Her Enemy by Leena Lehtolainen Read Free Book Online

shows me where everything is.”
    I wanted to be alone with Antti, even though he didn’t seem in a terribly sociable mood.
    In the kitchen, some of the chaos of the previous evening still showed. The dishwasher hung open, and the refrigerator was full of leftovers from the buffet table. Without a twinge ofguilt, I finished off the shrimp salad and the last piece of caviar
smörgåstårta
cake, and then, with my coffee, had a cream puff that tasted like refrigerator.
    Antti’s silence irritated me. Sure, he knew Armi and Kimmo much better than I did, but this wasn’t exactly a personal tragedy for him.
    “Have a cognac, Antti. It will help. Have a double if you need to.”
    “How will that help? Why should I drown my emotions? Do you have to be so damn professional all the time? Is that how you stifle your feelings, or do you just not have any?”
    “Yeah, that’s right, what fucking feelings? You know me—not a day goes by without a murder and a look at a nice dead body! Asshole. Listen, right now I don’t have time for feelings. Getting Kimmo out of that cell and finding out who killed Armi is going to take more than feelings.”
    Who knows how much worse that conversation would have ended up had Risto not entered the kitchen?
    “Marita said there was coffee in here. I gave Annamari the last Valium in the house, and that put her out,” Risto explained, turning to the coffeemaker and pouring himself a cup.
    “Hey, would it be too much to ask for you to give me a ride to the police station?” I asked in a cautious tone. I knew Risto liked driving. I didn’t even touch Antti as I left.
    “What should we tell my dad?” Risto asked once we were in the car and on our way.
    “Where is he now? Ecuador? Do you have to tell him right away?”
    “Annamari is demanding it, and yes, it’s important information. She wants him to come back and act like a father.” Risto’s voice was impassive.
    I hadn’t seen Henrik Hänninen in ten years. Once during that winter when the Hänninens lived in my hometown, my parents, who were also teachers, had invited their new colleague and her husband over for dinner. Horrible menstrual cramps had kept me home that night.
    Annamari Hänninen had seemed a little scattered, but Henrik might as well not even have been present. He didn’t seem the slightest bit interested in what was happening around him. Over the years, he became distant physically as well, taking one foreign posting after another for his company. Soon after Sanna’s death, he left for Ecuador and wasn’t due to come back from that assignment until the end of the year. His habit of interacting with his grandchildren, Matti and Mikko, only by sending them expensive gifts left Antti’s parents—the boys’ other grandparents—indignant.
    “I don’t think it’s worth calling your father back yet. What could he do here? Getting in contact with Eki Henttonen is much more important—try the number for his boat a few more times. And keep Annamari away from the police station.” I realized I was issuing orders again to people I had no authority over, but Risto didn’t seem to mind.
    “Listen, Risto, I wasn’t at my most focused last night when Antti and I left the house. Do you remember who was still there? Most of the group had already left.”
    Risto didn’t inquire why I was asking; he simply thought for a moment and then answered.
    “I wasn’t the most sober either. I’d knocked back a few too many glasses of cognac with Eki. So who was still here? Eki at least, and of course Kimmo and Armi and Mallu, Armi’s sister. Makke was still around, over in the lawn swing, talking with Annamari. Which surprised me a little, since I had thought they weren’t even on speaking terms. You know that Makke—”
    “Yeah, I know. I thought it was nice of you to invite him to the party.”
    “Well, if we’re being honest, Sanna was the instigator in their drinking, not Makke,” Risto said darkly as he turned into