Page 22 of The Sleepwalker

Hugo was only six when they first took him to the sleep clinic,and Bernard spent hours driving him to and from Uppsala over the months that followed. But when they found out that Lars Grind lived in a villa only a kilometre away, in Mälarhöjden, Hugo started getting a lift with the doctor instead.

Bernard and Claire soon began to see Lars and his then-wife, Malva, socially. They became firm friends, going on holiday together and celebrating each others’ birthdays. Following his separation from Claire, Lars was a source of great support to Bernard, and their friendship has continued since Agneta entered the picture.

‘I like him, you know that, but he is a bit .?.?. weird,’ she says. ‘He looks at everyone like they’re one of his research subjects, even when he’s just here for dinner.’

‘Mmm, he did ask a few too many questions last time.’

‘Yeah, like what I wear to sleep.’ Agneta smiles.

‘Lars is just passionate about what he does. He struggles with boundaries and—’

Bernard stops talking when his phone starts ringing.

‘It’s Lars,’ he says, getting to his feet to answer the call.

‘Always nice to hear from my favourite author,’ Dr Lars Grind says in his husky voice.

‘Are you coming over for dinner on the twenty-sixth?’

‘Oysters?’

‘Eight o’clock,’ says Bernard.

‘I’ll be there at seven.’

‘I know.’

‘Have you been out to the house lately, by the way?’ asks Grind.

‘Not in years.’

‘Good, forget I mentioned it. Let it sink back into your subconscious .?.?. glug, glug, glug.’

One summer evening, while they were drinking beer and grilling meat on the jetty, Lars Grind had jokingly mentionedhis nose for business. Before he began his medical training, he had obliterated his savings buying a plot of industrial land with a disused silo not far from Enköping. He had then launched and shut down a whole host of different businesses there: minigolf, ostrich breeding, a climbing wall, a flea market and long-stay parking.

Following a ruling in the environmental court, however, the use of industrial land for commercial operations was banned unless the area had been properly decontaminated – a financial impossibility for Lars.

Just like that, he discovered that he couldn’t evengivethe land away.

Six months later, Bernard had asked whether he could borrow the house on the property. He and Claire had been fighting a lot, and he wanted to go out there to write in order to meet a deadline.

‘So, tell me, what’s going on? What’s this about Hugo?’ asks Lars.

Bernard turns his back to Agneta and clears his throat.

‘He’s in a spot of bother .?.?. He was sleepwalking, and the police found him at the site of a murder.’

‘Good God,’ Lars whispers.

‘He’s being held in custody. They think he killed someone,’ Bernard continues, his voice wavering.

‘You should have talked to me.’

‘It all happened so quickly. But I was wondering .?.?. if it goes to trial .?.?.’

‘Of course.’

‘OK, great. Thank you for being such a wonderful friend.’