The Hypnotist

Chapter 79

Erik clamps a hand to his nose and mouth. His heart pounds in his chest and the blood rushes to his ears. The stillness within is horribly ominous. Benjamin can’t be here. The lights in the stairwell go out altogether, and darkness surrounds him. Suddenly Joona is standing in front of him again.

“I think you’re going to have to come in, Erik,” he says.

They go inside and Joona switches on the main light. The bathroom door is wide open. The smell of decay is unbearable. Eva Blau is lying in the empty shower stall. Her face is swollen, and flies are crawling around her mouth and buzzing in the air. Her blue blouse has worked its way up; her stomach is distended and bluish green. Deep black incisions run along both her arms. The fabric of her blouse and her blonde hair have stuck fast to the coagulated blood. Her skin is pale grey, and a brown network of veins is clearly visible all over her body. The stagnant blood has rotted inside the vascular system. Piles of small yellow eggs laid by flies can be seen in the corners of her eyes and around her mouth and nostrils. The blood has overflowed the drain and trickled onto the small bath mat, whose edges have darkened in colour. A blood-stained kitchen knife is lying in the bath beside the body.

“Is that her?” asks Joona.

“Yes. That’s Eva.”

“She’s been dead for at least a week. The stomach has had time to swell up significantly.”

“I realize that,” Erik replies.

“So she wasn’t the one who took Benjamin,” Joona states.

“I need to think,” says Erik. “I was so sure.”

He looks out the window. There is a low brick building on the other side of the railroad tracks. Eva could see the Kingdom Hall from her window. He thinks that probably made her feel more secure.