I remember feeling a sense of relief about the ex in front of the girlfriend.

But one day I returned home from god knows where, because I usually did nothing and went nowhere. But I remember walking in through the door and how my dad stood in the kitchen in his too short running shorts, fanning himself with an envelope. Or at least that's what it looked like he was doing. He yelled at me with a furrowed brow: You've gotten a letter from that damn Juha Valjakkala. That was his name. Both him and Marita were foreigners, from the neighboring land of Finland. A country of knives, vodka and blondes so fair their eyelashes were see-through. My heart did a somersault and I rushed forward to snatch the letter from my very tall and very red-faced father's hand. He took a step back and glared at me and then handed me the letter.
Thanks for nothing, shithead, I mumbled. I sat down at my desk slowly and opened the envelope with my index finger. That envelope had been in his hands that had been and done fuck all knows what. I removed a sheet of paper folded in four.

It begun: Hi Stella! Thanks for your letter ... I thought I'd write you a few lines because your name is so beautiful. Haha. No, I would have written you anyway, I guess.
He went on to talk about how he was innocent and would be freed in the court of appeal at the very latest.

The investigation had taken an unexpected turn when Juha a few days earlier suddenly had admitted to being at the place of the crime. He also admitted to stealing a bicycle that was unlocked and parked outside the victims' house. He admitted being there when Sten and Fredrik, because that were their names, had gotten their brains blown to smithereens. He had also been present when Ewa, the mother, had gotten her throat slit all the way into the spine. But his hands hadn't pulled the trigger, or handled the knife. He said, and everyone present dropped their chins into their laps, that Marita, his ex-girlfriend was the triple murderer.

I remember feeling a sense of relief about the ex in front of the girlfriend.

My head was spinning and I had gotten a giant whitehead on my chin.