Stalker

63

The woman looking at Joona has a self-aware but relaxed posture, reminiscent of a mannequin. Her arms are slender and her hands very freckly. She’s wearing make-up, but not too much, tasteful. It looks like she might be blushing slightly.

Joona bends down and picks up the second knife from the ground, weighs it in his hand, then throws it over his shoulder towards the dartboard. It ends up in the branches of the weeping birch and falls to the grass next to the shed. She claps her hands again and walks over to him, smiling.

‘Joona Linna?’ she asks.

‘It’s not easy to see with a beard like this, but I think so,’ he replies.

‘Erik said you were confined to bed, and-’

The veranda door opens and Erik comes out into the garden with a worried look on his face.

‘You should be careful with that hip until we’ve had it X-rayed,’ he says.

‘It’s fine,’ Joona says.

‘I gave him cortisone in-’

‘So you said,’ the smiling woman interrupts. ‘It seems to have worked.’

‘This is Nelly,’ Erik says. ‘She’s my closest colleague… an excellent psychologist, the best in the country for traumatised children.’

‘That’s all empty flattery,’ she smiles, shaking Joona’s hand.

‘How do you feel?’ Erik asks.

‘Fine,’ he replies quietly.

‘The penicillin will kick in properly tomorrow, you’ll feel much stronger,’ Erik says, smiling at Joona’s tight clothes.

Joona groans as he sits down on the swing-seat. The others sit down beside him and they swing together gently. The springs creak and the cushions give off a damp, musty smell.

‘Did you read the report of the preliminary investigation?’ Erik asks after a while.

‘Yes,’ Joona says, glancing at him.

‘I went and talked to Rocky this morning… he’s had terrible problems with his memory since the accident, but he was willing to try hypnosis…’

‘You hypnotised him?’ Joona asks with interest.

‘I wasn’t sure if it would work, given the damage to brain tissue and his epileptic attacks…’

‘But he was receptive?’ Joona asks, leaning his head back and looking up at the sky.

‘Yes, but it wasn’t easy working out what were real memories… Rocky used to take a lot of drugs in those days, and some of the things he said under hypnosis – which ought to have been proper memories – sounded more like nightmares… delirium.’

‘God, that’s difficult,’ Nelly said, stretching her ankles.

Erik stands up, making the swing-seat move again.

‘I was really only going to ask about the murder of Rebecka Hansson to find out if he had an accomplice,’ he says. ‘But under hypnosis it sounded more like he was completely innocent.’

‘In what way?’ Joona asks.

‘Rocky keeps returning to a man he calls the preacher… the unclean preacher.’

‘That sounds creepy,’ Nelly says.

‘And now, all of a sudden, he remembers that he’s got an alibi for the night of the murder,’ Erik says in a low voice.

‘He said that under hypnosis?’ Joona asks.

‘No, he was awake then.’

‘Is there anyone who can confirm the alibi?’

‘Her name is Olivia Toreby… he remembered it at the time, but he’s probably already forgotten it again,’ Erik says, looking away.

‘An alibi,’ Nelly says.

‘It’s worth checking out, anyway,’ Erik says.

‘Have you spoken to Margot about this?’ Joona asks.

‘Of course.’

‘Psychologists lead, one-nil,’ Nelly says, slapping the cushion beside her to get him to sit down again.

Erik does so, and they spend a little while swinging, drifting off to the sound of the slow creaking of the metal springs, the birdsong, and some children playing in a nearby garden.

Then Erik’s mobile buzzes on the cushion. It’s Margot, and Joona takes the call.

‘I presume you’ve checked criminal records, any previous suspicions and the police database?’

‘Good to hear that you’re feeling better,’ Margot’s rough voice says.

‘The murderer may have done time, or simply been out of the country for all these years,’ Joona goes on. ‘I’ve got pretty good contacts with Europol and-’

‘Joona, I can’t discuss the preliminary investigation with you,’ she interrupts.

‘No, but I was just trying to say that nine years is one hell of a long cooling off period for a-’

‘OK, now I understand… I understand what you mean, but Rocky Kyrklund’s alibi doesn’t stand up.’

‘You found her?’

‘Olivia Toreby had no idea what we were talking about. She was living in Jönköping at the time, and we can’t see any connection between her and Rocky Kyrklund.’

‘So you still think he had an apprentice? That he’s mixed up in the murders?’

‘That’s why I’m calling Erik,’ Margot says calmly. ‘I want him to go back and ask Rocky properly about accomplices.’

‘I’ll pass you over to him,’ Joona says, and hands over the phone.

While Erik is talking to Margot, Joona goes and picks up the knives and puts them back in the shed. He rests against the handle of a lawnmower for a moment. There’s a small wasps’ nest up by the roof, and in the far corner a homemade toy truck behind some folding chairs.

When he comes out again Erik is no longer on the phone, and has stretched out next to Nelly.

‘Do you normally phone witnesses to ask about alibis?’ Erik asks him.

‘It depends,’ Joona replies.

‘I just mean… You don’t know if people are prepared to get involved,’ Erik says. ‘You don’t know if people tell the truth when the police phone them so many years later.’

‘No,’ Joona says.

‘I need to talk to her if I’m going to be able to go back to Rocky and look him in the eye,’ Erik says.