Stalker

56

Margot opens her leather bag and hands Erik a copy of the verdict, and the forensic psychiatric evaluation.

The standard lamp shines warmly off the polished oak floor and leather binding of the volumes in the built-in bookcases. It’s so dark outside the leaded windows that the fruit trees’ dense network of branches is completely invisible.

Erik sits down opposite Adam at the little octagonal table, leafs through the material, nods and looks up.

‘Yes, I remember him.’

‘We think he has an apprentice, a disciple… maybe a copycat.’

‘That’s possible… if the similarities are that strong… well, I can’t actually give an opinion.’

Margot shakes her wrist to get her watch in the right place.

‘I spoke to Rocky Kyrklund today,’ she says. ‘I asked him a lot of questions, but he just sat there in silence on his bed, staring at the television.’

‘He suffered serious brain damage,’ Erik says, gesturing towards the old evaluation.

‘He could hear and understand everything I said, he just didn’t want to answer.’ Margot smiles.

‘It’s often rather difficult to start with when you’re dealing with this sort of patient.’

She leans forward, so that her stomach ends up resting on her thighs.

‘Can you help us?’

‘How?’

‘Talk to him. He trusted you before, you know him.’

Erik’s heart starts to beat faster. He mustn’t show any feelings, so slowly clasps his hands together to stop them shaking.

They’re probably going to find the tape recordings of the forensic psychiatric evaluation in which Rocky talks about his alibi.

But because Rocky is guilty, Erik can always say that he didn’t take the idea of an alibi seriously if it comes up.

‘What do you want to know?’

‘We want to know who he was working with.’

Erik nods, and thinks that he’ll be free at last after this, he’ll no longer have to carry the burden of knowledge that he can’t offload. He can tell them about the person Rocky blamed, whether or not Rocky just sits there in silence. He could even hypnotise Björn Kern again and then tell them about the hand clasped to Susanna’s ear.

‘Naturally, this is rather outside my usual remit,’ he begins.

‘Of course we’d pay…’

‘That’s not what I meant… I need to know the outline of the task, so I know what to say to my employers.’

Margot nods, with her lips half-open, as though she were about to say something, but decides against it.

‘And I need to know what to say to the patient,’ Erik goes on. ‘I mean, am I allowed to let him know that you think his former associate has started killing again?’

Margot waves her hand. Erik notes that her colleague seems to have stiffened slightly as he sits there with his arms folded.

‘We’ll have to see if we can give any room for negotiation,’ Margot says. ‘We don’t know yet, of course, but you might be able to offer him supervised excursions outside the hospital.’

She falls silent, as if she’s run out of breath. Her hand goes to her stomach. Her thin wedding ring sits tightly around her swollen finger.

‘What did you say to him today?’ Erik asks.

‘I asked which people he had most contact with.’

‘Does he know why you were asking?’

‘No… he didn’t react at all to anything I said.’

‘He has epileptic activity in his brain which affects his memory, and, according to his diagnosis, he suffers from a narcissistic, paranoid disorder… But all the evidence suggests that he’s intelligent…’

Erik falls silent.

‘What are you thinking?’ Margot asks.

‘I’d like the authority to be able to tell him why I’m asking him these questions.’

‘Tell him about the serial killer?’

‘He’ll probably work out that I’m lying otherwise.’

‘Margot,’ Adam says. ‘I have to-’

‘What?’

He looks troubled as he lowers his voice.

‘This is police work,’ he says.

‘We haven’t got a choice,’ she says curtly.

‘I just think you’re going too far now,’ Adam says.

‘Am I?’

‘First you get Joona Linna mixed up in this, and now you’re going to let a hypnotist do police work.’

‘Joona Linna?’ Erik asks.

‘I’m not talking to you,’ Adam says.

‘He’s back,’ Margot says.

‘Where?’

‘Back probably isn’t the right word,’ Adam says. ‘He’s living with the Romanian Roma out in Huddinge, he’s an alcoholic, and-’

‘We don’t know that,’ she interrupts.

‘OK, Joona’s best,’ Adam says.

Margot meets Erik’s quizzical gaze.

‘Joona fainted and ended up in A &E at St Göran’s,’ she says.

‘When?’ Erik asks, getting to his feet.

‘Yesterday.’

Erik immediately picks up his phone and dials the number of a colleague in the hospital’s intensive care unit, and waits as the call goes through.

‘When can you talk to Rocky?’ Margot asks, standing up.

‘I’ll head out there first thing tomorrow,’ Erik says, as his colleague answers the phone.