Page 45 of The Sleepwalker

The bosses have decided not to make this information public so as not to scare any other potential witnesses from coming forward.

A team at the NCU has been tasked with searching for any old cases with similarities to the two primary murders, but so far they have drawn a blank.

Joona has attempted to reach Hugo’s girlfriend, Olga Wójcik, a number of times, and she has now been summoned for a formal interview.

In just a short period of time, the investigation has become incredibly complex.

Every member of the team has been compiling information in a chronological order in a shared Excel file, but it feels asthough the more good, old-fashioned detective work Joona and his colleagues carry out, the more locked doors they find.

They have no CCTV footage and no neighbours to question, and their interviews with the victims’ friends and relatives have so far proved fruitless.

The IT technicians have been scouring the dead men’s online activities, but have yet to find a single detail that could point to any sort of motive. No blackmail, no black market loans or drug use, no gambling addictions or interactions with the criminal underworld.

There is a knock at the door, and Noah Hellman comes into the investigation room, followed by his secretary. He pauses in front of Joona’s desk, runs a hand through his hair and frowns.

‘I could have done with your help at the press conference earlier,’ he says.

‘It’s not my job to help you in press conferences,’ Joona replies.

‘You really are stubborn, aren’t you?’

‘Give Saga a chance. We need her.’

‘We’ve already discussed this.’

‘Joona .?.?.’ the secretary says calmly.

‘I’ll let you win at pool,’ Joona continues.

‘Wow .?.?. You think you’re that good, do you?’

‘OK, then let’s try this: if I beat you, you have to bring Saga back.’

‘Nice try, but she’s not ready to—’

‘She is,’ Joona cuts him off, getting up from his chair.

He leaves the office and takes the lift down to the garage level, walks through the tunnel beneath Kronobergsparken and gets into his car. He then drives up the long ramp and comes out into the bustling Fridhemsplan.

On the pavements around him, people hurry by with their shoulders hunched, heads lowered in the frigid air.

The Christmas tree seller has candles burning by their stall.

A man drags a black plastic bag out of a fast food kiosk and uses his knee to swing it up into a dumpster.

In less than twenty minutes’ time, Joona is due to hold his second interview with Hugo Sand.

As things stand, Hugo is their only witness. Their only way into the empty room in which two men have been singled out and murdered in an extremely violent manner.

The teenager claims not to remember anything, but given what Agneta said about him having some access to his memories when he first wakes from sleepwalking, the things he saw must be in there somewhere.

The traffic becomes backed up in the approach to the Essingeleden, slowing to a crawl. A yellow air ambulance hovers over the rooftops and trees in Gröndal.

If the usual interrogation technique doesn’t work today, if Hugo refuses to give in to the human urge to confess, then Joona has a plan.

The boy seems to have a complicated relationship with his father, testing his boundaries in an attempt to assert his independence and possibly even make Bernard prove his love.

The traffic starts flowing normally again once it passes the barriers that have been put up around a large hole in the tarmac.