Trafika Europe 2 - Polish Nocturne
The child was at most three. Thick overalls and a sleet- drenched fur cap concealed the gender. The kid wanted a pellet gun because Julius at day care had one. The mother standing beside her shot me looks indicating that was not a present she favored. I told the kid we’d see what Santa could do. By the time the child was gone, Merja was busy showing face packs to a customer. Had she realized I’d seen everything? I couldn’t be sure. During my break I glanced at the employee directory. I was not even surprised when I saw Merja’s last name. It was Salo-Virtanen. Sunday night I tossed and turned in bed wondering whether to mention my suspicions to Henrik Bruun. I did not have any concrete proof against Merja and Petri. Giving him the package of tissue had taken place carefully outside the range of the security camera. On the face of it there was nothing peculiar in the occurrence other than that Petri was not wearing an overcoat. Usually the store detectives dressed like the customers for the season at hand. But were there more involved than Merja, Petri, and Veli- Pekka? Someone in the watch or electronics department? The regular salespeople knew that Petri was a store detective, but wouldn’t they become suspicious if items 5.
158
Made with FlippingBook