Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“There you are!” Sakari’s voice makes Sofia turn around in Hieta’s office, just as she was ready to ask another favor to the I.T guy.

“Here I am.” She repeats in a rather amused tone, as if he didn’t know where she was. “What’s up?”

“We have to go back to the crime scene.” He says and now both Hieta and Sofia look at him.

“Didn’t the forensics team just clear that up?” Sofia places her hands inside her pocket and pulls out her phone, checking another information on it.

“Rautamaa suggested we take another look, just in case we find anything else.” Sakari shrugs.

Sofia rolls her eyes and starts gathering her things and the files she had just scattered all over Hieta’s desk. They came back from the crime scene less than an hour ago.

“Saved by the bell.” Hieta fixes his glasses as he breathes relieved and pretends to wipe the sweat from his forehead. Sakari chuckles and frowns at the saying. 

Sofia gives a sideways glance. “I’ll catch up with you later.” 

—

They make their way to the garage, fast paced, in order to catch the last bit of sunlight to help with their task.

“Saved by the bell…” Sakari repeats Hieta’s words. “Where did that come from?” He mumbles, more to himself than to his partner.

“People used to have this tremendous fear of being buried alive, which did occasionally happen, so there were inventions of coffins with bells that led outside the graves. If it happened that they were accidentally buried alive, they could sound the bell by pulling a string that was attached inside the coffin and be saved at the last minute.” Sofia shrugs and Sakari gives her a side eye. “It's actually not the real explanation for the expression, and I don't think said coffins were ever built, but I like this explanation much better.”

“I'm confused and amazed at the same time.” 

“Back then a lot of people suffered from catalepsy and were mistakenly declared dead and, therefore, buried alive… I'm surprised you're not the one knowing this.” Sofia nonchalantly continues to go over the information from the crime scene again. His frown gives place to a chuckle and Sakari shakes his head as his eyes are back on the road.

It intrigues him how she has started to pick up on a few of his habits overtime, like the sudden drop of random knowledge. He wonders if he started doing the same, mimicking her mannerisms, and it makes a small smile appear on the corners of his mouth. He feels joyous to realize this is a whole new level of intimacy, to be able to open a smile next to her in the car, to be at ease in her presence, without necessarily having to go over an internal monologue as to why he feels this way.

Sofia's mind, on the other hand, focuses on the crime scene they’re going back to, and what else they could salvage from the already turned upside down place. Sheknows it's common to go back to the crime scene a few times during the investigation, she just didn't expect to be that soon. It was a pretty straightforward scene: man and woman, both shot inside the house, a few items missing, signs of forced entry. The scene was almost too easy to be true, in terms of understanding the crime, which doesn't make it any less gruesome. Catching who did that is a whole other matter. 

She could pick up a sense of brutality that it's not the same as all the other armed robberies she worked on, but she has a hard time pointing out the exact aspects of it, so maybe going back so soon will help after all. Revisiting a crime scene is like having a pair of fresh eyes.

The forensics team collected a few samples of DNA to analyze, drops of blood and also some shoe prints, but the coroner's report is only expected to come out in two or three days at best. Until then, the information they have is preliminary. 

“What are you thinking?” Sakari pulls her out of her thoughts that were starting to become messy, like when you open different tabs on your browser with subjects that are slightly related to each other. Her train of thought sometimes can be similar to scientific research for an article or a thesis. You have all these small pieces of content, knowing they all might be tied by one major subject, but you still don't know yet how to bind them together.

“Just going through the scene in my head again.” Sofia answers. “Do you think we might've missed anything crucial?” 

“It’s always worth a last check.” 

She only hums in agreement.

“Let’s go step by step. Who called it in and what time?” Sakari grips the wheel especially hard while flashes of the crime scene fill his mind. It’s nothing he hadn’t seen before, but still pretty gory.

“Dispatch got the call at…” Sofia flips through the pages on the document until her eyes find the information. “1:23pm. There’s no name of the caller.”

It’s not entirely impossible for the person to not have said their name, sometimes they’re calling in complete distress, but it sure wasn’t something common. 

“I remember the CSIs saying the bodies weren’t too cold yet, but there were some rigor mortis installed in small areas, so they estimated the time of death must’ve been around an hour and a half prior to our arrival, give or take.”  Sofia hums quietly and bites her lip before lowering her head against the car window. 

“Do we have the transcript or audio of the emergency call?” She asks herself, already flipping the pages to find the document she needs. “No.” 

“Let's put a request through then.”

—

Around 20 minutes later, they arrive at the house. It's partially isolated, near a forest, with no close neighbors… a welcome sign to anyone who wishes to do any sort of harm.

“Shall we do a reconstruction?” Sofia asks, while putting on her gloves and shoe protectors. Sakari nods, doing the same and they walk around the stain of blood where the first victim was found.

“So we had established that the man was killed here, by the door, most likely he was the first to die.” Sakari points to where the body had been laid down on his back. Sofia pulls out the picture from the crime scene they brought from the precinct and compares it to what they're looking at. “He had this dishcloth over his shoulder, so maybe he had been in the kitchen?” He traces the man's shoulder in the photograph and Sofia nods.

“Then these muddy shoe marks lead us through the hallway, the perpetrator went for the woman.” Sofia points out her flashlight, even though it’s still light out. 

“She was found in the bathroom, sitting down on the floor.” They enter the bathroom, careful to not step on the blood that is still pooled around where the body was. “So was she showering?” 

“Not likely. The bathroom was dry… Maybe she just tried to hide here.” Sofia looks around the bathroom again, trying to catch any detail that might've escaped them the first time around. She closes her eyes and tries to imagine the dynamic of the scene. How the perpetrator came, how the victim reacted to it. What did she feel at that moment?

Her body is positioned right in front of where they found the victim. It is a short distance if the killer had their arms stretched out in her direction. Sofia mimics the movement while Sakari holds out the picture for them to look at. Right now it's like they're dancing to this inaudible symphony, just the two of them, putting the pieces together without the need to actually say what they need from one another. Just following the imaginary music that they know the steps for all too well.

When was it that they started to agree like this?

Sofia's last movement is to replay the shot, the movement of the arms and how the gun would thump back. Then she circles the bullet hole in the picture.

“The wound?” Sakari follows her eyes, also imagining the dynamic of the shot and Sofia nods.

“I might be wrong, but there's no contact wound, no charring, but there's tattooing.” She bites her lip. God it must've been awful. “We have to check the ballistics report as soon as possible, it might've been a really close shot and —” 

“She was shot on the ground already.” Sakari interrupts. “There’s no sliding marks on the wall, so she wasn’t standing when the bullet hit.” He completes the sentence and walks closer, examining the hole on the once white tiles of the bathroom wall. “It seems to be positioned almost precisely at the height of her head.”

“Mmh.” She looks at him with understanding eyes and takes two steps back, exiting the bathroom. She has the frown in between her eyebrows as she looks around the house. “Remind me to check for defensive wounds on both their hands when we get back.”

The living room looks more organized than the rest of the house, with only a few pictures knocked down and it piques their curiosity. They did a quick sweep on that part the first time around, but the shoe marks never went that way. Now Sofia checks the place again, it's easier without all the forensics working, and it allows her to see it with new eyes.

“Why are these pictures like this?” She asks. 

“The attacker could've dropped them as they fled the scene, or even looking for something.” He says and looks to where the pictures are. A few of them are still standing, almost strategically. Sakari looks down at the floor, noticing the lack of muddy shoe marks. “Unless…” 

Sofia picks one up and places it back on the surface. It was a picture of the two victims, and a few people, maybe family members. They both look closely. “All the pictures that remained standing were just from her alone, or with the man. The ones containing other people were put down.” 

Sakari frowns and keeps looking at the photos, taking them up one by one. “She’s pregnant on that one.” He points to one of the pictures and Sofia’s eyes open wide. “Wait, could they have been put down on purpose?”

“I’d say yes, to protect whoever is in these pictures.” They look at each other and it's almost as if they can feel the atmosphere in the house changing, becoming colder and somberer. They both have the same thought, and start ferociously looking for more pictures on the ground.

“There’s one more here.” Sakari points his flashlight behind the drawer, where another framed photograph lays face-down. As he picks it up, the image of a little girl is visible, probably being around one year old or so.

Sofia breathes out. “Where is she?” 

“I don't know..” Sakari rubs his forehead, seemingly anxious, his blood turning cold from head to toe. How could they have let that pass? 

“If she’s been taken, our chances of finding her alive are narrowing each second that goes by.” Sofia looks around, distressed. “Fuck how did we not see this before?”

While she talks, Sakari takes a deep breath and tries to retake their steps inside the house, and why they missed the presence of a child. Then his mind clicks. “Sofia, look around, there's nothing that could be from a child. No toys, no child related items, nothing.”

Just as he reaches for his phone, a loud thud is heard from the hallway. They both freeze. Sofia pulls out her gun and he does the same. Sakari signals to her and starts walking towards the sound. Another thud, not so loud this time. 

Sakari approaches the handle of a closet at the end of the hallway, away from the action of the crime scene, and looks at Sofia, who nods with her gun pointed. He then turns it and opens the door in a heartbeat.

“Vittu .” Sofia whispers as she finds a little girl sitting in the closet. The baby cries as soon as she sees them. Sofia doesn’t say a word, she rushes to the baby in order to check her state and calm her down.

“How is she even here?” Sakari asks, incredulous.

“Can you check the house again? Someone might be here.” She whispers, with her eyes as wide as before, now trying to shush the baby in case someone is at the house.

“Okay, stay alert.” She nods and he leaves.

“It’s alright little girl.” Sofia picks her up carefully and presses the girl to her chest, trying to somehow comfort her. Then she looks around to check her surroundings, an uneasy feeling at the pit of her stomach, like she's just been punched and doesn't have the strength to breathe.

“All clear.” Sakari comes back to where they're standing. The baby is not crying so loud now, as Sofia rocks her in her arms. “Is she okay?”

“She’s got a few scratches and bruises, we should call an ambulance.” She suggests and Sakari nods. Sofia walks with the girl to where they found the pictures and confirms it’s the same baby, just a year or so younger.

Then she walks back to the closet/cabinet where they found her and looks around. It’s got a few items like stuffed animals, toys and a small blanket.

“Ambulance is on the way, and I called in the forensics again to collect evidence they might find here.” He points to the inside of the closet.

“This is getting stranger…” Sofia says. “Why were all these toys here? How did she get in here?” 

“Well it’s obvious someone put her inside.” 

Sofia gets up and walks to the living room again, trying to make some sense out of the situation. “But who?” She asks.

“The same person who turned the pictures down.” Sakari points at the objects. “You’re a mother. What would you do in a situation like that?” 

“Yeah sure, protect my kid, but I’d have to know something was gonna happen first.” 

Sakari looks at her with a questioning frown, his jaw is set forward and tense. Something Sofia knows he only does when he's pensive or intrigued. 

“None of them would’ve had time to react. From the distance between one another, it seems to have happened all pretty fast, so unless they knew in advance…” She adds and the distant look on her face doesn't go unnoticed.

“But even so, the girl would’ve cried with the gunshots or at some point. How was she so quiet during the entire time we were working in the house?” He is now as eager as Sofia to uncover the truth. Right now, many questions fly around both their heads, only leaving them more confused and unsettled, but they should know better than to try and guess what happened. 

“I don't know.” It pains Sofia to admit it, she wants to know. “Maybe they knew, but I don't know how they'd have managed to keep the baby quiet.” Sofia bites her lower lip. 

“Let’s check with the CSIs to see if they found anything suspicious… This changes everything…” Sofia nods and then Sakari looks at the girl. She’s definitely too quiet for a two year old. “I think she’s cold.” He points to the girl’s lips quivering and turning slightly purple. 

“Here, take her.” She quickly hands the baby to Sakari. “Bring her into the car and turn on the heating. I wanna check this place again.” Sofia points to where they found the girl. 

“Please be careful.” He gives her a worried gaze before bringing the girl closer to his chest and walking out of the house with her.

Sofia points her flashlight inside the place and sorts through the items she can find there. There isn’t much out of the ordinary, apart obviously from the whole scene being out of the ordinary.

A piece of paper catches her attention, wrapped in one of the blankets. Looks like a letter. Sofia takes a picture of it and bags it as evidence before standing back up and walking around the house again, asking herself one question; how did they not notice the presence of a toddler in the house? Another quick glance confirms Sakari's observation.

She knows well enough that a house with a small child is not in any way like this one. Toys are always laying around, crumbles through the floor and walls that were a victim of crayon attacks, but not this house. Here there's no indication of a child being present. Walking further into the house she notices there's an empty room, a room that maybe should be filled with the girl's stuff, but isn't. Behind the only closet, empty, Sofia finds a brand new box pressed against the wall, containing what looks like an unassembled child's bed, brand new. She has no doubt that, had they looked more closely, they would've certainly found toys and other things that would indicate a child lived in that place. She is eager to keep looking, but the crime scene isn't going anywhere, she must get back to her partner and the girl to wait for the ambulance.

As she approaches the car, Sofia can see Sakari trying to play with the girl, making faces at her and showing her his flashlight. A smile creeps up on her face and she enters the car, being immediately embraced by the warmth.

“How is she doing?” Sofia asks quietly.

“Not much different than inside. She’s pretty quiet still and hasn’t reacted in any way to my attempts to interact.” Sakari shrugs and Sofia sighs. 

“She’s probably in shock. We still don’t know for sure what happened between the murders and when we found her.” Her head rests back against the car seat as she watches Sakari holding the girl close. “Leo was like this when you found him, remember?” Sakari nods and exhales sharply. How could he ever forget that?

As soon as the girl acknowledges Sofia’s presence, her tiny arms stretch in her direction, indicating she wants to go with Sofia. The woman welcomes the girl back in her arms and notices she is warmer now. 

“I found this inside.” She hands Sakari the evidence bag with the letter and reveals to him the contents from the empty bedroom.

“Did you read this?” Sakari asks, staring down at the paper.

“Not yet.” Sofia brings her eyes back to the little girl. 

Sakari clears his throat.

“Dear Minna, your mom and dad will love you eternally. We will always be with you. I’m sorry we had to leave. 

Love, Hilda and Aleksi, your mom and dad.” 

He stops reading and looks back at Sofia, who is caressing the girl's hair gently. Sakari clears his throat and looks out the window as the gut wrenching feeling suddenly settles inside him. “All she gets is this piece of paper to carry along with the trauma for the rest of her life.” At least she got a piece of paper, Sakari. You only got the trauma. 

Sofia notices his discomfort and sighs, knowing what he must be thinking about. Then she looks back to Minna. Now she's got a name at least.

“Too young for all this.” She whispers and Sakari quietly rests a hand on her leg, he doesn't notice right away, but it's a gesture that grounds him, keeps him on track sometimes. He likes this new proximity, it's harmless and honest.

She does the same to him and gives him a sad smile. They silently think about what could've happened inside the house and how Minna was so well hidden. Sofia feels like shit knowing they didn't search thoroughly enough and something worse could've happened to the girl.

“Have you ever wanted another one?” He asks while gently stroking her leg. His question surprises her and, at first, Sofia only shrugs for lack of a better answer.

“When Emil was younger he was always bugging me for a sibling, he wanted to be someone's older brother, and I’d have liked to have a girl. ” Sofia purses her lips and looks at him. “Now I don’t know. I haven't been mother of the year for some years now.” 

“You’re a good mother, Sofia.” 

She places her hand on top of his and squeezes it lightly. What are the requirements one has to fulfill in order to be considered a good parent? Someone could certainly come up with a list of qualities and what nots, but in the end the feeling is the same; of not ever doing enough. Could their victims be considered good parents? After all, they apparently tried to protect the child at all costs. At their lives costs. Was this enough to actually protect her? That is an answer neither Sofia nor Sakari have at the moment. She just hopes Minna ends up being okay.

“And you? Did you change your mind?” Sofia is still looking at Minna, who's looking back at her. She notices he looks away, his body more rigid. It's still a sensitive topic for him, but she noticed overtime that his reaction hadn't been so stiff as before.

“I haven’t thought about it since what happened to Leo.” He sighs. 

“Do you miss him?” Sofia asks.

“Strange as it may seem, yes. Even though I always knew I wouldn’t be able to keep him.” Sakari looks at Sofia and then quickly at the little girl who's got her tiny eyes fixed on him while he speaks. For a moment he wonders if his voice may remind her of her dad's voice, and that's why she's looking at him so much.

“It doesn’t erase the bond you share with him.” 

Sakari clears his throat, and nods, slightly uncomfortable. He knows that, and it pokes at him every now and then.

“If you ever change your mind, there's still the possibility of having your own.” Sofia shrugs. 

“Is that an offer?” Sakari raises an eyebrow at her. 

“More like an idea. Who knows?” Sofia smiles and Sakari chuckles. He then raises his hand and strokes Sofia’s face gently before coming closer and stealing a quick kiss from her lips.

He rests his head on her shoulder, glancing down at the quiet little girl. “What’s going to happen to her?” It's a rhetorical question. They both know what will happen to her and Sakari knows better than anyone but they don't have time to elaborate on that because the ambulance lights and sirens disturb them from their questioning moment.

——

“How is she?” One of the paramedics asks, taking the girl to be examined inside the ambulance.

“Apparently she’s okay, apart from the scratches, but she's awfully quiet and that's worrying me.” Sofia says and the woman nods. As the forensics unit comes closer, Sakari explains the situation and hands them the bag with the letter. 

“Let me know if you don’t find anything in it. The girl should have it with her.” He demands and then looks at Sofia who's still inside the ambulance. “We should stay with her in the hospital. Whoever came looking for the parents might come back for her.”

As the doors of the ambulance shut, he enters his car and picks up the radio to ask for backup at the hospital. Someone has to protect the girl while he and Sofia are out investigating, at least for the night. They have decided Sakari will follow the ambulance while Sofia goes with Minna.

They haven't found any relatives of the parents yet and he hopes with all he's got that they find someone soon. It pains him just to imagine that kid alone in the world, not much younger than Leo when the boy was in a similar situation.

—

Once he enters the cold hospital building, with its grey and white walls, Sofia comes in his direction. Minna was taken for examination, but they wouldn't let her follow because she's not family.

“Did they say anything about her health at all?” Sakari impatiently walks around the hospital and Sofia is reminded of when they were waiting to hear from Leo. It's clear how much this is affecting him and eating at his mind.

“The paramedic who examined her said she was probably under sedatives or some strong medication. Her reflexes were way too slow.” Sofia doesn't get in his way, she lets him pace all he wants.

“Are you thinking the same as me?” He suddenly stops and rests his back against some wall. Sofia nods carefully.

“It's as if they knew what was gonna happen and wanted to protect the child.” 

“But how could they even know?” Sofia's question is more to herself than to her partner, but there's another question that bugs her even more. If they knew, why would they choose to stay?

Chapter Text

They meet early at the station the next day, dragging their feet along the concrete floor. Sofia and Sakari had stayed at the hospital until late at night waiting for any news on the girl and both had to use some persistence to convince the hospital staff to let them have any piece of information on the girl's health.

—

“I can't let you have access to her file, you're not family.” The doctor who examined Minna had tried to explain.

“We're not. We're the officers investigating the murder of her parents and all information related to her health might be crucial to the investigation.” Sofia pressed. She had kept her cool the entire time, she almost hadn't recognized herself, but her voice was still firm while she gave the doctor her death stare.

“The quicker you give us anything, the quicker we go out and find who did this. Preferably before they do it with anyone else.” Sakari added, crossing his arms in front of his chest and eyeing the doctor firmly.

“Do you have kids, Doctor?” Sofia appealed. The doctor took a deep breath before inviting them to his office.

—

“You're telling me that a two year old girl was sedated and left in a closet for nearly four hours and no one was capable of finding her earlier?” Rautamaa's voice pitches as her detectives lay out the developments of the case to her. Both Sofia and Sakari nod their heads, their expressions defeated.

“We're very sorry about that, we should've been more alert to all aspects of the crime scene, but the house had no indication whatsoever that a child was living there.” Sofia is the first to step forward and take responsibility. It burns her insides to have to admit it, but they were horrendously wrong and there's no denying about that. She notices Rautamaa's brow furrowing at the last part of the sentence. “All of Minna's things were in boxes, kept away in a basement. Forensics confirmed last night after we left with the child to the hospital.” 

“We were eager to go out to the streets and start our investigation as early as possible. I'm sorry we overlooked such an important matter.” Sakari also speaks. He knows they messed up, they all did. If they hadn't gone back there, the girl could be dead.

Rautamaa takes a long breath to calm herself down before addressing the more urgent matters. “See that it doesn't happen again then.” She gives them both a stare and they nod. “What do you have so far?” 

“They found a significant amount of clonazepam on her system, she's being monitored in the hospital to make sure she's not having any side effects.” Sofia starts. “We were able to locate a prescription for it under the mother's name, Hilda Elo, but we haven't had access to the bottle containing the pills yet. It's with the forensics department.” 

“How did this amount of medicine end up in the system of a toddler?” Rautama raises an eyebrow, visibly intrigued.

“There are two possible lines of inquiry.” Sakari starts and looks briefly at Sofia. “The first would be a plain armed robbery that went wrong and the second is a little more complicated, but we suspect the parents somehow knew something was going to happen and decided to protect the girl, Minna.” 

“Why do you believe that?” 

“A letter was found inside the closet with the girl.” Sofia motions to Sakari and he pulls out his phone to show a picture to Rautamaa. The boss nods and turns her eyes to them.

“Alright, you may continue with the investigation, if you need anything from my end, don't hesitate to ask. I want to get to the bottom of this.” She expresses in a decisive voice and the detectives nod.

“Actually, we do.” Sakari says before they exit the office. “We think the girl should be in protective custody, just in case.” 

“You think whoever did that to the parents might come back for her?” Rautamaa's question sounds like an affirmation. Sofia and Sakari nod, and the boss stays silent for a few seconds. “Alright, I'll take care of it.” 

Despite all the times Sofia disagrees with Rautamaa, purely for her methods, she has to admit there's one thing she admires about the boss; she gets things done. If she is invested in this case from the start, she will do everything in her power and will make sure all resources are available to them. It took Sofia a while to understand how Rautamaa works and it helped her a lot when she finally did, because they stopped the silent rumbling that went on most of the time.

They stroll around in silence, making it to the coffee machine, both too focused on taking notes on their phones to mind the reprehension they had rightfully received. The case is dragging all the energy out of them already. 

Who'd kill two people with an apparent normal life? Were they after the child? Did they even know the child existed? Sofia writes it down on her phone, the questions she can never forget. Why did we not know the child existed? 

So many questions and yet no plausible answers for any of them. She makes a mental note to be careful with the assumptions that insist on popping into her head. A case like this is a feast for speculation and they can't have that, they can't let themselves fall into temptation.

“Why was the mother on benzodiazepines?” Sakari inquires, already working the coffee machine while Sofia rests her back against the wall next to it. She looks up from her phone and bites her lips, unsure of what to say. It's one of those moments where she is usually happy that it's just the two of them, following their ritual by this damn coffee machine. But now it serves more as a debating space… A safe one.

“Here it says it's used for treating mostly seizures and panic disorder.” Sofia is distracted again by the information on her phone.

“I know what it's for.” Sakari briskly says, his tone doesn't go unnoticed and Sofia frowns at him. “Why would she be taking it?” 

Sofia can see he's very rattled with the aspects surrounding the case, but his sudden change in humour doesn't come lightly. She's in no mood for starting an argument, so she just limits herself to answering. “I don't know. We'll have to get her medical records.” 

They fetch their coffees and meet up with JP in front of their usual white board. The man is already placing pictures and documents up, making possible connections and the other standard procedures.

“What do we have so far?” Sofia approaches her colleague, resting her coffee down and shoving her hands into the back pockets of her jeans while Sakari crosses his arms in front of his chest. 

“Not much yet. I'm trying to get to know them a little better.” JP points to the information of the couple that's already up on the board, which is not much to begin with. “How is the kid?” 

“She's still in the hospital, being watched until she gets rid of the medication.” Sakari replies and JP nods. 

“I heard you found a letter within her stuff.”

After taking a sip from her mug, Sofia explains to him the content of the letter and watches the face of her colleague growing more puzzled as the seconds go by. “That is some creepy shit.”

“Everything about this case is. We're lucky we didn't get fired after what happened.” She glances quickly at Sakari who's only nodding. “We'll go talk to the forensics in a bit, see if they can share any information at all.” 

“It doesn't sound like your typical armed robbery.” Sakari murmurs but they all listen. Sofia notices he has already finished his coffee and his cup lies on the desk. HE must've chugged it down like water because she drank only half of hers.

“Not at all. It might be the craziest of coincidences, but based on what you've found, someone might have known something.” The older detective lets his words wander around in the air.

“We might start with the usual suspects; neighbors, old acquaintances, possible enemies… Family members.” Sofia says as Sakari looks impatiently at the watch on his wrist. 

“I think the forensics are in. Let's go talk to them.”

“Yes, then maybe we can catch the pathologist on time.” Sofia adds as she gathers her things. She knows it's too soon for the pathologist to have anything, but she always likes to get the first impressions, check the bodies herself while things are still fresh in her mind. The part she enjoys the most is bouncing ideas around with Sakari, writing them down early in the investigation and then coming back later to check if they ended up diverging or converging from the actual case. 

When they reach the forensics office, the place is buzzing like a bee hive, everyone is agitated, the rhythm is as frenetic as it is on their floor in some days. Sakari knocks on the door to get the attention of one of the experts, who is sorting through some boxes of evidence.

“Good morning!” The tall guy, Jukka, turns to them with a smile on his face that doesn't match the fact that he spends all day searching bloody crime scenes. Jukka is one of the oldest in the forensics team, and Sofia admires his ability to always be in a good mood. They have grown relatively closer over the past years, with Sofia becoming more interested in the scientific aspects of the crime scenes. It often helps a lot to solve cases that, in her early years, would have been considered very hard to crack. 

“Good morning, Jukka.” Sofia nods and lets out a sympathetic smile, which is more than she can manage in most mornings. Sakari replies with a rather impatient ‘good morning’ and approaches the boxes, much interested in its contents.

“Could you walk us through what you have recovered from the house?” She puts on her rubber gloves, while Jukka opens the boxes.

“I'm sorry we weren't able to process those yet, the last case had overloaded us with work, so I'm just now starting to sort them out.” The older man starts unloading the contents of the boxes on the metal surface, one by one and they carefully observe each item that is placed down.

“Did you spot anything that's out of the ordinary? Something that maybe shouldn't be there?” Sakari looks at the trinkets, picking up a bagged lilac bunny that was recovered from inside the closet. He looks straight into the bunny's eyes, as if the lifeless orbs would somehow give him an answer.

“Now that you mentioned, yes” Jukka scratches the stubble on his chin and pulls from the box an old cellphone. “this was the only phone recovered from the house, it's a rather old model, maybe that's why it wasn't taken.” 

“Mmh” Sofia tilts her head lightly. “Assuming we're talking about an armed robbery with casualties, to keep our possibilities open, what kind of thief would decide to leave a phone behind?” 

“What was actually taken from the house?” Sakari drops a rather interesting question that makes both Sofia and Jukka turn their eyes to him. 

“We don't have an official list yet, but upon searching the house we noticed only a few items missing, like one of the phones, a laptop of which they left the charger behind and there was a document drawer that was completely turned upside down.”

“In the office… I remember.” Sofia adds and Sakari nods.

“I see you also recovered the clonazepam recipient” Sakari picks up the mentioned item. “but where are the pills?” He shakes it lightly.

“Wait a second...” Jukka pulls his glasses down from where they were sitting in his head and checks the computer. “Yes, it was found already empty.”

“It says here Hilda had picked them up two weeks prior to the crime, and it was supposed to have 31 pills, one per day.” Sakari reads the tag on the bottle. “There should be at least half the pills here.”

“Wait a minute.” Sofia cracks her knuckles. “So someone supposedly goes there to rob the place, kills two people, doesn't take the home appliances, TV or any other item that would be valuable, but takes only one of their phones, laptops and maybe documents?” 

“Weird, I know.” Jukka looks up at them from his chair. “The biological material is already at the lab, so I won't be able to show you that now.” 

“Okay. Do we know who the laptop belonged to? And the phone that was left behind?” Sakari asks.

“Not precisely. We figured the phone might belong to the female victim because it was found within her things. But it's turned off and we haven't looked yet. As for the laptop, we have no idea.”

“Once we're able to locate any family member they could clarify that.” 

“We have to see the Pathologist.” There was an urgency to Sofia's voice that alerted Sakari. “Jukka, could you send the phone to Hieta, from the IT department?”

Jukka puts it in as a priority and they thank him for his time before fleeing out of his office and towards the elevator.  Sakari looks expectantly at Sofia, knowing the gears of her brain are turning smoothly right now, she's onto something. 

“What are you thinking?” He presses the button and Sofia looks at him. 

“It seems kinda odd that they might've taken only the male's phone. What would be so important about it?” Sofia bites the inside of her lip and Sakari shrugs.

“Maybe they didn't take that one because it doesn't have much value indeed.”

“Don't you think it's too much of a coincidence? Hiding Minna, the letter, laptop being taken, the pills.” She bites her lip, drumming her fingers to the elevator wall persistently. 

“I think it is very strange indeed, but we have to keep an open mind that maybe this is all just a coincidence. Honestly, I'm hoping it is. ” He murmurs this last part.

“What?” Sofia asks and they step out of the elevator.

“Nothing.” He shakes his head and inhales deeply.

It's the second time he shows this erratic behaviour today and Sofia chooses to ignore it for the sake of the investigation. “Well, I am keeping an open mind, but we can't deny the coincidences are too many.” 

“We can't.” 

—

The meeting with the pathologist has to be postponed to the next day so Sofia and Sakari decide to talk to the closest neighbor of the couple, who lives quite far away from the house.

On the way there, Sofia got herself busy with her research, writing down on paper the points she thought to be more interesting and that could possibly lead them somewhere. She would look at Sakari from time to time, noticing how his posture is erect, stiff as his hands grip the wheel with a certain force while his eyes remain focused on the road. In almost all times she would think he looks handsome, seductive even, but now he looks only uncomfortable.

—

An elderly man opens the door to them when they arrive at the house that was the closest to the crime scene. His name is Mikael.

“I heard what happened to the couple. Such a horrible thing.” The frail old man shakes his head and sits down on his couch. “Please have a seat. How can I help you?” 

“We're trying to establish what happened to them. You didn't happen to have seen or heard anything suspicious yesterday afternoon? Between 1 and 2pm.” Sofia looks at the man while Sakari is busy checking their surroundings.

“Not that I can remember.” He scratches his thin hair. “I usually sit here to watch the news after lunchtime, but I don't recall anything out of the ordinary happening.”

“Did you know your neighbors?” Sofia carefully observes the man’s features. He has the calm of someone who’s seen a lot in life. 

“Not really, I only said hello once when we crossed the same road.” Mikael shrugs.

Sakari peeks out the back window and notices the big Husky laying peacefully in the backyard and further ahead, a small path that leads into the forest. “Do you know where that path ends?”

The man turns to him and nods “It goes into an open field. I like to pick a few berries over there on warmer days.”

“Are there other neighbors that live close by?” Sakari asks the man and Sofia knows he is just testing out their subject, he already knows there aren't.  Soon her phone rings and she excuses herself to answer while Sakari continues to talk with the neighbor.

“No, I'm afraid it's just me around this area and, well, them.” Mikael shrugs, with a sorry expression on his face for not being able to provide more information to them. Sakari nods, understanding the man's frustration. He finds it interesting how holding a badge brings usually two types of reaction from people; they either want to be a mile away from you, or they want to help you as if you were their family and be a part of the investigation themselves. In both cases it can bring trouble.

“Thanks for the information. Does anyone else live here with you?” Sakari says and the man smiles at him. He recognizes he is usually the sunshine cop, at least more than Sofia. Not that she's always in a bad mood, but he understands she had to contain her smiles in the past, earn respect, and so she is usually spikier than him on her approaches. That being said, people tend to open up to him more.

“Unfortunately I'm all alone over here now, you know, after my partner passed away.” Mikael continues. “Should I be worried?”

“Not that we know off.” Sakari shakes his head and gives him a somehow comforting gaze. Sofia reenters the room and he notices the apprehension in her eyes.

“JP called, we should go back to the station. They have the medical records.” She purses her lips and Sakari nods. He was expecting they'd give the path a look before they go, but Sofia seems to be in a hurry.

“You can call us at this number if you remember anything else. Any details might be important.” He hands his card to Mikael and they exit the house.

Outside, Sakari pulls out his phone and opens the map of the area. “If we follow further than the open field, we'd end up at the back of Hilda and Aleksi's house.” He looks at Sofia who eats up the way with long strides. “Don't you think we should take a look before heading to the station?”

“We can come over some other time. I was wondering if maybe we could convince the pathologist to see us today.” She presses and Sakari exhales, not one bit eager to go down to the morgue.

“We still have time.” Sakari insists and Sofia finally caves, turning on her heels so they can make it to the path. He counts it as a win in his head. The longer they stay focused on catching the murderer instead of the morgue, the better. He is as intrigued as Sofia to know what happened, but he doesn't think pursuing the possible motives of dead parents for leaving or not their child alone in a closet will be of use to them in this particular moment. Especially when they might find fresh evidence of the killer in the forest. He also doesn't want to think about the feelings it awakes in him.

Sofia follows Sakari without questioning much, trying to keep her eyes open for anything that might draw attention. She usually trusts his judgment, but it's something she's still becoming accustomed to. Her decisions were usually based on professional opinions alone and now she finds herself having to rethink her actions, especially the reckless ones, before going forward.

As they walk along the open field, Sofia cautiously looks around, checking the surroundings. Apart from the open field, the forest is dense, humid and dark. It's like finding a needle in a haystack during a windstorm. 

“It would take, what, ten minutes from their house until the killer reached this part?” Sofia points the directions as Sakari shoves his hands into his coat pockets. “If he even came this way.” 

“We haven't found tire marks, so assuming they didn't use a car, for discretion purposes, it would be less likely that they'd be seen if they had taken this route.” He adds and Sofia looks at him for a small moment, turning her eyes away as soon as they meet his. 

“So he kills two people and then, what, takes the bus? With maybe a bag full of stolen things?” Her eyes communicate that the story is not sounding very credible, it actually sounds ridiculous, but so do all the other aspects of the case. 

“It sounds absurd, I know, but maybe we have to leave some room for absurdity here. We're keeping an open mind, remember? Nothing seems to be as ordinary as we thought.”

–

“I think we'll be just in time.” Sofia mentions, while checking the hour on the fancy panel once they reach the car again. They missed lunchtime and Sakari hasn't complained yet, nor did herself, but she's used to it. 

“Why are you so eager to talk to the pathologist? Shouldn't we be focusing on the clues about the actual killer?” He asks but doesn't direct his eyes at her.

“I'm trying to look at it from a different angle. You said it yourself to leave room for absurdity.” 

“I know.” He says, unenthusiastically, already regretting giving her this idea. “But I think other things might be more important to the case than just the gory details we'll be sure to find at the morgue.” 

He hears Sofia exhaling, frustrated. He averts his eyes, looking back to the road, and tries to distract himself with the landscape. The calmness of her voice startles him when she starts speaking again.

“Look, I know what you mean, but a child was sedated and hidden in a closet, with a goodbye letter, God knows how long before someone came in and killed both her parents.  We need to know the whys and the hows.” 

You do, I don't. Sakari thinks.

—

Hilda's medical record was the first real flare of light that was shed into the investigation. Not only for the fact that she's got an intriguing gap of 3 years in her records, but also for the reason as to why her visits to the doctor returned. 

“So around two and a half years ago we have a record of Hilda coming in to start her prenatal care. From there, her visits became frequent.” Sakari flips the pages. “But what happened during those other 3 years?”

“I don't know...yet.” Sofia bites her lip, it's not unlike, but she thinks it's definitely strange that someone doesn't pay a single visit to the doctor in all this time. Not a single report of her having a cold, a stomach bug, nothing. It's not likely that this was done on purpose. No one neglects their own health like this for so long… No one but Sofia herself. She blamed it on the difficult times she'd been through, and even so, a visit or two to the doctor still happened.

“Was she already on clonazepam before Minna was born?” Sofia asks, now peeking over Sakari's shoulder to check the pages herself. She comes across the information that Hilda had only started the medication after the child was already at the age of one. “The patient reports symptoms of extreme fear, chest pain, heart palpitations and trouble sleeping, along with moments of depersonalization.” Sofia reads the words and both her colleagues listen attentively. 

“So she was suffering from panic disorder.” Sakari's tone is more a confirmation than a question. 

“Which is It's strange because we don't have any other record of her visiting mental health professionals before or after this. No therapy, no psychiatrist, nothing.” Sofia adds and JP nods.

“So what could have caused the panic attacks?” JP now questions, picking the file from Sakari's hand and flipping it himself. Sofia purses her lips and quickly checks Sakari's eyes, as if to ask whether he's got anything.

“Drugs, maybe?” Sakari shrugs. “Depending on the mix and amount, it can cause all sorts of paranoid effects and reactions.” He is sure to avoid Sofia's gaze now. He knows she will check his eyes, she always does when the subject emerges and he mostly appreciates it, this sensitivity she has when talking about this, but he also doesn't want to see her sorry eyes at the moment.

“Could be.” Sofia nods. “But what if this extreme fear comes from something real? We can't just rule her as insane.”

“What kind of real fear?” JP's attention is back on her, he's got expectancy in his eyes, but Sofia's shoulders slump.

“I don't know. I truly wish I knew.” She inhales sharply and cracks her knuckles, uncomfortably. “But a someone that thought through to hide her kid inside a closet certainly was afraid of something.”

“You have a great point.” The man agrees. “but we don't know if it was her who hid the child and Nurmi's point is also to be considered, someone who messes with drugs might have enough side effects. I can't tell for sure because that's something I never did myself, but maybe if we could talk to someone that's been there.”

Sofia thinks of seeking for his eyes, but decides against it and, instead, looks at the board of information. “It would be of help.”

“Did we find any close relatives?” Sakari quickly changes the subject.

“Aleksi's got a sister, I contacted her already but still no reply. As for Hilda, I haven't found anyone nearby, but I'll keep looking.” JP announces.

—

“Maybe we should go see Minna.” Sofia suggests, later, while she and Sakari sit down to grab a bite after hours. He nods at her suggestion. 

“Do you think she might've seen something?” Sakari raises his eyebrows and takes another bite from his salad bowl. “Even if she did see, she's two, how could she tell?”

“Not exactly that she saw something, but maybe she says something that might give any clue at all. I mean, all we have so far are loose ends.” Sofia says and soon a burger is delivered at their table, even if she claims to not have asked for it. It soon becomes clear who ordered it.

“You can't function on caffeine and granola bars.” He points with his eyes to the burger and fries in front of her before snatching a few from her plate. “eat it.”

Sofia scoffs but takes the burger nonetheless and bites it. The flavours merging in her mouth almost bring her to tears. She was fucking hungry and with this realization comes the one that she's also exhausted, craving the comfort of her bed, her body begging for a warm shower and the softest pajamas she can find. 

Sakari smiles in satisfaction as he watches her eat, occasionally robbing her of one or two chips which she pretends to be mad about. 

“Thank you. This is really good.” She smiles at him, appreciating the kind gesture.

Sakari chuckles. “Sometimes it frightens me how you can forget to eat.” 

“I don't know how either.” She shrugs. Afterwards, they share a beer, enjoying it slowly. 

Sometimes she revels in the thought that things might be falling into place again, but then other times, Sofia still feels some thickness in the air, something that is still holding them back since the case started, but she is rather afraid of addressing it and that it ends up drifting them further apart. It's like the symphony is slowly changing and they are getting lost in the steps. She can still recall all the times she laid awake in bed, with thoughts invading her mind, from what they did and from what they said to each other.

Once inside the car, she feels like they're in a space safe enough to talk and something tells her that he feels it too, because the car isn't started right away and suddenly she finds herself in the so familiar awkward silence. Except their silences had never been this awkward before. 

“You really think Hilda could've been messing up with drugs?” Sofia turns slightly to him while Sakari is distracted on his phone. He finishes typing and puts it away before looking at her.

“I think her panic attacks could very well have come from it.” 

“She didn't seem to be using anything. Maybe in the past but now… I don't buy it.” Sofia shakes her head.

“Not all addicts have a face, you know.” Sakari raises his eyebrows and Sofia knows it's one of those things he does when he's teasing her into thinking harder. It doesn't take long to understand he's talking from experience. “But no, she didn't look like she was using, at least she shouldn't have been prescribed Clonazepam if she were.” 

“Why not?” 

“Hardcore side effects, if combined with alcohol or drug abuse.” He looks outside his window, preventing Sofia from seeing his eyes. She keeps looking nonetheless. 

“Talking from experience again?” She bites her lip and watches him carefully. Sakari hums and moves his head in a way that she can't tell if he's confirming or denying it, but she doesn't ask any further.

“To resume the talk, I do think now that your idea is much more plausible. Hilda was frightened of something.” He starts the car and they're off.

What are you trying to tell me, Sakari?

Chapter Text

When Sakari picks her up at her apartment the next morning, they do not drive straight towards Pasila, but to where Minna is currently under the care of Child Protection Services, until her next of kin arrives. Rautamaa managed to arrange a few officers to protect the girl for the time being.

“How's she doing?” Sakari asks while they walk with the social worker towards Minna's room. Sofia walks in silence with them.

“The first night was rough. She cried the whole time, asking for her mom and dad, but now she seems to be doing better, interacting a little with other kids. She still cries unexpectedly though, but this is a process.”

“Has she been evaluated by a mental health professional?” Sofia chimes in. They stop in front of the door and the social worker denies it.

“We can't send her for psychiatric or psychological evaluation without the family's consent.” Her face shows disappointment. It's clear that she is worried about the girl just as much. “Oh, before we go in you should know that Minna doesn't know what happened yet. We told her their parents are out of town.” 

They both nod and she opens the door to the girl's room, finding her sitting on the floor, drawing with crayons without paying much attention to them. Sofia looks at Sakari while he looks at the little girl. There's something in his gaze that she can't name, but it looks sad.

“Minna, there's someone here to see you.” The social worker calls her and Minna looks at them. “Would you like to say hello?” The little girl walks shyly towards them and Sofia can tell Minna recognizes them.

“Hi Minna.” Sofia kneels to meet her eyes and Sakari repeats the movement. Minna lets out a faint ‘hi’ and then keeps staring at her with her small curious eyes. She must be wondering what they are doing there, maybe she thinks Sofia will tell her where her mom and dad are, but no, the two adults can't tell her much more yet. In a sudden gesture, Sofia is welcomed by the girl's arms wrapping around her neck and for a split second she feels hot tears burning in the back of her eyes. She holds the girl and her tears, taking a deep, long breath.

Sakari smiles at her, she can see his eyes shining as well, but he clears his throat before looking the other way.

“What are you drawing over there?” Sofia asks once the girl lets go of her neck. Minna looks to the social worker, as if asking for permission to talk, and then takes both Sofia and Sakari's hands, leading them closer. She says nothing more, and instead, resumes her drawing, which consists of a very childish representation of a family.

“Who are those?” Sakari's voice softens as he points to the drawing. The girl stays silent for a moment while she contours the lines over and over in her own uncoordinated way.

“Mamma and dadda.” She babbles and then tries to draw what seems like to be a floor under them. Their representations are merely two heads with a stick body and no limbs.

“What is that near mamma's face?” Sofia asks now, pointing to a rectangular shaped object.

“Mamma's phone.” Minna does the gesture of bringing a phone to her ear. Meanwhile, the social worker is silent, only observing.

“Does mamma talk on the phone a lot?” Minna nods and keeps tracing the stick figures with big heads. After that, their attempts to interact are not very successful and Minna doesn't talk much more, only repeats the same things.

When they're back in the car, Sakari is quiet, his eyes distant and his expression seemingly pensive. As much as she can imagine that seeing Minna might be the reason for it, with Sakari you never know what lies in the depths. 

She gently reaches out, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You alright?” and he looks at her with soft eyes for a moment too long before nodding, in silence.

–

“Where have you guys been?” JP looks up from his desk as soon as they enter the precinct. 

“We had to take a little detour.” Sofia sits down at her desk. “Do you know if Hieta was able to recover anything from the phone yet?” Sakari silently makes it past them and towards the coffee machine.

“Not so far. Why?” He seems to be checking out items from a list.

“We went to see the girl and she kept saying something about ‘mama's phone’” As she speaks, JP immediately turns his eyes to her.

“You talked to her without the consent of a relative?” He raises his eyebrows and Sofia purses her lips, already anticipating her colleague's disapproval.

“We didn't go there in an official capacity. We were just checking in on her.” She shrugs and JP gives her a look that shows he isn't buying her explanation, but for some reason he decides to leave it alone. “Anyways, it's probably nothing, but it would be good if the phone was cracked open by now. Any news on your end?”

“Not really, I've talked to a few people from Aleksi's workplace but no one had any reason to think they had enemies, and they weren't well off either, so it's not like any big sums would be found at the house.”

“What kind of work did he do?” Sofia chews on the cap of a pen absentmindedly. 

“He was a mechanic. Had been working in the same place for quite some time, looks like everyone liked him there.” 

“What about Hilda? We weren't able to find much on her resume.”

“Well, she's been off work since Minna was born, but before that, she used to work at a cafe downtown.”

“Family members?” 

“Not lucky so far.”

“Mmh…” Sofia hums and tilts her head, like dogs do when something amuses them.

“What?”

“They don't seem to be well off indeed, so I'd check if the house is under their names. It's a rather valuable house.” JP nods again and writes it down. “But I'd like to take a closer look into Aleksi's life either way. We can't let anything pass.”

Sakari returns with the cups of coffee in hand, placing one of them in front of Sofia. “We also should dig more on that panic disorder of hers.”

"Maybe some of their friends or family might know something about it.” JP suggests, writing something down. The three of them stay in silence for a while, sipping their coffees and letting their brains fit the pieces of the puzzle together. “His sister is coming in today, she lives up north. I'm hoping she will help establish what kind of people they were.” 

“What time will she be here?” Sakari asks.

“In the afternoon. Her plane lands soon if I'm not mistaken.” 

“We should go to the cafe where she worked too, see if we can dig something out, maybe someone from that time still works there.” Sakari suggests and Sofia nods, taking off her phone from her pocket and checking her notifications.

“The pathologist just texted, she says she can see us now.” Sofia looks at Sakari with a hint of excitement, while he only sighs and they start making their way out of the office.

–

“Do you have any preliminary information you can give us?” Sakari asks while they stand in the middle of the two stretches containing respectively the bodies of the female victim and then male. They are now looking at the male body.

Sonja, the forensics pathologist, walks around and lifts the hand of the father, Aleksi. “He has no defensive wounds, no signs of being in a physical combat. Which indicates he might've been caught by surprise.” 

“Any signs of hypostasis?” Sofia eagerly asks, checking the skin of the corpse; Sakari gives her a look. He is familiar with a few terms of forensics medicine, but Sofia definitely seems more invested in it.

“Yes, we initially thought he was facing the shooter when he was hit, because we found signs of pooled blood on the back portion of his body, but the entry wound was found at the back of the head, which means his body twisted while he fell. Something uncommon but not impossible.”

“So he probably didn't even see the attacker?” Sakari asks and Sonja shakes her head. 

Sofia circles the stretcher and brings her attention to the woman, Hilda. “What about her?”

“This is where things get unusual.” The detectives share a curious glance. “There are no defensive wounds either, whatsoever, and the bullet appears to have made a 30º descent, which can mean the shooter might've been standing slightly above the victim.” She points to the bullet hole in its tapering angle. “We also found tattooing around the entry wound, in this case she was probably facing her attacker and they were very close.” She points around the wound. “I'm giving you the basics, but ballistics will have to confirm it later on.” 

“Sorry, what is tattooing again?” Sakari is slightly curved, observing the wound. His expression is not very subtle about it.

“It's when there's unburnt or semi-burnt particles on the skin around a gunshot wound.” Sofia explains, pointing to Hilda's forehead, and Sonja nods. “So we have a gunshot wound that was fired from a very close range and there are no defensive wounds, no marks on the hands, no signs of a struggle…”

“Apparently, yes, the reports will take a few days yet but this is what science is pointing to so far.” 

For a split second, Sakari thinks about what it must look like, to be at gunpoint with your eyes open and the last thing you feel is a bullet penetrating your skull. He instantly regrets letting his mind take him there for his stomach twists and turns. It inevitably draws him to think about his own parents. What was going on between them on the days leading to the fact? He wished for years that he had been able to foresee the following events, that maybe he had taken one of them out of the house for some reason… Anything.

These thoughts seem to be more recurring since he happened to be so close to becoming a parent. Even if Leo wasn't his, and wasn't placed into his custody, for a brief moment he felt like a father to him and losing this possibility did not come lightly to him. 

“Is it possible to determine if she ingested any amount of drugs or medication?” Sofia's tone is curious and it pulls him from his reveries. Thank you Sofia.

“Toxicology is the only way to know for sure, but we have a very specific sign that might indicate that.” Sonja gestures for them to come closer and opens one of the woman's eyes. “See how the pupils are dilated, like giant marbles? Mydriasis can be an indication of substance abuse but they are also a strong response to brain death.” 

“Brain death which would be consistent with a bullet to the brain?” Sofia's breath shudders at the information and Sonja nods. “and the only way to know if it's from one or the other is to wait for toxicology?” Sakari is already two steps back.

“Yes, and we might not even get a conclusive result, but the size of the pupils are bugging me, so the victim might have ingested something before death. I'd have to search more thoroughly to confirm.”

“Something like half a bottle of clonazepam pills?” Sakari shoves his hands into his pockets while Sonja gives him a puzzled look.

“It's possible.” 

“Would it be possible that she died from an overdose?” Sofia removes her rubber gloves as they step away. Sonja shakes her head and explains that the lividity of the bullet wound suggests that the victim was still alive when she was shot. She also explains that the hypostasis on her body was located on her gluteal area and the posterior portion of the legs. Which indicates she was sitting down with her legs stretched for quite some time and the body wasn't moved.

“Alright, let us know when toxicology comes back. Thank you.” Sonja nods and Sofia makes it to the door, where Sakari is already waiting.

They exit the office with their heads spinning, throbbing from the amount of information they've received and once they reach the precinct, Sakari turns off the engine and they both stay in silence.

Sofia's mind is racing, imagining all the possibilities of what might've happened to those two people in their last moments alive. What went on in their minds? Why didn’t they try to run, to defend themselves? 

“Honestly, I don't know what to think.” Sakari exhales, seemingly frustrated. Sofia nods, still looking towards the concrete wall of the underground garage.

“I do, but it's too much that I can't sort it out.” She adds, unenthusiastically. 

“I forgot your brain is wired differently.” Sakari's remark comes with a gentle chuckle. “Maybe we should sit down with JP and brainstorm about it.” 

“See, my weird brain would've taken ages to think of this idea. I would've probably tried to handle everything by myself.” Sofia shakes her head in disapproval of her own behaviour. 

“You're not alone anymore, Sofia.” He gives her an understanding look and Sofia smiles. It’s these moments where she wishes she could cave in to her desire and kiss him until it made her forget about all this mess. But she won't. 

They get inside the police station and brainstorm about the possibilities until past lunchtime. They seem to be having a hard time organizing a timeline for their findings and where they fit in the story of the crime. 

“I think we shouldn't be too focused on her taking or not the pills until the toxicology report comes back. It can hinder more than it can help.” JP suggests. Sakari nods and Sofia only shrugs, not really sure if she agrees with it.

“So what next? I feel there is so much ground to cover but it's all a little hazy still.” Sofia says and for a second Sakari is surprised with the fact that she's asking for help and guidance on the case long before she tears Helsinki apart for no reason.

“I think we have a few important things to consider for the next few days; One, establish where Hilda was during the gap we found on her medical records, maybe someone at her workplace might help us with that. Two would be to talk to Aleksi's sister to know how much information she can give us about them… Anything else?”

“I'd talk again with Aleksi's coworkers, see his schedules, see if someone says anything different. No one has such a good reputation like that.” Sakari suggests and both nod while JP writes it down.

“Meanwhile I will check with Hieta what he could recover for us, from the phone.” JP also adds.

“Thank you. My brain is about to explode.” Sofia comments and throws her head back. “I keep trying to put the pieces together but all I get are loose ends.” 

“It's not just you.” JP agrees. “We have too many angles and too many possibilities.”  

Rautamaa’s heels click on the floor long before she appears at the bullpen. They all look at her, hoping she’s not there to ask about the developments of the case, because they’ve got none.

“Aleksi's sister is here!” She informs and just as Sofia thinks she's gonna walk away, Rautamaa speaks again. “Can we talk afterwards? I wanna hear about the progress of the case.” All three of them nod, as if they had any other choice than to obey their Inspector's command.

–

“Sorry for your loss.” Sakari is the first to speak once they sit in the interrogation room. Sofia is by his side, she always is, while Rautamaa and JP watch from behind the glass.

Leena, the sister, is sitting across from them, her eyes cast to the desk, shoulders slumped forward. Her face is the one of someone who hasn't been sleeping well. She only nods at Sakari's words and tries to let out a weak smile.

“We're sorry for asking you to come so quickly after arriving, but the faster we do this, the faster we can go after who did this to your brother and his wife.” Sofia speaks calmly and Sakari feels like she is trying her best to use her empathetic side, even though she wants to just lay out all of their questions as quickly as possible.

Leena nods again. “How's my niece?” 

"She's being cared for, you can go see her after we're done here.” Sakari speaks again. “Can you think of anyone who might've had any reason to hurt them? Any enemies?” 

He asks her the same procedural questions they ask anyone new, in order to assess whether one of them will give a different version. It's a game to catch someone in a lie, be it a family member or a friend. 

“They were quiet people, never bothered anyone. My brother especially.” She bites her lip nervously. “I can't tell much about Hilda, we only met a couple of times after Minna was born, but she seemed alright.” 

“How long had they been together?” Sofia asks, placing her hands on the desk and Leena shakes her head.

“I don't know exactly, about two and a half years, maybe a little more than that.” She shrugs. 

Sakari scribbles down her answers, even though they're being recorded, he feels like writing it down will help him look at the key words and make any links if the situation asks for it. He looks at Leena again and her appearance is of someone who's more worried than sad. Dark circles under her eyes, hair slightly messy and a stony expression to her face, which is normal, everyone experiences grief in different ways.

He wonders what he looked like when he was mourning his own parents. How others saw him, how others thought of him, that young boy, with different accents and languages on his resume, but who wouldn't open his mouth to speak of his own struggles. Or when he was high amongst the flashing strobe lights of the nightclubs, with the girls attached to his side. After that, when the withdrawal symptoms started. Did he look like shit to the outside world? He always thought he was good at hiding. When he was on the verge of doing something that cannot be undone, did he look as distressed as they show in the movies? And ultimately, he doesn't need to think too hard to remember what he looked like when he and Sofia were apart, that he remembers pretty well, most of it anyways. 

“What was their relationship like? Did they have any significant arguments?” Sofia's voice echoes through the room, bringing him back from inside his head and anchoring him to the present. Leena doesn't know any details of the crime scene yet, only that they were both found dead and it was a suspected home invasion.

“Are you saying they might've done that to each other?” Her voice is rather offended, louder now. 

“I'm not saying anything, I'm just asking you a simple question.” Sofia raises her shoulders and Sakari knows she is going into offensive mode. Her eyes are firm and she carries a tiny frown in between them.

Leena picks at her nails nervously, but doesn't look at them. “All couples fight, that's normal, but I don't think I've heard them arguing in a more serious tone, ever.” 

Sofia keeps staring at the woman, her expression unfazed, waiting for her to open up more. 

“They were sweet to each other, in a way I've never seen before.” Leena sighs and Sakari can see the frustration in her voice. He feels like there's something more to it, but he doesn't know what. He looks at Sofia, trying to pick up something from her, but her eyes don't let out anything either.

“Do you know if they had any money hidden away in the house?” Sakari asks and Leena frowns at him, like his question is absurd. She shakes her head and a small tear escapes from the corner of her eye and she doesn't bother to wipe it out.

“Not that I know off. They didn't have much money to spare and were always on a tight budget. Why?” 

“There were several drawers turned up. One of the possibilities is that someone might've been looking for money inside the house, and that's what caused their deaths. Is the house theirs?” 

“It was our mother's, she left it to Aleksi when she passed away.” Leena then looks at them. “You said ‘one of the possibilities’. What is the other?” 

This time, Sakari feels Sofia turning to him and they exchange a brief look before Sofia turns to Leena again. “We'll get there. Can you tell us if there was anything unusual going on at the house?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Minna was found inside a closet in the hallway, with a few of her things. The rest of her stuff was found all in boxes, kept away in the basement.” 

“Hilda once told me the girl liked to sleep inside the closet. Since they moved to that house the girl never wanted to sleep somewhere else.” Leena chuckles at it. “They had only been living there for two months, maybe that's why Minna’s things were still in boxes.”

Sakari ponders whether it is wise to disclose that the girl had been given medicine yet or not. He doesn't think Leena is telling them everything, so why should they?

“We also found a letter with Minna, at the crime scene.” Sofia pushes a printed copy of the letter to Leena across the table. They watch as the woman's eyes get moist from the tears as she reads the quick message.

“What does this mean?” Leena seeks out their eyes, swallowing hard as she blinks and the tears stream down her face.

Sofia shakes her head. “We don't know yet. We were hoping you could help us understand what kind of people they were or give any information that might help us establish why they died.” 

“But this is a goodbye letter. What does it mean? Did they kill themselves?” 

“It's less likely, but we're not discarding any possibilities. We also think they might have known something was going to happen and tried to protect Minna by hiding her in the closet.” Sofia explains and Leena takes a deep breath. “I'm sorry about all the aggressive questions, but they are important to us.” 

“Hilda's medical records indicate she had been suffering from panic disorder. Did you know anything about that?” 

“Aleksi told me once that Hilda was sick, but nothing to worry about and that she was already being medicated.” Now Leena's tears flow faster and she hides her face in her hands. “Oh God, my baby brother.” 

“I know it's hard.” Sakari pushes a box of paper tissues towards her. “But you're doing really well and we're almost done here.”

“Would you like to take a break?” Sofia asks Leena. The woman dries her tears and shakes her head, sniffing. 

“I wanna get this over with. I still have a funeral to plan.” 

“Do you have anyone who could help you with that?”

Leena shakes her head. “My husband stayed home with our son. They will come to the funeral.” 

“Do you know anything about Hilda's life? Before she met your brother?”

“Just that she worked at a coffee place or something. That's where she and Aleksi met.” 

“What about Aleksi? Did he ever mention anyone at his workplace that he had a disagreement with?” 

“Not that I can think of. He didn't talk much about work.” 

“I think we're good for today.” Sofia looks at Sakari and they both nod.

“One more thing.” Sakari adds. “Could you write down their phone numbers for us?” He gives Leena a paper and pen. She pulls out her own phone to check the numbers and starts writing it down. “Also, if you remember the type of phone they had, it would be of help.” 

“Sorry, I don't remember.” She pushes the paper back to them. “Do you think I can visit the house? I'll probably need to get their clothes for the funeral.” 

Sofia nods. “When the time comes, give us a call and we'll see that someone accompanies you while you do it.” She gives Leena her card. “You can also call us at this number if you remember anything else that you think might help.”

“Thank you.” She picks up the card and puts it away in her purse. The three of them get up and Leena is escorted back out of the precinct.

—

It's already dark and cold when they stop at the waterfront. Sofia paces impatiently in front of the car with a cigarette between her lips while Sakari watches her, patiently, drinking his coffee and holding hers with the other hand. Apart from the conversation with Leena not giving them much to go on, the talk later with Rautamaa was also frustrating, because the boss asked them about any important developments and they didn't have much to tell her, apart from the bits and pieces they've been collecting but that don't necessarily fit together.

Once she finishes her smoke, Sofia comes back closer and picks up the coffee he's been holding for her.

“Calmer?” He asks as she drinks her coffee. Sofia nods and lets out a deep breath. “What do you think about the sister?” 

“That she's going through hell, obviously, but she might not be telling us everything.”

“Yeah, I thought so too.” Sakari exhales. “One thing that bothered me is that Minna's things were still in boxes. Even if they moved only two months ago, the rest of the house was well organized, just her things weren't.” 

“Which makes me sure that they were afraid of something. But why wouldn't they talk to the police? Or to someone? This doesn't make any sense.” Sofia starts pacing again, almost making holes in the concrete, and Sakari has to hold her in place.

“Sofia, breathe.” His hands grip both her arms and she inhales deeply. “Let this out of your mind, just for a moment. Tomorrow we'll go to Hilda's old workplace and we will start over. We will find something.” Sakari's tone is reassuring. “Cool it off before you burn it out.” He adds. 

Once she gets her shit together, Sofia catches him looking at her, his eyes hold a tenderness that it's hard to explain, or ignore. His face softened like it did back in the car when they found Minna, the last time he kissed her. The first time after their arrangement. She still remembers when they started walking towards that feeling, that unspoken tension between them.

—

“Where are we going?” Sofia's curious eyes cut through Sakari's relaxed face. She thought he was driving her home after work, until he changed paths and started making it through the bridge which divided their neighborhoods. Or her neighborhood and Sakari's old one. He'd been living half at the hotel with frequent visits to her place since his apartment blew up.

“I wanna show you something.” He pursed his lips in a small smile, his eyes were slightly joyfull while he drove the short way and stopped right by the water, a little further ahead from where his old apartment used to be.

Once the car stopped, Sakari waved his head as a signal for her to follow him, and she did, suspicious but also curious. They entered the residential building and, for a brief moment, Sofia thought maybe it was related to some case they had been working on, but when he pulled a set of keys from his pocket and dangled in front of her, it finally clicked.

“For real?” She let out a genuine smile. Sakari nodded and turned the key, pushing the door and letting her eyes follow inside the brand new apartment.

“Welcome.” He stepped away so she could get in. The apartment was beautiful, modern like she imagined he'd want, with only a few boxes laid out in a corner. The few things he was able to salvage from the explosion. “It's not completely organized yet, but it will be soon.” 

“Nurmi, it's amazing.” Sofia turned to him and smiled, soon wrapping her arms around his body. “I'm happy for you.” She murmured against his ear, squeezing him tighter into the hug.

“Thank you.” He murmured back. The hug lasted a little longer than they had predicted, but it was a joyful moment. She was genuinely happy for him.

He showed her the rest of the apartment and something caught her eye. “three bedrooms?” Sofia asked when the tour was over and they sat down on the couch with a glass of wine.

He revealed that he had applied for Leo's custody and, thinking of it, an extra room sounded like a wise choice, as well as a guest room for eventual visits. He was sure to give her a smirk while mentioning the guest room and Sofia chuckled. She and Emil had already spent a great number of days at his old apartment, it wouldn't be so different there.

“To new beginnings.” They toasted and drank together.

A nice feeling started to settle in her chest, a warmth, a calm that she hadn't long since felt between them, and for a moment she allowed herself to think of something more than what they had at that moment. They had grown closer again, since the kiss at Saint George's, but not close enough to sit down and discuss what was possibly going on between them. The growing feeling that had accompanied them since their first year working together. 

She thought it would eventually happen, after he made them dinner and gave her his sweet eyes all night long, or when he pulled her for a dance in the middle of his living room.  “You're not such a bad dancer as you painted yourself to be.” His breath blew against the side of her head while his soothing voice echoed through her ears.

“I can get by.” Sofia quipped. “but I wouldn't dare do this in public.” 

He laughed carelessly, his chest vibrating against hers. She made a mental note of how she liked it when he laughed, it was not something ordinary for him. His hands held her comfortably close, their bodies pressed together, transferring warmth. When she came to it again, they had stopped dancing and Sakari was staring at her with soft eyes, shifting his gaze between her eyes and her lips. A look she knew all too well and that stirred something in her. 

As soon as their lips met Sofia wanted to blame it on the wine, but they only had two glasses each, it was not remotely possible to say it was the alcohol. It was only them, doing what they always did, not minding the consequences.

They ended up lying down on his couch when things got heated, her hands grabbing his hair, pulling him closer as Sakari kissed her intensely. He moaned against her lips when she pushed her hips to meet his middle and her skin crawled. 

When they stopped for air and their eyes met, Sofia felt all of her courage vanishing, and she could see it in his eyes that he did too. 

“We shouldn't.” Sofia let out a shuddery whisper, her eyes half lidded, her body bubbling inside from something she couldn't understand. At that point his hands were already all the way up under her shirt, which he quickly removed.

“Sorry.” He cleared his throat and Sofia pursed her lips. “You're right.” Sakari carefully pulled her shirt back down, pulling himself off of her and sitting on the edge of the couch.

She was never able to pinpoint what, but she knew something shifted between them that day, as well as something inside him. 

—

“Stop looking at me like that.” Sofia swallows hard and looks away from him, a burning sensation in her chest. Sakari clears his throat and lets go of her arms.

“Sorry.” He says and she looks back at him, his face embarrassed.

God Sakari, why did you have to kiss me that day? Just when I was getting by without it, like you asked me to. You think you can just kiss me like that after months and then we go back to pretending it didn't happen?

“Let me take you home.” He offers but Sofia instantly refuses.

“I need to walk. See you tomorrow.” 

“Hyvää yötä.” He murmurs just as she's walking away.

—--

“I have news.” JP says before he even manages to say ‘good morning’. Sofia raises an eyebrow at him, hoping he reveals his news rather quickly because she isn't in the mood for his mood today. She had woken up more tired than usual this morning, her body aching and her head still as confused as the night before.

“Well… Spill it.” She gestures with her hand.

“I just received Aleksi's work schedule and he was supposed to be working on the moment he died.” JP hands them the copy of the document he'd just been reading.

“Did anyone say why?” Sakari promptly asks. 

“Yes. His employer said Aleksi asked for a personal day. Said there was something he needed to take care of at home.” As JP talks, Sofia feels her mood instantly improving.

“Does the boss have any information about what it was that he had to take care of?” 

“He didn't mention it, but he said he was in a hurry and couldn't speak right away.” JP shrugs.

“We have to talk to him, and maybe the coworkers again. Someone must know something.” Sofia's euphoric tone doesn't go unnoticed by her colleagues. 

“Well, I'll call him again later and ask if he agrees to a chat. But we don't have anything on him, so if he doesn't, we can't do much.” 

Sofia hears Sakari cursing under his breath at this information, but JP is right, they have no grounds yet to bring him in for a formal interview.

“Meanwhile we can go talk to Hilda's former coworkers.” Sofia reminds them. “But before we go, JP, do we have the emergency call transcript?” 

“Not yet, but they promised to send in this week, so I'm hoping we'll get it by tomorrow.” 

—

While they drive to the cafe where Hilda used to work, Sakari senses the atmosphere in the car isn't as friendly. It always gets more evident when they're alone. The awkwardness from last night is still hanging in the air and he knows he kind of messed up. He messed up yesterday, because he wanted to kiss her and she knew it, and he messed up by kissing her unexpectedly that day in the car. Especially when he was the one who suggested they didn't anymore.

I'm sorry for not talking to you, Sofia, I'm a shitty friend and partner. I swear I try, but I just can't. Not yet. I don't want you to have to deal with it. He talks to himself inside his mind, because that's all that he can do so far.

Does she have secrets? He wonders. Everyone has secrets, it's normal, Sakari. His mind answers back to him. Secrets like this? 

—

When they arrive at the cafe, it's still early, there's a young woman cleaning the tables and organizing it. She must still be under 30.

“We're not open yet.” The woman points to the sign on the door. Sofia and Sakari both pull out their badges and glue it to the glass so she can see it. With that, she walks toward them and opens the door. “How can I help?”

"Good morning. I'm Sofia Karppi, this is my partner, Sakari Nurmi. What is your name?”

“Elena.” The woman looks at them, her face fed up.

“Do you have a minute to talk?” 

“Not really, but come in.” They do and she locks the door again. “We'll open in 15 minutes, I don't have long. What is this about?” 

“You'll open when we're done here. Do you work here alone?” Sakari asks. 

“No, there's another guy, Jaan, but he's late already.” She seems irritated.

“Do you know Hilda Elo?”

“Well, I suppose you already know the answer, so yes, she worked here.” 

“What was your relationship with her like?” Sofia now asks, looking around the small cafe that was placed in a shady part of the city.

“We became work friends really quickly, but I didn't talk to her much once she stopped working here. She's cool.” Elena says and Sofia writes something down. “Did anything happen to her?”

They look at each other, then back at Elena, who at this point already knows something is wrong. 

“Hilda is dead.” Sofia says, her tone calm. “We're investigating her murder, she was found dead at her home, along with her husband, Aleksi. Did you know him as well?”

“Vittu. I didn't know.” Elena's face is one of shock. “Yeah, I did know him. I mean, he used to come by when Hilda worked here, then they started dating.” 

“You said there was another person working here. Did he know Hilda as well?” Sofia asks and Sakari can see Elena nodding before he feels his phone buzzing in his pocket. He excuses himself to answer it once the unknown number appears on the screen.

“Nurmi.” He says and at the other end of the call he hears a dog barking.

“Detective, it's Mikael, the neighbor.” The old man speaks almost like a whisper. “You told me to call you if I remembered anything and I did.”

Sakari's ears prick up and he walks further into the cafe, keeping his eyes trained on the dirty ground. “Yes, what did you remember?”

“That day, while I was watching the news, my dog started barking like crazy. I'm sorry I didn't remember before, but my head doesn't work as well anymore.”  

“Thanks for calling Mikael. Do you remember seeing what the dog was barking at?”

“I didn't see anyone, but he was barking at the path you saw. I've never seen him get all worked up like that.” Mikael stays silent for a second and the background noise becomes louder. “I called because he is barking again now, like crazy.”

Nurmi's body trembles at the thought that their killer might be, right now, walking through the forest near Mikael's house again!

“Lock your doors and stay inside, we're on our way!” 

Chapter Text

“JP, we need a search team in that area. Send everyone you can!” Sofia demands over the phone while Sakari races towards Mikael's house. It's the first time since the investigation started that she feels the thrill of the chase coursing through her body.

“I'm on it. Also, I'm sending backup as we speak.” 

“Thank you. Text me if there's anything else.”

“Will do. You two be careful, I'll see you soon.”

They end the call and Sofia immediately opens the map of the area on her phone, studying it again for when they arrive there, as well as working between the other possibilities she has been researching since the case started. At some point she feels Sakari slowing down just a little bit before gaining speed again.

She was distracted enough to see what actually happened, the only thing she could process was the loud honk and tires screeching as the Porsche swerved off the road before it came to a stop. Her body was pushed forward and sideways, all at the same time, being violently held by the seat belt pressing against her clavicle.

“Vittu.” Sakari rests his head briefly against the car seat. He looks at Sofia who's moving her neck around. “I'm sorry. Are you okay?” He touches her softly.

“I guess. I was just in a bad position when the car stopped.” She looks at him and feels his fingers brushing against her neck still. “You?” Sakari only nods. “What happened?” She manages to ask after the initial shock is over. Now the pain starts radiating through her neck a little.

Sakari shakes his head and exhales sharply. “I'm truly sorry. I was distracted and crossed over to the other lane, the van coming the opposite direction almost hit us.”

“My God, Nurmi.” She murmurs. “What is up with you?” She keeps her voice down but it doesn’t sound any less firm than it should. The fact that he was so distracted to the point of almost causing an accident was just the cherry on the cake. Sofia was already intrigued by his evasive behaviour since the case started.

“What do you mean?” He is taken aback by her question, frowning at her and moving his head back, avoiding her eyes. Sofia takes a deep breath and clicks to release his seatbelt, seeing the confusion in his face. 

“Get out, I'll drive.” She motions with her head. 

“Why? I'm fine.” 

“You're shaking… and pale.” She looks at his hands. “Whatever it is that's going on with you, you can go through it on the passenger side, not behind the wheel where you can kill us.” She feels like a shrew to be talking to him like this, but she can't deny he almost killed them and her heart is thumping inside her chest.

He unemotionally exits the car, walking around and standing at her door. They don't say a word after that. Sofia sits behind the wheel and starts the car, taking them to the main road again.

The silence continues and Sakari falls asleep next to her within 5 minutes of the ride. Right at this moment all she wants to do is to sit down with him, give him a hug and ask what is going on, but she knows they must keep their heads on the case, they can't make more mistakes. She knows he'd do the same for her, be professional, so she shifts her focus back to the investigation and the fact that there’s someone walking near their crime scene at this very moment.

As they arrive, both check quickly on Mikael before running towards the path with their guns in hand. None of them think of waiting for backup right now, they know time is crucial and they've already lost some of it in the incident on the way here. In these moments, Sofia feels like they're almost in sync again, their instincts side by side.

They walk carefully through the dense forest until they reach the opening, where a thin layer of snow covers the grass. The cold wind blows against them as their eyes search thoroughly for any clue at all.

“Karppi.” Sakari grabs her arm gently, coming to a stop. She looks at him and he points to the ground, where a trail is visible through the snow. “Let's go.” He whispers, pointing to the trail. They stand on either side of it and resume walking. Sofia feels her senses heightened, like she could hear the forest breathing and, for a moment, her whole body shivers imagining that they're being observed.

They end up on the other side of the glade, where the dense forest starts again, the path giving way to shoeprints in the mud, where the snow has melted. Sofia lights up her torch, because it's dark in between the woods, and they continue walking, already hearing the sirens in the distance.

“Are we near the road?” She asks and Sakari shoots her a confused glance. “The sirens appear too close, there must be a road ahead.” 

“If there is, it's not on the map. The nearest one is much further away.” Sakari points and they start walking faster. 

"Karppi, Nurmi, come in!” JP's voice echoes over the radio. 

“We're in the middle of the forest, after the clearing. There's a path on the snow and we've followed it, we believe it belongs to whomever it was that the dog was barking at.” 

“Stay where you are, we’re coming to you with the K-9 unit.”  

“We can't wait, there might be someone in the forest still.” Sofia lets go of the radio button and Sakari shoots her a glance.

“He's right, we should wait. We don't know who might be in here, if they're armed or not. It's dangerous.” Sakari suggests and Sofia sighs.

"We're almost there, just wait for us.” JP pleads over the radio again, it's when they hear a car taking off in the distance.

Sofia puts the radio away and sprints towards the sound, running until her lungs hurt, with Sakari following close behind, cursing at her for running so fast. She only stops when they reach a dirty, improvised road, far away from where they came from.

“Someone was here!” Sofia points to the tire tracks on the ground while she tries to catch her breath. “Shit we were so close.” She crouches down and puts her hands on her face, defeated. Her chest goes up and down heavily from the amount of running they did. Sakari sighs and his hand touches her shoulder, trying to reassure her but she flinches away from his touch.

What a shit day already! 

It doesn't take long for JP and the others to reach them after that. The K-9 unit starts with their search everywhere while she opens the map on her phone, checking where that road might lead to.

“So, what have you found?” JP asks.

“We heard a car and followed the sound, then we found this road.” Sakari points to the road while Sofia remains in silence. She is frustrated and exhausted already and it's not even 10am yet.

“Vittu. So there was someone here?” JP curses and Sakari nods.

“We have to follow this road, see what's on the other side.” Sofia suddenly says, already stepping into the muddy road, careful not to ruin the tire tracks.

“We found something!” One of the officers with the dog yells. They all run towards him and can see when he lifts up one single, simple, black glove. “It was a little further to the side of the trail.” 

“Great job!” Sofia says in excitement. “We can use it to track the scent, see where the owner of the glove went. Right?” She asks and the officer nods.

He lets the dog sniff it before they start walking towards the road they were previously in. The dog walks a few steps ahead and then starts getting confused, turning back around and looking at its handler more often.

“What happened?” Sakari asks.

“It lost the trail of the scent. The person probably entered a car around here, like you already imagined.” 

“Okay, let’s bag the glove and keep searching. It's the first real evidence we have since the crime.” JP tries to cheer them up. Sofia and Sakari nod. They don't plan on leaving anytime soon, so the three of them start walking the muddy road to find out where it will end.

“If this is really our killer, why would they return here?” Sakari raises the question and Sofia turns her eyes immediately to him. Good question. 

“Maybe to check if there was something left behind that could incriminate them. Or to search the crime scene.” She suggests. 

“But they wouldn't find anything, forensics already collected everything into evidence. What could they possibly want with an empty house?” JP also raises an interesting question, but it's one none of them have an answer for.

“Maybe they got nostalgic. It's not uncommon for killers to return to the crime scene, to relive the feeling of the kill.”

Sofia does believe that maybe the killer returned for a dose of nostalgia. If someone else did that brutality, it certainly was someone with darker motives than just plain robbery. But she never discarded the possibility of a murder suicide, and since Aleksi was shot at the back of the head, that would leave Hilda as the doer. Mother shoots the father, then herself, leaving a child behind. Much too familiar. The possibilities are slim though, no murder weapon was found at the house, the drawers were turned inside out and there's also the shoeprints they found at the scene, but things sound too converging for her to bury this theory for good. She just doesn't want to give it voice without being certain, it can cause more harm than it already did.

Thinking about it, she picks up her phone and texts Jukka, asking if he can check some things over for her, as well as Sonja, the pathologist.

“What if the killer did return to the house and was looking for something that we don't know what it is, but they do?” Sakari suddenly says and both Sofia and JP look at him with curious eyes. She hasn't thought of it, but it's a good possibility.

“It's entirely possible!” She gives him a small, reassuring nod and he nods back. “Let's place units around the house and give it another search as soon as possible.” 

The end of the trail couldn't be more disappointing. An ordinary road that led back to the city, no stores around the area, no other houses in a 2km radius.

After some hours of searching, JP got back to the station, taking the glove with him, to continue his investigation from there, with the promise to report back in case he found out anything relevant to the case. Sofia and Sakari stopped in the middle of the day for a quick snack Sakari had back at the car and Mikael was kind enough to offer them some coffee. The search ended as the sun went down, so they packed it up and left a couple of units to guard the area, as well as the house, and they would continue the search in the morning.

Upon returning to the car Sofia claims Sakari still looks off, so she politely asks to drive the way back too. She never had any reason to not trust his driving skills, he is an exceptional driver, and because of that it scares her what happened earlier on their way there. She had almost forgotten, but the discomfort on her shoulder caused by the seat belt wouldn't let her.

Maybe he's just tired. She thinks. Hell, they both are indeed, and she agrees that she should cut him some slack, maybe she needs to cool it off too. Things are not the same anymore. She is not the same anymore.

–

“I'm heading home, but I have two pieces of good news for you.” JP meets them by the door as they step back into the precinct.

“We could definitely use some of those.” Sofia sighs, her body weighing down from the long day they had.

“I've talked to Aleksi's employer again and he told me that Aleksi had mentioned that his wife was not doing well, so he had asked to leave work earlier a few times because of that. He suspects it was the same motive for him to leave work that day, but he doesn't know for sure.” 

“Okay, good, so maybe Hilda texted him and asked for him to come home.”  Sakari suggests and JP shrugs. “If only we had his phone to confirm that.” 

That would reinforce the theory that Hilda wanted Aleksi to be home that day. Sofia closes her eyes as she imagines. She doesn't want it to be real.

“I've already put a court order for both the numbers you guys got with Aleksi's sister. This way we can ask the phone providers to send us the records.”  

“What's the other good news?” Sofia asks now.

“The emergency call transcript came in, it's on your desk.” 

"Did you have a chance to look at it?” JP shakes his head, already moving past them. “Great, I have homework to do then.” 

“See you guys tomorrow.” 

When she thinks of taking the file home and working on it through the night, Sakari's voice echoes in her head ‘ You're not alone anymore, Sofia.’ but a quiet and lonely night working at home might help her clear her mind. Besides, his behaviour today and their awkward moment last night are still bugging her.

—

Once she steps inside her apartment, ready to open the files and munch on some frozen pizza, she finds Emil in the kitchen and all of her plans instantly change. All the guilt and shame known to humanity fall upon her.

“I’m making us some dinner.” He announces with a humble expression on his face and her smile appears right away. She pulls him into her arms, taking a deep breath and letting the exhausted tears pool under her eyes. 

“You're an angel.” She murmurs to Emil, who is too much of a grown up to be entangled in her hug for too long. She doesn’t have the guts to actually work after that, so the files are dropped on some surface and left there, next to a book she had been previously reading. Her mind wanders to Minna, sitting so innocently in that room and who will never have the chance to hug her parents again, and it pains her to imagine something like that happening to Emil. He's been through so much already.

They have dinner together while he tells her about his day and what’s been going on at school. He bugs her about Sakari, trying to extract any information from her but it only turns her cheeks pink instead. It also only leaves her more intrigued about the reactions he causes inside of her, even being far away, even if there's uncertainty in their lives right now, even if the prospect of any relationship between them is only being mentioned.

“Come on, I know there's something.” Emil teases. “You look at him in a way… Looks like love to me.”

“What do you know about love?” She frowns at him. “Is there something I should know of?” Sofia teases, turning the tables.

“Mom. No!” Emil laughs and now his cheeks turn pink. All in all, it is a fun and relaxing night, much different from the heaviness of the whole day, and Sofia is happy that she decided to not work tonight. She needed this quality time with him.

She should know better than to try and sleep though. Her brain is too wired and she ends up rolling up in bed until 1am, while nothing can seem to make her fall asleep. Her mind races with thoughts and possibilities about the case, and the image of that little girl in the closet won’t leave her alone.

Sofia walks to the kitchen in order to get herself a glass of water and pace around until she’s tired enough to sleep. She turns on the light and picks up the water jug from the fridge, filling herself a large glass, drinking it slowly and hoping sleep will come magically. When she’s ready to return to the bedroom, her phone lights up with Sakari’s name on it.

“Can’t sleep either?” 

Sofia looks over her balcony and spots the lights of his apartment, which is not far from where the previous one was.

“Apparently. Everything okay over there?” 

She replies back. 

“Just too many thoughts.” 

That makes two of us, Sakari.

“Come over.” 

She sends the message, not really knowing why as she still feels uncomfortable about his uneasy behavior, she doesn't know where they stand and it bothers her. When his answer doesn't come right away, she imagines he also might not feel comfortable coming over.

Sofia looks briefly to the file on her desk, holding herself back to not open it. She knows she won't sleep at all if she starts thinking about the case again, but there are so many things surrounding it that it's starting to drive Sofia to the edge, and apparently her partner too. It doesn't sound as a coincidence that there was a kid, sedated inside the closet and all of the pictures containing her existence were put down, apparently on purpose, but the other clues they've got so far are so confusing, leading to different directions.

If the mother knew something, does that mean she was involved in it somehow? Did she do that on purpose?

Sofia's phone lights up with another message from her partner, ten minutes later. “I'm outside.” She smiles to herself and opens the door to let him in. He's wearing his stay at home clothes, with just his coat topping it and the scene amuses her, she's not used to seeing him untidied.

“Hey.” He enters the apartment and Sofia closes the door behind him while he removes his shoes.

“Hey” She replies and they just stand there, looking at each other uncertain of what to say. Some heaviness hangs in the air, and something else… sadness.

“I'm sorry about today, I don't–” Sofia interrupts him when she pulls him into her arms. It takes him a second to understand it and then finally wrap his arms around her too. She presses him closer to her body, feeling every outline of his slightly toned frame through the soft fabric of his clothes. His face is resting against the curve of her neck and Sofia can feel his steady breath on her skin. She cradles the back of his head, caressing it with soothing motions, like she wanted to have done earlier. To hell with the uneasiness, she's doing what she thinks it's the right thing to do. 

“Do you want to drink something?” She asks after they are released from each other's embrace, Sofia watches him remove his coat and it looks so natural, so ordinary, like they didn't spend months without visiting each other's apartments. Even though they have been edgy around each other today, she senses that whatever it was, it's dissipating now.

Sakari shakes his head. “Thanks, I guess I just need some rest. I'm tired.” They walk further into the apartment and Sakari notices the file with the transcript of the emergency call. “Have you looked at it?” He keeps a low voice.

“Not really. It can wait.” She is surprised at her own words, but doesn't dwell much on it. She catches Sakari looking at where the file is, but to the object slightly to the side.

He gives her a tired smirk. “Have you been reading Poe?” His eyes return to her copy of The Premature Burial that is lying next to the file. Sofia nods and graces him with a gentle smile too, before taking his hand and leading him to the couch

In her dark living room, they sit side by side, sharing a blanket to shield themselves from the cold, and Sofia looks at him, not sure if she should ask anything or if she should wait for him to open up, which could take ages.

“Do you wanna talk about what's been going on?” She tries, carefully at first, biting the corner of her lip nervously.

“I'll try.” Sakari sighs and moves his legs up and down. “I haven't been sleeping well for quite a few days now. The case… I didn't think it would mess with me the way it did.” 

“I know.” She nods and her hand finds his fingers under the covers, holding them tightly. 

“How have you been holding on?” He asks back. That's Sakari, always turning the questions back around as a defense mechanism. 

“Can't say it's been easy falling asleep too.” He nods at her affirmation. They continue in silence, staring at each other, confusion and longing written all over their faces. Slowly but surely, Sofia feels Sakari's hand untangling from hers and going up to her back, until he starts pulling her into his arms. It's an uncoordinated hug but it's comforting and it replaces a few of the unspoken words between them. 

They stay like that for quite some time, until gravity pulls them to lay down on the couch.

Sakari’s hands slowly caress her back and Sofia feels relaxed while she listens to his heartbeat. Maybe that is just what they needed all along, a dark room, some comfort and understanding.

She still has some questions floating around in her mind, but she won’t die if she leaves them alone for now. After some years of working together, she started to understand when he’s suffering and needs a hug, and to understand when she is in need of comfort too. More specifically when it comes from his presence, which is something she had denied herself for a long time.

“Are you awake?” He whispers after some time and she hums to indicate that, yes, she is awake. “Do you think she will be fine?” 

“Minna?” Now it’s Sakari’s turn to hum. “I want to think so. It might take some years of therapy, but she’s very young…” They fall silent for another moment and Sofia notices his heartbeat slightly increasing and his body becoming warmer against hers. 

How many years of therapy did it take for Sakari to recover from it? That is, if someone is ever able to recover from something like that.

“I’m sorry about this afternoon, I should’ve paid attention to the road.” He blurts out.

“It’s okay now. I'm sorry for being harsh.” A soft murmur escapes her lips. The smell of his clothes and the sway of his chest start having an effect on her.

“I could’ve killed us both. You had every right to behave like that.” Sofia doesn't answer, she feels stupid for reacting that way when he was only struggling. 

“I’ve been thinking about Leo a lot lately.” Another sudden piece of information catches Sofia by surprise; they don't talk much about it. “I think the case has much to do with it.” 

“Oh.” She raises her head from his chest a little and looks towards his face, even though she can’t see it properly. “How so?” 

Sakari exhales with a shudder and Sofia waits patiently for him to disclose what’s in his heart. He shifts on the couch, seeming slightly uncomfortable and she thinks now is the moment where he’s going to shut down again.

“The idea of adopting Leo put my life into perspective, of what was really important and what was really frightening. I never felt so scared than on the day he was in the container.” She hears his breathing changing and notices how his words are confused. “Seeing Minna in that closet, disoriented, alone. They both will have such a hard path ahead of them, it's just…” His voice crackles and Sofia understands right away what he means. 

“Unfair.” She adds and feels him nodding. 

“It made me think of Leo and how he is, like her, just another part of the cycle. A kid, with no parents.” His voice is heavy and somber. “I should’ve fought more for him. He deserved at least that.” Leo and Minna are not the only kids without parents and she imagines how it weighs on him to compare himself to his parents.

“You did what you could and what was within your reach.” She blindly tries to find his face in the dark and rests a hand on his cheek. “And maybe there’s still time, if you really want to go forward.” 

“Maybe...” Sakari murmurs, a slight hesitation in his voice. 

The truth is, Sofia never knew exactly what happened with the custody battle over Leo. At the time he disclosed very little to her, he was hurt and distressed, and things took an unexpected turn between them that night.

–

It was 8pm when Sofia found herself in front of Sakari's door, apartment number 505, after they had agreed to meet at her place to go over some files but he never showed up and never picked up her calls. Since she decided to walk there, chills started crawling up her body and a bad feeling sat on the pit of her stomach. She knew something was wrong. It was not like him to disappear.

Sofia pressed on the doorbell, twice, before Sakari finally opened the door.

“Sorry, it's not a good night.” Sakari tried to dismiss her, but his face was pale and his expression was defeated, broken.

“What happened?” She stared at him in shock. Sakari shook his head and got out of the way, leaving her to enter the apartment or not. She did, following him to his couch.

The apartment was dark, with only a small lamp lit up in the corner, casting a yellow tone to the room, making it gloomier. Sakari walked further and sat down on the sofa, breathing hard, which made Sofia more worried. 

She sat down by his side, placing a hand on his back, letting him know she was there, waiting until, and if, he felt comfortable enough to talk.

“I lost Leo.” His voice was harsh and cold and she saw how he swallowed hard. He fidgeted with his hands, agitated. “They called me today and said I can't go through with the process.”

“Oh Sakke, I'm so sorry.” Tears filled her eyes instantly; she knew how he was preparing for this, for being a father to Leo, but she can only imagine how he must be feeling. 

“I'm so fucking stupid. How could I have thought that someone would hand a child over to me?” His tone is sarcastic and harsh towards himself. She had never seen him so distressed.

"There's nothing wrong with you, Sakari Nurmi.”

“There's plenty, believe me.” He looked at her, his eyes big, unsettled. “Just leave me alone, please!” He begs but instead of listening to him, Sofia wrapped him in her arms, holding onto his body until he calmed himself down.

“I'm not leaving you.” She whispered, pressing him tighter into the hug.

“You should.” Sakari said, but she could feel him starting to give up. “I'm messed up.” 

“Sakari, look at me.” Sofia released him and held his face in her hands, looking him firmly in the eyes. “You're not messed up. You tried and that alone is already incredible. Leo would be lucky to have you as his father.” She wanted so badly to ask what had happened, why they didn't allow him to continue, but she felt it could trigger more emotions.

“I don't know about that.”

“If that were true, you wouldn't even have tried.” Sofia continues holding his face, her thumbs now caressing his cheeks gently. “Give yourself some credit.” Sakari nodded, his eyes hazy and lost, but Sofia noticed quite well how they changed, how his face softened again seconds before his lips crashed onto hers.

That night there was no wine she could think of blaming. They could've tried to blame it on the raw emotions that were bubbling inside them, and the desire to cope with everything that had been going on since the last time they had kissed, right there in that apartment. But in all honesty, it was only them again, releasing something that had been buried away for so long.

Only that night they crossed a line that had long been toyed with. They knew it was dangerous, but they did it anyway.

They kissed all the way past the two empty bedrooms in the apartment, until they reached his. At first she was startled by it, her legs trembling at how much she desired him, how much her heart ached from all the moments they had been apart, the uncertainties of it flooding her mind, a little voice whispering to her that this was wrong, even though she didn't know why. Sofia surrendered herself, despite everything, shuddering under the hot, open mouthed kisses he desperately imprinted on her body as he made his descent down her neck. She quivered when his mouth teased her, then his fingers, until they were one. It was all very quick and consuming, burning all the way until the fire extinguished.

–

When the morning came, so did the uneasy feeling she was afraid of all the times she had imagined getting into bed with him. Something was still missing, while something had also been added to their relationship, and she had no idea which was which. But when he opened his eyes and said ‘we need to talk’ she promptly agreed because she knew there was something to say.

“We can't do this anymore. I can't do this anymore.” He let out in one breath. 

For a moment Sofia felt strange, almost ill, from the thought that she might've been used for a quick fix… a  quick fuck. All she had wanted for all these years was to set things right between them, but then everything happened so fast. She wouldn't deny she wanted him, she wanted them to work out, but there was something really wrong at that moment and she had no idea what.

She felt like they could destroy each other right there and then if they had wanted to continue.

“So that's it? We fuck and you let me go?” She dared ask, but not even she believed that at the moment. She just wanted him to say something, anything that would help make sense inside her head as to why they shouldn't continue.

“That's not it, Sofia, it never was.” Sakari took her hands in his. “What we did last night has not one bit to do with it, and if it weren't for the pitiful state I was in, I wouldn't regret it. I almost don't, but it's unfair, I can't handle this and I can't ask you to handle this.”

“What are you talking about?” 

“You mean a lot to me, Sofia. A lot. I know I'm not crazy when I think there's something here.” He gestured between them and she nodded. “But there's so much that's wrong, with me mostly. I can't talk about it, I don't know how.” 

“So what should we do? Pretend it didn't happen like we usually do?” She couldn't take it anymore, the ‘pretending it didn't happen.’

Sakari shook his head. “Quite the opposite.” He caressed her hands gently, she could see even breathing was difficult to him and only then she realized she was also holding her breath. “It will sound extremely jerkish of me, but I swear it is the truth.” Sakari stopped for a minute, checking her eyes. “We both have things to work out on ourselves, but I can only talk for myself, so that's what I'm gonna do, work those things out.”

“You're right, you do sound like a jerk.” But she trusted him, God she trusted him more than she did herself some days. If her detective instincts were any good, they were telling her he was being honest, and not only that, it was killing him inside to be honest.

“I know, you have no reason to trust me and I'm sorry about that.” He breathed out. “But if we can salvage anything from this, this will be the way.” 

“What are you so afraid of showing me?” Sofia asked, trying to look into his eyes, but he wouldn't let her. Sakari only shook his head and whispered ‘I'm sorry.’ and that was the last they talked about it.

During the months that followed, Sofia went through different stages of processing what had happened. First she was angry, for letting herself fall from it, she distanced herself as much as she could from him. They were only work partners and that was all. Then her anger subsided and she felt sad for thinking that maybe it might've been their last chance and they completely ruined it. For a while, she saw Sakari's struggle from afar, and he saw hers, but none of them dared doing anything. Then, later on, came the acceptance that maybe it was indeed the better choice for them and whatever had to happen would happen. 

Meanwhile, she did start paying attention to her destructive patterns, her thoughts and her words, hoping she could somehow run from them. It had been affecting her long before Sakari came along and Sofia decided she no longer wanted it to run her life. It hadn't been easy, and she knew she wouldn't change magically and completely, but slowly she was starting to see some progress. 

It was when they started breathing around each other again, trusting each other again and acting as the partners they once were. Even if they never talked about that night or their feelings again. 

Things started going well and, on the day they found Minna, he kissed her for the first time since that night at his apartment. 

— 

When he woke up in the morning, Sofia was absent from the couch, or the apartment, for that matter. On his phone there was a message from her, letting him know she had gone for a short run.

Part of him felt strange for not waking up by her side, as if it was all a dream, but the other part feels relieved for not having to face her so early, especially when she had seen him naked last night. He feels ashamed, dirty, like he had rolled around in the mud and now he’s covered in his vulnerability. 

Sakari shakes the feeling away and takes the liberty of going to her kitchen to start working out some sort of breakfast for them. 

Emil walks past him and murmurs a ‘good morning’. He's all ready for school, with his backpack in hand and Sakari can only hope he didn't see how they accidentally fell asleep together on the couch. It would only make things more confusing for the boy.

——

“What do you mean the transcript is empty?” Sofia’s indignant tone echoes through the walls at the precinct. She holds the file in her hands, sweating nervously while staring at it.

“Well, not empty…” JP tries to smooth it out. 

1:23pm

“112 what’s your emergency?”

1:23pm

“Please, hurry. He’s coming for us.

1:24pm

“Stay calm. I've got your address and I'm sending units to your house. Can you tell me your name?”

1:25pm

“Ma’am. Are you there?”

1:29pm

Ended call

Sakari reads the words again and stares at Sofia and JP, both pacing. 

“That's pretty empty to me.” She complains. “Please tell me we have audio for this.” Sofia looks at JP, almost begging and, to her relief, the colleague nods. 

“It came in this morning.” He motions for them to follow him to his computer and presses play.

In the audio they expect to hear a frightened victim, but what they come across is the low and steady voice of a woman, probably Hilda.  She doesn't let out any sound when the first gunshot is fired, there is no cry or noises in the space between the first shot and when the bathroom door flies open, only slight rustling that they interpret as being the attacker's. The second gunshot is fired and then the call disconnects.

Chapter Text

Sofia hears some ringing in her ear, as she replays the last moments of Hilda in her mind, the gunshot echoing as if it had been fired right by her side. It is one thing to read the words, but it's something else to listen to it.

“How can she be so calm?” JP is incredulous. The call was able to rattle him just as much as the others, but even him, who is usually prone to carry the moments with a joke, is too stunned to do it. Sofia sees how it bothers her colleague, so much that he reads the page again and again.

Sakari is in his usual quiet demeanor, sitting down in front of JP's desk, Sofia can sense his brain working, he is focused, but his eyes are distant.

“What if she didn't scream because she didn't want to frighten Minna?” Sakari's eyes are still cast out to a random point in the room. 

“It's possible.” Sofia comments. “If she was really trying to hide the girl, it would be indispensable that she did not cry at all. Hence the sedative.”

“But even so…” JP starts. “Who wouldn't scream or cry after hearing shots in the house and then looking at the barrel of a gun, knowing they're gonna die?”

“Do you think she might've been trying to kill the girl, instead of sedating her?” Sakari is the one asking. Both Sofia and JP look at him in shock. 

“Why would she do that?” 

“Maybe she didn't want the person to do the same to the girl, so Hilda got ahead of herself and wanted to guarantee that her child would at least go without suffering.” Sofia and JP are still looking at him in awe. “I've seen parents do all sorts of stuff to their kids. Either to protect the child or to protect themselves.” Sakari shrugs and stands up, pacing from one side to the other. Sofia shoots him a glare that he doesn't see, but that JP certainly does.

“In a moment of complete desperation, it's not impossible…” JP adds, watching Sofia's eyes.

“What about the father, Aleksi? Do we have anything from his side that peaks interest?” Sofia questions and darts her eyes between the two of them. 

“Not so far. All of his friends and coworkers said the same thing, he was a chill guy, never got himself into anything wrong or shady.” JP replies. Sofia takes her phone from her pocket and checks her notifications.

“We should go back to talking to the people involved in their lives. Someone must know something.” Sakari suggests.

“Until then I'll start working on a dossier , trying to gather more information about both of them online.” JP suggests and Sakari gives him a nod of approval. 

“Good idea JP. I'm gonna go up to talk to Hieta soon and see if he can enlighten us about the phone.” Sofia drops the files on her desk, feeling her body still heavy even after a half decent night of sleep. “But I need more coffee first.”

“Me too.” Sakari yawns, already following her towards the coffee machine. 

As they wait, the buzzing of the machine fills the room. Sofia quietly looks at Sakari, trying to check his state after the conversation they had the previous night. She doesn't want to ask and risk causing an international incident, but she can sense something is still off. She's not used to him actually talking. Even when his answers are kinda vague it is something new to her.

“Thank you for the breakfast earlier” She starts and he looks at her, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

“It was the least I could do.” He smiles shyly and nods. Sofia smiles back, feeling some lightness in the air as he hands her the small cup of coffee. 

“By the way…” Sakari continues, a bit uncoordinated. “Do you think Emil saw us on the couch this morning?”

“I don’t think so. I woke up before him to go running. Why do you ask?” 

“Nothing… I just thought that maybe if he saw us like that he could be somehow confused.” 

Just as Sofia thinks of answering, her phone rings with Sonja’s name appearing on it. She promptly picks up, imagining that the woman has an answer to the text message she had sent, which, after the emergency call, doesn’t make much of a difference in her theory.

“No, it was just a hunch, one of the lines we were following.” Sofia replies over the phone. “Yeah, I talked to our forensics specialist, he said it was possible but unlikely due to the other aspects of the crime scene.” 

Meanwhile, Sakari listens curiously to her debate over the phone, not knowing exactly what Sofia is discussing with the pathologist. He sips his coffee, peacefully leaning against the wall next to the machine.

“Alright, thank you Sonja.” Sofia ends the call and turns her attention to him again, now finally taking the first sip of her coffee.

“Any news?” Sakari asks.

“Well, yes and no.” Sofia sighs. “I had texted Sonja yesterday to ask if she could check for gunshot residue on Hilda's fingers and also Jukka, if he could confirm if somehow it would've been possible for Hilda to shoot herself and end up with that type of wound.” 

“And?” Sakari asks, his chest already bubbling.

“She said they didn't find traces of it anywhere on her but around the wound. Jukka had texted me this morning saying that it was less probable that she could've done it herself, but after hearing the emergency call recording, it became clear that there was, in fact, a third person in the house.” She shrugs and takes another sip of her coffee.

“Why did you think she could've done it?” 

“I didn't, actually, it was just a thought that came by because Aleksi was shot in the back of the head after asking to be released from work to be there…” 

“So you had a theory?” 

“Sort of, yeah.” 

“And you were going to tell me this when exactly?” Sakari tries to hide the sting in his voice, unsuccessfully. 

“When, and if, I had more evidence to support it. I didn't want to cause unnecessary stress.” She frowns and hears Sakari scoffing lightly. “Why are you so worked up about it?” 

Sakari finishes his tiny coffee and places the cup down. “Because we're supposed to work together on things. You're supposed to keep me in the loop when you have a theory instead of trying to take care of it on your own, like you did when we started working together.” Sakari turns around on his heels and leaves Sofia alone to bear the thoughts that come crashing right back at her.

Does that make me the Sofia from all those years ago? Am I going back to that place? She thinks to herself. Change is not linear, Sofia. Stop beating yourself up. She remembers the voice telling her and breathes. 

Sakari might be right about keeping him in the loop, but she knows that she only did that to try and shield him from another round of theorizing that might bring bad memories.

—-

Sofia knocks on Hieta's office door. 

“Come in.” He says and she opens the door, seeing the IT guy focused on his screen.

“I told you I'd catch up with you later.” Sofia jokes while she approaches him and Hieta shakes his head. 

“What can I help you with?” He removes his glasses and places them down, cracking his fingers next.

“Please tell me you have something about the phone.” She sighs and Hieta lets out a light chuckle.

“At last, I do! It's not much but it's honest work.” Hieta picks up his glasses again. “Where are JP and Nurmi? They might wanna be here for this.”

“Right.” Sofia nods, picking up her phone and texting her colleagues to join them for the revelations.

They gather around Hieta's desk, anxiously waiting for any crumbles he might have to help with the investigation. Sakari is purposely avoiding Sofia's eyes, he is somehow wounded from her choice to raise theories behind his back, again, and he knows very well he is no match for the looks she gives him. That being said, he focuses his eyes on Hieta.

“The first thing I must tell you is that, so far, the phone doesn't have much information on it, so until I finish cracking all the encryptions, I would keep my expectations low if I were you.” The three of them nod and Hieta adjusts his glasses before speaking again. “However, looking through the few things on the phone, it's safe to say that it belongs indeed to the female victim." 

“How did you come to that conclusion?” JP is the first to speak. Sakari stays quiet for now. He feels he is better just listening when he doesn't have much to add.

“Apart from it being covered with her fingerprints, which the forensics confirmed, it has a few pictures of her and you can find her name as the device's name on the settings.” 

“Can we check the pictures?” Sofia unfolds her arms, eager. Hieta opens the folder on his computer and shows them the few pictures contained on the phone.

Sakari takes a step forward and manages to squeeze in between all them so he can also see the pictures. He senses Sofia's eyes burning at the back of his head.

“That's it?” Sakari decides to speak and Hieta nods.

“That's all of the pictures I could find.” 

“There aren't any pictures of the couple? Or the baby?” 

“Not a single one.” Hieta shakes his head.

This rattles Sakari more than he expected it to. It's one thing to have only a few pictures of your family on the phone because maybe you're not a very photogenic person, but it's a whole other thing to not have one single picture of your child or your partner.

He remembers the picture he took of Leo, on the only day they were allowed to meet, a little bit before he entered the process to try and get custody of him. The boy was sitting on the floor of his room at the group home he was at, playing with his toys. So quiet, so innocent. Much like Minna when they visited her. He also told himself and everyone involved, that he was there in an official capacity.

“It's strange that a parent doesn't have pictures of their own child, isn't it?” JP turns to Karppi, as she is the only one of them who actually has kids.

“Yes, I'd say so, but maybe this is an old phone that she just happened to have laying around the house.” Sofia shrugs.

“I thought so too, but I was able to see that she'd been texting and calling one single number recently, and a few of her pictures are also recent, mostly pictures of their house and nature.”

“Can the number be traced?” Sakari asks, now returning back to his previous place, in front of Hieta's desk.

“It's a prepaid number, so no.” He sighs. “I'm hoping it won't take long for me to crack it open so we can have access to the content of the messages because those have an extra password.” 

“You also told me that the girl kept saying things about her mother's phone. So maybe that's what she saw her mom doing all the time, using her phone.”

“I remember that, but it might not mean anything. Who doesn't spend a lot of time on their phones these days?”

“Not everyone is a dopamine junky.” JP shrugs.

“As young as Hilda was? I doubt it.” Sofia sighs, her arguments running thinner. 

25. That's how old Hilda Elo was by the time she was murdered inside her own home, along with her husband, in the presence of their child, for reasons still unknown. The thought itself revolts Sakari. 

“But it's worth keeping an eye out for it. We don't have much to go on yet.” She continues after a pause, then looks at Hieta. “Could you send us the pictures? I want to analyze them a little more.” 

She lifts her eyes from Hieta and looks at JP, looking for approval, then Sakari. They both nod and start making their way out.

—

“As you might know, the search team is still looking around the area surrounding the crime scene but since they haven't found anything more, the search will be suspended after today.” Rautamaa stands in the meeting room with her arms crossed, drumming her fingers to her upper arm.

“They can't possibly be done.” Sofia intervenes in a rather confused, but low, voice. “There are thousand square kilometers of forest to cover out there.” She tries to not let the frown settle in between her eyebrows, maintaining only the firmness of her gaze to let the boss know she might not approve of the situation.

“Yes there are, but I wouldn't expect our suspect, or whoever walked in there, to be dropping pieces of evidence along the forest. So until further evidence, the search is done.” 

“Will the house be guarded at least?” Sakari asks.

“Yes.” The boss nods. “Now, any news about the glove you found yesterday in the forest?” 

“Not yet, forensics is analyzing it for fibers, DNA and anything else they can.” Sakari shakes his head, casting his eyes to the file in front of him from time to time.

“So what do we have so far?” Rautamaa questions.

JP starts by explaining what Hieta showed them from the phone, as well as the next information he will try to recover from it. He also shows them the document he's been putting together about their lives in hopes it helps them establish any other connections or gaps they might need to fill.

“Maybe there's just one connection between everything. The calls to this strange number, the fact that Hilda disappeared from the health system for years, her panic attacks… We just need to find the piece that ties them all together.”  Sakari talks now and Sofia only observes, still pretty much bothered by how the boss handled the decision to pull out the search team and making a strategic decision to remain silent for now. 

“But so far it is like chasing a ghost. Both their lives seemed too quiet and Hilda's past so far is still a mystery.” JP adds and Rautamaa inhales in a visible state of frustration.

Which is another thing that might be tied to all this. Sofia gets absorbed into her own thoughts for a moment, trying to come up with anything to add to this discussion. Anything but her discontentment with Rautamaa and the beef she and Sakari had earlier.

“Karppi, do you have anything to add?” Rautamaa brings her back.

“The emergency call.” Sofia frowns, fishing information from deep inside her brain. “Remember how she said ‘He's coming for us’?”

“Where are you getting at?” Sakari now turns his body to her, fully interested.

“She could've said ‘someone is coming.’ or ‘there's someone breaking into my house.’ but instead she said ‘HE is coming for us.’” She darts her eyes between all of them, seeing the confusion in their faces.

“Are you saying she might've known the person?” JP asks and Sofia nods, triumphant.

“Not only that she knew the person, but that the person is a HE and Hilda might've known, beforehand, that he was coming for them.” Sofia finishes her sentence and everyone stays silent for a moment, looking at each other and ruminating her theory.

“That would explain how she had time to give Minna the medicine and hide her.” 

“But if that really is true, we are hit with an even bigger question. Why didn't she ask for help first?” Sakari hits the pen on the desk quickly while looking at her.

“God, I don't know yet..” 

“There seems to be more dots connecting to Hilda… Maybe we should leave the husband's life aside and start focusing  more on her?” Sakari suggests.

“That's very little to go on. I want you to talk to Aleksi's sister again.” Rautamaa carries a disapproving look on her face.  “You mentioned Hilda was on medication. What are the odds of her being just mentally ill and their murders being something completely unrelated to all this?” 

“There is a chance…” JP's tone is more pensive this time.

Sofia doesn't want to think about this possibility, because then they have nothing again and she can't bear having nothing again.

“You should also go back to the place she worked and talk to her former co-workers again. Press them a little and see if they disclose anything interesting.” Rautamaa orders, looking at Sofia and Sakari. “JP, I want you to keep building a profile as well as a timeline of events with what we have so far. We might find something in the details.” 

—

“Why would Hilda disappear from the system for such a long time?” Sakari raises the question while they drive to the cafe again. Sofia turns to look at him, not sure if he was intentionally speaking to her because she imagined he might still be mad about what happened earlier, but apparently he was. 

There's something very intimate about being in a car with someone for the greatest part of your day. You learn how to get along, whether you like it or not, because you're each other's rides. So they always ended up leaving their issues behind when they drove around, or resolving them inside the car. Apparently this was one of those moments.

“That's what I'm hoping to find out…” Sofia purses her lips together. “But since we're guessing, I'd say she could've been abducted.”

Sakari slows down the car to make a sharp turn before continuing. “It would explain her disappearing, the panic attacks and the clonazepam.” He nods and starts speeding up again. “but it wouldn't make sense that she was not reported missing.” 

“This was before she met Aleksi, so who looks for you if you don't have anyone in your life?” 

“Even if she doesn't have a family… Someone would miss her, wouldn't they?” 

They exit the car and enter the cafe again. This time the smell of coffee and baked goods fill the air while a few customers walk in and out.

“Good morning, how can I help you?” A young man meets them at the counter. Sofia reads the name on the tag, Jaan, and remembers he was the guy who was late on the day they came to talk to Elena.

“We're from the Helsinki Police Department, we need to ask you a few questions. Is Elena here?” Sofia watches the smile disappear from the guy's face as she speaks and also notices a worn out expression revealing itself.

“Yes, Elena is here, what is this about?” He frowns and Elena shows up from the kitchen with a few plates in hand.

“We need to talk to you again.” Sofia looks at them both.

“We're working, we can't stop the cafe.” Elena walks past them and towards one of the tables. Sofia follows and intercepts her on her way back.

“We can either talk here and now, or we can bring you both down to the police station and hold you for a few hours for questioning.” Sofia places her hands on her waist, resistant. Elena sighs and then nods. “That's what I thought. We will talk to your friend first, you can continue your work in the meantime.”

They pull Jaan to a quieter place to talk, where they could still keep their eyes on Elena. The man seems too nervous for Sofia's taste, but she carries the talk with the lightest tone she can manage so as to gain his confidence.

“Did you hear what happened to Hilda and Aleksi?” Sakari starts, sitting in front of Jaan while the guy rubs his hands nervously and nods. “When did you become aware of it?” 

“Elena told me after you guys came by the other day.” Jaan casts his eyes down to his hands, letting a flicker of sadness cover them.

“How close were you to the victims?” Sakari continues asking and Sofia lets him. She wants to analyze Jaan's behaviour.

“I was friends with Hilda, but Aleksi was only a customer I've exchanged a few words with.”

“Close friends?” 

“A little. We got along well when she came to work here.” Jaan shrugs and his eyes become distant. Moist forming on them.

“What was Hilda like?” Sofia decides to ask.

“She was a joy to be around. Always cheering everyone up.” Jaan smiles and looks up. “I used to say she was the most outgoing Finn I knew.” 

Sakari looks at her with excitement written all over his face, they might've found the first source of information on Hilda.

“When was the last time you saw Hilda?” 

“Two weeks ago. We didn't meet very often after her daughter was born.”

“And what was she like? Did she seem different somehow?” 

“I don't know, normal I guess. Why?”

“Has she ever told you or indicated that she might be afraid of something, or someone?” 

“Not that I know of.” 

“Did she ever tell you she was on medication?”

“No, what for?” Jaan rubs his hands again, his forehead starting to sweat.

“Panic attacks. Apparently Hilda had been taking them for quite a while.” Sakari replies.

“Was Hilda doing drugs?” Sofia asks suddenly.

“I don't know.” Jaan's eyes start becoming shifty. “What kind of questions are those?”

“Where were you on Tuesday around 1pm to 2pm?” 

“Where do you think? I was here, working, Elena can confirm.” Jaan scoffs. “Which reminds me I need to get back to it.”

Sofia looks again at Sakari before turning to Jaan again.

“Just one more question and then we're out of your hair.” Sofia insists and Jaan sighs. “What kind of car do you have?” 

“An old Corolla.” 

—

“That guy is shady.” Sakari says as soon as they finish talking to both of them and exit the cafe, eager to get back to the car. Sofia looks at him, not knowing the exact reason why he thinks that, but agreeing to some extent.

“Care to explain why?” She insists when she notices he isn't talking.

“I don't know, he seemed to adore Hilda, but became evasive once we started asking more personal questions.” Sakari frowns.

“Your point?”

“What if he had an interest in Hilda, romantically speaking?”

“So he kills two people over an impossible love?” Sofia frowns too, not buying it one bit. “The way he spoke sounded like the way a good friend would. Even though I agree he seemed shady.”

Sakari lets out a discreet, but sarcastic, laugh and shakes his head. “Exactly how many male friends have you had? And how many of them tried to hit on you, to put it lightly?” Sofia stops a minute to think and returns Sakari's look with a surprised expression.

"That's what I thought.” He unlocks the car, raising his eyebrows to Sofia.

“You seem to have a very broad understanding of the subject.” 

And they're back again, riling each other up, arguing over stupid things, acting like they've just met and Sofia hates it, it's exhausting, but she doesn't dare speak. The words don't leave her mouth and she feels more distant everyday.

We're out of sync again.

Chapter Text

Sakari finishes his coffee at home while he listens to the news over the TV, as usual. The weather forecast indicates it will be raining all day long. He puts the tiny cup on the sink and checks the clock. It's 5h30. He woke up early, again. Apart from the thickness in the air when it comes to him and Sofia, the way they seem to almost be setting things right again before something drops them on their faces, there's the case, rattling him, invading his thoughts.

That night in Sofia's apartment he didn't lie when he said he hadn't been sleeping very well. He just chose to not disclose how frequent that happens along with the strange and, sometimes sad, dreams that accompany it. It's almost always the same. Leo is sitting in a room, alone, calling his name and when Sakari tries to call back, his voice doesn't come out. Then he runs and runs until he reaches a door and when he opens it, Minna is there, exactly like when they found her, crying, alone, lost. In other variations of the dream, he is the one calling out for his parents, but he isn't a child in the dream, he is the same age as now. It's weird to see himself in his dream, like looking in the mirror at a twisted version of yourself.

The case brought up all of the memories he never had, all of the trauma that was buried so deep he almost forgot. He hates this word, trauma. People look at you like you have it written on your forehead, like you're that thing that happened to you. There goes Sakari, the boy whose mother killed his father and then herself.

He never had the guts to tell Sofia the whole extent of the damage. Sofia, the person he claims to trust the most in his life. She surely knows what happened to his parents, but she doesn’t know what was left of it, the aftermath… drugs, parties, meds, destructive and evasive behavior, loneliness. She might have an idea of what goes on inside of him, she's good at that, but she can’t know all of it and he can't manage to speak. Even her sorry eyes would be too much for him.

Sometimes Sakari lets out little bits of information to her, homeopathic doses of his pitiful story, hoping to not push her away, but also not letting her in completely, which he knows only makes her more distant with time. He hates himself for being that person, Sofia deserves his whole self, not bits and pieces, but no one teaches you how to do that. 

Then comes the question: does she want my whole self? Does she even want any bits and pieces of it? If she knew, maybe she wouldn't want it, or she'd want it without even knowing what I am as a whole.

“What are you so afraid of showing me?” Her words still echo in his mind from that morning. 

On the day they found Minna everything was going well, he was finally confident that he and Sofia might be able to try again, try for real, that he could show her what he had been afraid of showing that day. Sakari finally trusted himself enough to tell someone about it. Someone other than the therapist he'd seen since.

Then he kissed her, he watched how her eyes became tender and that was like being born again, but the dreams began soon after that and he went into survival mode again. He meant what he said when he told Sofia there were things wrong with him, that he needed to work out on. He’s been doing that since then. 

The ringing of his phone pulls Sakari out from the void and back into reality. It's a workday, it's raining, I have to go get Sofia, we have to continue our work. We have to finish this case.

He sees her name and picks it up quickly. 

“Hey, I was just on my way.”

“Sakke, It's Emil.” The boy's voice sounds worried. “Something happened to my mom. Can you come over?”

“What is it? I'm on my way.”

“I don't know, she won't get up. She seems weak.”

Sakari drives as fast as he can, mentally thanking himself for choosing an apartment around the same place as the other. Within 7 minutes he is parking in front of their building. Emil is by the door, with his backpack and apprehensive eyes.

“Is she awake?” Sakari asks and the boy nods.

“Sorry, I didn’t know what to do.” Emil bites his lip nervously, just like his mom does and Sakari places a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“It’s gonna be alright.”

They walk inside and towards Sofia’s bedroom. Emil knocks on the door and announces Sakari is there.

“How are you feeling?” He steps closer to the bed where Sofia has her eyes shut. 

“It’s fine now, I’m alright.” She also mumbles something about not having the need to call him. 

“Mom, you’re not fine.” Emil sighs and Sakari looks back at him. The boy seems very worried. 

“Emil, can I talk for a moment with your mom? I can give you a ride to school afterwards.” The boy nods and leaves them to it. Sakari sits on the edge of the bed and observes Sofia for a moment, her face showing clear signs of pain.

“What happened?” His voice is smooth, but worried.

Sofia sighs. “I woke up and noticed the left half of my body was numb. My hand was weak and I thought I had just slept on it, but the numbness wouldn’t go away…”  Sakari senses a hesitation in her voice.

“What else?” 

She opens her eyes with difficulty, trying to look at him. “Headache… maybe a migraine.” 

“Can you lift your arms for me?” Sofia does what he asks and lifts her arms, one seemingly heavier than the other. A growing concern stirs inside of him.  “This isn’t good. You should see a doctor.” Sakari looks around the room, uncertain of what to do, and notices the files from their case scattered on all the surfaces of her bedroom.

“I’m fine.” Sofia insists and Sakari exhales. He knows exactly where this will lead, and he is in no mood at all for this now. 

“I’ll take Emil to school and be back here to take you to the hospital. If you’re not gonna do it for yourself, do it for him, you’re the only person he’s got left and he’s worried.” Sakari feels bad to appeal to this, but he knows it’s the only thing that might make her see clearer.

——

“Will she be okay?” Emil asks when they’re in the car.

“Yes, she will. She’s a tough one.” Sakari shoots him a quick, but friendly, glance. “Can I ask you something?” 

“Yeah sure.” Emil replies.

“Why did you call me first?” 

The boy thinks for a moment, then shrugs. “I thought you’d know what to do and that maybe she’d listen to you.” He looks at Sakari. “Besides, there’s not really anyone I could’ve called.” 

With Henna living away and Lauri on the island, it’s definitely a reasonable answer. Sofia doesn’t have many people in her life either. They're so much alike in this aspect, and some others as well. That's probably the reason why it is so difficult to find the middle ground between them.

“I’m glad you called me.” He parks in front of Emil’s school.

“Thank you for doing this.” The boy thanks him and Sakari nods.

“You can always call me if you need.” This time he intends to keep the promise. 

The drive back to Sofia’s apartment is a little faster and, to his surprise, she is waiting for him to go to the hospital. 

While she is being examined, he calls Rautamaa and makes her aware of the situation. Only when he's done on the phone Sakari notices his hands sweating and his heart beating a little faster from how worried he is.

——

“I can’t believe I did a CT scan and an MRI so the doctor could tell me I need to rest.” Sofia complains while Sakari takes her back to his car. 

“Your body shut down, from stress, that’s not simply being tired.” Sakari adds, opening the door for her and helping her in. The intravenous pain meds she was given are making her a little woozy and sleepy. “And you had the same symptoms of a stroke.” 

“Yes, Doctor Nurmi, I know.” Sofia rests her head back on the car seat.

“Did you work all night on those files?” Sakari's voice is low and he sees her nodding from the corner of his eye, drawing a loud sigh from him. 

“I’m onto something, I have to keep looking.” 

“No, I have to keep looking, and you need to rest.” It infuriates him how she can be so reckless about her own health. Maybe it’s not crazy at all that Hilda spent such a long time without taking care of herself. People are destructive sometimes.

Sakari can't say he has never neglected his health, but that was very long ago, during his addiction time. Back then anything was fixable with a line of coke or some other party drug.

The beeping of his phone brings Sakari's attention to it. He checks the notification saying that both the forensics and the pathologist's reports are ready, with a file attached to it.

“Any news?” Sofia's eyes are trained on him, expectant.

“No. Do you need anything else?” 

“No, these meds will make me sleep.” Sofia sits down on the mattress and watches as Sakari collects all the files from her room. “I made some notes, they’re in there.” 

“Alright.” Sakari nods. “You can text me if you need anything, I’ll try to come by during lunchtime.” He turns to the exit.

“Nurmi.” She calls and he turns back around. “Thank you.”

—

“Where's your other half?” JP's voice reaches Sakari's ears and he quickly raises his eyes from his file

“What?” An immediate frown settles in between his eyebrows.

“Karppi.” JP clarifies, even though Sakari immediately knew who he was asking about. “You guys usually come to work together.”

“Ah, right. She's not feeling well today.” He then feels compelled to contest his colleague's affirmation, which comes out only in the form of a faint mumble. “And she's not my other half.”

Go ahead Sakari, lie through your teeth. You're good at it.

“It was a joke, relax.” JP settles down on his desk, opening his laptop and inhaling deeply. “So what should we focus on today?” 

“I was reviewing the files Sof- Karppi was working on. She left some notes about possible lines to follow.” Sakari flips the pages until he finds one of Sofia’s notes. “She wrote: suicidal (?), drugs (?), held captive and phone numbers.” 

“Held captive?” JP raises his chin, curious about this observation. Sakari gives a half nod before explaining.

“We were trying to come up with a reason for her disappearance from the system and this was the best option we could think of.” 

“It’s not entirely crazy, but then why wasn’t she reported missing?” The older detective questions while also flipping the pages of the document.

“That’s the answer we don’t have.” Sakari shrugs.

“Now suicidal, maybe she hit the jackpot on that one. Have you seen the pathologist’s report?” 

Sakari hadn’t in fact had time to look at it, so he now opens his laptop and then the document he received earlier this morning. It confirms that Hilda had an exorbitant amount of Clonazepam in her system. That explains why the bottle was empty when they found it, but she didn't have any other drugs in her system, so the one interaction he thought of would be very difficult to happen.

“The report also confirms that the cause of death was the gunshot wound, so this just makes things more confusing.” 

JP nods. “I agree there. Let’s move on for a moment from this topic, I’m curious about ‘phone numbers’. What about them?” 

Sakari checks the pages again and again, looking for all places where their phone numbers are mentioned, but nothing really interesting pops up.

“Maybe we should call her and ask.” JP suggests.

“Not possible. She’s asleep under medication.” Sakari notices the suspicious look his colleague shoots at him, but diverts his attention from it. “What If someone did kidnap Hilda and then that person came back to kill her?” 

“It’s a good theory, but then why kill the husband along with it? This is, if the husband really doesn’t have anything to do with the whole situation.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m not ignoring it, but I just feel it keeps stirring in her direction.” Sakari decides to check the email with the pictures Hieta sent them, recovered from Hilda's phone. It takes a moment too long for his brain to register it, but then he finally notices. “JP, I think I know why she mentioned the phone numbers. They’re different!”

“What do you mean?” JP gets up and sprints towards Sakari. 

“These are the numbers Aleksi’s sister wrote down for us” He pulls out the handwritten piece of paper. “And this is the number from Hilda’s phone that is currently with Hieta.” 

“Vittu!” JP slaps his forehead. “She has two phones. How did we not see it earlier?” 

“Good thing we already filled in the court order to access the contents of their messages and calls. It should be granted any day now.” 

——

It’s 12 sharp when Sakari leaves for lunch. He and JP had a busy morning rechecking all the information they had gathered since the first day of the case and it was mentally exhausting. Another mentally exhausting task awaits him now. With food packages in hand, Sakari drives towards Sofia’s apartment, hoping she will somehow allow him to care for her, at least for today. 

The apartment is quiet when he arrives, which leads to him thinking that she might still be asleep. Sakari knocks on her bedroom door that is ajar but no response comes. He then peeks his head inside and notices she’s not there, but the fog coming from under the bathroom door catches his attention.

“Sofia.” He knocks twice. The silence makes him worried, she could be passed out inside. “Is everything alright?” When he thinks of knocking again, the door opens suddenly.

“Hi, I was just taking a shower.” Sofia is wrapped in a towel, with her hair up in a bun. 

“Sorry, I thought you might need something.” Sakari clears his throat, not looking at her. “I brought food.” He quickly turns around in his heels.

“I’ll be out in a minute.” He hears her reply from the hallway as he sprints out of there to give her some privacy.

——

“How are you feeling?” He cautiously approaches the subject while they have lunch together. 

“I’m feeling better. Could even go back to work.” She lets out and Sakari shoots her a sharp glance, only to find Sofia trying to hold a smile. “I’m joking. I’m still a little slow from the medication.” 

“Didn’t know that painkillers could bring a sense of humor.” Sofia looks at him, falsely offended. “But that's good. It means you will rest the whole day, even if you don’t want to.” Sakari takes another bite from his lunch and Sofia does the same. She’s been strangely cooperative today and that’s a new territory for him.

“I saw the reports.” She brings it up after some time, when they're having coffee.

“Which ones?” 

“The ones you received this morning and didn’t want to show me. The ones that were also sent to my email.”

Right, he forgot about that.

“I could say that’s how it feels to be left out, but I did it because you shouldn’t be thinking about the case.” Another sip of his tiny espresso and the cup is empty. He wasn't indeed hiding the reports from her out of some silly revenge, but mentioning it now sounded right because it bothered him a little to know that she decided not to share something with him.

“I’m sorry about that.” She starts. “I was trying to protect you from those theories, even though you didn’t ask me to.” 

Sakari sighs. “I know. Thank you.” 

“So, Hilda took half a bottle of pills after all.” She tries.

“We're not talking about the case.” Sakari cuts her off and a loud thunder is heard from outside. He checks through the window and notices the rain hitting hard on it, trying to get in at all costs.

Once his eyes turn back, Sofia is staring at him, persistently. Her arms crossed in front of her chest. “I can't believe you're gonna leave me sitting here all day and not tell me anything.”

“I might come back tonight and, if you manage to rest properly, I can tell you a thing or two about the case.” 

“You're unbelievable.” Sofia shakes her head and Sakari chuckles, tasting this small victory.

—-

“Why would Hilda have a second phone?.” 

“That might be the breakthrough we're looking for and I don't know the answer, but whatever it was, it surely wasn't good.” JP writes something on the white board before turning to Sakari. “I'm assuming the second phone was the one we found, so it seemed that she used that to talk to only one number.” 

“It explains why it was an older model and why it doesn’t have many pictures or anything in it.” Sakari bites his lip. “I can't shake the feeling that she might be involved in something shady and that got them killed.”

“Have you considered something simpler like, I don't know, Hilda having an affair?” JP surely noticed how Sakari's eyes lit up because the man himself raised his eyebrows. “It would explain the second phone.”

“That's actually credible, and I have a suspect if you ask me.” Sakari immediately thinks of Jaan, the strange, evasive friend of Hilda. “But before we talk about it, let's consider one thing: Motive.” 

“Motive?” 

“Aleksi and Hilda seemed to be deeply in love, judging by his sister's testimony. So why would Hilda have an affair?”

“Cheating doesn't usually have a reason, just lack of moral compass.”

Sakari rolls his eyes at his colleague. “I know… It just doesn't sound right.” he continues. “It also doesn't explain why their house was torn apart, like someone was looking for something.” 

JP stops for a moment, analyzing the circumstances and somehow trying to come up with a motive that would be plausible. “What if they were looking for information… Hilda could very well be a spy or someth-” 

“Wow calm down. Let's not go there.” Sakari stops him in his tracks and JP looks at him, indignant.

“Well, it would be great if you could voice a few of your theories.”

“I have none.” Sakari shakes his head. “Do we know when Hilda activated this second phone line?”

JP starts looking through the bits and pieces they have on the phone and shakes his head. “I don't think so.” His eyes focus on the computer screen harder. “But judging from how old these pictures are, the phone seems to be from around five years ago.” 

“Supposing she's had the line active since then.” Sakari adds, sitting back in his chair and dropping the pen on his desk. “There are a few reasons for someone to change their phone line, but the two I can think of now are: unwillingly, because you lost it somehow or, on purpose, because you don't want to be found.” 

“It makes sense but why would you keep it active if you don't want to be found?” 

“And more importantly, why wouldn't she want to be found? If that's really the case.”

“Damn, I might need more coffee before I can crack this one. Want some?” JP offers, getting up from his chair and Sakari does the same, following his colleague to the coffee machine.

Sakari gets stuck in his own spiral of thoughts about the questions they've just raised. It does make sense that Hilda wouldn't want to be found somehow if the fear she was experiencing was real. What doesn't make sense is why keep the number that might be a way of finding her, in case she was afraid of someone. He knows Sofia would be going crazy over these details, but he's glad she is at home resting. It was scary seeing her like that.

“How's Karppi?” JP gives him a subtle glance and Sakari tries to protest but chokes on his own words before he even manages to speak. “I know you went to see her.”

Sakari clears his throat. “She's feeling better.” He picks up the cup from the machine and they both walk back to their desks to continue their work.

—-

At night, he returns to Sofia's apartment with some excitement coursing through his body, which he recognizes as being from the prospect of discussing the case with her and also just the idea of seeing her in general.

It reminded him of the first day of this case, when they were in the car on the way to check the crime scene again. Things felt so much lighter back then. Although now It's not as bad as it used to be in the past, he still feels they're not entirely there yet.

He knows how hard was the decision he took all those months ago when he could've easily caved in to their desires and continued the way it was, but he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he kept that going after what he did. Sakari is more than grateful that Sofia agreed to it, even though she seemed to be suffering as well.

When he starts telling Sofia about the developments of the case, he sees her face starting to glow, like her life was instantly restored. It somehow makes him glad to see her like that, alive.

“That explains why she was so calm in her last moments.” Sofia comments as they discuss the topic of Hilda’s toxicology test.

Sakari nods. “She was numb.”

“Do you think Hilda was suicidal?” Sofia's voice is lower now and he understands she is trying to be as subtle about it as possible. 

Sakari shakes his head. “If you're asking me this because of the medication, I don't think so.” He replies, knowing where this conversation will end and preparing himself for it.  They're sitting in her living room, each on one edge of the couch, listening to the rain pour outside. Sakari is grateful for the dimmed light, it's easier to talk like that.

“I've read that one of the side effects can be suicidal thoughts.” 

“They're rather uncommon if the person is not mixing it up with drugs.” 

“It's possible that the thoughts had always been there, regardless of the medicine.” She shrugs. 

He nods cautiously. “If they had, it would be a quick path towards the action.” The thought of it makes his whole body quiver. His gut twists and there's a warm flush coming up his cheeks.

After a brief moment of silence, Sofia exhales loudly. “You were talking from experience, weren't you?” Her voice is softer but her gaze shows concern. Sakari nods, but stays silent, not yet knowing how to approach the subject.

She silently gets up, heading towards the kitchen and putting a kettle on. Sakari watches as she makes them some tea and it allows him to organize his thoughts. She will not back off now, and he doesn't want her to.

When she returns, handing over one of the mugs, Sofia sits closer to him and nods lightly, like she's saying ‘whenever you're ready’ . 

“I was into some pretty heavy stuff back then, mixing everything I could find. I was young and reckless and had no idea what the mixes were doing to my head.” The hot tea burns his tongue when he sips it, but he doesn’t show it. “I went to the doctor when my panic attacks started, but I didn't want to admit I was an addict so I lied about it.”

His eyes find hers, looking for some kind of reaction, but Sofia just sits quietly, blowing on her tea from time to time.

“So they prescribed you clonazepam?” She lets out in a way that he only understands as her being certain of it. “That’s how you knew about the side effects.”

Sakari nods. “I knew it wouldn’t take you long to figure that out.” He takes another sip of his tea, holding the mug with both hands, slightly embarrassed. “It helped for some time, but then this specific side effect came kicking hard.” This time, he notices she's holding her breath. “I realized it almost too late, when I was standing on the edge of the terrace.”

“Oh Sakari.” Her tone is one of anguish, but it feels relieving to hear his name coming out of her mouth. “How are you feeling now?”

“Now It's okay.” Apart from the embarrassment, a giant weight was lifted off his chest, allowing him to breathe again. “Lies come bearing a great cost and that one almost cost me my sanity and my life.”

“Do you think that is what's affecting your sleep too?” 

“I'm not sure, but I don’t think so. It's been years.” He is not ready yet to disclose about the nightmares he's been having. That will require a few more therapy sessions. “But anyways, how are you feeling now?”

“I'm feeling much better.” Sofia gives him a sly smile. 

“Emil was really worried.” Sakari purses his lips and she nods. “I was too.” Sofia closes her eyes, understandingly, and nods. Sakari unintentionally reaches for her hand on the couch. She doesn't pull away, doesn't flinch.

He lets himself admire her, beyond the things he already admires in her on a  daily basis — Her intelligence, her resilience, her ability to see things through a different perspective, even her stubbornness — Now he allows himself to admire her beauty. The gentle pinkness of her cheeks, her hair that is still up in a bun, showing more the sides of her face, her collarbone slightly revealed by the loose collar of her shirt. It brings back memories of that night when his lips touched that exact same piece of skin, how soft, and right, it felt. 

When he comes to it again, Sofia's face is only inches from his, her eyes giving him one last look before she closes them. He closes his eyes too and prepares for impact.

Her forehead touches his forehead and she stays still, not coming any closer. “We shouldn't.” She exhales loudly.

Sakari's hands hold on to her face for dear life, but he agrees. “We shouldn't.” and backs away from her face with the tingling warmth from her breath still dancing across his lips. She smiles weakly when their eyes meet again.

“Did you think it would be this hard?” She bites her lip.

“The working out our issues part or the resisting the temptation to kiss you part?” Sakari raises his eyebrows, giving her a relaxed smile.

“We haven’t been great at the second one, but I mean both.”

“I thought it would become easier with time.” 

“Did it?” She purses her lips.

His breath shudders while he exhales, shaking his head. Sofia keeps her eyes on him and that's when he notices he is getting dangerously close to ignoring everything and just giving in. So a tactical retreat is much needed.

“Anyway, I have to go.” He nervously rakes his fingers through his hair.

Sofia continues watching as he gets up from the couch and makes it to where his shoes and coat are. She silently accompanies him to the door when he's ready to leave.

“Goodnight Sofia.” 

“Goodnight Sakari.” 

—-

Another day later, Sofia is back at work, eager to continue with this case that is keeping everyone on edge. She hadn't seen Sakari the previous day, which was both good and bad. Good because she was again forced to rest and take care of herself instead of thinking about the case and also because he's been on her mind more and more since the night at her apartment and she can't have that now. So not seeing him for a whole day helped ease that.

The bad part was because she wanted to keep working and thinking about the case, and she couldn't do any of those things if he didn't feed her information to munch on while she was homebound.

Now the wait is over and Sofia is more than happy to be standing in front of the whiteboard, alone, with a mug of coffee in her hand while listening to the rain that still pours outside.

So Hilda had two phones, one of which we have no clues as to where it is, and the other that suspiciously has records of only calling one number. 

“So how was your two day vacation?” JP's voice reaches her ears as he enters the bullpen. Sofia chuckles as she turns to her colleague.

“Horrible, but surprisingly restoring. You should try it sometime, you're getting grumpy.”

“Apparently it restored your sense of humor too.” JP removes his jacket, hanging it on the back of his chair. “I'm glad you're back and healthy again.”

“I'm glad to be back.” 

“Hey JP.” Nurmi announces himself shortly after. “You're messing up the floor.” Sakari points to the dirt marks JP's shoes left on the ground. Sofia notices he stays looking at the dirt for a little longer. Kind of zooming out.

JP slaps his own forehead drawing everyone’s attention. “I must've stepped on a puddle while getting out this morning.”

Once the fuss is over, Sofia turns back to the board to analyze the clues her colleagues had gathered and written during her absence. She and Sakari exchange good mornings but silence falls between them after that.

“Do you guys wanna bring me up to speed?” Sofia turns to her colleagues after some time.

“Sure thing.” The older man starts pulling out files from his drawer and scattering them across his desk. Meanwhile, Sakari opens his laptop, typing frantically on it. His eyes move quickly across the screen

“So, thanks to your notes, we found out that one of our victims had two phones registered to her name. The pathologist's report confirmed that Hilda was heavily medicated by the time she died, but the cause of death was actually the gunshot.” 

“Any theories about that?” She looks at them both.

Sakari clears his throat. “We discussed the possibility of Hilda changing her number so as not to be found, that would explain the older phone, but we thought it doesn't make sense that she would reactivate it if she didn't want to be found.” 

“It doesn't indeed.” The inside of her mouth is already bruised from how she is biting on the skin while her brain tries to work out what had been going on in Hilda's life. “The phone is probably connected to her past somehow, the past we still know nothing about.” 

“I think so too.” JP nods. “Nurmi thinks she might've been involved in something shady.” 

Sofia looks at her partner with her brows raised. “Like what?”

The man shakes his head, frustrated. “I don't know… something big enough to get her killed.” 

The three of them decide to turn all the evidence upside down again, hoping to notice even a small detail they haven't before. They go from forensic evidence, to the pathologists report, remembering later what they had seen in the crime scene.

Sofia notices a frown settling in between Sakari's eyes as he pulls out the stack of pictures from the crime scene and she knows he's onto something. He has this specific look when the pieces start fitting together in his mind. 

Then he looks up, straight at her, catching her stare at him. “I think I found something.” His eyes now turn to JP as he scatters a few pictures on the desk. “That day we went to the cafe to talk to Elena, she was alone right?”

“Mmmh yeah, she said Jaan was already late, why?” Sofia frowns and so does JP.

“While I was on the phone with Mikael, and you were talking to her, I remember looking down at the floor of the cafe and it was dirty, with mud, but Elena has smaller shoe sizes.” 

“I don't understand, where are you going with this?” 

Sakari picks up the picture from the crime scene, with the muddy shoe print and shows them. “This shoe print is the exact same size and marks as the boots Jaan was wearing on the day we interviewed him, and the same marks I saw on the floor of the cafe when we were there but at the time my mind didn't make the connection.” He stops for a moment to breathe. “Now who wasn't there that day?” 

“Jaan.” 

“You mean when the neighbor called you, saying someone was in the forest?” JP asks and they both nod. Sofia's head spins, trying to process the information. She flips through the files, trying to find the notes they made when talking to Jaan the other day.

“Wait.” Her eyes scan the page she was looking for. “But Jaan said he was working at the time of their deaths and Elena confirmed.” 

“Everyone lies… I don't doubt they could've done the same.” 

“Do you still think it doesn't sound right that Hilda was having an affair?” JP chimes in and Sofia immediately looks at him.

“What?” Her voice comes out pitched.

“I can update you on the road.” Sakari replies. “We need to go to that cafe again. Now!” Sakari presses his finger down on the picture.

—

“What did she say?” Sakari is euphoric as Sofia finishes the call with Elena. They had called her, not letting her know they were on their way, to ask again if she was sure Jaan was there working when Hilda and Aleksi were killed.

“She said she didn't pay attention to it all the time, the cafe was full and maybe Jaan took his break a little earlier than intended.” Sofia replies and they stop at a red light. Sakari rests his forehead against the steering wheel, mumbling all the curse words he could think of. “I guess you were right about Jaan having an interest in Hilda.” 

“I didn't want to be right. I still don't.” He exhales sharply. “It's fucked up to think an entire family was shattered because of something like that.” 

“Yes, but if he really did it, then the case is over.” 

Sakari doesn't say anything, he accelerates when the light turns green and keeps his expression serious. Part of Sofia doesn't want him to be right too, and it still doesn't make sense to her.

Violence usually doesn't.

—

“You better start talking.” Sakari makes Jaan sit down on the chair of the interrogation room with a firmness he doesn't usually employ. Meanwhile, Sofia observes from a distance.

What was supposed to be another simple conversation turned upside down when Jaan made them chase him down. Now they're here, ready to interrogate him as an official suspect of having killed Hilda and Aleksi.

“I told you everything I know.” His voice comes out broken. A frightened gaze takes over his expression while Jaan still regains his breath after running from them.

“Then why did you run?” Upon seeing Sakari's behaviour, Sofia chooses a colder approach, to balance what is about to go down in this room. 

The suspect lowers his head to his cuffed hands getting rid of the tears that started falling down. “I'm sorry.” 

“We know you were there.” Sakari stands really close to him, his breath surely hitting the suspect's face. “What happened? You fell in love with Hilda and decided to murder her and Aleksi once she dumped you?” 

“What?” Jaan's voice comes out exasperated, incredulous. His face is red and sweaty, his lips are trembling.

Sofia steps in carefully when she notices Sakari's jaw tense up. She clears her throat to draw attention. “We know you were at the crime scene, Jaan, the shoe print we found matches your size.” 

“You and Hilda were having an affair?” Sakari's question almost comes out as an accusation and Sofia touches his arm softly, when Jaan isn't looking, gesturing for him to come to her side.

“For fuck's sake, where did you get that from?”

“Look.” Sofia starts. “We know you are hiding things from us and it does not help with your situation. So you better start telling us what you know, or it will get worse.” 

Jaan breathes in and out for a while, clearly in distress, and Sofia decides to allow him some time to put his thoughts in order while she takes some notes and highlights a few things on the files.

“I knew Hilda was afraid of something, she never told me what or who it was, but I noticed she started acting strange the last few times we met up. Always looking over her shoulder, shifty eyes and all.”

“And you're not making this all up just to get rid of the blame?” Sakari crosses his arms in front of his chest and Jaan shakes his head.

“Why didn't you tell us?”

“Because I know it doesn't look good, okay!” Jaan looks at them again, angry. “I knew I would immediately become a suspect because of my proximity to her.”

“Where were you on the day we went to the cafe? Elena said you were late.” 

“I had a flat tire. I sent her a text as soon as I remembered to let her know I was gonna be late.” 

They were gonna check his location with the cell phone provider either way, but so far Sofia believes him, as strtange as his story sounds.

“Were you and Hilda having an affair?” 

“God no!” Jaan cries out. “She was my best friend. I knew you'd latch onto me once I said that.” The tears keep streaming down his face, harder this time, while he unsuccessfully tries to wipe them away. Like using your car wipers during a storm, it doesn't really solve it, but you keep trying. “I was there. Hilda texted me, asking for help, said someone was coming. They were both dead when I arrived.” 

“Did you try to contact emergency services?” Sakari's tone is more compassionate now as he lays out his question.

“No.” I heard the sirens from afar and ran out of there before anyone could see me.”

“Did you happen to see their daughter at the house?” It's Sofia who asks now and Jaan nods, more tears coming down.

“I figured whoever did that to them had taken the girl. Is she alright?”

“She’s alright.” 

“Do you have the message she sent you to back your story up?” Sakari raises his eyebrows at him.

“No, I deleted it. I was afraid of anyone finding it.”

Right at this moment, JP knocks at the door, calling both of them out of the door for a moment.

“Things don't look good for you. I'd think very carefully of what you're gonna hide from us once we're back.” Sofia warns him before they leave him alone.

Rautamaa is waiting for them in the small adjacent room that has a view to the interrogation room they were in. Meanwhile JP holds some papers in his hand.

“Their phone records came in, Jaan is telling the truth.” JP reveals, handing the document over to them. “Hilda texted him asking for help a few minutes before the emergency call was made.” 

“This doesn't prove much.” Sakari deadpans. Rautamaa stands in silence, but Sofia senses her body language not being very at ease as she looks discreetly at Sakari. Maybe his aggressive approach wasn’t well received.

“Not alone, it doesn't, but the nearest cellphone tower picked up his location only after the emergency call ended.” He also confirms Jaan’s location near his own house the other day, when he had been late for work.

“Then why not tell us right away? As far as I know, he can be charged for obstructing an investigation.” The sting coming out of Sakari's voice doesn't go unnoticed by anyone. He is getting invested in this case more and more.

She walks closer to the glass, observing Jaan's broken state as he hides his face in his hand. “We are so used to seeing the technical angle of things that we forget how grief looks like. People do crazy stuff.” She can't imagine what it must look like to see someone so dear to you in that state, but Sakari surely can. She knows it touched him now because his shoulders relax and a heavy silence takes over.

“Indeed.” JP agrees.

“Thank you JP.” Sofia lets out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding before turning to Rautamaa. “Can we ask him a few more questions before releasing him?” The boss nods at her request.

Sakari is already out of the room, but Rautamaa asks Sofia to stay a bit longer. “The way you handled the interrogation so far was very professional. Congratulations.”

“Thank you ma'am.” Sofia acknowledges and excuses herself.

Upon returning to the room, Sakari is waiting for her, in silence, visibly calmer than he had been before. Jaan is still crying, but appearing calmer too, like he's matching the energy of all present there.

“Jaan.” Sofia starts and the man looks her directly in the eyes. “Is there anything else you could tell us about Hilda? Anything at all that could help us catch the person who did this.”

The man nods, sniffing. “I thought I was doing the right thing, protecting Hilda's image, not letting anyone talk shit about her.” He starts, a little unsure at first. “She had had to deal with so much stuff but she was such a good person.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but she revealed to me that she had to work the streets for a while, it was how she survived back then.” 

“Work the streets? As in prostitution?” Sofias asks directly and Jaan nods. “How long?”

“She said she worked in it for three years.”

Chapter Text

The coffee machine is the only sound that's heard as Sofia and Sakari stand side by side. She's biting her lip and Sakari can be heard picking at his nails.The sound is ticking like a clock. The time they don't have. No one says a word, but their brains are going into overdrive, assimilating everything Jaan revealed earlier in the interrogation room. As much as she is happy about the information they received, a chill creeps up her spine as she thinks about the territory they just entered. Something entirely new has been presented to them and, so far, none know what to do with it.

“It still doesn't explain why Hilda was absent from the medical records during all this time.” Sakari breaks the silence. “Even when working the streets, she probably got sick.” 

“Maybe she was forbidden to do so.” This possibility seems to rattle Sakari, for he turns his whole body to her. “Organized prostitution. They have a whole ecosystem in there and the girls usually are not allowed to use any “service” outside of the network.”

“Makes sense that she never told Jaan about who she worked for. It was way too dangerous.” Sakari remembers the information Jaan gave them after revealing Hilda's past activities. “If this turns out to be real, we're knee deep in shit.” 

The choking of the machine indicates it has finished dispensing the coffee. They pick it up and return to where JP and Rautamaa were left discussing the same topic. 

“Do you wanna do the honour of telling them your theory?” Sakari mumbles and Sofia sighs, nodding.

She explains to them the small research she did on organized prostitution and the statistics in the country so far. The numbers are not grand, with the estimate being around five thousand sex workers in the whole of Finland. Most of them are foreigners, women, but still a significant number of natives who are reported to work in the industry. Since organised prostitution is not legal, the numbers get a bit scrambled because many of those workers' status are unknown, with information that several of them might come from human trafficking.

“I linked Hilda to the organised prostitution because of how she disappeared during all those years. It would make sense that she could not go to a regular doctor if she was part of and had information about an illegal business.” 

“It also seems to match with the fact that she didn't have any family to rely on, as well as to why no one knew about her past.” Sakari complements.

“It's a feasible theory, but we need more information in order to have a solid case.” Rautamaa instructs. “I'm approving overtime and other resources that you might need in order to continue your work. Don’t hesitate to ask for help.” Rautamaa looks firmly at Sofia, a silent accusation that she’s been burning it out too fast recently. 

For a moment, the four of them keep looking at each other in silence, each processing the avalanche of information in their own way. Sakari is hitting his pen to the cover of the file while JP is scratching his own forehead nervously. Sofia had stopped biting the inside of her mouth once she felt the blood and now she only paces around the room. Rautamaa stands still in the corner, alternating her gaze between them.

“What else do we have from the phone provider?” Sakari breaks the silence. 

JP picks up the file, emotionless, and flips the pages until he finds what he wants. “Hilda and Aleksi texted often while he was at work. She’d send him pictures of their daughter, pretty domestic stuff.” 

“What about the day of the crime?” Sofia purses her chapped lips, feeling the thorn skin dry against one another. 

“Aleksi had texted Hilda to ask how she was feeling and if she wanted him to go home, but she denied it, saying she was probably going to take a nap soon.” 

“So apparently Aleksi asked to go home on his own will.“ Sakari asks and both Sofia and JP nod, agreeing to the affirmation. “Any indication that he knew about Hilda’s past?” 

“Not from what we have. What are you thinking?” 

“That maybe if he knew, it could’ve made him angry. He could’ve arranged for someone to kill her but somehow he ended up getting himself killed as well.” 

“Sounds a bit dumb of him to get himself killed, and besides, this doesn't look like a man who held any grudges. He was completely in love with his wife and daughter.” JP shrugs. 

“JP might be right” Rautamaa chimes in. “The murder seems to be very personal when it comes to Hilda, but not so much when you look at Aleski. He was shot while facing the other way, the collateral damage, the one who needed to be taken out of the way, while Hilda looked the attacker in the eye.”

Sakari sighs, agreeing. “Then we’re back to square one.” 

Meanwhile, Sofia starts thinking backwards to everything that they've learned so far, all the evidence collected. The shoe print, Minna, the glove, the lack of their electronics from the house. Maybe the house is the thing that connects all the other things.

“I wouldn't say back to square one, but maybe we should recount the steps, look at the evidence differently.” Sofia decides to speak, even though she has a feeling that Rautamaa won't approve of what she's trying to do. 

“How so?” The boss turns to her.

“I'm still thinking there's something in the house that we haven't found yet. The only day we got close enough to our real suspect was when he tried to return to the house.” 

Everyone looks at her with a puzzled face, trying to follow her line of thinking. 

“So what's your suggestion?” JP thoughtfully asks and Sofia thinks it's really kind of him to want to listen to her theories when she's tried to dismiss most of his in the past. 

She catches Sakari's eyes and it's almost like he's saying ‘please don't suggest anything crazy’. Too late. “That we should focus our efforts on the house, do another sweep, maybe a steakout.”

Rautamaa thinks for a moment, biting her lip. Sofia also knows that look. She's measuring which words will come out of her mouth to discourage her detective. 

“I'd rather you spend your time and energy on the streets, looking for clues and talking to the people in their lives. Have you reached out to Aleksi's sister again?” 

“We thought best to wait until their funerals pass.” Sakari intervenes, seeing Sofia's eyes becoming bitter. “She’s probably dealing with a lot now.” 

“She'd probably be more than happy to know we're still trying to find the murderer of her brother.” 

——

“Thanks for meeting with us.” Sofia does the honors as they sit down to have another conversation with Leena, Aleksi's sister. This time in a more neutral, informal setting. A coffee shop near the police station.

“Do you have any new information?” Leena looks at them, eyes visibly more tired than the last time they've met.

“We are following some new clues, but we need to ask you a few more questions.” Sofia talks and the woman only nods.

“You said they had been living in your mother's house recently. Had it been empty before that?” 

“No. Aleksi used to rent it so they could make some extra cash.” 

“Then why move to it then?” 

“They thought it would be better for Minna to grow up in a house instead of the tiny apartment they lived in.” Leena lets out a nostalgic smile, her eyes starting to form some moist. 

This somehow touched Sofia deep in her heart. It had always been her dream to give Emil and Henna a better place to live. Like a big house, with a big yard and a private sauna. Then they grew up and apart. Although their apartment is not exactly tiny, Sofia still hopes she isn't too late to give her son a little more comfort than what they had so far.

“How is Minna doing?” Sakari’s face is amiable and soft.

“Can’t say it’s been easy. I’ve been talking to her about it, she doesn’t understand much, but she misses her parents deeply.” The woman sighs and it's noticeable that she's holding in a tear. “Please tell me you're going to catch the monster who did this. I can't bear to look at my niece everyday and not know what to say to her.” 

“We're doing everything that's humanly possible, but there's a lot we still don't know about their lives and that makes it all much more difficult.” Sofia comments, trying to sound as empathetic as possible.

“Will you take her in?” Leena nods. “Then I’d suggest you put her in therapy right away. This is not something easy to move past.” 

“Thanks for the advice, it will be arranged as soon as we fly back home.” The woman smiles kindly at them. “I was told she had a letter from her parents with her and some toys. Is there any chance we could get that back?” 

“I’ll see what I can do.”

In the end, talking to Leena didn't bring them anything new. Only more questions and a bit of a shock to the woman when they told her that someone from Hilda's past might've been involved in it. The full information about the woman's past was not disclosed, it's not something families would like to know after the passing of a loved one, so they decided to keep it to themselves until they were able to solve it.

The days had been passing too fast, barely allowing them time to go after everything they had to. A meeting was arranged with a team that used to track victims and organisations linked to all forms of illegal prostitution so they could debrief Rautamaa's team on which areas they should start looking.

Then came the funeral, they watched it from a distance, trying to remain invisible to the few people present there. One of them was Minna. Sofia tried to be discreet about it, but she couldn't help but notice her partner's eyes at the girl. The hurt he thought he was hiding well.

She wonders what he must've been thinking. She wonders why he doesn't tell her but then again, that's all she does, wonder. It sounds a bit of an invasion of his personal space, to ask something like this, even though they talked about personal things before.

—

“What happened that day in the interrogation room? You seemed impulsive, angry… not the detective you usually are.” They’re sitting in his car, by the waterfront, sipping some coffee and trying to relax a little after driving around the city and asking about Hilda. Everyone is exhausted, the clues are not leading them anywhere and Rautamaa is growing impatient at it.

“I just wanted to get it over with.” Sakari shrugs, trying to appear nonchalant, but Sofia knows how heavy it is, how he's so done with this case. “It was the first, and only time, we had a suspect so I guess I held on to it a little too hard.” 

“I was starting to get a little worried. You looked like me.” Sofia comments and it elicits a chuckle from him.

“That’s not so bad.” 

“It's not what I've heard.” She rests her face against the car seat, keeping her eyes on him. 

“You're very determined, Sofia. That's admirable.” A small smile plays in the corner of his mouth and it makes her smile too.

“But I often go too far.” 

“You often go too far.” Sakari nods, without hesitation, before everything goes radio silent, until the actual radio blips – It's JP, with new information – He had found out where Hilda had lived before going to work at the cafe and meeting Aleksi.

“Shall we take another stroll and see if we can spot anyone who can give us some information?” Sakari raises his eyebrows, drinking the last of his coffee and stuffing the empty cup on the bag that previously contained food. Sofia bobs her head lazily before adjusting her posture and buckling her seatbelt.

“Do you wanna hear an intriguing piece of information I found while researching about prostitution?” She lets out after some time, as they drive around Hilda's old neighborhood. Sakari hums, glancing quickly at her.

She continues “In other places, where things happen at a different pace, it is known that brothels and entertainment houses are built whenever a big construction is brought into town. Especially small towns. It's almost a matter of public health and safety.”

“I'm a little confused.”

“Apparently they install a lot of workers, mostly men, into these small towns, and to ensure they won't be a problem to the locals during their stay, all the prostitution zones are mapped out, and some are even built with that finality. Same thing with bars.” 

“That sounds like it generates other problems in return.” Sakari frowns.

“It does, but it's a short-term solution, often found so the workers can easily find a place to “relax” when the weekend comes. It's a distant reality for us, but it happens, and entire governments have profited from it.” 

“How did you even find out about that?”

“Oh I have no idea. I just went down a rabbit hole in my research.

—

After another hour of driving around, Sofia starts growing impatient, checking her watch and seeing the hours of daylight almost getting to an end. A quick message is typed to Emil and she knows it's gonna cause trouble once she gets home.

“Can you drop me off at home?” She asks after some time.

“But we're not done here yet.” Sakari counters, stopping at a red light.

“I'm done. Driving around here isn't gonna give us anything.” Sofia gathers her energy before continuing. “and it's not like we can just start asking questions about organized prostitution like we're talking about the weather. No one is gonna tell us shit.”

“Sofia…” His voice comes out suspicious. He's definitely onto her.

“I wanna do a stakeout at the house. The killer went there that day looking for something. Something he didn’t find…” 

“So you think he might return at some point.” Sakari bites his lip and Sofia nods. “Did you talk to Rautamaa about that?”

She scoffs. “Obviously no, her answer seemed to be final.” 

“But you’re going either way.” His hands grip the steering wheel. “Don’t you wanna think this through before potentially damaging your career?” 

“You don’t need to come along, I’m doing this either way.” She looks outside of her window. She doesn't want to do it alone, but what she's doing might indeed jeopardize her career and Sakari doesn't need to go down with her.

“You don’t learn, do you?” Sakari starts, making her turn her attention to him. “You need someone who knows how to dive, remember?” 

It took her a millisecond to understand what he meant, but as soon as she did her smile appeared, reaching her eyes and making her face glow under the streetlamp nearby.

“Hyva.” Her smile gives way to a lip bite. “I'll need another favour.”  

—

“Emil, you're going to your grandpa's house, end of story.” It's been 15 minutes since she's trying to convince her teenage son to go to the island. 

“But mom… Why can't I stay?” 

“I told you, I have to work from home tonight, and Sakari is gonna help. I don't want you around these things.” She looks at Sakari, asking him to back her story up, like they had previously agreed.

“It's true Emil, we have a lot of stuff to look into.” 

The boy looks at him, not really convinced about it, but his body language showing signs that he is giving up already. One word from Sakari and he is down. 

“I know you're only saying that to fool me. I know you guys are dating.” Emil stomps away into his bedroom to pack up his things. 

They look at each other, silently, but no one says a word about Emil's accusation. At this point Sofia is glad that Sakari agreed to lie for her, with her, about the situation. She doesn't want Emil to know what they're really up to, he will probably be so worried he'll barely sleep.

—-

Upon arriving at the house, Sofia makes sure to dismiss the officers that were keeping guard of the crime scene, this way she ensures that no one is visible if the suspect decides to show up.

“So what's the plan? Just sit here and wait and hope that our killer will reveal himself?” 

“Basically, yeah. If my theory is right” Sofia nods. 

“What makes you think that he or someone will show up?” 

“The first day he appeared here, he probably checked the house to see if there was no one guarding it. So I thought that by sending the officers away, there's a chance he will do it again.” 

“That means, if he is guarding the house still.” 

“He risked almost getting caught once, so whatever it is that's in that house, is probably important.” 

“You have a point…” Sakari bites his own lip, throwing his head back on the car seat and inhaling deeply. “Do you know what we will do in case we're wrong? 

“Probably look for a job elsewhere.” Sofia shrugs and it makes Sakari chuckle lightly.

The sun finally goes down, but the hours seem to pass excruciatingly slow as they sit in the car. Not a coffee cup to occupy their hands and mouths. Sometimes it feels like the awkward days when they had first met and had to coexist in the car, in silence. That was until Sakari decided to drop a personal question.

“Why did you want to lie to Emil?” Personal questions like that. 

She looks at him, silently, chewing on her lip. Trying to find the answer deep down in her brain, the real answer, apart from what she told herself.

“Because he's gonna be worried if he knows what we're doing.” There's a hesitation in her voice and Sakari perceives it because he turns his body to look at her. “but I guess I just got used to it.” 

“Lying to your son?” 

She shrugs. “Parents lie to their children.” Immediately she realizes how troubled this belief is. Maybe not every parent lies to their kids, maybe only her mother did.

“Well, sometimes.” A gentle frown sets in between his eyebrows. “Don't you think he will start to pick up on those lies?” 

“Most of them are said to protect him anyways.” but he won't see it that way, Sofia. You will turn out to be the wrong one in the end. “But maybe you're right.”

“I think I've never heard these words coming out of your mouth.” Sakari covers his mouth with his hand, faking a shocked expression.

“Oh shut up.” She scoffs and turns to look forward again, adjusting herself and trying to find a comfortable position.

“Why do you think Hilda entered this world?” He now leans against the car window, both their eyes shifting between the house and the forest around it.

“I have no idea, but there aren't a lot of options.”

“Lack of family structure, need for money, being raised in that environment somehow.”

“Which are all things that don't necessarily apply to Hilda. I mean, she was a Finnish citizen, she could've had access to resources and help if she wanted.” Sofia tells him.

“We don't know exactly what her family structure was like. Her parents died a long time ago, she has no siblings to turn to… Those things are not easy, depending on how she grew up.”

“Well, yeah. Usually that can lead a person to a series of bad choices. Do we know if she used anything?” 

“We raised that flag before, but couldn't find anything.” Or any other thing from her past. "But if she had used drugs, being a sex worker would probably be a way of supporting herself and her addiction.”  

“Maybe we could use this somehow to get to the areas where she could've been working.” 

—

Sakari doesn't remember how much time passed, only that at some point he decided to take a nap while Sofia was watching, claiming she wasn't sleepy at all. A crackling sound wakes him up and he jolts awake inside his car, his head still a bit heavy from not getting enough sleep.

Upon looking around he notices Sofia isn't there, but outside the car already a few meters ahead and walking towards the forest. He quickly straightens himself and exits the car, trying to catch up to his partner, who looks back and sees him at a considerable distance.

From there, things happened pretty fast. They see a flashlight and Sofia sprints towards it, at a speed he had never seen her run before, until he loses sight of her.

“Karppi!” He half whispers, hoping she is nearby and can hear him. His flashlight illuminates the dark path ahead as he tries to hear Sofia's footsteps in the forest. The night is dark and a slightly colder, damp, breeze blows through him. Sakari feels his senses heightened, but no sound is heard from the forest.

For a moment a chill takes over his skin at the thought that the killer might be seeing him, pointing a gun at him, or at Sofia. He needs to catch up with her and he needs to do it fast.

“Sofia!” His voice comes out louder this time as he hears the sound of water splashing. 

“Stop! Police!” Her voice echoes through the forest and a round of shots comes afterwards. He runs towards the sound, praying that she is at least alive so he can admonish her for being so damn stubborn, for sprinting in front of him, for not waking him up and leaving him asleep, defenseless.

“Sofia!” He calls again, as loud as he can and breathes in relief once her voice comes through.

“I'm here!” She still sounds distant, and slightly cracked. “Get off me!” She yells, struggling. He keeps running towards the sound for a few minutes until he reaches her, almost at the open field that divides Aleksi's house and Mikael's. She's sitting by a water stream, wet from the waist down and shaking. A painful expression covers her face as she holds her throat, coughing and hawking. As much as he wants to rant at her for running away, he buries it for now and addresses the more serious matters. “Are you okay?” 

She lays down on the mushy ground, panting and visibly exhausted. “I'm fine. He ran that way, I think I was able to shoot him.” 

“Vittu Sofia!” He shakes his head.

“I had him in my hands. We fought exactly here and he ran away.” She gestures towards the ground, frustrated. 

“It's more like the other way around.” As he comes closer, he notices the bleeding in her hand and face. “You're bleeding.” His voice is impassive, as cold as it can be, so that he doesn't fall apart right there.

“I fell on the rocks while running.” She points to the inside of the water body. “But you need to go after him, we can't lose him again!” The desperate pleas coming from her are not enough to soften him, not this time.

“He's gone Sofia.” He kneels down beside her, also spent, and tries to regulate himself by breathing slowly. His clothes are now getting wet and filthy and he flashes his light in her direction, trying to understand how bad her injuries are. “You do know that we have to call it in, right?” After helping her get up, he checks if she doesn't have any other visible wounds.

Sofia is defeated, worn out, in a way Sakari rarely sees. “Rautamaa can say whatever she wants, but I am sure that after tonight, we will find DNA of the killer in this forest.” 

“Did you get to see him?” He asks.

“No. He was wearing a mask. But he’s tall and strong.” She grabs her own neck again and he understands what she means, he was choking her.

At this point, he is just done with trying to understand why she did that again, so he calls for backup and remains silent as they retreat to the car to wait for an ambulance.

After all they had talked about, she consciously chose to ignore all reason and dive head first. Jump into the abyss without as much as a warning sign. You have to accept that maybe she will never change, Sakari. This is Sofia Karppi and you have to choose whether you will love her like that or not.

—

After being checked out and released with a few bandages, Sofia silently gets up and makes it to the car, where Sakari awaits, still in silence. His head overruns the last moments over and over again. Ruminating.

Thankfully Rautamaa wasn't made aware of their secret operation yet, and Sakari is glad because he doesn't have the strength to deal with that now, that will be a problem for when the morning comes. Right now he has too many conflicting feelings inside of him.

The atmosphere in the car is thick when Sofia finally shuts the door. Her body aches and shivers and she knows she fucked up. The way Sakari's hands grip the steering wheel shows her that he thinks that too, and she feels sick to her stomach to think that she's done it again. Like a pitbull with a bone she couldn’t let go, she had to listen to her inner voices and not only did she break Sakari's trust again, but she left him alone in the car. Someone could've come and killed him in the blink of an eye. She knows all that and yet is still too stubborn to admit it out loud.

When they reach his apartment, their way up is still silent. She doesn't even register they are at his side of the bay until he picks up the keys and opens the door. His door. Then he helps her inside, because she also bruised her knee as she fell to the rocks.

Her coat is heavy, muddy and gross, but Sakari doesn't seem to care. He leads her inside and to the bathroom. The fact that he doesn't say a word rips her apart, she doesn't know how to cope with it, she was hoping he'd lash out at her, leave her on the side of the road, anything but this silence. It almost feels like when her mother used silent treatment on her, waiting until she found out what she had done wrong. Except now she knows exactly what she did wrong.

“Nurmi.” She calls, seeing a slight hesitancy in his movements, but he doesn't cave and instead, continues organizing the things for her to take a shower. “Sakari.” This time, he stops in his tracks and looks at her, eyes heavy and moist, jaw tense as if he's about to implode at any second now. 

“Look I'm-” 

“Just save it.” He swallows hard, turning his back to her and opening the shower to adjust the water temperature. She notices his trembling hands as he does it. Then he looks at her again, like trying to decide what to do with her.  “You don’t learn, do you?” 

“What?”

“You could've gotten yourself killed.” He accuses and Sofia rolls her eyes.

“We’re the police, for Christ’s sake, we chase criminals for a living.” She assumes a defensive position, like she’s going to war. 

“We?” He scoffs. “You left me behind, asleep and without a warning. Where anyone could’ve killed me.” He finally caves, just not how she expected him to. He is too calm and collected, but there's hurt in his voice. 

“I said you could leave.” She inhales deeply before continuing. “But I didn’t mean to leave you alone. I was just checking out a noise I heard and then would come back to the car.” 

“It doesn’t make it less dangerous. It could’ve been a trap.” 

“I’m not gonna stop doing my job, the one thing I am good at, because it can be dangerous.” 

Sakari opens his mouth to protest but soon gives up, shaking his head.

“Say it.” She asks. He shakes his head again.

“Forget it.” 

She decides to talk then. “I never meant it to be like this, but you can’t ask me to ignore my instincts, they’re the only thing that’s not broken, the only thing. I knew something was gonna go down at that house, and I was right. Don’t I get at least a little credit for that?” 

“You do. I never doubted your instincts.” The hesitation in his voice doesn’t go unnoticed. “Only it doesn’t make it less painful… the idea of you getting hurt, or worse.” For a moment, she only looks at him, speechless. 

“What can I do then? I'm trying, you have no idea how hard I am trying, but I can’t change who I am… At least not overnight.” 

“God Sofia, I don’t fucking know.” He rubs his forehead, exasperated, pacing back and forth. “I don’t want to change you. I just-” Another hesitancy in his voice that makes her stomach twist. “I can’t bear the thought of losing you.” 

Fucking bullshit Sakari. You pushed me away and expected me to be cool about it all this time. Fuck you! I really am just as stupid as I thought. She wants to scream all these words to him, then grab his face and kiss him senseless. But she doesn't. She remains calm and collected, like him.

“Your words don’t match your actions, Sakari.” Her voice is firm and with a hint of pain underneath. Buried down deep.

She sees when his eyes change, to something she’d never seen before, clear like glass, shiny. “Sorry?” He asks, noticing the shift on the subject. 

Sofia breathes faster now. “You keep saying those things but then you keep acting like you don’t want anything from me. With me.” His eyes are still frozen on hers. “But I just can’t go on like this anymore. I tried, because you asked me months ago, but this just doesn’t work for me. If you really meant it, you’d have done something, anything, by n-” Against all odds, Sakari is the one who kisses her now. She feels, rather than sees, the wet tears that start falling from his eyes as he kisses her intensely. His hands hold both sides of her face, pulling her more and more against him.

All the voices are silenced in her head, but she hears it loud and clear, his heavy breathing in the small pauses between the kisses, the way he sighs once her nails scratch the back of his head. She groans when his fingers dip into the skin of her waist, pressing her closer to his body. 

He bites her lip, not gently, but not enough to hurt either. Just the right amount to draw a sound from the back of her throat. He's angry, she can feel it in the way he moves his head against hers, the way he holds her body in his hands, but it starts dissipating as the kiss grows urgent. She runs her tongue slowly against his lip and a soft groan comes from somewhere deep in his chest.

His hands push her coat down her arms, caressing them as he removes the piece, causing her body to shiver. She does the same to his coat and then brings her hands to his neck, running her fingers gently along it. Sakari sighs against her mouth and her knees buckle. Her palms are sweaty. His fingers find their way under her blouse, bringing it up as they travel up her abdomen, lighting her skin on fire with every touch.

“I'm dirty.” She murmurs against his mouth.

“I'm too.” He kisses her again, not allowing them much time to catch a breath. He walks her backwards to the shower as he tries to remove her other pieces of clothing. 

Once they're under the warm stream of water Sofia feels her flesh stinging from the smaller cuts on her face and hands, but it’s not enough to make her let go of his lips. His body is pressed tight against hers as her hands hold on to his shoulder blades. It's only a while later that they stop for a moment and, when they finally look into each other's eyes, the tears start rolling down at once. 

Sofia rests her head on his shoulder, defeated, exhausted from doing the wrong thing. He cradles the back of her head, gentle fingers slowly caressing the wet tresses of her hair. 

“I’m sorry.” She whispers in between sobs. Sakari exhales sharply and presses a kiss to the side of her head. The energy starts stabilizing between them after some time, allowing them to finish the shower, silently exchanging glances. A flare of hope sparkling between them, with a hint of fear.

When they step out of the shower, Sofia is still very pensive about what happened and about what it means to them from now on. She barely registers a towel being wrapped around her body.

“Everything okay?” Sakari asks, still holding the towel. She nods, but her eyes betray her and he knows it. She is scared of what will happen now, she doesn't want it to end like the other times. “Come here.” He murmurs as he pulls her with the towel, making her body lean on his. She lets herself be embraced by him, feeling his lips touch her forehead.

“I don't want things to go back to that. I can't.” She inhales.

“I don't either.” Sakari nods. His voice is low and thick, but his eyes are soft.

“Then we have to find a middle ground. Stop being at war with each other.” She bites her lip and he agrees, letting out a small chuckle and that is like a sparkle of life. “For that to happen you have to remain alive, you know.” She is the one smiling now, but then his eyes drop to the ground. His expression turns serious again. “I just don't wanna have to bury you Sofia. Not over something that could be easily avoidable… That I can't do. Won't do.”  

“Sorry.” Is all she can manage to say. She doesn't know how else to ease things out, it's 4am and she is exhausted. She doesn't want to be like that, reckless, impulsive, dangerous, but she can't help it sometimes, her instincts just betray her. She wishes change was just as easy, she hates the one step at a time part.

As she is still absorbed inside her own head, Sakari's lips crash onto hers again, making up for the lost time, but gentler this time, allowing them both to savor it. If everything goes to shit tomorrow, at least we have tonight.

They walk backwards to the bed, falling slowly down on it, the towel long gone. Sakari's body pressing hers onto the mattress, grounding her. It lasts for a few moments, her body already needing him closer, her skin begging for his touch. But he slides away, laying next to her and looking into her eyes while his hand removes the hair from her face.

“Everything alright?” It's her turn to ask now. Sakari nods, squinting his eyes in a tired smile.

“Can you just lie here with me?” He whispers, inviting her into his arms, which she accepts with no resistance. Her head nestles on the curve of his neck, smelling his freshly washed skin.

“Nurmi.” She asks some time later as his hands draw random patterns on her back. Their bodies still pressed tightly against each other under a thin blanket.

“What is it?” He asks when she doesn't say anything else.

“Are we okay?” She is a little hesitant to ask, but not knowing is making her feel sick.

He inhales deeply, tightening his hold on her. “We're okay.” Whatever that means.

—

It's a little past ten when Sofia opens her eyes, finding the bed empty. She then raises her hands to her hair, expecting it to be messy and knotted because she fell asleep without drying it, but it's soft and dry and somehow organized.

Meanwhile, Sakari comes out of the bathroom in his sleeping shorts. She was sure he was wearing nothing when they laid down together, but the extra piece of clothing does nothing to minimize the warmth that rises on her body. She doesn't know if she should look, but she wants to. He looks good. When did he get this muscular? 

“Do you want to get up?” Suddenly he is sitting right next to her on the mattress, his blue orbs piercing through her like he's trying to read her soul. Getting up means facing whatever is waiting for her at the precinct. Even if it's her day off, she will have to go there at some point and explain to Rautamaa what happened yesterday. So she just shakes her head.

“Okay.” Sakari swiftly goes back under the covers. At first he doesn't move, like he doesn't know if he should come closer or not, but then slowly his body relaxes and he turns to her, scanning her face.

“Did you sleep well?” She asks, enjoying the view of his face near hers.

“Yeah. You?”

Sofia nods. “Did you dry my hair?” 

“Mmh. You were so gone that you didn't even move.” He chuckles then glances at the cut on her face. His thumb caresses right underneath it. “Does it hurt?” 

“No. I had forgotten it was even there.” She suddenly feels her hand throbbing. “Can't say the same from this one.” She looks at the wound she obtained while trying to soften her fall on the slippery rocks yesterday. It has uneven edges and the area around it it's red and slightly swollen. It's a bit of an ugly gash.

They share a slightly longer glare and, at this point, Sofia is not even surprised at the magnetism it has. One look and they're closing the space between their faces. Their lips meet  softly, carefully, like they're still walking on eggshells. It is an uncharted territory for them, to be doing this willingly, without any excuses for later.

Sakari's hand slides to the back of her hair, entangling his fingers in her tresses, holding her in place so he can continue kissing her. His tongue slowly traces her upper lip, sending shivers along her body, leading her through a new world of sensations. Then he pulls her a bit closer, making her breasts touch his chest. The coldness of his skin startles her and a sound escapes her mouth. Sakari smiles against her lips and it does things to her insides. I'm so fucked.

Her fingertips run over the skin of his back, causing him to shiver and press their bodies even closer, their hips touch and she can feel his erection growing through his shorts. It ignites her desire even more, sending her mind into a spiral.

His lips travel to her neck, leaving hungry kisses along it, down her collarbone and at any other piece he can think of kissing. His shaky breath hits her skin, making her inhale deeply.

Sofia lowers her hand to his front, running her palm over the fabric and feeling him as he undulates his hips towards her. A contained growl can be heard from Sakari as her hand caresses him.

He stops kissing her for a moment and presses his forehead against her shoulder. “Sofia, stop.” He pants, exhausted, but his voice is serious enough so she immediately stops. Sakari raises his head and looks at her deep in the eyes. “I can't.” 

He falls to her side on the bed, covering his face with his hands, still breathing heavily. His body language is completely different from a minute ago. The deafening silence takes over the room as she decides if she should say something or not.

“What happened?” She touches his forearm.

Sakari sighs loudly and looks at her. “There's something I need to tell you.” Immediately she feels nauseous, her guts twisting and turning inside of her. She did not vomit because she had nothing in her stomach to dispose of.

Right now she can’t decide if she wants to know or not what it is that he needs to say, so the silence seems like a better option until she can place her thoughts in order. So they lie together, side by side, both in silence for a while, until Sofia decides to look at him again.

“What is it?” She finally asks. Sakari draws a long breath and turns to his side, finding her eyes. He opens his mouth to speak but a loud ringtone fills the room.

Sofia’s phone indicates a call from their boss and it can only mean two things: either they’re going to be fired or they have a breakthrough on the case.

Chapter Text

The sudden interruption of their moment leaves Sofia with a bitter taste in her mouth. Now she has to force herself to think about the case instead of thinking about what Sakari wanted to say. They were so close… to a lot of things. It worries her how serious he sounded, the way his eyes looked, she had never seen him like that. 

Silence is deafening in the bullpen as they wait for JP to arrive. No one dares say a word. Sakari glances at her from time to time, swallowing hard, visibly anxious. Hieta is also there, with his laptop and all. 

Meanwhile Rautamaa also stares at Sofia, not slightly interested in hiding her discontentment and not being subtle about eyeing Sofia’s injuries. Especially the hand marks on her neck, left by the attacker last night.

“Finally.” Hieta exclaims as JP comes through the door in quick paces.

“Sorry, I came as fast as I could.” He exhales and then takes a quick look at Sofia. “What happened to you?” 

“I'm sure we all would like to know, but it's not why you've been called in.” Rautamaa announces and turns to Hieta. “Can you show us what you were able to find?” 

The man promptly agrees and starts typing on his laptop, eyes focused on the content in front of him. Sofia takes a quick look at everyone in the room and, apart from the boss, everyone appears to be equally as confused.

Good, it's not just me then. 

“So, I finally finished extracting all the data from Hilda's phone, including the content of the text messages and this is what I found.” He gestures for everyone to gather around him, and they do. “She had been talking to this sole number, and, judging from the messages, it was someone she seemed to know very well.” 

“What did they talk about in the messages?” 

“Hi there bunny. Remember me?” 

“Stop texting me!”

The first messages date from a year ago. Later on that same week, she texts the number back, asking what they want from her.

“What do you want?”

“You know damn well what I want. But if you'd like we can discuss that in person. I'm sure you're gonna do the right thing.”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Right, keep pretending. I don't think your husband will be very happy to learn about your filthy past.”

“If I were you, I’d be careful with what you say. 

You have secrets too and I happen to know a lot of them.”  

“Come on, you're smarter than that. Let's meet up at our usual spot so we can talk this through. Tomorrow at 10am at Railway Square.

Then

“I'll find you!”

“Okay, that sounds a little threatening.” Sakari exhales. “The message was sent around two and a half months before their deaths.” 

“That's about the time they decided to move to the house.” Sofia thinks out loud, a hesitation in her voice that makes her colleagues look at her.

“What are you thinking?” Rautamaa chimes in. Sofia almost forgot she was even there.

“I don't know, might be a long shot, but maybe that's the reason they moved to the house.” She replies. “Aleksi's sister said they moved there so Minna could have a bigger place, but maybe it could be more than just that.” 

“Maybe.” Sakari agrees, then turns to Hieta, who so far has been silent. “That's all you found on the phone?” 

The man nods. “So far, yes. I'll send you all the complete info.” 

“Thank you Hieta.” Sofia nods and then looks at Sakari, who is deep in thought.

After this last minute meeting, Rautamaa silently indicates that they talk privately. Sofia, Sakari and her. Sofia already knows what this is about, but she wants to believe the boss wouldn't have them look at more evidence if she was to fire them today.

“Can someone explain to me what was that circus last night at the crime scene?” 

Sofia clears her throat. “I had a feeling our suspect might return to the crime scene for some reason. Turns out I was right, he did return, we chased him and I believe I was able to take a shot at him.” 

Rautamaa looks briefly at Sakari, who confirms with a shy nod. I hate when she does that, to confirm with Sakari whether I'm telling the truth or not.

“That was before or after the suspect grabbed you by the neck?” She relentlessly looks at the marks on Sofia's neck, which the woman tries to hide, embarrassed.

“I'm aware my approach was not the wisest. I saw an opportunity and I took it, only thinking of catching the suspect.” She decides it's time she lets her guard down. “We should have the techs out there looking for the killer's DNA that I'm sure is in the forest.”

Rautamaa breathes in deeply before she decides to speak. “The forensics team is already on that, and I hope you are right, detective.” She stares at Sofia, her arms folded in front of her chest. “In fact, that's the only reason you're not suspended right now. Both of you. But I'll personally sign it if you step another toe out of the line.” 

After the talk, they drive to the crime scene to lead the forensics team through the path they had made and where Sofia shot the suspect. She feels the nervous cramps in her stomach, and begs to the universe that they do find any DNA or clue in there, otherwise, she's done. Rautamaa's eyes burn at the back of her head while they walk through the forest. Even JP decided to tag along and now she feels like an exhibition everyone is looking at.

“That's where I fell down after shooting at him. We exchanged some punches and he ran away.” She clears her throat. The techs get to work, displaying their equipment on the ground. 

Rautamaa looks at them like she wants to ask something, but she refrains from doing so and, instead, watches as the forensics team work. They soon find what appears to be blood on the ground and they all gather around.

“Can that blood have come from me?” Sofia points to her injuries. The female tech shakes her head lightly.

“It depends, how was the dynamic of the fight?”

“I was on my back and the suspect was on top, trying to overpower me.” She is rather embarrassed to admit she was nearly losing that fight and that would've cost not only her life, but potentially the case.

“Then it's probably not yours.” The woman affirms. “You see, as you were on your back, any blood coming from you would leave a passive pooling or possibly a smudge somewhere, if it came from your hand, and even if it dripped down from your face, the blood drops would have a small diameter.” She points to the stain of blood on the floor. “But this one came from a higher altitude, which indicates it came from the person attacking you and this…” They walk further ahead as the tech points to the small trail. “This is what we call projected blood stains. See how the drops are elongated and thinner as the trail goes?” They all nod. “It indicates the suspect was on the move while bleeding.” 

“Judging from the lack of pooling, the bullet didn't hit any major arteries, right?” Sofia asks and the tech nods. Meanwhile, the rest of them are quiet, only listening to their talk.

Rautamaa decides to speak. “Alright, collect what you can and bring it to the lab for analysis. If the person is in our database, we'll find out his identity.” Then she turns to the three of them. “Where are we with this investigation so far?” 

JP is the first to report. “I'm still working on the dossier of their lives, now focusing more on Hilda. I asked Hieta to scour through the depths of the internet again to see if he can find anything at all about Hilda's life on and off the streets.” 

“Before coming here last night, we were driving around the areas of interest to try and find more about Hilda, but no luck.” Sakari chimes in. “We might have to find a different approach to this. People will not open up about this kind of information.” 

“Also, the analysis on the glove came back.” Sofia decides to speak. She checked her email just before they left the station earlier. “They found gunshot residue on it and drug residue, as well as some traces of DNA, but no matches yet.” 

Rautamaa nods. “Alright. Let's regroup first thing tomorrow and discuss our next steps carefully.” Before any have the chance to reply, Rautamaa dismisses them until the next day.

Back in the car, the silence is excruciating. The tension left from the fear of maybe not finding DNA in the forest was draining Sofia already, but now another thing slipped into her mind and that was the thought about what Sakari wanted to tell her. Maybe thinking of something else might help, so she decides to put her brain to work. “Do you think Hilda went to meet with the person from the text messages?” 

Sakari shrugs. “It's possible, we have no other information on the messages.” His answer is rather short and she checks as he raps his fingers nervously against the steering wheel. “I was thinking…” He starts. “This person knew about Hilda's past. Could it be a former client?”

“It could be, but not great from an investigative point of view. We'd have a vast list of possible candidates, it would take us weeks to even get to them.” She sighs. “Then there's motive. What reason could a client possibly have for murdering the two of them?” 

“I don't know yet, but we can't ignore something just because it's hard.” Sakari takes a sharp turn. “What do you think?”

Yes Sakari, we can't ignore what happened earlier just because it's hard. We can't brush it under the rug like we've been doing all these years.

"As painful as it is to admit, you might be right, and judging from the lack of messages, I think she did go meet the person, and that conversation didn't end well.”  

And that ends the conversation again, leaving them in silence until they get to Sofia's apartment. Sakari parks and doesn't look at her for a moment, he also doesn't speak. 

Her palms sweat profusely as she rubs them against the thighs of her jeans. “Would you like to come up?” She offers, feeling the nervous cramps in her stomach again. He quietly nods and they exit the car.

“Emil still with his grandpa?” Sakari questions as they enter. Sofia confirms with a nod and looks around her kitchen.

“Can I get you something to drink?” She leans against the counter.

“Better not, but thank you.” A small, painful smile quickly appears before his face turns serious again. He looks away and that's when she sees it, the pooling of tears under his eyes. So timid you'd only notice when looking carefully. His hands are shaky and she notices how his breathing is becoming erratic each second they go in silence.

She opens her mouth and her voice comes out as a whisper. “Talk to me.” a sigh escapes her. They sit down on her couch and he continues staring at her wall, looking for words, she imagines.

“The only reason I stopped you this morning is because I believe you deserve to know the truth and then you can decide what to do with it.” Sakari inhales deeply, then turns to her. “But before I say it, I want you to know that I am deeply sorry and I feel disgusting because of what I did.” 

“Whatever it is, I can take it.” She firmly says, but deep down she doesn't really know if she can take it. The way he's shaking right now gives her the creeps.

“That night you came to my apartment, our first night, I was high on coke.” He rubs his palms against one another, nervous. For a moment she sees in him the stereotypical behavior that movies show about people who suffer from addiction. Edgy, fidgety and itchy. Except that’s not Sakari. “I had used before you came along and would probably have gone out for more if you hadn't shown up.” 

“Vittu Nurmi!” She gasps. Sofia sits, flabbergasted, immovable, as her brain processes it. She always thought something was wrong that night, he was way too distressed. Right now she doesn't know how she feels about it. Hurt? Certainly. Fooled? Possibly. Angry? She doesn't know. “How could you?” 

“I know, alright? I know. I'm not proud of what I did and I am truly sorry.” His shoulders slump forward. “There's nothing you can say to me that I haven't said to myself already.” The tears now start burning at the back of her eyes. Part of her wants to send him away and not finish this conversation, but the other part wants to wrap her arms around him and say it's all going to be fine, because she wants it to be. There's yet another part that is feeling wounded and betrayed. Who will hug her when she needs it?

“So that night, everything was a lie?” As much as she tries to shove the feeling deep down, it floats back to the surface, stronger than ever.

Sakari shakes his head. “That night, Sofia, I was out of myself.” He takes in a shivery breath. “I was weak and a coward enough to relapse and not tell you the truth, but if there was one thing I knew was that you were the only constant good thing in my life. That night you were my only truth. I will never be sorry enough for how bad that was, you never deserved it and you have every right to never look me in the face again.” 

Sofia listens to his words and tries to recall the events of that night. Sakari might have many flaws, but there was one thing he took more seriously than everything in his life –his sobriety – and that tells her something.

“You mean the night you found out you would no longer be able to adopt Leo?” 

A few tears start rolling down his cheeks as he nods, but Sakari is quick to wipe them away, seemingly determined to continue his talk. “The social worker had called me earlier that day. She told me they had come across my history and kindly advised me to withdraw from the process. Said it would be an exhausting path and that all of my troubles would be exposed, possibly leading to the court denying me the right to adopt Leo.” 

“You had been clean. Why would they deny you that?” 

“It was not just the drugs.” He crosses his arms in front of his chest, assuming a defensive position. “They had somehow managed to find out about my mental health issues too, my parents deaths… everything.” 

“They can't do that just because you had struggles in the past.” 

“But they also couldn't hand a child over to a potential suicidal.” The words slur out of his mouth and everything stops, but her mind spins. As far as she knew, Sakke was never suicidal, he only had episodes back when he was prescribed the wrong medication.

“Are you?” Her voice flutters.

“Not actively, if that's what you're wondering, but I guess the thoughts had lived there for a while.” Sakari swallows hard. “The drugs only made it worse.” 

“And now?” She chokes on her own words.

“It’s been good. I've been going to therapy, and I'm clean again since then.”

Silence is deafening between them and now Sofia stares at him, trying to find the right words to continue with the conversation. Shyly, his hand reaches out for hers, gently stroking the knot on her wrist. Things start making more sense inside her head. With everything that had happened it seemed logical that Sakari relapsed. It was something she foresaw and, honestly, was wildly afraid of, because she knew how seriously he took this.

“Why didn't you talk to me?” She begs and Sakari lets out a light, whimpery, chuckle.

“Like you asked me for help with Henna?” Touché . Although his voice had no venom, she admitted he was right. “The thing is, no one teaches you to be vulnerable. They raise you to be strong, to endure, but not one person tells you you're allowed to ask for help.”

She recognized it was not an attempt on his part to wound her further or poke on her scars. It was simply an attempt to prove a point. She did not ask his help with Henna, she did not want to admit she had failed yet another time, as a mother and as a police officer. More than anyone, she knew that asking for help was not something easy to do.

“That's fucked up.” 

“It is.” He nods. “Also, have you got any idea of what it would do to both our careers if you got involved in it?” 

“What do you mean?” She frowns, licking her lips. 

“If you reported me, on a decision to do the right thing legally speaking, you could still face penalties because we are partners. They could claim you knew about my situation way before disclosing it and you'd probably be under investigation too.” Being under investigation from the department a second time would definitely have an irrecoverable effect on her career.

“And if I didn't report you?” It was a possibility. She had bent the rules, or tried to, in her own favour a few times. She would definitely do that in order to help Sakari.

“It would look even worse in case I got caught or somehow ended up unaliving myself with my service weapon.” 

“Christ Nurmi.” She pulls her hand away from him, baffled. “Was that ever a real thought?” 

He exhales shakily. “No, but I considered all of the worst case scenarios.” Upon adjusting his position on the couch, Sofia notices the exhaustion in his eyes. “There was never a painless way out of this and lying to you was not easy, but at least you couldn't be accused of something you didn't know.”

“Mhh.” She bites her lip, pensive. “Why did you decide to tell me all this now? Was it just because we were on the verge of having sex again?” 

“Partially, yes.” He pauses for a moment and then gathers strength to continue talking. “but also because I spent years of my life hiding, lying. I found myself capable of doing anything for a hit, that includes being dishonest to the people I care about the most. I don't want that anymore and my honesty is all I can offer in return.” Sakari paces around in her living room and it makes her dizzy.

Standing up, Sofia holds him by the arm, making Sakari stop and look at her before pulling him into a hug. He is hesitant as her arms hold him in place, but she doesn't relent. 

“Sofia, you don't have to.” 

"Shh.” She tightens her arms around him. “I need this too.” Her face is buried on his neck when he finally embraces her, inhaling deeply the scent of her skin. His breath is warm and steady as he nuzzles her.

“You…” His voice starts coming out faint as he murmurs. “You don't hate me?” 

“I don't.” She murmurs back. Sakari pulls away, looking into her eyes, incredulous.

“Look, I am shocked to learn about this now, especially because you kept silent all this time, but it is expected that people who struggled with addiction might relapse. What matters is that you already got back on your feet again.” She looks him briefly in the eyes before embracing him again.

“I'm so sorry.” His hands soothe her back up and down. She doesn't say a thing, her arms are locked around him still as they unwind. Then what started as a tender hug quickly becomes a caress, gentle at first. Their cheeks rub against one another until their lips touch shyly in a salty kiss. Then they stop for a moment, Sakari checks her eyes shortly, unsure of what that moment might lead to. His thumb caresses her cheek, shakily, before he reconnects their lips.

There was no urgency anymore, no desperation, only slow and punctuated kisses. Certain of what they were doing each step they took further. Pain slowly gave way to desire and adoration as they stumbled towards the room.

Doubt was no longer a word wandering around in their heads as clothes were removed and tender touches were exchanged.

“Where's your phone?” Sakari's words are muffled against her skin as he leaves a trail of kisses down her body. Until then she had been solely paying attention to his ministrations, but his question brings her back and she arches her brow, confused.

“Huh, on the couch I guess. Why?” 

He stares up at her with a shameless grin covering his face and she amuses herself at the sight while gently caressing his hair. “Good. Let's leave it there.” His nose runs along her inner thigh where he places a delicate kiss. 

It elicits a giggle from her but Sofia doesn't dwell much on it. As she involuntarily clutches the sheets, she realizes she has other things, better things, to worry about now and even if it rings, they won't be picking up.

—

Afterwards, Sofia's drowsy voice is the one to break the comfortable silence they're in. “I have a confession to make.” Her eyes are turned to her bedroom window, where she can see the afternoon sun still high up in the sky. She has no idea of the time, but they surely missed lunch by a couple of hours.

“Go ahead.” He murmurs softly against the back of her neck, also spent, with just as much energy to run his palm soothingly along her arm.

“I've been seeing a therapist too, for a few months now.” For a brief moment, Sofia feels all that embarrassment coming back. The same feeling she had when she admitted to herself that she might need professional help to deal with all the conflicting feelings inside of her. It took her some time to understand it wasn't a weakness, to ask for help, but rather a way to become stronger. He wasn't wrong when he said that no one teaches you those things.

“Has it been good to you?” 

“I guess so.” She slowly turns to look at him. “I wish I had more progress to speak of.” Her frustrated sigh doesn't go unnoticed.

“I understand.” He strokes her cheek. “Change is not linear.”

The corners of her mouth turn up a little. “You sound like my therapist.” She squints her eyes. “Wait, don't tell me you've got a degree in psychology as well.” 

Sakari gives a hearty laugh, enough to make the sun shine brighter. He shakes his head, trying to catch his breath. “I've just been to a number of them.” His thumb runs gently on her cheek and Sofia surprises him with a kiss before resting her head against his chest.

—

The next day, both arrive early to the station and Sofia instantly starts working on their board while Sakari ritualistically grabs some coffee for them. After managing to drag themselves out of bed the previous afternoon, they went to lunch and he had discussed with her a few possible strategies they could use to find information on Hilda and her activities while working on the streets, which they intend to share with JP and Rautamaa and hope Hieta might retrieve some additional information that can help them get started on it.

She is still slightly nervous about the possibility that they don't find anything on the DNA comparison. It would implicate the case and herself for pulling up such a risky “operation”.

“Don't you ever sleep?” JP graces her with an early morning comment as he makes entry. 

“Not when there's a case.” She replies. “But you look like you haven't got a day off in ages.” 

“It's because I haven't.” JP exhales. “You're not the only one who works at home here.” His provocation sounds merely a taunt and Sofia chuckles before he can continue. “Which by the way makes me wonder: why don't you look as tired as I do?”

The true answer would be because she actually rested, most of the afternoon and night, snuggling with Sakari, but the reasonable answer was pretty far from it.

“Oh I have superpowers.” 

JP squints his eyes at her, sensing the lightness of her tone, but decides to move on from the subject. “Anyways, working overtime was totally worth it.” 

“I'm eager to hear it.” She smiles and Sakari soon appears with her coffee poured into a mug and places it carefully in front of her. JP eyes the gesture but doesn't have time to form a thought as Rautamaa enters the room.

“Good, you're all here. Shall we begin?” They all nod. “Who will go first?” 

Sofia takes a step forward, shyly announcing herself. “I can start.” Rautamaa gives her a nod and takes a seat next to Sakari.

“So, we've been driving around the streets, trying to find someone who could give us information and so far it has been fruitless. After discussing a few possibilities, we agreed that maybe we might have to take a more aggressive action.” 

Rautamaa frowns, not being very subtle about not liking where this conversation is going. “Such as?”

“Infiltrate their world, somehow. Try to get information from the inside.” 

“You mean as in undercover work?” JP raises his chin, intrigued.

Sakari chimes in. “Yes. Problem is, we don't know where to start.”

“Maybe I can help with that.” JP clears his throat and stands up, occupying the spot next to Sofia by the board. “I did a bit of research on my own yesterday and ended up finding an old account of Hilda on instagram.” 

“How did you do that?” Rautamaa is much interested in the detective’s revelations. 

“I asked Hieta to narrow down a few places known for prostitution around the city and, with that, searched the pictures tagged in its locations from five years back. It took me a long time but I finally got to a picture of Hilda and another woman, which led me to that old account.” 

“That’s brilliant.” Sakari says.

“Thank you.” JP picks up a marker and writes down the @ for them to see. “Although Hilda’s account didn’t have anything else that was interesting, her friend’s account revealed that they worked together on the streets and, for what it looks like, her friend is still on the job.” 

“That means we can talk to her and ask for information on Hilda.” 

“Maybe.” Sofia bites her lip. “I doubt she would tell us anything if we just show up at her door flashing our badges.” 

“That's where the undercover part can come in.” Sakari adds and Rautamaa tilts her head, pensive.

“I doubt we'll have time to coordinate with the NBI to put together a whole undercover operation.” 

“We know, that's why we're offering to go in.” 

Rautamaa remains silent, apparently processing the information and wondering if the idea her detectives just said is doable or an actual waste of time.

Sofia stands apprehensive, knowing that the boss is not a fan of last minute operations or ideas like these, but maybe if she considers they might not have much time until the actual killer decides to disappear, the idea won't sound as crazy.

“You have until the end of the day to present me with a strategy for how we're going to do this, legally and safely.” 

“Alright.”

The woman looks briefly at her phone before speaking again. “I was just informed that they found two phones quite near the area.” 

“The phones had been there this entire time?” JP gasps.

“Impossible, we searched that place countless times.” Sofia frowns. “Were the phones still on?” 

“Apparently.” Rautamaa informs. “They're being sent to Hieta for analysis.”

“If they're still on, they couldn't have been there all this time. It was pouring down just the other day.” Sakari adds and everyone in the room is silent, shocked.

“Wait… that means whoever was there last night, left the phones on purpose.” Sofia adds.

“You're saying that the killer risked his life just to drop the stolen phones back?”

“It looks like it.” Sofia bites her lip.

“If the phones weren't turned off the entire time, Hieta can triangulate the locations they had been.” 

Chapter Text

Picking up on her colleague's latest research, Sofia spends the rest of the day online, looking for more social media juice she can use to build and endorse an operation like the one they're thinking of. She is well aware of Rautamaa's restrictions regarding it, but there's very little chance that this won't be dangerous. They are most likely dealing with a dangerous organization, whose clients won't like to be exposed. The fact that the DNA found in the blood and in the glove has no matches with any database, even though they're a solid match when compared to each other, indicates that this person is not in their system yet and they probably intend to remain that way, so closing in abruptly might set off a blood bath.

Upon analyzing the pictures frantically again and again, Sofia notices a pattern of restaurants and areas where Hilda's friend, so far only identified as @goddess99, tagged her latest photos. When they had been briefed about how prostitution works in the country, it had been reported that workers often used restaurants as a place for offering their services without being caught on the streets, and those restaurants would charge a fee for allowing their "dates” to happen there. So for some, it was not sustainable in the long run.

“So, what do you intend to do with this information?” JP inquiries after Sofia is done presenting what she had found. 

“She won't talk unless we have an advantage over her.” Sofia bites the insides of her mouth, pensively. “We might have to catch her doing something illegal to use against her.” 

“I'm afraid to ask, but how are we going to accomplish that?” 

Sakari, who so far had been focused on his laptop as well, now pushes his chair back and crosses his legs. “We'd have to make sure she offers her services to us, illegally.” He is a bit apprehensive to propose this kind of plan, but it appears to be the quickest way in and, so far, less dangerous. 

“Oh.” JP frowns. “I must admit it sounds like an okay plan, I just hope you don't expect me to do it though.” 

“Nope. I'll do it.” Sakari purses his lips.

“Alright and then?”

“Then we go from there. We hope to get information on Hilda's involvement with the organization and see if the friend whispers anything about her or her former clients.”  

“You'd be wearing a wire then?” Sofia leans back on her desk. Sakari nods.

“That sounds insane, but I admit I'm out of ideas, so let's do it.” 

—

Sofia picked Emil up from the ferry after work and took him out for ice cream, as a way of sealing the peace between them for having sent him away. She knows he's not seven anymore, when things could be resolved with ice cream, but sometimes it still worked.

“I'm sorry about the other day.” She looks at her son briefly while they walk home. Emil remains silent, enjoying his treat.

“Are you and Sakke dating?” He asks.

“That's really not the reason why I asked you to go to your grandpa's.” She deviates from the question graciously. “We really needed to work late that day.” 

“Still doesn't answer my question.” She sometimes forgets how objectively smart her son can be.

“I know, but that's much more complicated to answer right now.” She sighs and Emil nods. 

“Is that how you got the wounds? The work from that night.” 

She finds herself ready to lie again when her subconscious tells her to stop and let her son know the truth. “Yes. Things didn't go as planned.” 

Emil remains silent after that, catching up on the ice cream that has started to melt down a little, trying to lick it before it gets to his hands. Sofia watches him, getting smarter and taller each day, having an honest and open conversation with her, and it fills her with pride.

“I worry about you.” He murmurs softly, slowing down his pace and kicking some rubble out of the way with his feet.

“I know you do.” She places a hand on his shoulder. “But you shouldn't be thinking about this, I have ways to protect myself… and Nurmi is always there to have my back.” 

“I know, and I'm glad he's there for you.” He now grins widely. “I like having him around. Wouldn't mind if you and him were a couple.” 

You and me both, son. 

“I bet you would, so you could spend the day playing FIFA with your buddy Sakke and forgetting all about your poor mother” Emil giggles while catching up to his ice cream again.

They reach the apartment and the conversation ends, leaving Sofia to drown in her thoughts, but happy to some extent.

—-

Their plan is simple: get Hilda's friend and make a deal with her in exchange for information. Sakari was getting the wire placed while they all gathered in the bullpen. Sofia would remain in a close-by van with JP and Rautamaa, listening to the conversation and ready to act if needed, along with some units. He would exit in an unmarked car and drive around until he spotted the woman, then, he'd approach her and lead the conversation so that she offered him her services.

Sofia would be a fool if she said this interaction didn't bother her. But it's work and everyone is committed to do whatever it takes, her included.

“I've never compiled locations like this so fast in my entire life.” Hieta leans back in his chair, pretending to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

“Thank you for doing that. You're a lifesaver.” JP comments and Sofia nods.

“What can you tell us?” She approaches them while Sakari watches from a distance.

“You will have to look more carefully at the locations pointed on the map, but as for now, I can say that none of these places are connected to the area where you're going tonight.” 

“Hmmm.” Sofia frowns. “So apparently no connection to our girl?” 

Hieta shakes his head.

“If one of Hilda's clients has it, I doubt he'd take it out for a ride.” JP comments.

“Either that, or the person didn't go looking for prostitutes ever again.” 

“Most of the places are residential areas a little further away from the nightlife.” Hieta adds. “Why did he take the phones in the first place?” 

“To make it look like a robbery.” JP shrugs. “but a stupid robbery, if he left other things behind."

Sofia listens, working patterns and connections inside her mind. It was one of the first things they had noticed. Things more valuable hadn't been taken. Even if the idea was to simulate a robbery, why return the devices in the first place?

“Unless they wanted something from the phone.” She looks at her colleagues. By now, Sakari is done being wired up and is joining them. “But modern phones are harder to crack, right?” Her question is directed to Hieta.

“Exactly. I doubt he was able to recover anything from any of the devices.” 

“He might as well have tried, but when he realized it was not gonna work, he got rid of them.” JP continues.

“But why go all the way back to the house?” Sofia asks.

"Maybe he didn't think this through. He just left them where he found them, as if they had never been stolen. The humidity in the forest would've ruined them if we hadn't been there that night.” Sakari chimes in. 

“We'll deal with that later. It's time to act.” JP announces and everyone starts gathering their stuff.

As the team moves to the garage to put the plan in motion, Sakari stays back a little, just the two of them in the bullpen. He comes closer to her, fixing his outfit. 

“So, how do I look?” His question has a comical tone to it, as he is not really serious.

Let’s see: handsome and able to charm anyone you want.

“Like you're about to get laid.” She purses her lips.

“Let's hope it doesn't come to that.” He chuckles lightly but Sofia doesn't. “Are you alright?” 

She nods. “Just apprehensive about the operation. You be careful, alright?”

“Will be.” They exchange a glance for a moment too long. “Time to go.”

–

Sakari drives in silence around the neighborhood. It has a pretty active night life for a weekday and he can easily spot the people who are out to have some fun, as well as the restaurants they had been researching earlier. During his party years, Sakari was able to observe the pattern around this type of business, even though he never took part in it. The girls who don't join the restaurant business, or already have a pimp, are usually hanging around these places, hoping to catch a potential client before they go in. 

He was sure Sofia's uneasiness wasn't just regarding the case, something else is bothering her, but what's not to be bothered about this operation? They can talk about this later, or they can talk about the current status of their situationship, which is still a bit uncertain.

Once he spots their target, Sakari announces out loud for them to hear through the wire that he is parking and will walk towards Hilda's friend. He exits the car and lights up a cigarette, for the sake of character, walking towards the woman and subtly exchanging glances with her. He smiles and she smiles back before opening her mouth to do exactly what he wanted her to.

“Would you like some company?” The woman with the brown hair asks and looks around, checking if the surrounding areas are safe. That alone would be enough to bring her in for soliciting in a public space, but not for their investigation, so he needed to stay in character.

"Company?” He pretends to not understand, but still smiles at her.

“I can make you a reasonable price.” Bingo!

“In this case, I would like some company.” He brings his cigarette to his lips before speaking again. “Actually, I've been searching for this girl. I used to pick her up around here a few years back.”

“Does she have a name?” 

“I don't know.” Sakari starts describing Hilda's features and he can see her eyes changing. She definitely knows who he is talking about.

“Well, she's not here anymore, but I am.” The woman changes the subject quickly while her fingers slowly run along Sakari's jacket. “I can do whatever she did too.” 

He decides to play along and finishes his cigarette, putting it out on the ground before inviting her out to his car, on a promise to hire her for the night. They drive silently to a hotel room not too far away from the neighborhood.

“I charge in advance, just so you know.” She speaks only when they park in the garage of the hotel. Sakari pays her right away and the woman quickly shoves the bills into her purse.

—

“Would you like something to drink?” Sakari's voice is neutral.

Sofia listens from inside the van, nervous with each step they take in the plan, but highly focused on anything they can pick up from the conversation from now on. Her boss and colleague are both silent too.

“You're awfully quiet.” 

The woman on the other end says and Sofia can hear as JP giggles in agreement. She can't deny either. 

Then the conversation takes a turn.

“Why don't you tell me what you like? 

Sofia can hear the scuffing sound of fabric against the microphone and for a brief moment she can't know what is going on, but she immediately thinks about the woman touching Sakari's chest.

Shame consumes her when she realizes she’s being a bit jealous of the situation. It’s just work Sofia.

“I'd like to talk about something else.” His voice is seductive to match the situation.

—

“Anything you want.” 

She whispers sensuously and Sakari clears his throat before showing her his gun and ID. 

“I need to ask you a few questions.”

The woman frowns, but he can see fear in her face also. “You played me. I'm out of here.” She tries to leave but he places himself between her and the door.

“I caught you in an illegal act, so you better cooperate.” He motions for her to sit on the bed. “I know you know Hilda Elo.” 

She gasps. “W-what about her?”

“Did you know she is dead?” 

The woman has her head low now and Sakari notices a few tears under her eyes. “I know, we used to be friends.”

“What is your name?”

“Sigrid.” 

“Sigrid, look, we know you and Hilda used to work together. We need your help to find who killed her and her husband.” 

“Will this keep me out of jail? Please I can't be arrested, I have a mother who depends on me.” 

“If you help us, we can see about these charges, alright? Now we're gonna go down to the police station to do the formal procedures and you can tell us everything you know.”  She nods silently and for a moment it strikes Sakari that, under all that makeup, she looks barely over 25.

—

“So Sigrid, tell us how you met Hilda.” Sofia asks, now sitting in the interrogation room while the woman looks anywhere but inside her eyes.

“She was working the streets for a while already when I started. She was a bit older than me and kinda helped me get through the beginning.” Sigrid looks at them briefly before looking away again. She can’t seem to stand still or focus on the moment. 

“Where were you on August 21st around 1pm?” Sofia keeps asking. The woman purses her lips, seeming rather confused.

“I'd have to check, but probably with my mom, at home. I usually make her lunch and give her medicine.” Then she looks at them for a moment. “Was that the day it happened?” 

Both Sofia and Sakari nod.

“Did you and Hilda work for an organization?” Sakari’s question takes her by surprise and they notice she becomes more distressed. 

Then her eyes find Sakari’s “I can’t talk about this. Please don’t make me.” She begs.

“Sorry, you don’t have this option.” Sakari’s voice is soothing but firm. Sigrid whimpers, looking down at her wrists. She looks destroyed, exhausted and confused.

When a small silence takes over the room, Sofia hears a familiar sound coming from their informant. “Sigrid.” She speaks softly. “When did you last eat?” The woman shakes her head and shrugs, slightly embarrassed.

“Can you carry on for a moment, I’ll be right back.” She directs her question to Sakari, who nods.

Giving away free meals is not the standard procedure at Helsinki Police, but certain circumstances require different approaches. They cannot possibly expect any logical thought from someone on an empty stomach.

“Look, we know you’re afraid of them, whoever they are, but this information can help us catch Hilda’s killer.” Sakari tries a softer approach. “Anything you can tell us about her clients or the people she worked for might help.” 

Sigrid rubs the back of her hand under her smudgy makeup eyes. “I still work for them. I didn’t manage to get out like Hilda did.” 

“Do you know how she got out?” 

“It was a bit sudden. She just decided one day she didn't want that anymore.” She babbles and then shuts down again, eyes cast down at the desk.

“You mentioned she helped you when you started in this world. So were you close until the day she died?

Sigrid shakes her head. “On the day she left, she said I probably wouldn’t be hearing from her anymore, that she needed to get away from all that. After that, I only heard about her again when she died.” 

At this moment, Sofia reenters the room with a food container in her hands and a bottle of water. She places the meal in front of Sigrid and motions for her to take it. They allow her a minute to start eating and place her thoughts in order. Sakari gives Sofia a quiet nod. 

“She started working part time at a cafe. They keep half of our payments so she decided to find another job in secret to raise some money to get out.” Sigrid starts talking in between bites. “When Hilda met Aleksi, her life changed.”

“Changed how?” 

“It was like her sparkle returned. She was determined to leave work on the streets to have a normal life.” 

“Any specific reason for that?” Sakari asks. 

“Well, you can imagine it’s not every girl’s dream to be constantly used and discarded like an object by middle aged perverts.” Her sarcasm comes carrying a load of annoyance.

“No, I know.” Sakari sighs. “I was not implying that. What I mean is: can you think of anyone she might’ve upset while on the job? Any clients that she said were violent?” 

Sigrid lets out a dry chuckle. “About half of them are at some point.” She dries her eyes again and drinks from her water. “They all think we're trash, even though they're the ones looking for us.” 

Sakari looks at his partner and they both sigh, half exhausted, half frustrated. It's a labyrinth that they've gotten themselves into and it seems to be leading them further away from the truth.

“Did Hilda ever mention anyone who went too far? Someone she might've been afraid of?” He asks.

“That woman wasn't afraid of anyone. It was a little scary actually.” Sigrid smiles nostalgically. “But yeah, like all of us, she had some trouble with a few clients in the past, but It stopped. I didn't hear much about it during her last year working.” 

“It just stopped?” Sofia frowns. Sigrid nods.

“I don't remember much, it's been so long. But at some point I noticed no one was messing with her anymore.” 

“Please think, anything you can remember might help.” Sakari asks. 

“Do any of her regular clients still come around these days?” Sofia places her elbows on the desk, watching Sigrid finish her food. The woman makes a face, trying to remember.

“I guess one or two still come and ask about her.” She shrugs. “I didn't have the guts to tell them she's dead. Sometimes they try to hire me and I just send them away.” 

“Are they one of those she had trouble with?” 

“Could be. Like I said, most of them are a problem at some point. Some get truly violent, and some just start treating you like shit once you don't agree to do what they want.” 

They look at each other, almost like they're thinking the same thing, and excuse themselves out of the room for a moment.

“Did you finish?” JP is the first to ask from the corridor. Sofia shakes her head.

“We have to know who those guys are, the clients. It might as well be one of them.” 

“How would we do that?” Rautamaa asks.

Sofia looks at her partner and purses her lips, knowing the storm that's about to pour down. “I can try to pass as one of the workers. Sigrid can vouch for me if anyone asks.” 

“It's dangerous.” Sakari mumbles. Although they both knew this would be the alternative, it still rattles him.

“But it can work.” Rautamaa counters, then looks at Sofia. “Are you sure you want to do that? Nurmi is right, it is going to be dangerous.” 

“If that means we're gonna get closer to solving this, yes.” Her answer is decisive.

“Not trying to be the one to ruin the plan but, you said someone attacked you. Won't they recognize you?” 

Sofia thinks for a moment, acknowledging her colleague is right, but she has an answer to that as well.

“A wig and some makeup will be enough.” 

—-

As they park in front of Sofia's building, she can sense there's some tension in the air. Sakari was quiet all the way there, quieter. A subtle frown covered his face since they left the precinct.

“Anything you want to get off your chest?” She starts.

“There's a lot actually.” He stares at her. “I'm not comfortable with this plan.” 

Sofia sighs. “Please don't tell me we're gonna have another one of those conversations. I can't.” Her heart accelerates a little.

“No, we won't.” Sakari exhales sharply. “I trust your judgment and your skills. It just doesn't make it any easier to imagine you in that situation. Especially now that-” His voice cuts short as he stumbles on his own words.

“What?” 

“Now that we are finally setting things straight.” Sakari gently takes her hand. “I don't want to lose this again.”  

It takes her by surprise, because they haven't had time to talk about the aftermath, what would be of them from now on, but it's a good kind of surprise, so Sofia grins and squeezes his hand back. 

She agrees. “I don't wanna lose this either.” 

They go up in silence, so as not to wake up Emil, and Sofia remembers the intriguing conversation they had earlier and how her son was so certain they are in a relationship. It makes her smile for a second before exhaustion starts to kick in again.

A shower is much needed after having spent the whole day in their workclothes, but after that, their bodies beg for the bed. Although they're sure the destiny would be another one as they still need to burn that fire rising within.

The mattress sinks slightly as Sakari lays beside her and, with arms securing each other, they fall asleep.

A couple of hours later Sakari jolts awake, gasping and drenched in sweat. His heart pounds in his throat as he realizes it was just another nightmare. He pulls his feet out of the bed but remains seated.

“Are you okay?” Sofia’s drowsy voice reaches his ears about the same time as her hand reaches for his back and he shivers. “You’re sweating. Are you sick?”

“I’m alright.” He says and immediately corrects himself. “Actually, I’m not alright. I’ve been having these dreams, nightmares, recently.” He turns back to her, meeting her gentle eyes. “But I don’t wanna talk about them.” 

Sofia shifts in bed and crawls over to him, sitting by his side. “Okay, what would you like to do?” 

“Shower.” He mumbles and Sofia nods. His heartbeat only gets back to normal when he steps under the water. He washes himself quickly to get rid of the sweat and the feeling. The dream was pretty much the same as the others, but the anguish seems to be growing stronger. That gripping feeling on his throat and chest almost making him choke.

As he returns to the bedroom, Sofia has changed the sheets and is waiting for him under the covers. The night is a bit chilly, contrasting with the warmth of his body. He dips next to her and stares at the ceiling, the temperature becoming more comfortable now.

“Better?” Sofia’s voice breaks the silence with hesitance, like she doesn’t want to disturb him. Sakari turns to look at her and manages a small smile. 

“Yes. Thank you.” He places a kiss on her lips and they get comfortable in each other’s arms, in each other’s silence.

All the words and thoughts are spiraling inside his mind, connecting the dream to the situations he has lived in his life and he is left wondering what to do with them before they overflow. 

“Leo doesn’t have a family yet.” The words jump out before he has time to process them. 

“Oh.” Sofia’s heart aches for the little boy. “Really?” 

Sakari nods. “I found that out some time ago. There was a family interested but they gave up.” 

“I’m sorry.” She sighs.

“I’ve been thinking about what you told me, that maybe it isn’t too late.” Sofia hums, indicating for him to continue talking. “If I took it to court, I’d have a more solid case now, having learned that he’s not placed in a family yet.” 

“You probably would. Have you talked to a lawyer about that?” 

“Not yet, but I also don’t know if I will.” 

Sofia raises her head from his chest, seeking his eyes in the poor lit room. “Why not?”

“I don’t know if I should.” He inhales, then exhales. “When I noticed I had those thoughts, the first thing I did was to blame my mother.” Sakari shifts under her, feeling slightly suffocated by his own words. “I thought I inherited that trait from her.”

“But you said things have been good now. Right?” Sofia’s voice trembles a bit and Sakari notices it, then rushes to reassure her.

“And they are, at least in regards to that.” Sofia relaxes and lays back on his chest. The warmth of her cheek reaching his skin. “but I’m still slightly afraid of it. I didn't, don't, want Leo to end up finding me like I found my mother. That's a life he doesn't deserve.”

They will always be a flower on your skin, Sakke.

She has nothing to say that would be understanding enough in this situation so she holds him tighter. 

“Do you think you’re still in a dangerous place? Be honest with yourself.” 

“I don’t, but the fear remains.” He caresses her hair slowly, as a way to self regulate. “I noticed my patterns were all connected to my addiction and that is a life I’m not going back to.” 

“That’s good. You can give it a second thought about Leo if you still feel like it. He will be lucky to have you.” Sofia reaches up for his face and connects their lips, as if sealing a pact. “And don’t forget that you have me.”

That’s how you keep it from overflowing, Sakari, you open your mouth and you let it out. 

Sofia Karppi is the one person he can rely on, even after all the damage he’s done, to himself and to them, she’s still here. The truth amongst the lies.

“Can I ask you something?” Her voice is uncertain and Sakari hums. “When you say your addiction was connected, does that mean that it also happened during the year we were apart.” 

Sakari wasn’t expecting this. His body freezes and the cramps start in his stomach.

“We never talked about it properly, but yeah.” He nods. 

“We never talked about anything properly.” 

There is a moment of silence before any of them decide to speak again.

“There was nothing I wanted more than to call you back then.” He adjusts himself to look at her while he removes the hair from her face.

“Then why didn’t you?” She sounds expectant. Like she had wanted to ask this for a long time. 

“And said what? That I was sorry?” His eyes turn up to the ceiling for a moment.

“That would’ve been a good start.” There was no sting in her voice. She didn’t hurt from that anymore.

“Except I wasn’t. You know that.” 

She sighs. “I do. But it would’ve been nice to hear something, anything, even if it was a lie.” 

“I’m pretty sure it would’ve been worse to base our could-be-relationship, or whatever it was that we had, in a lie.” 

“I would’ve forgiven you had you asked for it.” 

Sakari frowns and tries to find her eyes to look into “Really?” 

Sofia nods as she licks her lips. “It would take some time, obviously, but I knew that what you had done would protect Henna, even if it meant implicating me.” She lets out a shuddery breath. “Somehow I thought I was protecting you too, by not telling you about it. Then everything happened and I wished you could be there to help me through it.” 

“So I’m not the only one who could’ve reached out.” 

She agrees. “I was so embarrassed to have ignored what was happening right under my nose that I stayed silent. I ended up punishing both of us with that.” 

“We are so bad at telling each other what we need.” He reckons and Sofia lets out a small chuckle.

“You know this isn’t going to be easy, right?” 

“It hasn't exactly been a walk in the park so far.” He chuckles. “But I’m willing to adjust if you are too.”

At this point, they both accepted that sleep wouldn't return, so they moved to the kitchen, already decided to start the day a little earlier, hoping something good might come out of their brainstorm.

While Sakari works Sofia's coffee machine, which is not nearly as fancy as the one he owns, she leans against the counter and rummages through the notes on her phone. She often types a lot of nonsense in there during the investigations. Most of it is useless, but sometimes it helps with small details. 

Even if one of Hilda's clients is the murderer, it still doesn't add up why they would kill her after all these years. Why they had gone looking for her and why she had replied to the messages in the first place.

“What's on your mind?” Her partner places himself in front of her with a tiny espresso in her direction. “I didn't know where you kept the bigger mugs.” 

She picks it up from his hand with a smile. “I was just reviewing my notes, to see if there is anything we missed or forgot to address.”

“And is there?” He sips on his coffee, watching her cautiously.

“There are questions still unanswered. Like why would someone kill her? Were they after something that was inside the house? Were they after Minna?” Sofia sighs. “As far as we know, her time on the streets might be just a coincidence.” 

“We can ask Sigrid again.” He suggests and Sofia nods, sipping from her coffee too and contemplating.

“We forgot to ask her if Hilda was using drugs.” Her eyes are fixed in a random point on the ground. “Maybe she owed someone money.” 

“It's possible. People spend everything when they're using.” Sakari bites his lip. “But it's still strange that the person on the text messages wouldn't say it. I mean, if she owed them money, it would only look bad for her. Then why be so secretive about it.”

“Hilda knew this person's secrets too, so I understand being cautious over text messages.”