Lars Kepler - The Nightmare

“Probably a suicide,” answers Petter quickly.

“There’s no need to make snap judgments,” Carlos says as he helps himself to a slice of sugar cake. “But I wanted to bring it up.”

“Anything else?”

“We had a request from the police in West Gotaland,” Carlos says. “The form is on the table.”

“I won’t be able to take it on,” Pollock says.

“I know how busy you are,” Carlos says, slowly sweeping crumbs from the table. “Let’s skip to the other end of the agenda: recruiting someone for the NHS.”

Benny Rubin looks around with a sharp glance and explains that the leadership is aware of the heavy workload, and they therefore, as a first step, have allocated funds for expanding the Commission by one fulltime position.

“What does everyone think?” Carlos asks.

“Shouldn’t Joona Linna be here?” asks Tommy Kofoed. He leans forward and takes one of the wrapped sandwiches.

“I’m not sure he’ll make it,” Carlos says.

“What about a bite before we get into this?” says Elton, reaching for the tray.

Tommy Kofoed methodically unwraps the plastic from his salmon sandwich, peels back the bread, plucks off a sprig of dill, squeezes lemon juice over the salmon, and reassembles his sandwich.

Suddenly the door to the meeting room swings open and Joona Linna steps in. His short-cut blond hair stands straight up.

“Syo tilli, pojat,” he says in Finnish.

“That’s right!” Nathan Pollock laughs. “Eat your dill, boys!”

Nathan and Joona grin at each other. Tommy Kofoed’s cheeks turn red and he shakes his head with a smile.

“Tilli.” Nathan Pollock repeats the Finnish word and laughs out loud as Joona walks past Tommy and sticks the dill back onto his sandwich.

“Let’s get back to the meeting,” says Petter.

Joona shakes hands with Nathan, then takes an empty chair, slinging his black jacket over the back as he sits down.

“Please pardon my being late,” he says.

“Let me welcome you as a guest of this meeting,” says Carlos. “We were just bringing up recruiting. I believe I’ll hand the floor over to Nathan.”

“All right, and I want everyone to know that I’m not alone in this,” Nathan Pollock begins. “Rather… we’re all in agreement. Joona, we’re hoping that you’ll come on board with us.”

The room falls silent. Niklas Dent and Erik Eriksson nod. Petter Naslund is a dark silhouette in the backlight.

“We’d really like to have you,” Tommy Kofoed ventures.

“I appreciate the offer,” Joona answers as he runs his hand over his hair. “You’re hardworking guys, and you’ve proved your mettle. I respect your work…”

Everyone around the table smiles.

“But as for me… I just can’t be tied down to your strict methodology. To any strict method of investigation,” he explains.

“We know, we understand,” Kofoed says quickly. “The way we work is a little rigid, but it’s shown…”

Kofoed falls silent.

“We just wanted to ask,” says Nathan Pollock.

“It’s just not the way I work,” Joona explains.

To a man, they look down at the table; someone nods. Joona’s cell phone rings and he excuses himself to answer it. He stands up from the table and leaves the room. A minute later he returns and slides his jacket off the chair.

“Sorry. I would like to stay, but-”

“Something serious?” asks Carlos.

“That was John Bengtsson from Routine Patrol,” Joona says. “He’s just found Carl Palmcrona.”

“Found?” asks Carlos.

“Hanged,” Joona answers. His eyes gleam like gray glass.

“Who is Palmcrona?” asks Nathan Pollock. “I can’t place the name.”

“He’s the general director for ISP,” Tommy Kofoed says quickly. “He makes the final decisions on Swedish arms exports.”

“Isn’t everything at ISP classified?” asks Carlos.

“True,” Kofoed answers.

“So let the guys at Sapo take it.”

“I’ve just promised Bengtsson I’d come in person,” Joona answers. “There’s something not quite right about the scene.”

“What?” Carlos asks.

“He said… well, I really have to see it myself.”

“Sounds interesting,” Tommy Kofoed says. “Can I come?”

“If you want,” Joona answers.

“I’ll come, too, then,” Pollock says swiftly.

Carlos tries to remind them about the meeting in progress but sees it is pointless as the three men get up and walk out into the cool hallway.

Twenty minutes later, Detective Inspector Joona Linna parks his black Volvo on Strandvagen and gets out to wait for his colleagues from the National Criminal Investigation Department. They pull up moments later in a silver-gray Lincoln Town Car and together they walk around the corner and enter the building at Grevgatan 2.

While they ride the ancient, rattling elevator to the top, Tommy Kofoed asks what information Joona’s already been given.

“The National Inspectorate of Strategic Products had put out a bulletin that Palmcrona was missing,” Joona says. “He has no family and none of his colleagues knew him socially, but when he didn’t show up for work, the police were asked to investigate. John Bengtsson went to Palmcrona’s apartment and found him hanging. But he’s not sure it’s a suicide.”

Nathan Pollock’s weather-beaten face frowns in concentration.

“Why does he suspect something’s wrong?”

The elevator stops and Joona slides the gate open. Bengtsson is waiting at the door of the apartment.

“This is Tommy Kofoed and Nathan Pollock from the CID,” Joona says.

They shake hands quietly.

“So the door was unlocked when I arrived,” John tells them. “I heard music and found Palmcrona hanging in one of the large rooms. Over the years, I’ve cut down a number of people, but this time… I mean… perhaps it is suicide, but given Palmcrona’s position in society, I thought I’d better check it all out.”

“You did the right thing to call,” Joona agrees.

“Checked out the body?” Tommy asks in his sullen fashion.

“I didn’t even enter the room,” John replies.

“Good,” Kofoed mumbles, and he begins to lay protective mats on the floor.

Minutes later, Joona and Nathan Pollock are able to walk into the hallway. John Bengtsson is waiting for them next to a blue sofa. He points toward the double doors that are ajar and reveal a well-lit room. Joona continues walking across the protective mats and pushes the doors wide open.

Warm sunshine pours into the room through high windows. Carl Palmcrona is hanging in the center of the spacious room. Flies creep over his white face and into his eye sockets and open mouth to lay their small, yellowish eggs. They buzz around the pool of urine as well as the sleek black briefcase on the floor. The narrow laundry line has cut into Palmcrona’s throat, forming a deep red furrow. Blood has flowed out and down his shirtfront.

“Executed,” Tommy Kofoed declares as he pulls on protective gloves.

Every trace of sullenness has vanished, and he smiles as he goes down on his knees to begin photographing the hanging body.

“We’ll probably find injuries to the cervical vertebra,” Pollock says pointing.

Joona glances up at the ceiling and back to the floor.

“Obviously it’s a statement,” Kofoed says triumphantly and keeps the flashing camera focused on the corpse. “I mean, the killer didn’t bother to hide the body but wants to say something instead.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Bengtsson exclaims just as eagerly. “The room is empty and there are no chairs or ladders to climb on.”

“So the question is, what does the killer want to say?” Tommy Kofoed says as he lowers the camera to peer at the body. “Hanging is connected to treason and betrayal. Think of Judas Iscariot who-”