Page 218 of The Sleepwalker

Thor breaks into a run, heart pounding. Nolan has just blasted through the lock on the bathroom, kicked the door open and stopped dead.

* * *

The wipers sweep snow and debris from the windscreen as Joona drives at high speed through the dark community, listening to Thor tell him that the raid on Lars Grind’s property is complete.

‘The place was empty. No sign of anyone,’ he says.

Joona asks him to check for hidden rooms or cellar spaces before they head over to the Sleep Lab.

As he speaks, the storm sweeps in from one side with full force, sending a tsunami of snow surging across the road.

Joona can see almost nothing but white, and he slows to a crawl.

The blizzard completely envelops the car, clogging up the windows on the left-hand side in just a matter of seconds.

Joona’s thoughts drift back to what Hugo said while he was under hypnosis for the first time: that it was both high summer and darkest midwinter at the campsite.

Snow was falling on the parasols and the sunbathers.

Erik latched onto the brief moment at the rear of the caravan, then began to erase the nightmare from the things the teenager had really seen.

During the second session, Hugo described the killer chopping off both of the victim’s feet, something that hadn’t happened in reality.

It wasn’t until the third attempt that they managed to almost completely bypass the nightmare, and Hugo was able to see the real victim with the straggly dyed hair.

This time, his description was a perfect match for Åhlén’s forensic report: the attack had begun with a blow to the head, followed by the severing of one leg – in the middle of the thigh. After that, the victim was beheaded, and the killer got to work dismembering him.

In the white chaos, hazy grey shapes start to emerge. Optical illusions of giants getting to their feet and lashing out around their surroundings.

A powerful gust pushes the car to the side, making it shake as the tyres hit the rumble strips at the edge of the road.

Joona thinks back to the second session, when Hugo stepped up onto a breezeblock behind the caravan. Erik worked methodically to refine that memory, enabling him to peer inside while still blending reality with nightmare.

Hugo described the victim lying on his back, which he had been, but in the dream version both of his feet had been severed. The skeleton man carved the start of an arrow onto his torso, just as someone had in reality, then hacked at the victim’s face with his axe.

Joona tries switching to his fog lights, and the swirling snow globe up ahead does look a little different, but it is hard to tell whether it really improves his visibility.

His thoughts turn to the incredibly precise nature of Hugo’s dreams. The parquet floor, the blood running along a brass edging strip, the broken vase and the lamp with a snakeskin shade.

With increasing anxiety, Hugo described the chain of eventsleading up to the fatal blow – including the blood that sprayed across the window.

The wheel jolts in Joona’s hands, and the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as he realises how it all fits together.

The pieces of the puzzle fall into place, forming a perfect picture.

Joona is convinced he has the answer, but he calls the warden at Hall Prison and asks to speak to Gerald Pedersen, explaining that it is urgent.

The serial killer they are hunting is incredibly dangerous, no doubt about that. In addition to his seven intended victims, he has also killed two witnesses and two police officers.

Petrus Lyth was taken out with an axe blow to the back of the head, like a bull. Danny Imani was beheaded while he was on his knees.

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Snow and debris whirl through Ultuna, over the fields and roads, between the university buildings and industrial units.

The wind sounds like a jet engine.

The tall fence around the dark Sleep Lab is clogged with snow, making it look like a bumpy white wall.