Page 10 of The Sleepwalker (Joona Linna #10)
A light snow has started to fall as Nils Nordlund drives away from the conference centre and leaves the huge glass tower block behind.
Despite the anxious knot in his gut, he knows that this is something he needs to do – at least once – if he wants to save his marriage to Tina.
He drives slowly through a residential area, past large, brightly lit homes, but after just a few minutes, he reaches the last property. A hazy pool of light spills through the hedge, then the darkness takes over.
Nils slows down and switches his headlights to full beam.
In their bright glow, the narrow road looks like a dark red carpet stretching out in front of the car.
The pools of water in the potholes are covered in shimmering ice.
At the edges of the tunnel of light, he can see frosty grass and bare branches.
Nils passes a playground, and then the high fences surrounding the tennis courts come into view.
He slowly approaches a small, cream-coloured building with a deserted outdoor seating area and a shuttered ice cream kiosk. On the gable end, there is a sign that reads: WELCOME TO EDSVIKEN TENNIS CLUB .
The gravel crunches beneath his tyres as he turns off into the empty parking area and comes to a halt.
Nils checks the time. Five minutes to ten.
His heart starts pounding as a new wave of anxiety hits him, and he feels himself break out in a sweat.
He leans back, closes his eyes and tries to compose himself.
To bring his breathing under control. Maybe this isn’t for him after all, he thinks.
He could just admit that, say, ‘Sorry, Mikaela, but this isn’t going to work,’ and go on his way.
Then again, he’s here now. He might as well give it a chance.
It could be the start of something new, a turning point for him.
He peers out through the side window.
The only working streetlamp is behind the little building, half obscured by trees.
Beyond it, he can make out the tall reeds down by the shore and the empty marina.
In her last message, Mikaela gave him clear instructions: to park his car here, turn off the headlights, move over to the passenger side and tilt the seat back as far as it will go, then put on Roy Orbison’s Lonely and Blue and wait for her.
OK, he thinks as he gets out of the car.
It is bitterly cold outside, his breath forming clouds in the air. The only sound he can hear is the soft rustling of the wind in the reeds.
As Nils makes his way around the bonnet, he notices another car parked over by the fence surrounding the tennis courts.
He gets into the passenger seat and closes the door, tilts it back so far it is practically horizontal and then connects his phone to the car’s Bluetooth speaker. After finding the right album, he presses play.
Music fills the car, Roy Orbison’s distinctive voice singing about how only the lonely know how he feels tonight.
The screen of Nils’s phone goes to sleep, and he glances over to the other car by the tennis courts. He can’t see anyone through the dark windows, and has just started to wonder whether it might simply be parked there long-term when the flare of a match lights up the interior.
In the glow of the flame, he catches a glimpse of blonde hair, a pale hand and a fur collar.
A moment later, all he can see is the reddish tip of the cigarette, widening to an orb every time she draws smoke into her lungs.
Nils thinks about Mikaela’s profile picture. She had blurred out her face, but her body was beautiful. Spellbinding.
It is ten minutes past ten.
She’s probably just as nervous as he is, he thinks. Or maybe she simply wants to finish her cigarette first.
He turns towards the water and sees the wind rippling through the reeds down by the shore.
Roy Orbison is now singing about his baby going off with someone new.
Nils squints over to Mikaela’s car again, leaning closer to the window, but he can’t tell whether she is still inside.
The tennis net sways softly in the breeze.
From the corner of one eye, he notices a movement, and he turns his head. Something just passed through the edge of the circle of light on the other side of the kiosk.
Maybe it was a bird, he thinks. Or a deer.
He turns down the volume slightly, his eyes on the empty seating area and the swaying reeds.
Just as he is about to turn back to her car, there is a knock on the window. The shock makes him flinch. Nils hopes she didn’t notice and attempts to smile as he fumbles with the handle. The door swings open, and he gazes up at the dark figure outside.
She takes a step back from his car and half-turns towards the tennis courts.
‘It’s cold out,’ he says, shuffling over to make room for her when there is a sudden bang.
Steel on sheet metal and plastic.
The jolt reverberates through the car.
A sharp, heavy blade has appeared where his face was a second earlier.
Nils has no idea what is happening, but he scrambles away in panic.
Her axe swings through the air again, at a different angle this time. It hits the seat, causing the stuffing to spill out as she yanks it back.
His mobile phone clatters into the footwell.
Nils clambers over the gearstick into the driver’s seat.
The entire car shakes when the windscreen shatters.
Cubes of glass rain down on him as he pushes the door open and tumbles to the ground outside. He crawls away across the gravel and sees the woman coming around the car. He manages to get to his feet, but loses his balance and hits his head on the drainpipe on the side of the building.
Nils raises his left hand in an attempt to defend himself and ward her off. She swings the axe, and he ducks, but he feels a sharp blow to his knuckles and sees the heavy blade dig deep into the wall behind him.
He trips over a terracotta pot holding a dead plant, but manages to stay upright. His heart is pounding, and he can still hear Roy Orbison singing in the distance.
Nils tries to run down to the water, but his legs are so weak that he has to stop. A warm liquid hits his hip and ankle, followed by a searing pain in his arm, and he looks down and whimpers when he sees that half his hand is missing.
The blood is pumping out in agitated spurts.
He passes the only working streetlamp, moving as fast as he can, conscious of her footsteps behind him. After a moment or two, he breaks into a brief run, gasping in pain, and makes his way in among the tall, dense reeds.
It’s Tina, he thinks. She must have lured him into a trap, put on a disguise and come out here to mutilate him. To kill him.
Legs shaking, he keeps moving. The dry reeds give way, crunching as they snap beneath his feet.
Nils tries to protect his bleeding hand in his armpit, but even the slightest touch hurts so much that he groans loudly.
A dark bird flaps into the air in front of him.
He changes direction and sees the reeds slowly covering up his trail.
Crouching as low as he can, Nils keeps moving away from his car. Any minute now, he thinks, he’ll sit down and wait quietly until she gives up and goes away.
He keeps his hand raised, but he can feel the hot blood running down his forearm. Each jolt of pain is so bad that he almost passes out.
His heart is beating far too fast.
Nils changes direction again and steps on a thin layer of ice, which cracks loudly beneath his feet.
He turns around and sees the woman coming towards him through the reeds.
She is much closer than he had realised, and he panics and rushes out towards the water.
The ice breaks under his weight, and his feet get wet.
He’ll wade out to the rowing boat by the jetty instead, he thinks.
The freezing water envelops his shins.
The woman trudges after him with the axe resting on her shoulder.
He reaches the edge of the reeds and sees the light from the buildings on the other side of the water shimmering on the black ice.
Nils stops, panting for air. The water is above his knees now, the cold air clawing at his lungs. He tries to steady himself against the ice with his right hand, but it is as thin as a single pane of glass.
He can hear the woman’s heavy footsteps behind him and knows he needs to keep going, but all his strength has deserted him. The waves from her movements wash bloody water up onto the ice in front of him, and he just has time to start a prayer before she reaches him.