Stalker

100

Joona is sitting on one of the rear pews in Adolf Fredrik Church. A girls’ choir is rehearsing for a concert up at the front. The choir leader gives them the right note and the teenagers start to sing O viridissima virga.

Joona sinks into memories of the long, light nights in Nattavaara after Summa’s death. Sunlight floods through the arched windows of the church, mixed with autumn leaves and stained glass.

The choir pauses after a few minutes, the girls take out their mobiles, gather in groups and walk through the aisles, chatting as they go.

The door to the porch opens and closes quickly. The churchwarden looks up from her book, then carries on reading.

Margot comes in with two heavy plastic bags in her hands. They hit the pew as she squeezes in next to Joona. Her stomach has swollen so much that it presses again the shelf for hymnbooks.

‘I really am sorry,’ Margot says in a half-whisper. ‘I know you don’t want to believe it, but take a look at this.’

With a sigh she lifts one of the bags on to her lap and pulls out a printout showing a fingerprint match. Joona quickly reads through the various parameters of the comparison, then checks the first-level details himself, and sees the similarities in the lines and patterns.

There are three perfectly defined fingerprints, and the match with Erik Maria Bark is one hundred per cent.

‘Where were the prints found?’ Joona asks.

‘On the little porcelain deer’s head that was in Susanna Kern’s hand.’

Joona gazes out into the nave. The choir is gathering once more, the choir leader claps her hands to get their attention.

‘You asked for evidence before,’ Margot continues. ‘These fingerprints are evidence, aren’t they?’

‘In a judicial sense,’ he says in a low voice.

‘The searches are still going on,’ she says. ‘We’ve found our serial killer.’

‘Have you?’

Margot puts the bag containing material from the preliminary investigation on Joona’s lap.

‘I really wanted to believe you, and the idea of the preacher,’ she says, leaning back and breathing hard.

‘You should,’ Joona replies.

‘You met Rocky, I arranged for you to be able to question him,’ she says, with a hint of impatience. ‘You said you needed to do that before you could find this unclean preacher.’

‘He doesn’t remember anything now.’

‘Because there isn’t anything to remember,’ she concludes.

The choir starts singing, and the girls’ voices fill the church. Margot tries to make herself more comfortable and tucks her plait over her shoulder.

‘You traced Erik to Småland,’ Joona says.

‘The rapid response team stormed a charter bus and found his phone tucked between two seats.’

‘Oops,’ Joona says drily.

‘He hasn’t put a foot wrong so far, he’s staying out of the way like a professional,’ she says. ‘It’s almost as if he’s been given advice about what to do.’

‘I agree,’ Joona says.

‘Has he contacted you?’ Margot asks.

‘No,’ Joona replies simply.

He looks down at the other bag, still on the floor between them.

‘Is that my pistol?’

‘Yes,’ she replies, pushing the bag towards him with her foot.

‘Thanks,’ Joona says, gazing down into it.

‘If you carry on looking for the preacher, I have to remind you that you’re not doing so on my orders,’ Margot says, starting to squeeze out of the pew again. ‘You haven’t received any material from me, and we never met here – do you understand?’

‘I’m going to find the murderer,’ Joona says quietly.

‘Fine, but we can’t have any more contact…’

Joona pulls out his pistol, under cover of the pew, ejects the magazine in his lap, pulls the bolt back, checks the mechanism, trigger and hammer, then puts the safety catch back on and reinserts the magazine.

‘Who the hell uses a Colt Combat?’ Margot asks. ‘I’d have backache within a week.’

Joona doesn’t reply, just tucks the pistol into his shoulder holster and slips the spare magazine in his jacket pocket.

‘When are you going to accept that Erik might be guilty?’ she asks roughly.

‘You’ll see that I’m right,’ he says, meeting her gaze with icy calmness.