Page 102 of The Sleepwalker

‘Of course, if I can.’

‘As a police officer, I’m not allowed to use commercial databases to match DNA, but that rule doesn’t apply to journalists.’

The basketball hits the fence in front of Joona and bounces down to the tarmac.

‘Do you have the killer’s DNA?’ Agneta asks in disbelief.

‘In all likelihood, yes. A blonde hair from the caravan.’

‘OK, wow .?.?. Yes, I can help,’ she says.

‘There’s only one database that handles this particular type of DNA.’

‘No problem, I’ll do it .?.?. and I assume it’s urgent?’ she says.

‘It is.’

‘Have you made any other progress?’

‘We’re in the process of tracking down a suspected escape car, an old Opel.’

‘So you still think robbery is the motive?’

‘It’s not the primary motive, in my opinion .?.?. That wouldn’t explain the degree of violence. But robbery is probably part of the explicit drive.’

Once Joona has shared everything he can and they have ended the call, he sends an encrypted message containing the DNA profile from the blonde hair to Agneta. He then sighs and turns back towards the station in the snow. His work phone starts ringing before he gets there.

‘Linna,’ he answers.

‘This is Jaromir Prospal, detective superintendent with Northern Uppland,’ says a man with a glum voice. ‘I think we might have something for you.’

37

Joona is standing in the middle of the suspension bridge, looking down at the surging water below. The maritime police have travelled upriver from the Bothnian Sea in a boat with a crane, and a diver has attached a harness to the dead body and cut through the rope ladder with a pair of bolt cutters.

The winch starts to turn with a low whirr.

Water pours off the body as it breaks the surface and the team work to bring it onboard into an open cadaver bag.

The deceased is an adult male, and he seems to have been in the water for around three days.

Swollen and grey.

His right arm and head are both missing, likely making him the serial killer’s third targeted victim.

He has a boot on one foot, but the other is bare, and his toenails are blue against his pale skin. He is wearing a coat, black trousers and a wrongly buttoned shirt.

According to detective superintendent Jaromir Prospal, he is likely Pontus Bandling, who was reported missing by his wife a couple of days ago.

The local police have found traces of blood further upstream, on Karl XII’s Bridge, right by the power station. The body must have drifted downriver on the current before becoming caught on one of the ladders used by recreational fishermen in the area.

* * *

The melancholy detective superintendent is waiting for Joona at the end of the bridge in an unzipped floor-length down jacket. He has puffy bags beneath his weary eyes, a goatee, a tattooed neck and a mullet.

‘I’m thinking about dropping the investigation into Pontus Bandling for petty drugs offences,’ Jaromir jokes half-heartedly.

‘What kind of drugs?’ Joona asks.