Page 188 of The Sleepwalker

‘I’d have to go downstairs.’

‘Has the woman seen you? Does she know you’re at home?’

‘I don’t think so,’ she replies, swallowing hard.

‘OK, good. I want you to find somewhere to hide and wait for us. Hide in a wardrobe, sit down on the floor and don’t make a sound.’

Nina nods, but she remains where she is behind the curtain and peers out of the window. Snow swirls through the air.

The blonde woman has started moving around the room, looking behind furniture and checking potential hiding places as she approaches the stairs leading up to the kitchen.

‘Please, just get over here,’ Nina whispers to the detective.

Frank has pulled on a pair of boxers and gone into the bedroom. He tears open the thin plastic bag around his dry-cleaned shirt and tosses the metal hanger to the floor.

The woman hears the soft clatter it makes, and she turns sharply and starts striding towards the dressing room. She glances back over her shoulder, and Nina catches a glimpse of a strange, crude face.

* * *

Joona was in Takiya Sushi Bar, chatting to the woman preparing his order, when the call came in. He had been planning to visit the Sleep Lab in Uppsala, to talk about Veronica Nagler’s time there. Dr Grind wasn’t working today, but one of his long-term research assistants, Rakia Dardour, had agreed to meet with him and attempt to answer his questions.

Instead, he ran straight out to the car and turned on his blue lights. As he sped along Surbrunnsgatan to Vallhallavägen and turned off into the long tunnel to Lidingö, the call handler patched him through to the call with Nina Silverstedt.

‘She heard Frank. I can see her, she’s going towards him now,’Nina whispers down the line.

‘You don’t have to watch; we’re almost there. Just make sure you find somewhere to hide,’ he says.

The amber-coloured lights in the tunnel race by as he accelerates to 115 miles per hour. Joona blasts the horn, urging the cars up ahead to get out of his way.

* * *

Nina moves her phone over to her other hand and wipes her clammy palm on her thigh. The blonde woman has reached the dressing room, and is currently hiding behind the open wardrobe door.

The axe is still in her hand.

Frank is in the bedroom, doing up the mother-of-pearl buttons on his shirt with a distant look on his face. Nina waves, trying to catch his attention, but he doesn’t see her.

She watches as he wanders through to the dressing room and pulls a dark-grey tie from a hanger. He hasn’t noticed the woman, who is standing less than a metre away from him behind the door.

The woman slowly raises the axe.

Frank turns back towards the bedroom, seems to realise he has forgotten something and reaches for a pair of cufflinks. His hand rests on the edge of the wardrobe door for a moment, but he leaves it open.

‘The first car will be with you in less than five minutes,’ the detective says in Nina’s ear.

Frank goes through to the bedroom and puts on his tie. He then picks up his phone from the bedside table and sees her message.

Nina manages to switch her phone to silent just before his call comes through, and she quickly tells the detective that herhusband is ringing, that she is going to put him on hold.

She can hear her blood roaring in her ears.

‘Frank,’ she whispers, ‘there’s a woman with an axe in the dressing room. The police are on their way, but you need to get out. Open the door to the terrace and run.’

‘What are you talking about?’

Nina watches the blonde woman rest the axe on her shoulder. She is still hiding in the shadow behind the door, listening to Frank.

‘You need to go, right now! Run!’ Nina shouts.