تماس تلفنی ناخوشایند

Chapter thirteen

An unwelcome phone call

Munro and Virolainen spent the next day helping the police at the Salininkatu police station. Munro had called Naylor in London and told him what had happened. Naylor had told him not to keep any information back from the police. With Lappalainen now dead, people would be more interested in telling the truth. Teams of police searched the Bioratkaisut factory and all the scientists were brought in for questioning. Radio and television services carried the news of Lappalainen’s death saying only that he had had a heart problem. Being a full time politician and running a busy company at the same time had been too much work for him. The truth was not necessary, and Bioratkaisut would have enough problems when the public found out that it had produced poison gas for a foreign country.

Munro told the police about Riitta Koivisto and another piece of the picture fell into place. Riitta Koivisto was Jorma Lappalainen’s sister. Koivisto was her married name, although she was no longer married to her husband. Munro remembered from the newspaper that she lived with her brother. Since she had searched his room at the hotel, it seemed probable that she was involved in her brother’s plans too. Lappalainen’s homes in Finland and France were immediately searched. But Koivisto had disappeared.

The following day Munro took Virolainen back to her Ruolankatu flat. The hospital had looked at her leg and allowed her to go home but she was not walking very well. As she put the key in the door of her flat and opened it, she turned to Munro.

‘Come in Ian,’ she said, smiling at him.

As soon as they were inside the flat, she turned to face Munro. Pulling him towards her she reached up and kissed him hard on the lips. As she stepped back, Munro saw that her leg was clearly hurting her. He reached out and putting one arm under her knees and the other round her shoulders, he carried her into the small bedroom and put her down carefully on her feet by the bed. Munro again realised how beautiful this woman was. She pulled him towards her again, kissing him full on the mouth. Her body moved towards his, pressing close against him. She moved back a little and looked at him, running her fingers through his hair. They kissed again more impatiently and Virolainen reached to undo the buttons of Munro’s shirt.

‘Love me, Ian,’ she said quietly, looking straight into his eyes. ‘Make love to me.’

Back at his hotel the next morning, Munro packed his bag and went down to the reception desk to check out. He had promised to go to Ruolankatu to say goodbye to Sirpa Virolainen before catching the coach to Vantaa airport. He paid his bill, picked up his bag and was turning to leave when he heard a voice.

‘Mr Munro.’

It was one of the receptionists.

‘Yes,’ said Munro.

‘There’s a phone call for you. You can take it on the phone over there.’ The man showed Munro the phone at the end of the reception desk.

Munro picked up the phone.

‘Hello.’

‘Ian Munro,’ said the voice at the other end. ‘There is someone here who would like to speak to you.’

Another voice came on the line.

‘Ian, is that you?’

It was Sirpa Virolainen.

The first voice came back.

‘I hope you know whose voice that was.’

‘Yes,’ said Munro. Thoughts were flying through his mind. He knew whose the first voice was too. It was Riitta Koivisto. Where was she? What was she doing?

Koivisto spoke again: ‘Good. Well, Ms Virolainen and I are at the top of the ski jump in the Salpausselka area of town. You can see a long way from the top here. It’s also a long way down. In fact, if you don’t get here very quickly, Ms Virolainen is going to find out just how far down it is.’

‘What do you want?’ said Munro.

‘I want you, Ian Munro,’ said Koivisto. ‘I want you up here now. Don’t call the police. Don’t come with a gun. Get in the lift and come up to the top. Now.’

The line went dead.

Munro looked at the phone and put it down slowly. The colour had left his cheeks. His face was white.

‘Are you all right, Mr Munro?’ asked the receptionist. ‘Is there anything I can do?’

Munro looked at him. It took a few moments for Munro to realise what the receptionist had said. Then he spoke.

‘Yes,’ he said, passing his bag to the man. ‘Could you look after this for a few hours? I’ve just discovered there’s something I have to do before I leave Lahti.’