise to call her about Harri.
    After my routine morning tasks, I pulled up the report on the investigation into Harri’s death. It was short and to the point. As Koivu had said last October, it had been a simple slip-and-fall accident. Nothing had turned up in Harri’s things at the scene of the accident or in his apartment to indicate suicide.
    I read the report through a couple of times, and when I ran into Koivu in the break room, I quizzed him about the case. It had been ten months since the investigation, so it took him a minute to snap to, but the name “Rödskär” kicked his memory into gear.
    “Yeah, I got to take a ride in a real helicopter. There wasn’t anything suspicious, though. Just an accident. I even went to his apartment and didn’t find a suicide note or anything.”
    “Did you look at his computer?” I asked, remembering a case in which a kid who only ever spent time with his computer had left a suicide note open on the screen and then hung himself right there. The leg of his swinging corpse pulled the plug out of the wall, and no one thought to look for a message on the machine until someone bought it and found the note on the hard drive.
    “It was an Olivetti laptop, and he had it with him on the island. We didn’t go through every file, since it was obviously an accident, and it seemed all it had were lists of birds and marine biology mumbo jumbo. Why can’t they call a seagull a seagull instead of using some crazy Latin name?” Koivu asked.
    I patted him on the shoulder. “And you think it’s less ridiculous calling someone ‘Eagle Two’ during a stakeout? People use code names all the time to make themselves feel more important or like they’re in control. Maybe we try to turn our job into a game of Cops and Robbers so we can forget how dangerous it is.”
     

     
    Back in my office I called Anne Merivaara with the news.
    “Anne Merivaara’s phone, Juha Merivaara speaking.”
    “Hello, this is Lieutenant Maria Kallio from the Espoo Police. Is Ms. Merivaara available?”
    “I believe she’s in a meeting. Can I help?”
    “Actually, it’s a personal matter,” I said sternly.
    “Anne Merivaara happens to be my wife. Didn’t we meet on Rödskär last weekend, Lieutenant?”
    On the island, Merivaara hadn’t stood on ceremony, but apparently on land different norms applied.
    “Yes. Could you leave your wife a message to call me back? She can get hold of me through the Espoo Police switchboard. Tell her that I found the information she was looking for. Thank you. Good-bye,” I said with as much honey in my tone as I could muster.
    Only after hanging up did I realize that Juha Merivaara had been there when they found Harri’s body. Would he be able to tell me anything I hadn’t already heard? But Koivu had handled the case with his usual care, so he surely had gotten everything important out of Juha Merivaara.
    Anne Merivaara called at three fifteen, just as Ström finally arrived, fifteen minutes late, for our meeting. Briefly I told her that there was no ambiguity about Harri’s cause of death. Anne sounded strangely thankful, as if before Harri’s death she had been concerned about his emotional equilibrium. Because Ström was waiting on the other side of the desk looking