Page 1 of The Sleepwalker (Joona Linna #10)

The silvery light from the heavy sky shimmers in the restless rings on the puddles, in the water dripping from the roof and the overflowing zinc washtub.

Mother is standing in the middle of the yard, between Grandpa’s rusty old car and the woodshed. Her blonde hair is sopping wet, her bra and jeans soaked through.

The pouring rain mixes with the fresh blood still weeping from her wounds, rinsing it away almost as quickly as it appears.

That morning, she grabbed a knife and slashed herself all over, then tossed the blade to the floor and left the house barefoot.

The boy peers out onto the porch and studies the bloody door knob, the peeling wallpaper, the knife and the empty bottle of vodka between his father’s rubber boots.

Mother spent all night talking to the jerry can in the car and the axe in the woodshed, screaming at them and pleading with the heavens to send his father home.

The boy turns back into his room and watches her through the window. The rain is now lashing down on the tin roof and the window ledge in front of him.

The gutters are clogged with old leaves, and they quickly overflow.

The plastic-coated cable around the boy’s left wrist is attached to a handrail that has been screwed to the ceiling, allowing him to move freely around his room. He can lie down in bed, stand by the window and play with his toys on the floor.

He has a troll with bright orange hair, pointed like a flame, a bendy Pink Panther and an American police car with lights that flashed blue the week he first got it.

With the cable around his wrist, he can go out onto the porch and use the toilet, but he can’t reach the front door. If he stretches as far as he can, until his wrist burns and his shoulder aches, he can see the broken floor in the kitchen.

His mother disappears into the woodshed and re-emerges with the axe. She stands still for a moment beside the heap of old tyres and rusty engines, head bowed. The glow of the neon Ford sign illuminates the raindrops behind her.

She lifts her chin and slowly turns around. She points at him in the window, then starts striding towards the house.