Read TH02 - The Priest of Evil for Free Online

them to get a bloody move on. My badge is in my jacket pocket…’
    ‘And what if you’re lying? What if it’s a gun?’
    ‘I give up,’ he sighed, though under different circumstances he would have herded the onlookers out into the corridor. In any case he was certain that JP’s squad would arrive at any moment. He took hold of Jari’s arms, helped him into a sitting position and leant him against the wall. He could feel the man quivering all over, very slightly, from head to toe, as if he were crying deep inside. Harjunpää stood up, walked over to the balcony and shut the door. He felt relief as the howl of the wind finally ceased.
    ‘Fuckin A!’ came a voice from the stairwell. Harjunpää knew immediately who it was – there was only one man in the whole police force who after all these years still greeted him with those same words. He was right. Rummukainen from Central had already chivvied the caretaker and the woman in the dressing gown out into the stairwell and stood in the doorway in a position that had become very familiar to Harjunpää over the years: legs apart, his hat pushed back on his forehead and his thumbs tucked in behind the belt carrying his gun and other equipment. It had been said that Rummukainen only had to step out of his car and stand like this for a moment to diffuse any situation. Like Harjunpää he had seen almost everything, and even now his expression was calm, not shocked in the least, but still his eyes watchfully scanned across the room. Even if he hadn’t been in uniform, this at least would have given him away as a police officer.
    ‘He just tried the quick way down,’ Harjunpää whispered. ‘Off the balcony. We had quite a wrestling match.’
    ‘So I see. Your trousers are still covered in crap.’
    ‘Yeah, thanks. So,’ Harjunpää began decisively, but suddenly realised that he didn’t know what to say or do. His mind was blank; it felt almost as though he had woken up in strange surroundings and couldn’t for the life of him remember where he was. ‘So…’
    ‘The doctor’s arrived,’ said Rummukainen, nonchalantly twiddling with his moustache. ‘And an ambulance, but I told them all to wait in the corridor. Best fill the doc in first, then get this guy and everyone else out of here.’
    ‘Right,’ Harjunpää mumbled and for a brief, rare moment something approaching a smile crossed his face. After this short pause he could once again feel the blood begin pumping through him; his thoughts cleared, the machinery inside slowly jolted into motion. Immediately the plan of action became perfectly clear to him: Jari out, dog out, body out; schedule post mortem for the next day and seal off the flat. If necessary get forensics in to take a look around after the post mortem, then get the place disinfected.
    ‘Keep him company for a minute,’ he instructed Rummukainen and walked out into the hallway. The front door was still wide open. Outside, in addition to the doctor and the firemen stood the caretaker, the dressing-gown woman and, judging by the way they were dressed, a few other people from the same building. Their confused, low muttering came to an abrupt halt as Harjunpää appeared in the doorway. The smell of fresh coffee wafted up the staircase and behind closed doors a few floors below came the shrill yapping of a little dog.
    ‘He did tell us all that his mother had died.’The caretaker seemed to speak for everyone; he was almost defensive. The rubber baton was carefully hidden behind his back. ‘But none of us realised she was still in there.’
    ‘When did he first mention this?’
    ‘It was March the 21 st , I remember it clearly because it was my birthday and I remember thinking I ought to have flown our flag at half-mast.’
    ‘He gave me one of those double lamp-stands,’ said the woman in the dressing gown.
    ‘But we all thought he was just moving to a smaller flat and getting rid of some stuff. He even gave the Lönnbergs his