‘Yes,’ the girl said keenly, ‘Pia, you must keep your ears and eyes open at the Tournament, and keep an eye on the little girls. I just wanted to warn you that something is going to happen at the competition tomorrow. I couldn’t let you go without warning you.’ Anni looked at Pia, and squeezed her hand.
‘Shouldn’t she stay away from the Tournament, if it’s dangerous?’ Maija said. She had crossed her arms over her chest. Anni said nothing.
Pia ignored her too. ‘I’m so glad you’re alright!’ she said with tears in her eyes, hugging Anni again.
Maija got up. ‘I’m going to phone the police. I’m sure they can sort this out. There must be a procedure…’ she was on her way to the telephone in the hall.
Anni got up too and blocked her way. She looked Maija in the eyes and said, ‘The police will not be able to do anything. Besides, they won’t believe you!’
Maija regarded Anni. Again she seemed so authoritative. ‘Please, Mrs Mäkelä, phone my father, if you like. He’ll say the same as me!’ Anni scribbled a number on a piece of paper and handed it to Maija, ‘Ask for Mr Laine.’
Maija took the piece of paper and stared at it for a moment. ‘Please Mrs Mäkelä. My father really does know what he’s doing, and this is for the best. For Finland!’
Anni glanced at her wrist watch. ‘I need to get back.’
‘I’ll take the tram with you into town and then we can talk on the way,’ Pia said.
‘No way, girls. Anni, I’m afraid you are going to have to make your own way back. I cannot let Pia get into more danger.’ Maija thought, if need be, she would physically detain Pia.
‘Mum!’ Pia protested, keeping hold of Anni’s arm.
Anni freed herself from Pia’s grip and said, ‘Your mum’s right, Pia. I’ll be OK, nobody knows I’m here. I’ll give you a ring when we’re back in Helsinki.’ She picked up her down coat, and hugged Pia hard. Then she was out of the door. Maija and Pia went back into the kitchen. They peered out of the window out into the darkened street, lit only by the faint glow of the street lamps. After a short while, they saw Anni step onto the street. They watched in silence as Anni’s long blonde hair disappeared around the corner.
‘Mum, is she going to be alright? What if the Russian follows her, and…?’ Pia burst into tears and Maija took her daughter into her arms once more. She looked at the number Anni had written on the piece of paper in her hand. Would speaking with Jukka again plunge her and her daughter deeper into the world of intrigue and danger? Maija needed time to think before she spoke to anyone.
18
Leena was waiting for Vadi. He was over an hour late. The rage that she had started to feel after the first half hour was now subsiding. Instead she was worried. What if something had happened to him? Perhaps it had something to do with the Englishman. Leena hadn’t yet tried to contact him. She didn’t really know how. But Vadi had been in such a rage, she hadn’t told him that at the school that morning. Leena decided not to think the worst; the man was probably just working late. She looked at the small table she had set with two plates and two glasses. The lace tablecloth she had bought from a large Gypsy woman who had called at her door. She should never have bought anything; now the same woman was there almost weekly, though Leena did not open the door when she spotted her wide black skirt through the spy hole.
Now she was going up to the spy hole every time she heard the lift move in the hallway. But there was no one outside her door. No sign of Vadi. Leena looked at her watch; it was past seven o’clock and he’d promised to be there by six.
Leena had been quite upset about Vadi shouting at her. Luckily no one had been around, but even so, right in her office at school.
After she had left the Rixi Bar, she felt exhilarated at her ability to bluff the Englishman. Back in her office, before Vadi’s unannounced appearance, she guessed it was because some of what she’d told him was the truth. She did want to win the Tournament. It was important for her as well as the Lyceum. And Pia. Though she couldn’t understand why Vadi wanted the Finns to win. How did that further his cause? The way he was behaving towards her lately, she’d decided it wasn’t any sort of reward for her either. If Vadi was worried about keeping Leena on his side, he was going about it in a strange way. But by now Leena had learned that Vadi was not one to explain things in too much detail.
Leena heard the lift move again. She pressed her eye to the spy hole and waited. It stopped somewhere further up. Leena could hear a woman laughing, and then the lift descended and stopped at the ground floor.
Where was Vadi? It was nearing half past seven. The cabbage rolls she’d bought from the corner shop would be stone cold now. She’d need to reheat them. At least the Koskenkorva was chilled.
Just then her telephone rang.
‘Hello, can I speak with Leena Joutila?’
‘Speaking’ Leena was disappointed. It wasn’t Vadi.
‘Hello, it’s Iain Collins. We met yesterday.’
‘Hello’ was all Leena could think to say. How had the man found her number? She wasn’t in the book, mainly to stop the students finding out where she lived. Besides, the man had been in a hurry to leave Leena, so much so, that he’d left his coffee untouched.
‘I wondered if we could meet?’
Leena was thinking hard. If she said no, he’d certainly suspect something was up.
‘Yes, why not,’ she heard herself reply.
The man suggested the bar at the InterContinental Hotel. Leena had been there once with a friend who’d gone to teach in the USA for a year and had come back engaged to an American. The wedding reception at the hotel had been a grand affair. Leena wondered what she should wear there on a Sunday night, and decided on a pair of flared black pants and a colourful top. Shoes, as always, were a problem. Nothing less than her thick-lined winter boots would negotiate the walk to the tram stop. Usually on an evening out, she took a pair of indoor shoes to change into, but somehow that seemed wrong tonight, as if she was expecting to go dancing with the foreigner. Leena decided to take a pair of black patent shoes with her anyway, and see when she got there whether she’d have an opportunity to change into them unnoticed.
Vadi, too, was a problem. What if he turned up while she was away? When she was ready to leave, it was already eight o’clock. He was now two hours late. Then Leena had a thought. Her not being there – if, and when, he turned up – would teach him a lesson. Why did he assume that she didn’t have better offers? That she didn’t constantly refuse other men to be with him? She was sticking her neck on the line for him, the least he could do was to keep a date they’d arranged.
The bus dropped Leena off at Töölö Square, and she walked down the hill to the main entrance of the hotel on Mannerheimintie. It looked even grander than she remembered, but Leena took a deep breath and walked confidently in through the large revolving doors. She looked around the lobby and suddenly stopped. She only saw the man’s back, but she would have recognised him anywhere.
Vadi stood with his arm around a woman’s waist. They were talking to a receptionist at the desk. On the floor next to him was a holdall. The receptionist laughed at something Vadi said. She caught Leena’s eye. Leena ducked sideways and hid behind a pillar. Then she saw a sign, ‘Toilets.’ She walked briskly towards a set of doors to the left of the lobby and went inside. There was no one inside. She opened a door to a cubicle and sat down on top of the toilet pan. Her hands were shaking as she took her boots off and placed the high-heeled shoes on her feet.