Page 23 of The Sleepwalker

8

Nils Nordlund turns off the shower, grabs a fresh towel from the shelf and dries himself off in front of the foggy mirror.

In the past, people occasionally told him that with his pale-blue eyes, muscular biceps and blond stubble, he looked like one of the cops fromMiami Vice.

These days, both the resemblance and the TV show are a thing of the past.

His feet are weary after a long day at the Retail Technology Show. He has a headache, and his ears are still ringing after countless conversations with exhibitors and colleagues.

Nils has just opened his toiletry bag to look for his deodorant when he hears his phone ringing and heads back through to his cramped hotel room.

The black headboard of the double bed is pushed up against a feature wall of cork tiles. His phone is on the pillow. Nils unplugs it from the charger and sees that Tina is video calling him, and he sits down on the edge of the bed to answer.

‘Where are you?’ she asks in her bright voice.

‘In my room.’

‘But I’ve called you ten times, and your last seminar ended at six,’ Tina says, taking a seat at their kitchen table.

He studies her face, taking in her pretty, sharp eyes; the eczema around her mouth, and her short, spiky hair.

‘I was in the shower,’ he mumbles.

‘Why?’

‘Why do you think?’

He adjusts the towel around his hips. The air in his room is cold on his damp skin, and he shivers.

‘Why are you sitting like that?’ she asks, leaning in to the camera.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Up against that dark wall. Show me the whole room.’

‘Tina .?.?.’

‘Come on, before she has time to sneak out.’

‘I’m on my own, Tina. I just took a shower,’ he explains, turning the phone around. ‘There’s the door, there are my clothes, there’s the window, the desk .?.?. the bathroom, the shower.’

‘Show me under the bed.’

He stares at her, at her odd smile, and realises that all of the cupboards in the kitchen behind her are open.

‘Here’s under the bed,’ he says, dropping onto one knee.

‘Now behind the curtains.’

Nils braces himself against the mattress, gets up and moves over to the window.

‘OK. There .?.?. and there.’

The sky outside has grown dark, and the streetlamps have come on. On the other side of the road, he can see a red-brick office building.

‘I want to know who you’ve been flirting with today.’

‘No one,’ he replies, turning his attention to Tina again.