Joona Linna Crime Series Books 1 and 2: The Hypnotist, The Nightmare. Lars Kepler

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       12

       tuesday, december 8: morning

      Erik slowly opens his eyes to the pale light pressing against the curtains. He rolls over with a grunt and glances at the alarm clock; two hours have passed. Immediately, his mind begins to replay the images from the night before: Simone’s angry face as she made her accusations, the boy lying there with hundreds of black knife wounds covering his glowing body.

      Erik thinks of the detective, who seemed convinced that the perpetrator had wanted to murder an entire family: first the father, then the mother, the son, and the daughter.

      An older daughter is out there somewhere, in extreme danger, if Joona Linna is right.

      The telephone on the bedside table begins to ring.

      Erik gets up, but instead of answering he opens the curtains and peers across at the façade of the building opposite, trying to gather his thoughts. The dust glazing the windowpanes is clearly visible in the morning sunshine.

      Simone has already left for the gallery. He doesn’t understand her outburst, why she was talking about Daniella. He wonders if it’s about something else altogether: the drugs, maybe. He knows he’s very close to a serious dependency on them, but he has to sleep. All the night shifts at the hospital have ruined his ability to sleep naturally. Without pills he would go under, he thinks. He reaches for the alarm clock but manages to knock it on the floor instead.

      The telephone stops, but is silent for only a little while before it starts ringing again.

      He considers going into Benjamin’s room and lying down beside his son, waking him gently, asking if he’s been dreaming about anything. He picks up the telephone and answers.

      “Hi, it’s Daniella Richards.”

      “Are you still at the hospital? It’s quarter past eight.”

      “I know. I’m exhausted.”

      “Go home.”

      “No chance,” says Daniella calmly. “You have to come back. That detective is on his way. He seems even more convinced that the perpetrator is after the older sister. He says he has to talk to the boy.”

      Erik feels a sudden dark weight behind his eyes. “That’s a bad idea, given his condition.”

      “I know. But what about the sister?” she interrupts him. “I’m considering giving the detective the go-ahead to question Josef.”

      “It’s your patient. If you think he can cope with it,” says Erik.

      “Cope? Of course he can’t cope with it. His condition is critical. His family has been murdered, and he’ll find out about it under questioning from a policeman. But I can’t just sit and wait. I don’t want to let the police at him, but there’s no doubt that his sister is in danger.”

      “It’s your call,” Erik says again.

      “A murderer is looking for his older sister!” Daniella breaks in, raising her voice.

      “Presumably.”

      “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m in such a state about this,” she says. “Maybe because it isn’t too late. Something could actually be done. I mean, it isn’t often the case, but this time we could save a girl before she—”

      “What do you want from me?” asks Erik.

      “You have to come in and do what you’re good at.”

      Erik pauses, then answers carefully. “I can talk to the boy about what’s happened when he’s feeling a little better.”

      “That’s not what I mean. I want you to hypnotise him,” she says seriously.

      “No.”

      “It’s the only way.”

      “I can’t. I won’t.”

      “But there’s nobody as good as you.”

      “I don’t even have permission to practise hypnosis at Karolinska.”

      “I can arrange that.”

      “Daniella,” Erik says, “I’ve promised never to hypnotise anyone again.”

      “Can’t you just come in?”

      There is silence for a little while; then Erik asks, “Is he conscious?”

      “He soon will be.”

      He can hear the rushing sound of his own breathing through the telephone.

      “If you won’t hypnotise the boy, I’m going to let the police see him.” She ends СКАЧАТЬ