Page 15 of The Sleepwalker (Joona Linna #10)

The press conference at the Police Authority building has been underway for forty-five minutes when the spokesperson finally opens the floor to questions.

The air in the room is stale, heavy with the scent of coffee, gingerbread and damp coats.

Microphones from the various television and radio stations have been set up on the table at the front of the room where Detective Superintendent Joona Linna is sitting between Noah Hellman and a tall woman in a pair of red glasses.

Noah gets up and jogs over to the podium. He runs a hand through his hair and gazes out at the assembled media with a slight smile. The head of the NCU isn’t in uniform. Instead, he is dressed casually, in trainers, jeans and a grey T-shirt over a red long-sleeved top.

As ever, Agneta was taken to one side to be searched when she arrived, and while she was waiting in the lobby, a journalist from TV4 came over and told her not to stand around doing nothing after someone spilled coffee on one of the tables.

Agneta didn’t say a word, just went through to the ladies’ toilet and grabbed some paper towels to mop up the mess.

She is now sitting towards the front of the room, on the right-hand side. She has attended two police conferences previously, for the true crime pod she does work for, but she feels different this time. Slightly nervous.

On the whole, many of the grand ideas cooked up late at night – fuelled by a glass of wine or two – never survive to see the pale light of day, but when Agneta went down to the kitchen that morning, she found the table covered in sticky notes.

The first row summarised the press coverage of the case, the second all of the information the Police Authority had released so far, and the third focused on their exclusive knowledge of Hugo.

‘I haven’t lost my marbles,’ Bernard had said, beaming at her. ‘But I really do think we could be on to something here!’

‘Writing a book together, you mean?’

‘Yes, it’s perfect,’ he said as he loaded a tray of scones into the oven.

‘Because of Hugo, first and foremost. Because we’re able to tell his story from the inside .

.?. But there’s also the fact that you’re an accomplished crime journalist – even if you haven’t been given credit for it – and my experience as an author, that I can actually write pretty well when I put my mind to it. ’

Bernard had tentatively broached the topic with Hugo in the car home from Olga’s apartment the night before. Hugo had been drowsy from his medication, but when Bernard promised to give him a veto over anything that might one day be published, he had given his father the green light.

An Aftonbladet journalist with a bloated face and white stubble gets up from his chair and sniffs loudly.

‘From what you’ve said, it sounds like the two murders are connected,’ he says.

‘You know what I’m going to say,’ Noah replies with a smile. ‘That’s something we’re looking into.’

‘Still, it seems pretty likely that two axe murders in the space of four days .?.?.’

‘As I say, that’s something we’re looking into,’ Noah repeats, pointing to a woman from the TT News Agency, who raises her hand.

‘Is this part of the escalating violence we’ve seen between the various criminal networks over the past year?’ the man from Aftonbladet continues.

‘As things stand, there’s nothing to suggest that, but we’re exploring every angle,’ says Noah.

‘What other possible motive could there be?’ the journalist asks, sniffing loudly again.

‘I’m afraid I can’t speculate on an ongoing investigation – that’s your job,’ Noah says with disarming bluntness.

Before the laughter has completely died down, Agneta raises her hand. She manages to catch Noah’s eye just as the man from Aftonbladet claims that he has a source who says the victims were sexually abused.

‘I can’t comment on the investigation in question,’ says Noah, pointing to the woman from TT again.

‘You had a suspect in custody,’ she begins, breathing heavily through her half-open mouth.

‘According to the tabloids.’

‘According to our sources, he has since been released. Has he been cleared, or does he remain a suspect?’

‘He was in custody at the time of the second murder,’ Noah replies.

‘But he was arrested at the scene of the first. Does that mean he is actually a witness?’

‘I see you’re still pretending not to understand that the principle of secrecy applies to preliminary investigations,’ Noah says with a smile.

‘Just doing my job,’ she retorts.

‘And mine is to round off and thank you all for coming today.’

‘One last question,’ Agneta speaks up, getting to her feet.

‘OK.’

The beta blocker she took half an hour ago is keeping her heart rate calm and her breathing even, but Agneta still feels butterflies in her stomach.

‘Isn’t it true that the witness you just mentioned was a minor, and was remanded in custody on fairly shaky grounds?’ she asks in a steady voice. ‘That a search was carried out at his home and that he sustained injuries while in custody, because you didn’t take his diagnosis seriously, and—’

‘If he sustained injuries while in custody, that is unfortunate. That sort of thing should not happen .?.?. And if it did, there’ll be an internal investigation,’ Noah explains, with warmth in his voice.

‘But as far as the legal process is concerned, we follow established protocol – as we must – even if that does occasionally mean that innocent people spend a few days in custody.’

‘There has already been another murder,’ Agneta presses him. ‘And I’m assuming you plan to question the witness about what he saw, but—’

‘He’s already been questioned.’

‘Only as a suspect,’ she says. ‘My question is how you aim to protect him if he helps you.’

‘Given that he’s over fifteen, he has a legal obligation to testify.’

‘But in reality, surely it’s a matter of mutual trust?’

‘I hope we all trust in the police’s ability to do their job,’ Noah says with a wave as he leaves the podium.

The press spokeswoman takes over to wrap up the session, and Agneta sits down.

Before she left home that morning, Bernard had encouraged her to record the entire press conference and then stay behind to jot down her immediate thoughts.

As the chattering journalists file out of the room, she writes a few words about feeling slightly offended when the others talked about Hugo, about the sweat she saw dripping from the tip of Noah’s nose and landing with a soft crackle on the microphone beneath him, and the fact that Joona Linna didn’t say an entire word, despite the fact that his boss seemed to be desperate for him to speak up several times.

She quickly turns to a clean page in her notepad when she notices the detective approaching between the chairs.

‘You’re Agneta Nkomo, aren’t you?’ asks Joona.

‘Is it true that the victims were sexually abused?’

‘No, there was no indication of that.’

‘OK, thank you.’

‘I actually have a meeting scheduled with Hugo tomorrow,’ says Joona, turning a chair around and sitting down.

‘You could have mentioned that during the press conference.’

‘I didn’t want to draw attention to him.’

‘Shouldn’t he be given witness protection?’

‘We can look into it, but I’m afraid it’s a pretty convoluted process – just so you know. The key thing right now is that you’re careful. No posting on social media about what he’s doing, where he is, and so on.’

‘Should I be worried? Is he under threat?’

‘We’re not aware of anything concrete, but he is our only witness and as you say, we haven’t interviewed him yet.’

‘So you think he might be able to help you?’

‘You never know, but I just can’t drop the thought that Hugo should be able to remember the things he saw while he was sleepwalking – given that he’s capable of opening doors, following roads, getting through gates, and so on,’ says Joona.

‘I see what you mean .?.?. but it’s not always clear-cut,’ she replies.

‘All I know is that when he sleepwalked when was younger, we used to try just to steer him back into bed, but sometimes he resisted. There were times when he almost started to panic, when he was convinced he needed to escape .?.?. And if we accidentally woke him up, he would remember things in that moment. But if you asked him about them later, they were gone.’

‘So the memories are there, but he loses contact with them?’

‘The same thing happened last night. He started sleepwalking at his girlfriend’s place,’ Agneta explains. ‘She woke him up as he was trying to climb over the balcony railing, and apparently he was talking about the caravan.’

‘What did he say?’

‘I don’t know. Hugo can’t remember, and we don’t really know her .?.?. We don’t know her at all, in fact.’