by Lars Kepler
“Not them? Then who? The Northern Brotherhood?” Daniel speculates, now eager to help. “You need to get going! It’s not too late!”
“How do you know?”
“You guys are always so slow. This time I caught a message on her mother’s answering machine. That’s got to give you an edge. You’re not too late yet.”
“You caught what?” Joona asks.
“She tried to call her mother yesterday morning,” the young man answers as he scratches through his dirty hair.
“Penelope called?”
“Yes, it was her.”
“What did she say?” Saga asks breathlessly.
“Säpo doesn’t have a monopoly on listening in to phone calls.” Daniel gives a crooked smile.
“What did Penelope say?” Joona repeats, raising his voice.
“People are after her,” Daniel says.
“Exactly what did she say?”
Daniel gives Saga Bauer a glance and asks, “How much time do we have left?”
Saga looks at her watch. “Three or four minutes. Maybe.”
“Then listen to this,” Daniel says as he clicks a few keys on the second computer.
There’s a hiss in the speakers and then there’s a click and Claudia Fernandez’s voice-mail message comes on. Three brief tones are heard followed by crackling noises due to a very bad connection. Underneath all the noise, one can hear a faint voice. A woman’s voice. It’s hard to make out what she says. A few seconds later, a man yells, “Get a job!” Then the connection is gone.
“Let me try again with the filters on,” Daniel mumbles.
“We’re running out of time,” Saga warns.
Daniel moves a dial, looks at crossing sound curves, and replays the recording.
“This is Claudia Fernandez. I can’t answer the phone right now, but please leave a message and I’ll call back as soon as I can.”
The three tones sound different this time. The crackling is now a weak, metallic crinkling in the background.
And Penelope’s voice is clear.
“Mamma, I need help. People are after me—”
“Get a job!” a man’s voice says, and then it’s silent.
32
real police work
Saga Bauer looks at her watch and says they have to go. Daniel Marklund makes a halfhearted joke about manning the barricades, but there is fear in his eyes.
“We’re going to hit you hard,” Saga says. “Hide that knife. Don’t make any resistance. Give up at once, hands high, and don’t make any sudden moves.”
She and Joona leave the tiny room.
Daniel watches them go, and still sitting in the desk chair, dumps the bayonet knife into the wastebasket.
Joona and Saga wend their way through the labyrinthine headquarters of the Brigade and exit onto Hornsgatan. Saga rejoins Göran’s task force. They’re gathered in Nagham Fast Food and are chowing down on french fries. Their eyes are shining and hard as they wait for orders.
It comes two minutes later as fifteen heavily armed security police pour from four black trucks. The SWAT team forces all the entrances open and floods the inside with tear gas. Once they trample in, they find five young people sitting on the floor with their hands over their heads. They’re led outside cuffed with plastic strips.
The security police take the Brigade’s weapons into custody: one old military pistol, a Colt, as well as a decorative rifle, a shotgun with its barrels bent, and a carton of cartridges. Additionally four knives and two throwing stars. They were fairly poorly armed.
Driving along Söder Mälarstrand, Joona picks up his cell phone and calls his boss. After two rings, Carlos answers, pressing the Talk button with his pen.
“How do you like the Police Training Academy, Joona?” he asks.
“Not there.”
“I know, since—”
“Penelope Fernandez is still alive.” Joona interrupts him. “She’s running for her life.”
“Who says so?”
“She says so. She left a message on her mother’s answering machine.”
Carlos’s end of the connection falls silent. Then he draws a deep breath.
“Okay. She’s alive. All right … what else do we know? She’s alive, but—”
“We know that she was alive thirty hours ago at the time she made the call,” Joona says. “And that someone is after her.”
“Who?”
“She wasn’t able to say, but—if it’s the same man I ran into, we absolutely don’t have any time to lose.”
“You’ve said you believe this man is a professional killer.”
“I’m absolutely sure of that. The man who attacked Erixson and me was a professional hit man … a grob.”
“A grob?”
“Serbian for ‘grave.’ These guys are expensive. They usually work alone. They’re well paid to follow orders precisely.”
“It all seems a bit far-fetched.”
“But I’m right,” Joona says doggedly.
“You always say that, but how has Penelope gotten away from this kind of killer? It’s been two days,” Carlos says.
“If she’s still alive, it’s because his priorities have shifted.”
“You still think he’s searching for something?”
“Yes,” Joona replies.
“What is it?”
“Don’t know for sure, but maybe a photo …”
“Why do you think so?”
“That’s my best theory at the moment.” Joona quickly relates what he found at Penelope’s apartment: the books taken out of the shelf, the picture with the lines of poetry, Björn’s quick visit and how he held his hand over his stomach when he was leaving, the palm print on the glass door, the bits of tape, and the corner of a photograph.
“So you think the killer is after that photo?”
“I believe he started in Björn’s apartment. When he didn’t find what he was looking for, he poured out gasoline and turned the neighbor’s iron on high. The alarm went to the fire department at five after eleven that morning and before they could even get the fire under control, the entire floor had been destroyed.”
“That evening he kills Viola.”
“He probably assumed that Björn had taken the photograph on the boat so he followed them, went on board, drowned Viola, and then searched the entire boat with the intention of sinking it afterward. Something made him change his mind. He left the archipelago, returned to Stockholm, and searched through Penelope’s apartment—”
“You don’t think he found the photograph, do you?” asks Carlos.
“Either Björn has it on his person or it is hidden at a friend’s place or in a safe-deposit box. Any place at all, really.”
Silence on the line. Joona can hear Carlos breathe deeply.
“But if we find it first,” Carlos says, thinking out loud, “and this killer finds out we have it, then all of this is over.”
“That’s right,” Joona says.
“Because … if we on the force, we the police, see it, then it’s not a secret anymore. It will cease being something to kill over.”
“I only hope it’s that easy.”
“Joona, I can’t … I can’t take this case away from Petter, but I presume—”
“—that I’ll be busy lecturing at the Police Training Academy,” Joona says.
“That’s all I need to know,” Carlos says with a laugh.
On the way to Kungsholm, Joona checks his voice mail and finds a number of messages from Erixson. In the first, Erixson says he can keep working from the hospital. Thirty minutes later, he asks if he can’t be part of the work on the ground, and twenty-seven minutes later he yells that he’s going crazy without anything to do. Joona calls him and after two rings, he hears Erixson’s tired voice go “Quack.”
“So I’m too late?” Joona asks. “You’re already crazy?”
Erixson hiccups as a reply.
“I don’t know what you know,” Joona says. “But we’re in a
big rush. Yesterday morning Penelope Fernandez left a message on her mother’s answering machine.”
“Yesterday?” Erixson was immediately alert.
“She said someone was chasing her.”
“Are you on the way here?” Erixson asks.
There’s noise on the line and Erixson asks someone to leave him alone. Joona hears a woman’s strict voice telling him it’s time for physical therapy and Erixson hissing back that he’s on a private call.
Erixson pumps Joona for information, and Joona obliges. He explains that Penelope and Björn were not together in the apartment on Sankt Paulsgatan the night before Friday. She was picked up by taxi at exactly 6:40 a.m. and was driven to the television station to be part of a debate. A few minutes after the taxi left, Björn entered the apartment. Joona tells Erixson about the palm print on the glass door, the tape, and the corner ripped from a photograph. He says he’s convinced that Björn had waited for Penelope to leave the apartment so he could get the photo quickly without her knowledge.
“And I believe that the person who attacked us is a hit man and he was looking for that photograph when we surprised him.”
“Maybe so,” Erixson whispers.
“It wasn’t his priority to kill us. He just wanted to get out of the apartment,” Joona says.
“Otherwise we would be dead.”
“We can conclude that the hit man doesn’t yet have this photograph,” Joona continues. “If he’d found it on the boat, he wouldn’t have bothered with Penelope’s apartment.”
“And it’s not at her place because Björn had already taken it.”
“My theory is that his attempt to blow up the place means that the man behind all this doesn’t really need the photo in his hand, he just wants it destroyed.”
“But why would such a photograph hang on the door of Penelope’s living room? And why is it so damned important?” asks Erixson.
“I have a few theories,” Joona says. “Most likely Björn and Penelope took a photograph of something and left it in plain sight because they didn’t realize that it was documenting evidence and what that evidence really meant.”
“That’s right,” Erixson chortles.
“As far as they knew, the photo wasn’t something they needed to hide, let alone that someone would murder for it.”
“But then Björn changes his mind.”
“Maybe he figured something out. Maybe he realized that it’s dangerous and that’s why he went to get it,” Joona says. “There’s still a great deal we don’t know. Now we’ve just got to slog along through routine police work.”
“Exactly!” Erixson exclaims.
“Can you gather everything you can find—all the telephone calls made this past week? All text messages? All bank withdrawals? All that stuff: receipts, bus tickets, meetings, activities, working hours—”
“I sure as hell can!”
“On the other hand, maybe you should just forget about all that,” Joona says. “Isn’t it time for your physical therapy?”
“Are you pulling my leg?” Erixson says, hardly able to hold back his indignation. “What is physical therapy anyway but hidden unemployment?”
“But you really ought to rest,” Joona teases. “Maybe another tech guy—”
“I’m flipping out just sitting here!”
“You’ve only been on sick leave for six hours.”
“I’m climbing the walls!”
33
the search
Joona is driving east toward Gustavsberg. I ought to call Disa, he thinks. Instead, he calls Anja.
“I need Claudia Fernandez’s address.”
“Mariagatan 5,” she replies immediately. “Not far from the old porcelain factory.”
“Thanks.”
Anja stays on the line.
“I’m waiting,” she says, her voice teasing.
“What are you waiting for?” he asks softly.
“For you to tell me that we have ferry tickets to Finland. We’ll rent a cottage with a wood-fired sauna next to the water.”
“Sounds good,” Joona says hesitantly.
The weather is now gray and hazy and extremely humid as Joona parks his car in front of Claudia Fernandez’s house. Joona steps out and smells the bitter scent of currant bushes and elf-cap moss. He stands still for a moment, lost in a memory. The face he’s conjured up fades as he rings the doorbell. The nameplate looks like it came from a woodshop class. “Fernandez” is in letters childishly burned into the wood.
The doorbell’s melodic ring echoes inside the house. He waits. After a few moments, he hears approaching footsteps.
Claudia has a worried expression as she opens the door. Seeing Joona, she steps back into the hallway knocking a coat loose from its hanger.
“No,” she whispers. “Not Penny—”
“Claudia, please, I don’t have bad news,” Joona says quickly.
Claudia can’t stay upright and collapses to the floor among the shoes, underneath the coats. She breathes like a frightened animal.
“What’s happened?” she asks in a fearful voice. Joona bends forward, down to her.
“We don’t know much yet, but yesterday, Penelope tried to call you.”
“She’s alive,” Claudia whispers.
“So far,” Joona answers.
“Thank you, dear Lord. Thank you, thank you!” Claudia whispers again.
“We caught a message on your answering machine.”
“On my … no, that’s not possible,” she says as she gets up with his help.
“There was a lot of static. We needed an expert to recover her voice,” Joona explains.
“The only thing I heard, there was a man who told me to get a job!”
“That’s the one,” Joona says. “Penelope is speaking first, but it’s barely audible.”
“What does she say?”
“She says she needs help. The maritime police want to organize a search-group chain.”
“But to trace the phone—”
“Claudia,” Joona says soothingly. “I must ask you a few questions.”
“What kinds of questions?”
“Why don’t we sit down?”
They walk through the hallway and into the kitchen.
“Joona Linna, may I ask you something?” she says timidly.
“You can ask, but I might not be able to answer.”
Claudia puts coffee cups on the table for them both. Her hand shakes slightly. She sits across from him and stares at him for a long time.
“You have a family, don’t you?” she asks.
It’s dead quiet in the light-filled, yellow-painted kitchen.
Joona finally fills the silence. “Do you remember the last time you were at Penelope’s apartment?”
“Last week. A Tuesday. She helped me hem a pair of pants for Viola.”
Claudia’s mouth trembles.
“Think carefully, Claudia,” he says, leaning forward. “Did you see a photograph taped up on her glass door?”
“Yes.”
“What did the photo show?” Joona asks, trying to keep his voice calm.
“I don’t know. I didn’t pay attention.”
“But you’re sure you saw a photograph?”
“Yes.” Claudia nods.
“Perhaps there were people in the picture?”
“I don’t know. I thought it had something to do with her job.”
“Was the picture taken inside or outside?”
“No idea.”
“Try and picture it in your mind.”
Claudia shuts her eyes. She shakes her head. “Sorry, I can’t.”
She looks down, thinks, and shakes her head again. “The only thing I remember thinking is that it was odd that she’d hung that photo on her door because that’s not particularly attractive.”
“Why do you think it had something to do with her job?”
“I don’t know,” Claudia whispers.
Joona’s cell phone rings inside his jacket.
He picks it up, sees that it’s Carlos, and answers, “I’m here.”
“I just talked to Lance at the maritime police on Dalarö. He says they’ve arranged an organized search starting tomorrow. Three hundred people and almost fifty boats have agreed to join.”
“That’s good,” Joona says. He watches Claudia get up and walk into the hall.
“And then I called Erixson to see how he was doing,” Carlos says.
“He seems to be doing okay,” Joona says neutrally.
“Joona, I have no idea what you’re up to, but Erixson warned me that you’re about to be right again.”
Once the call is finished, Joona follows Claudia out into the hall. She’s put on her coat and is pulling on rubber boots.
“I heard what that man said on the phone,” Claudia says. “I can help look. I can look all night if—”
She opens the door.
“Claudia, you must let the police handle this.”
“My daughter called me and needs my help.”
“I know it’s hard to sit and wait—”
“But, please, can’t I go with you? I won’t be in the way! I can make food and answer the phone so you won’t have to worry about that.”
“Is there anyone who can stay here with you? A relative or a friend?”
“I don’t want anyone else here! I just want my Penny!”
34
dreambow
Erixson holds a map on his lap as well as a large folder he acquired by getting a messenger to deliver it to his hospital room. He’s cooling himself with a whirring face fan while Joona pushes him in his wheelchair through the hospital corridors.
His Achilles tendon has been sutured, and instead of a cast, his foot is fixed inside a special boot with toes pointing down. He mutters that all he needs is a ballet shoe on the other foot and he’ll be ready to perform Swan Lake.
Joona nods in a friendly way toward two elderly ladies sitting on a sofa and holding hands. They giggle, whisper to each other, and then wave at him as if they were schoolgirls.
“On the same morning they headed out on the boat,” Erixson was saying, “Björn bought an envelope and two stamps at Central Station. He had a receipt from Pressbyrån in his wallet, which we found on the boat. I forced the security company to send along the tape from the security camera. It really does look like he’s mailing a photograph, just as you’ve said all this time.”