Lars Kepler - The Nightmare

“What happens next?”

“Before the housekeeper leaves that Wednesday, she helps Palmcrona fasten a noose to the ceiling fixture.”

Petter has to laugh. “What? Why would she do that?”

“Because he’d had back surgery and couldn’t reach up to do it himself,” Saga replies.

“Well, then,” Carlos says, and can’t help a small smile.

“The next day at lunch… after the mail had been delivered, we believe,” Joona continues, “Palmcrona calls a number in Bordeaux and-”

“We can’t trace the number beyond Bordeaux,” Saga adds.

“The number could have gone to an exchange and been sent on to another country, or even back to Sweden,” Joona explains. “Anyway, wherever it went in the end, the conversation was only forty-three seconds long. Perhaps he just left a voice message. We presume he told about the blackmail letter and expected help.

“Shortly thereafter, just a few minutes later, Palmcrona’s housekeeper uses Palmcrona’s name to call for a taxi from Taxi Stockholm. It is to arrive at two o’clock for a trip to Arlanda Airport. Exactly one hour and fifteen minutes after the Bordeaux conversation, the telephone rings. Palmcrona has already put on his overcoat and his good shoes, but still answers the phone. The phone call comes from Bordeaux and from the same number. This conversation lasts two minutes. Palmcrona sends one last e-mail to his blackmailer warning him it is now too late. They both will die. He gives his housekeeper permission to leave for the day, pays the waiting taxi for his trouble, goes into his apartment, and doesn’t even bother to take off his coat. He walks into the small salon, puts his briefcase on edge, climbs up, and hangs himself.”

Everyone at the table is quiet.

“But the story doesn’t end there,” Joona says slowly. “Palmcrona’s call has set things in motion. An international hit man is engaged. A professional killer is sent here to erase everything and get the photograph.”

“How often… I mean in Sweden… do we have to deal with professional killers?” Carlos says with skepticism. “There would have to be a great deal of money involved here.”

Joona looks at him without expression. “Correct.”

“Palmcrona must have been frightened and just rattled off the contents of the blackmail letter including the bank account number Bjorn had given him,” Saga says.

“With a bank account number, it’s not difficult to find anyone,” Verner mutters.

“At about the same time that Palmcrona is kicking away his briefcase, Bjorn Almskog is at the Dreambow Internet Cafe,” Joona says. “He goes into his anonymous account and sees that he’s gotten two messages from Palmcrona.”

“Of course he’s hoping that Palmcrona will come across with a million crowns,” Saga says.

“Instead, he is greeted by Palmcrona’s warning and then the short message that they’re both going to die,” adds Joona.

“And now they are both dead,” Pollock sighs.

“We almost can’t imagine how frightened Bjorn must have been,” Saga says. “He’s no professional blackmailer. He just took a chance at money when he saw it.”

“What does he do then?” Petter watches them with his mouth slightly open. Carlos pours some water for him.

“Bjorn regrets what he’s done and decides to send the photograph to Palmcrona and wash his hands of it,” Saga says.

“But Palmcrona is already dead when Bjorn writes that he’s giving up and sending the photograph to him,” Joona says.

“And there’s another problem. He doesn’t actually have it. The photograph is in Penelope’s apartment, taped to the glass door,” Saga says. “And Penelope knows nothing about the blackmail attempt.”

“He has to get the photograph without telling her anything,” Tommy Kofoed says, nodding.

“We have no idea how he’d try to explain it,” Saga says with a wry smile. “He was probably panicked, just wanted to put a stop to the whole thing, and hoped it would all blow over while they were hiding out on the boat in the archipelago.”

Joona gets up and looks out the window. A woman carrying a child in her arms is pushing a stroller filled with grocery bags down on the sidewalk.

“The next morning, Penelope gets a taxi to the television studio for a debate,” Saga continues. “As soon as she’s left, Bjorn enters her apartment, tears down the photograph, runs to the subway station at Slussen, takes a subway to the Central Station, buys an envelope and some stamps at the Pressbyran kiosk, and mails the photograph to Palmcrona. Then he runs to the Internet cafe and writes a note to Palmcrona to tell him that the photo has been sent. Bjorn then goes to his apartment and picks up his own and Penelope’s luggage for the trip, and goes to his boat, which is docked at the motorboat club harbor at Langholmen. When Penelope is through, she takes the subway from Karlaplan and apparently goes directly to Hornstull to walk the last stretch to Langholmen.”

“By now, the hit man has already ransacked Bjorn’s apartment and started a fire that has destroyed the entire floor.”

“But I’ve looked at that report,” Petter objects. “The fire inspectors said it was caused by an iron that was left on in the neighboring apartment.”

“I’m sure that’s exactly how it happened,” Joona says.

“Just as a gas explosion would be the official cause for the attempted fire in Penelope’s apartment,” Saga comments.

“The hit man’s plan was to obliterate any trace,” Joona continues. “When he did not find the photograph in Bjorn’s apartment, he burns everything and heads next to Bjorn’s boat.”

“He’s still searching for it,” Saga adds. “He plans to kill them both and disguise the murders in a boating ‘accident.’ ”

“What the hit man doesn’t know is that there has been a change in plan. Penelope’s sister, Viola, is also on the boat.”

Joona falls silent and thinks about the dead woman in the morgue. Her young, vulnerable face. The red mark across her chest.

Joona continues. “I believe the young people anchor at one of the islands around Jungfrufjarden close to Dalaro. Before the hit man arrives, Penelope and Bjorn have gone ashore for one reason or another. When the hit man climbs aboard, he mistakes Viola for her sister. He drowns her in a tub and puts her in the bed of the main cabin. He has to wait for Bjorn, and while he does that, he must have searched for the photograph. Since it’s not there, he occupies himself by completing the arrangement to have the boat explode. You have Erixson’s report on that. We are not sure what happens next, but somehow Bjorn and Penelope escape.”

“And the boat with Viola Fernandez on board is set adrift.”

“We don’t know how or where they run, but by Monday they’re on Kymmendo.”

Benny smiles. “At Ossian Wallenberg’s place? He was a good television MC, but I always had the feeling he wasn’t a good fit for this country.”

Carlos clears his throat and pours more coffee.

“When the hit man realizes he’s lost them, he goes to Penelope’s apartment to continue the search for the photograph,” Joona continues. “Erixson and I show up and foil his plan. Only when I’m facing him do I realize that we have a grob, an international hit man.”

“We’ve decided he’s able to tap into our police communications,” Saga says.

“Is that how he found Bjorn and Penelope on Kymmendo?” asks Petter.

“We’re not sure,” Joona answers.

“He’s very quick,” Saga says. “Apparently he went to Dalaro to search for Bjorn and Penelope soon after he escaped from Penelope’s apartment.”

“Why do you assume this hit man is working alone?” asks Carlos.