The Nightmare

by Lars Kepler

  “How nice.”

  “Maybe you could …”

  Robert falls silent and looks at his brother. Then he changes the subject.

  “That girl in the room upstairs—”

  “Her name is Beverly.”

  “How long is she going to be living here?”

  “I don’t know,” Axel says. “I’ve promised her that she can stay until she finds a student apartment.”

  “You always want to rescue birds with broken wings.”

  “She’s not a bird, she’s a human being,” Axel says.

  Axel opens the tall French doors to his own apartment and watches the reflection of his face glide past on the curved glass surfaces as he steps inside. Once behind the curtain, he silently observes his brother. He watches Robert get up from his lounge chair, scratch his stomach, and walk down the stairs from the terrace to the small garden and workshop. As soon as Robert is gone, Axel returns to his room and gently wakes up Beverly, who is still asleep with her mouth wide open.

  The National Inspectorate of Strategic Products is a government agency that was established in 1996 to take over responsibility for all matters concerning arms exports and dual-usage items. Its offices are on the sixth floor of a salmon-pink building located at Klarabergs Viaduct 90. After riding up in the elevator, Axel sees that Jörgen Grünlicht is already waiting for him, nodding impatiently. Grünlicht is a tall man with a blotchy face: irregular patterns of white patches contrast with his reddish skin.

  Grünlicht slips his identification card in and keys in the code to admit Axel. They walk to Carl Palmcrona’s office. It’s a corner suite with two huge windows overlooking a cityscape of southbound roads behind Central Station and across from Lake Klara and the dark rectangle of city hall.

  Despite its exclusive location, there’s something austere about the ISP offices. The floors are laid with synthetic carpet and the furniture is simple and neutral in pine and white—its neutrality almost an intentional reminder of the morally dubious nature of arms exports, Axel thinks with a shudder. This is the national agency entrusted with the responsibility of making sure that Swedish weapons do not wind up in war zones and dictatorships. But Axel can’t help feeling that under Carl Palmcrona’s directorship, the ISP began to drift off course. It was less inclined to cooperate with the United Nations, and more likely to behave like the proactive Export Council. Axel is not a pacifist. He is well aware that arms exports are vital for Sweden’s balance of trade. But he believes that the Swedish neutrality policy must be protected as well.

  He looks around Palmcrona’s office. Being there so soon after his death feels macabre.

  A high-pitched whine is being emitted from the light system in the ceiling. It sounds like an inharmonious overtone from a piano. Axel remembers he once heard the same overtone on a recording of John Cage’s first sonata.

  Closing the door behind them, Grünlicht asks Axel to take a seat. He appears tense in spite of his welcoming smile.

  “Good that you could come so quickly,” he says, handing over the folder with the contract.

  “Of course.”

  “Go ahead and read through it,” Grünlicht says as he sweeps his hand over the desk.

  Axel sits in a straight-backed chair and puts the folder back down on the desk. He then looks up.

  “I’ll take a look at it and get back to you next week.”

  “It’s a very good contract, but this offer won’t last forever.”

  “I know you’re in a rush.”

  He looks at Grünlicht’s pale, expectant face.

  Axel knows there is no one in this country with a track record that can equal his own. This is perhaps the greatest argument for him to take the position. If he says yes, it will enable him to prevent some idiot from getting control over arms exports. He can stay committed to limiting the spread of weapons—and stay in Sweden with Beverly.

  Grünlicht leans forward and says, with a shadow of guilt in his voice, “I know I’m pushing you, Axel, and I’m sorry for that. But the situation is a bit urgent. Palmcrona left several urgent matters hanging, and the companies are about to lose their deals, and—”

  “Why doesn’t the government take over for the time being?”

  “Sure,” Grünlicht says with a thin smile. “They can certainly take over, but they would still need advice, preferably from you.”

  Silence fills the room. It’s as if feathers were falling all around them.

  “I hear what you’re saying,” says Axel slowly. “But I’m still …”

  Grünlicht slides the folder directly in front of Axel. “I just got off the phone with the prime minister. He asked if you were on board. You really should look at the agreement we’ve produced for you. It’s a pretty—”

  “I believe you,” says Axel, “but you should know that I’ve been sick.”

  “Who has not?”

  “I mean, I have—”

  “We know all about it,” says Grünlicht.

  Axel lowers his eyes. “Of course.”

  “But we also know that the problems are a thing of the past. ISP is an authority based on trust. You have worked against the flow of weapons to war zones, and that is precisely what ISP stands for. There is only one name at the top of the government’s list—and it is yours.”

  As Axel reaches for the agreement, he wonders if it is possible that they know everything about him—except for Beverly.

  Opening the folder, he tries to push away the gut feeling that this is a gold-plated trap.

  He reads through the contract carefully. It’s very good, almost too good. Often he feels a slight blush as he reads through it.

  “Welcome aboard,” Grünlicht says, as he hands Axel a pen.

  Axel thanks him and signs his name. He stands up, turns his back to Grünlicht, and looks out the window. The three crowns of city hall are erased by the haze.

  “Not a bad view, is it? Better than mine from the Foreign Office,” says Grünlicht over his shoulder.

  Axel turns toward him as he continues.

  “You’ve got three cases at the moment. The one with Kenya is under the greatest time pressure. It’s a big, important piece of business. I advise you to look at it right away. Carl has already done the preliminary work, so …”

  Grünlicht falls silent and pushes another document toward him. He watches Axel closely with a strange gleam in his eye. Axel has the feeling that if Grünlicht could, he’d put the pen in Axel’s hand and hold it there while he signs.

  “You’ll be a fine replacement for Carl.”

  Without waiting for an answer, Grünlicht heads out of the door. “Meeting with the expert group this afternoon at three,” he calls as he goes.

  Axel is left standing alone in the room. A heavy silence descends around him. He sits back down at the desk and begins to glance through the document that Carl Palmcrona had left unsigned behind him. It seems perfectly well-prepared. It deals with the export of one and a quarter million units of 5.56 × 45 millimeter ammunition to Kenya. The Export Control Committee had voted for a positive recommendation. Palmcrona’s preliminary decision had also been positive. Silencia Defense AB was a well-known, established firm. But without this last step of the general director’s signature on the permission form, the actual export could not take place.

  Axel leans back and suddenly Palmcrona’s mysterious words come back to him: I’ll pull an Algernon so I won’t reap my nightmare.

  43

  a cloned computer

  Göran Stone smiles at Joona Linna, removes an envelope from his briefcase, opens it, and holds out a key in his cupped palm. Saga Bauer stands right next to the elevator, looking downcast. All three of them are outside the apartment of Carl Palmcrona at Grevgatan 2.

  “Our technicians come tomorrow,” Göran says.

  “Do you know what time?” asks Joona.

  “What time, Saga?” asks Göran.

  “I believe—”

  “Believe? You should know exactly,” G�
�ran says.

  “At ten o’clock,” Saga says in a low voice.

  “And did you give them my orders to start with the Internet and telephone system?”

  “Yes, I—”

  Göran silences her with a wave of his hand as his phone rings. He takes a few steps down the stairs to answer, stepping into a niche next to the window with reddish brown panes.

  Joona turns to Saga and asks quietly, “Aren’t you in charge of this case?”

  Saga shakes her head.

  “What happened?” he asks.

  “Don’t know,” she says in a tired voice. “It always happens this way. Counterterrorism isn’t even Göran’s specialty.”

  “So what are you going to do about it?”

  “There’s nothing to do …”

  She falls silent as Göran finishes his phone call and returns to where they’re standing. Saga suddenly holds out her hand for the key to Palmcrona’s door.

  “I want the key,” she says.

  “What?”

  “I’m in charge of this investigation,” she states firmly.

  “What do you say about all this?” Göran says jokingly as he smiles at Joona.

  “This is nothing against you, Göran,” Joona says. “But I was just in a meeting with the higher-ups and I accepted an offer to work under Saga Bauer—”

  “Oh, she can come along,” Göran says hastily.

  “As the one in charge of the investigation,” Saga says again.

  “Are you guys trying to get rid of me—or what the hell is this all about?” Göran says, looking both surprised and injured.

  “Well, you can come along, if you want,” Joona answers calmly.

  Saga takes the key from Göran’s hand.

  “I’m going to call Verner,” Göran says as he heads back down the stairs.

  They listen to his footsteps and then how he speaks to his boss. The tone rises and his voice sounds increasingly upset until they hear him yell “Fucking cunt!” until it echoes.

  Saga tries to stifle a smile as she turns to focus on the job. She puts the key in the lock, turns it twice, and opens the heavy door.

  The police tape banning access to the apartment has been removed now that there no longer is any suspicion of a crime having been committed. The investigation was halted as soon as Nils Åhlén’s autopsy report was concluded. As Joona had suspected, it confirmed a suicide: Carl Palmcrona hanged himself using a laundry line made into a noose and hung from the ceiling lamp of his home. The crime scene investigation was broken off and no analysis was performed on any evidence sent to the National Forensic Laboratory in Linköping.

  But now it had been revealed that the day before, Björn Almskog had sent him an e-mail.

  Later that same evening, Viola Fernandez had been killed on Björn Almskog’s boat.

  Saga and Joona walk into the hallway and notice there’s been no mail delivery. They walk through the large rooms. Sunlight floods in through the windows and the smell of green soap lingers in the air. The red tin roof of the building across the street reflects the light, and from the bay window they can see the shimmering waters of Nybroviken Bay.

  The forensic technician’s protective mats have been removed and the floor underneath the ceiling lamp in the empty salon has been scrubbed.

  They step lightly across the creaking parquet floor. There seems to be no lasting impression of Palmcrona’s suicide. Now the place appears merely uninhabited. Joona and Saga both feel that the large rooms, almost empty of furniture, are now filled with a quiet sense of peace.

  “The housekeeper’s still taking care of the place,” Saga says as she realizes what’s behind the change.

  “Exactly,” Joona says and then smiles. The housekeeper has been there to clean the apartment, air out the rooms, carry in the mail, and change the linens.

  Both of them understand that this is not unusual after a sudden death. People refuse to accept that their lives are going to change. Instead, they keep on with the old routine.

  The doorbell rings. Saga looks a little concerned, but she follows Joona back to the hallway. The outer door is opened by a man with a shaved head and dressed in a black, baggy tracksuit.

  “Joona told me to toss my hamburger aside and get over here pronto,” says Johan.

  “This is Johan Jönson from our computer tech division,” Joona explains.

  “Joona drive car,” Johan says with an exaggerated Finnish accent. “Road swerve, Joona no swerve.”

  “Saga Bauer is an investigator with Säpo’s security department,” Joona continues.

  “We work, we no talk, right?” asks Johan Jönson.

  “Cut that out,” says Saga.

  “We have to look at Palmcrona’s computer,” Joona says. “How long will it take?”

  They start walking toward Palmcrona’s home office.

  “You want to use it as evidence?” asks Johan.

  “Yes,” says Joona.

  “So you want me to copy the data?” asks Johan.

  “How long will it take?” Joona repeats.

  “You’ll have time to tell a few jokes to our colleague from Säpo,” Johan answers without moving.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Saga asks, irritated.

  “By the way, are you dating anyone?” Johan asks with a shy smile.

  Saga looks Johan straight in the eye and makes a definite nod. Johan looks down and mumbles something before he quickly follows Joona into Carl Palmcrona’s office.

  Joona borrows a pair of protective gloves from Saga and flips through the mail in the in-box on the desk but doesn’t see anything special. There’s not much to see. A few letters from the bank and the accountant, some information from the governmental offices, test results from a back specialist at Sophia Hospital, and the minutes of the spring condo association meeting with ballot results.

  They go back into the room where soft music had surrounded the hanging body. Joona sits down on a Carl Malmsten sofa and carefully waves his hand across the narrow ray of ice-blue light emanating from the music system. At once, the music of a single violin starts streaming through the speakers. A fragile melody sounds in the highest register, but carrying the temperament of a nervous bird.

  Joona looks at his watch and then leaves Saga by the music system to walk back to the home office. Johan Jönson is no longer there. He’s sitting with his own computer at the kitchen table.

  “Did it work?” asks Joona.

  “What?”

  “Could you copy Palmcrona’s data?”

  “Of course. This is an exact copy,” Johan answers as if the very question is incomprehensible.

  Joona walks around the table to look at the monitor.

  “And his e-mail?”

  Johan opens the program.

  “Ta-da!” he says.

  “We’ll go through everything from the past week,” Joona continues.

  “Let’s start with the in-box.”

  “Yes, let’s.”

  “Do you think Saga likes me?” Johan asks.

  “No,” Joona says.

  “Love often begins with an argument.”

  “So try pulling her hair.” Joona grins and then he points at the screen. Johan opens the in-box and smiles.

  “Jackpot!” he says in English. “Voitto!” he adds in Finnish.

  Joona sees three messages from skunk@hotmail.com.

  “Open them,” he says.

  Johan clicks on the first one and instantly Björn Almskog’s e-mail covers the entire screen.

  “Jesus Christ Superstar,” whispers Johan in English.

  44

  the e-mails

  Saga Bauer comes up behind Joona and Johan as they read the e-mail through again.

  “Find something?” she asks.

  The men nod and keep reading.

  “Let’s see the next,” Joona says, and Johan eagerly clicks on another e-mail from skunk@hotmail.com. They read it through twice, and repeat the routine one last time as Saga
tries to read over Joona’s shoulder.

  “So you can see,” says Joona at last, “on the second of June, Carl Palmcrona received a blackmail letter sent by Björn Almskog from an anonymous e-mail address.”

  “So that’s what this is about: blackmail,” Saga says.

  “But I’m not sure that’s the whole story,” Joona replies.

  He then reports what he has found out about Carl Palmcrona’s final days.

  On June 2, Palmcrona and Gerald James of the Technical-Scientific Advisory Committee had gone to the munitions factory of Silencia Defense in Trollhättan. That morning, he’d received an e-mail from Björn Almskog, but had probably not read it until evening, because he did not reply until six twenty-five. In his reply, Palmcrona warns the extortionist of terrible consequences.

  At lunchtime the next day, not having heard back from Björn, Palmcrona sends a second e-mail to Björn, this time saying that he’s resigned to the consequences he’d warned of earlier. It was at that point that he’d probably attached the noose to the ceiling lamp and had asked his housekeeper to leave him in peace. Once she’d gone, he’d turned on the music, walked into the smaller salon, placed his briefcase on end, climbed onto it to put the noose around his neck, and then kicked the briefcase away.

  It was after Palmcrona’s death that Björn’s second e-mail arrived in Palmcrona’s in-box, and the day after that, a final e-mail.

  Joona sets the five e-mails in sequence on the table, so that he and Saga can read through the entire correspondence.

  The first e-mail from Björn Almskog is dated Wednesday, June 2, at 11:37 a.m.:

  Dear Mr. Palmcrona

  I am writing to inform you that I’ve come into possession of an awkward original photograph. It shows you sitting in a private box and drinking champagne with Raphael Guidi. Since I understand that this photograph could bring trouble to you, I am willing to sell it to you for the sum of one million crowns. As soon as you place the money in transit account 837-9 222701730, the photograph will be sent to your home address and all correspondence will be deleted.

  Greetings from a “skunk”