Page 86 of The Sleepwalker (Joona Linna #10)
Joona turns off into the bay at a sharp angle, moving parallel to the ice. The searchlight on the RIB sweeps through the blizzard, towards the row of lakefront villas, flashing in broken windows and illuminating exposed beams, fallen trees and the debris of broken garden furniture and boats.
Aggressive clouds of snow blow across the dark ice.
He spots Bernard’s house up ahead, followed a moment later by three figures on the ice. Joona reaches for his pistol and tries to get a clear shot. The bow of the RIB breaks through another wave, and water crashes over Joona before the hull slams back down.
*?*?*
Bernard adjusts his grip on the axe and starts moving towards Agneta. She backs away from him in confusion, swaying when a gust of wind hits her.
He comes to a halt and raises the axe, studying her without emotion, like a predator watching its wounded prey.
Without warning, he swings the axe towards her. Agneta instinctively throws herself back, and the blade passes close to her face. She loses her balance and falls heavily onto the ice. Something in her neck cracks, but she immediately starts trying to scramble away.
Hugo has grabbed one of Bernard’s legs in an attempt to stop him from going after her.
Agneta turns around and supports herself on her good hand, but she quickly realises that she will need to use both if she is going to stand any chance of getting up.
She whimpers in pain as she presses her bloody hand to the ice.
A searchlight cuts through the snow.
Bernard kicks Hugo away from him without so much as a glance.
Agneta tries to straighten up, but her bloody hand has already frozen to the ice. She screams in agony as she desperately tries to pull it free, but it won’t budge. She is stuck.
Bernard is getting closer, the axe hanging by his side, and she raises her free hand in an attempt to ward him off.
‘Please, Bernard! You don’t have to do this!’ she begs him.
Agneta knows that he is going to behead her, and she finds herself hoping that he knocks her unconscious first.
She closes her eyes and makes one last attempt to pull her hand free, but it is still frozen solid. The pain is so bad that she is about to pass out, and she rests her forehead against the ice and starts whispering the Lord’s Prayer to herself.
Bernard moves up beside her and has just raised the axe like an executioner when Hugo charges towards him. He tackles Bernard, and they both fall headlong. Their combined weight makes the ice break beneath them, and father and son plunge into the freezing water.
*?*?*
Joona steers the RIB straight towards the ice, but he can no longer see the three figures. The hull slams into the biggest waves and glides over the rest, and he tilts both motors up out of the water and sits down with his back to the steering console.
The bow rises as the boat slows.
There is a crash, and the back of Joona’s head slams into the console as the boat mounts the ice. It skids for around twenty metres before coming to a halt and tilting to one side. Joona jumps out and immediately starts running.
*?*?*
Hugo and Bernard break the surface, gasping for air and struggling to pull themselves out of the water.
Frigid waves wash over them, and the ice cracks and breaks.
They disappear in the dark, churning water.
The rope tied around Hugo’s waist starts to ripple past Agneta, over the edge of the ice and beneath the surface.
She tries to grab it, but it is too far away.
Agneta lies down and stretches her legs as far as she can. She manages to catch the last loop of rope on her foot, and she pulls it towards her and quickly winds it around her good hand.
A moment later, it pulls taut, yanking her arm. Whimpering, she grips it as tightly as she can, and feels the tugging movements on the other end.
*?*?*
Joona runs across the ice with the wind behind his back. In the swirling tunnel of light from his headtorch, he spots Agneta up ahead.
She is on her knee with one arm outstretched. There is a rope around her wrist, pulled taut over the edge of the ice into the water.
‘I can’t get him out!’ she shouts.
‘Don’t let go!’
A sudden jolt pulls her forward.
The line has begun to fray where it is rubbing against the edge.
Joona’s eyes follow the line, and he sees the shadow of the rope cutting in beneath the ice.
‘It was Bernard, he killed them all,’ Agneta tells him.
‘I know.’
Around five metres away, Hugo’s limp body is visible just beneath the ice. His long hair is billowing in the water, and his eyes are closed.
Bernard is floating on his back beside his son, gripping his wrist.
The rope Agneta is holding is all that is stopping the current from carrying them away.
Bernard refuses to let go.
Joona moves directly above them.
The cold glow of his headtorch illuminates Bernard’s wide eyes and the small bubbles of air escaping from his nose.
Joona takes his Colt Combat off safety, gets down onto one knee and presses the barrel of the gun to the ice above Bernard’s torso. He then looks him straight in the eye and pulls the trigger.
There is a sharp crack, and shards of ice spray upwards. Joona shoots again, then again.
The third bullet breaks through the ice and hits Bernard in the heart.
A bright red sea anemone of blood unfurls from his chest.
Bernard’s mouth starts to tremble, and bloody water seeps up through the hole in the ice.
His grip on Hugo’s wrist loosens, and Agneta staggers back, pulling the boy away from his father. Bernard is swept away on the current, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
Joona rushes back over to Agneta and grabs the rope. He reels it in, then gets onto his stomach, shuffles over to the edge and reaches down into the cold water. He manages to grab the boy’s coat and drag his lifeless body up onto the ice, away from the edge and over to Agneta.
She clutches him to her, and her face breaks into a smile as he begins to splutter. With her arms wrapped around him, the scene is like a joyful Pietà in the middle of the blizzard.