TH02 - The Priest of Evil Read Online Free PDF Page B

camera zooming in. Jari had already made it out to the balcony and his dress flapped in the wind like a giant tail.
    He had gripped the railing and was now trying to lift one of his legs over the top as if he were mounting a horse. The wind caught one of his socks and it flew off like a bird shot down in mid-flight. Harjunpää had reached the balcony, he stood in the doorway and stretched out his hand. A single thought spun in his mind: what floor, what floor? Somehow he noticed a broom with no handle and a multicoloured sock lying in the corner of the balcony. He grabbed hold of Jari’s shoulders and, shifting his centre of gravity, pulled him down as hard as he could – the smell of sweat hung in the air. He then thrust his knee into the back of Jari’s thigh, there came a bony click and Jari was securely wedged in between Harjunpää and the railing.
    Jari removed his left hand from the railing and began scratching at Harjunpää’s fingers, but it was no use. They stood there panting, writhing like a many-limbed monster. Harjunpää instinctively looked down. At firstall he saw was Jari’s bare leg dangling like a loose object through the railings, then there was nothing. Emptiness, more emptiness, and behind all the emptiness, unfathomably far away, he could make out the ground. In his stomach he could feel the downward acceleration, his jacket flapping in his eyes. Would there be enough time to feel pain? Or would it be nothing more than a single, astonishing blaze of red?
    ‘He’ll punish me because Mummy’s dead!’ Jari wailed. This statement seemed to give him a surge of renewed strength and he managed to clamber further up over the railing. A pen he had got from the museum fell out of Harjunpää’s pocket and shot downwards like a bullet, without even a quiver. Then it disappeared. It was only then that Harjunpää really felt afraid: something hot ran through him, in his temples he could feel his heart thumping, pounding, the image of his family flashed through his mind – how would they cope? Then he thought of Jari: did he have any chance of recovery, even with the best care available? For a short, horrifying moment he wondered whether to release his grip.
    ‘Nobody’s going to die today!’ he shouted, his mouth almost level with Jari’s ear. In a flash Harjunpää became almost frenzied, tightened his grip and pulled, and at that same moment Jari seemed to give in, his body almost limp. They quickly stumbled backwards across the balcony. But of course, of course, Harjunpää knocked his heel against the door and began to fall. Everything happened surprisingly slowly, as if time were a viscous, defiant mass, and he had just enough time to press his chin against his chest before his back slammed against the floor.
    Bugs crackled beneath him. Jari lay on top of him, heavy and bony, but Harjunpää managed to slip out from underneath, sprung to his knees and rolled him on to his stomach. Jari no longer tried to resist. Without any trouble he pulled Jari’s hands behind his back and groped for the handcuffs on his belt. He could already feel their cold, calming steel, but eventually decided to let things be. Instead he kept a firm grip on Jari’s right wrist, placed the palm of his free hand between Jari’s shoulder blades and sighed: ‘Easy does it, easy does it.’
    ‘ Oy , you!’ a voice yelled. Harjunpää started and raised his head. In the front doorway stood a bulky man in a boiler suit, presumably the caretaker, restlesslybeating the air with an ominous-looking rubber baton. The woman in the dressing gown stood behind him, her hands covering her face in horror.
    ‘All right, leave him alone. That’s assault, you know.’
    ‘I’m not assaulting him. I’m a police officer.’
    ‘Right, and I’m the prime minister. If I were you I’d stay right there on the floor, the real police are on their way.’
    ‘Have you called them?’
    ‘Of course.’
    ‘Well call them again and tell