10. An inspector is born
April 23rd
Janne Happonen was working hard. But he noticed after several years that to be a policeman was very demanding. It was not easy to work by night, on Sundays and sometimes during the public holidays. It was also a physical job. He liked the fact that people needed the help of policemen but he also disliked when other people didn’t have respect for them. He was thinking of a quieter job. One of the other reasons was that his wife was pregnant and he wanted to have time to spend with his family. Since the previous summer he was doing special courses and training to become an inspector. He passed with success the first steps but he required a little bit more time for the last ones. He was not anymore in a learning mood and it was more difficult than what he expected. He did his best and his motivation was high. And that day was special. He succeeded and was now inspector. His training phase went really well and he was happy to have contributed to the arrest of the gang of car thieves. He quitted the police station of Pasila and moved to his office in Helsinki centre near the design museum. It was a nice location and the colleagues were friendly.
He was sat in the office of the supervisor with three other colleagues. He was presenting the crimes that had not been solved. Last month after the ice melted a man was found in the sea. “He was probably there since December when the ice covered the water. He has been murdered probably with a knife. There was no wallet and ID on him. His finger prints have been sent to the laboratory and we should get the answer within a week. Lintunen and Jussila, I’d like you to investigate,” the boss said while he gave them a folder with all the needed information. He was almost 60 years old, white hair and much experimented. “We have another investigation on a fire in the south of Helsinki which happened on March 23rd. The fire started in a flat and a woman died. We are suspecting that it was a crime. The first conclusion was that the fire started in several rooms. This is almost impossible to be an accident. Apparently the woman had no enemy and was not depressive. I’d like that you Vartanen and Happonen spend a bit of time on that case. Here is the folder. Let’s have a meeting next week, same place, same time,” the boss concluded.
Janne Happonen and Juhanni Virtanen sat at their office and looked at the content of their folder. “So, we have the pictures taken right after the firemen stopped the fire. Our victim is Cassandra Lemaitre, 32 years old, nurse at the hospital of Helsinki,” Juhanni read. “Wait a minute...” Havu said when he heard the name and the profession. “I know her! She... she was the girlfriend of my best friend.” “Really? Maybe they had a fight?” his colleague suggested. “No, it’s impossible. He died in January,” Janne explained. He sat back on his chair and thought of Cassandra. He was shocked to hear that she was dead. She was such a nice girl. Who wanted to kill her? Maybe a patient? “Maybe she committed suicide. He died in January and her in March. It was maybe too hard for her,” Juhanni suggested. “We should interrogate her colleagues,” Havu suggested. “In the first report it’s written that nobody noticed something different in her behaviour but also nobody told that she lost her boyfriend recently. I think that you’re right. We should ask them again. We should also talk to her family. Did you know her well?” “No, I just met her a couple of times,” Havu answered.
“Do you know if the lock of the door had been forced?” Havu asked. “Well on the pictures, the door had been broken by the firemen. It’s hard to say if it had been forced before.” “Juhanni, if the firemen broke it, it means that the door was closed. She knew the person who killed her.” “Havu, I love you! Well, professionally of course. Nothing personal,” Juhanni exclaimed and Havu smiled.
Havu was thinking that some humans were really cruel. Who was able to strangle a so nice girl and then to burn her flat? He thought that that person was probably looking for something. On his computer he was looking at her profile in the people database. But there was nothing interesting. She was a normal person who never did something bad. Then he was thinking of the door. “Juhanni, do you know if the main door of the building was locked?” he asked. “I guess. In that area all the buildings are locked. Maybe the criminal discovered the code.” “Or he called her,” Havu proposed. “It’s possible. Let’s check with the phone company.” Juhanni called and asked for her last phone calls. Half an hour later he got a fax. “Let’s see. She received her last call at 19:21 and lasted 5 minutes and 17 seconds.” “It’s a bit long to ask her to open the door,” Havu concluded. “And the owner of that number is her sister,” Juhanni said. “At what time the firemen have been called?” “Hum... at 21:52,” Juhanni answered. “We have to ask the sister if Cassandra ended the phone call because someone knocked at the door. It can help to know how much time the killer spent in the flat,” Havu suggested.
An hour later the two policemen knocked at the door of the sister. She was living in a detached house in Haukilahti. When she opened the door she was surprised to see two policemen in civil clothes. She was about 35 years old, with dark brown hair, some extra kilos but a friendly face. She invited the inspectors to enter. She proposed to serve a cup of coffee but they refused. They sat in the living room. They immediately noticed that she was not at ease. “Do you know if your sister had enemies?” Juhanni asked after a little while. “No, she was a nice girl. Everybody liked her.” “What did you talked about around 7pm on March 23rd?” Janne Happonen asked. “I don’t remember exactly. But it was about the summer holiday. We were planning to go to France to visit our grandparents,” she explained. “Did you notice anything unusual? Was she stressed or depressed?” Virtanen asked. “No, she was normal. Or maybe I didn’t notice.” “Did you ended the phone call after your conversation or had she been interrupted by someone ringing at the door?” Juhanni asked. “No, we ended it normally.” “Do you know if she was depressive after the death of her boyfriend?” Havu asked. “No, not really. She was a nurse and she knows how to react in case of death. The first weeks were a bit difficult but then she went back to work and life was normal again.” “Do you know if she was dating again?” Juhanni asked. “No, it was too soon,” she answered. “Did she meet someone recently that she trusted but that she didn’t know well enough? Maybe a patient that was sad and that she wanted to help, maybe?”Havu suggested. “She didn’t talk about it.” “How often did you have contact with her?” Juhanni asked. “We met once a week and we called every two or three days.” “Do you know who she allowed to enter in her flat?” Havu asked because he knew that Finnish girls almost never allowed a stranger to enter in their home. “Only her family and very good friends. Maybe some other people. I don’t know.” Then Juhanni asked her to write a list.
In the car on the way back, Janne was thinking. “You look very serious. What’s up?” Juhanni asked. “And if it was a delivery man?” Havu asked. “I don’t think so. We would have seen it in the phone call list.” “But what if he was already in the flat. Like at 6pm?” “I don’t think so. Her sister would have notice in her voice that something was strange.” “You’re right,” Havu answered while he looked at the landscape. The snow had almost totally melted and the first flowers were there. He was waiting for summer. He was thinking of having a barbecue in his garden or simply to take a sun bath.
“Hello my dear inspector. How was your day?” Maria asked with a wide smile when he was back. “Very interesting. But now I want to think of something else. I missed you so much,” he said while he kissed and hugged her. With his hand he was softly touching her belly. He was smiling. He was so happy.
During dinner Maria noticed that Janne was lost in his thoughts. “What are you thinking of? Is everything okay?” “Yeah, yeah. It’s just that... I was thinking of my day... of the investigation. I’m sorry,” Janne said a bit confused. “Do you want to talk about it? It seems to bother you,” Maria suggested. “It’s strange that for my first real investigation I’ve to work... on the death of someone I know.” “Really? Who? Matti?” “No, Cassandra,” he said. “What? Is she dead? When? How? What happened?” Maria asked pretty shocked by the news. “She died in the fire of her flat on March 23rd. It looks like a murder and not an accident,” Janne answered calmly. Maria was like a statue and suddenly cried. He got up and comforted.
“The 23rd of March was a horrible day. I will never forget it,” she said once her tears were dried. “What do you mean?” Havu asked curious. “Don’t you remember? It’s the day when Jussi went here and was bad with me. He wanted to know if you got money from someone,” she explained. Janne was thinking of what she just told. “Thank you Maria.” He kissed her, went to the living room and called his colleague. “Maybe I know who killed her. See you tomorrow.”
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