The Nightmare

64

Detective Inspector Joona Linna is at his desk at CID. He’s reading Carl Palmcrona’s memoir. Five years ago, Palmcrona recorded how he’d traveled to Västerås to watch his son graduate from elementary school. He’d stood at a distance as everyone gathered in the school yard and sang “Den blomstertid nu kommer” while standing in the rain holding umbrellas. Palmcrona described his son’s white jeans and jacket, his long blond hair, and wrote that “the boy had a family resemblance in his nose and eyes, which made me want to cry.” He’d driven back to Stockholm and wrote that his son was worth everything he’d done up to now and everything that he would ever do.

The phone rings. Joona picks it up immediately. It’s Petter Näslund calling from the police bus on Dalarö.

“They’ve got Penelope Fernandez. I’ve just been in contact with the helicopter group, and they’re flying back over Erstavik Bay right now,” he tells Joona. His voice still sounds hunted.

“She’s alive?” Joona asks, and is overwhelmed by a feeling of relief.

“She was swimming in the open ocean when they found her,” Petter explains.

“How’s she doing? Is she all right?”

“It appears so. They’re heading toward Söder Hospital.”

“Too dangerous,” Joona says abruptly. “Fly her to the police station instead. We’ll bring a team of doctors from Karolinska Hospital.”

Petter says he’ll contact the helicopters.

“What about the others?” Joona asks.

“It’s complete chaos. We’ve lost people, Joona. It’s crazy over here.”

“What about Björn Almskog?”

“We haven’t found him, but… right now we really know nothing, and it’s hard to find out what went on.”

“What about the killer?”

“We’ll catch him. This is a small island. We’ve got men all over it along with help from the Coast Guard and the naval police.”

“Good,” Joona says.

“You don’t think we’ll get him?” Petter asks grimly.

“If you didn’t catch him right away, he’s probably slipped through.”

“You’re saying it’s my fault?”

“Petter,” Joona says quietly and softly. “If you hadn’t been so fast on the uptake, Penelope would be dead, and without her, we’d have no leads at all.”

An hour later, two doctors from Karolinska converge in a protected room deep underneath the National Police Board headquarters. Penelope lies unmoving in their care. They’re bandaging her wounds, setting up an IV for rehydration and nutrition, and giving her tranquilizers.

Petter Näslund reports to Carlos Eliasson that the remains of their colleagues, Lennart Johansson and Göran Sjödin, have been found in the wreckage of the police launch along with another unidentified body, which is probably the remains of Björn Almskog. Ossian Wallenberg’s body was found outside his house, and divers are on the way to the area where the helicopter crashed. Petter fears that all on board are lost.

The police have not caught the suspect, but Penelope Fernandez is still alive.

Flags are lowered to half-staff in front of the police station. Chief of Police Margareta Widding and the head of CID, Carlos Eliasson, are holding a sorrowful press conference in the glass-enclosed pressroom. Detective Inspector Joona Linna does not take part in the press conference. Instead, he and Saga Bauer are on the elevator down to the lowest level of the building to meet Penelope Fernandez.