Stalker

101

Nelly Brandt is sitting at her computer, typing. Her neatly made-up face is blank with concentration as her blonde hair curls softly over her shoulders. She’s wearing a beige suede skirt and a gold polo-necked sweater that sits tightly round her body.

When Joona comes in and says hello to her she doesn’t answer, just stands up and goes over to the window and picks a deep pink flower from the bush outside.

‘There you go,’ she says, giving the flower to Joona. ‘With my heartfelt thanks for the magnificent detective work-’

‘I can understand that-’

‘Hang on,’ she interrupts. ‘I need to pick another one.’

She reaches out and picks a second flower, and hands it to Joona.

‘For the whole of the Swedish police force,’ she says. ‘Fucking impressive… No, I’m going to have to go out and dig up the whole bush… if you open the boot of your car, then-’

‘Nelly, I know the police have got it wrong,’ Joona says.

It’s as if all the air goes out of her, she sits down at the desk and rests her head on her hands, tries to say something but can’t get the words out.

‘I’m still trying to find the real murderer,’ Joona goes on. ‘But I need someone who can take over where Erik left off.’

‘I’d be happy to help,’ she says, looking up at him.

‘Can you hypnotise people?’

‘No,’ she laughs, taken aback. ‘I thought… that’s not my area, I actually find it a bit creepy.’

‘Do you know anyone who could help me?’

She twists the engagement ring on her freckled finger a couple of times and tilts her head.

‘Hypnosis is tricky,’ she says bluntly. ‘But there are a few people with a good reputation… Not that that’s the same thing as being brilliant. It’s like a generally applicable algorithm: the reputation of the best people in any field goes down to compensate for brilliance.’

‘You mean there’s no one as good as Erik?’

She laughs, flashing her white teeth.

‘Nowhere near as good… even if he’s not exactly doing much for his reputation right now.’

‘Is there someone I could talk to?’

‘Anna Palmer here is supposed to be pretty good. It depends what you’re after. She hasn’t got Erik’s experience when it comes to psychological trauma and states of shock, of course.’

Nelly leads Joona along the corridor, but after a little while she slows down and asks him if she’s in danger.

‘I can’t answer that,’ Joona replies honestly.

‘My husband’s working late all week.’

‘You should ask for police protection.’

‘No, not police protection, this is all too much… It’s just that we noticed that the lock at the back of the house was damaged yesterday.’

‘Have you got someone you can go and stay with?’

‘Yes, of course,’ she says, blushing slightly.

‘Do that, until this is over.’

‘I’ll think about it…’