The Sandman

108

Joona has just pulled out of the hospital grounds and is accelerating along the old main road when Anja calls back.

‘Baldersvägen 3, in Upplands Väsby,’ she tells him. ‘That’s where Anders Rönn lives.’

‘I’ll find it,’ he says, and puts his foot down as he heads south.

‘Would you convert for my sake?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘When we get married... I was just thinking, if I happened to be Catholic or Muslim, or—’

‘But you’re not.’

‘No, you’re right... there’s nothing stopping us, we could have a proper summer wedding.’

‘I’m not sure I’m mature enough to take a step like that,’ laughs Joona.

‘Me neither, but I’ve got a feeling I might be getting there,’ Anja whispers over the phone.

Then she clears her throat, changes tone and says coolly that she’ll check out Susanne Hjälm.

Joona heads back to the Upplands Väsby junction on the E4 and has just turned into Sandavägen to look for Anders Rönn’s house when Anja calls again.

‘This is a bit weird,’ she says in a serious voice. ‘Susanne Hjälm’s phone is switched off. As is her husband’s. He hasn’t shown up at the insurance company where he works for the past three months, and their two children haven’t been at school either. The girls are both off sick, with doctor’s certificates, nevertheless the school has been in touch with Social Services...’

‘Where do they live?’

‘Biskop Nils väg 23, in Stäket, on the way to Kungsängen.’

Joona pulls over to the side of the road and lets the lorry behind him drive past. Snow is blowing off the back.

‘Send a patrol to the address,’ Joona says, then does a U-turn.

The front right wheel goes up on the kerb, the car’s suspension lurches and the glove compartment pops open.

He’s trying not to think too far ahead, but his speed is increasing the whole time. He ignores the red traffic lights, races through the junction and onto the roundabout. By the time he reaches the slip road to the motorway he’s already going at a hundred and sixty kilometres an hour.