Page 79 of The Sleepwalker

‘How long?’

‘Given the hair is broken and doesn’t have a root, we’re talking about mitochondrial DNA .?.?.’

‘I know,’ says Joona.

‘There’s a three-week wait. We—’

‘Ask them to prioritise it. We need answers. We’ll have another victim soon.’

‘I’ve already told them that,’ Erixon replies with a sigh.

‘Tell them again.’

Joona rests his head against the cool glass for a moment before sitting down in his armchair and checking to see if he has any messages. He sent out a request over the national communication system used by the various emergency services earlier, asking for information about any cases that bear even the slightest resemblance to his.

Don’t wait, get in touch right away. This is urgent.

Incredibly urgent.

He has tried to secure additional resources, but it is the same old story as ever. Thanks to chronic understaffing, following the recommendations laid out in the Police Authority’s framework for tackling serious crime is simply not possible.

Despite that, every member of his team understands the gravity of the situation and has been working flat out to comb through cold cases, knock on doors in the area around the tennis club and trawl through the CCTV.

Joona’s work phone starts ringing, and he takes it out of his jacket pocket, looks down at the display and answers the call.

‘Hi. I’m sorry to ring outside of working hours,’ says a woman’s voice.

‘What arethose?’ he asks.

‘Sorry?’

‘Working hours.’

‘Ah, I’m not sure,’ she says with a laugh. ‘My name is Anna Gilbert, from the prostitution unit here in Stockholm.’

‘You’ve been doing great work.’

‘I saw your request,’ she continues. ‘And this might not have anything to do with your case, but I felt like I should reach out all the same, so at least I can say I passed it on.’

‘Good.’

‘Because you’ll never find a link in any of the databases. It’s really nothing but a persistent rumour.’

‘Go on.’

‘For the past few years, there’s been talk among the sex workers we come into contact with of a blonde woman who robs johns – and she’s been doing it with increasing levels of violence,’ she says.

‘I’m listening.’

‘This is outside of my purview, and like I say .?.?. we don’t even know whether it’s just an urban myth. But at the same time, you know .?.?. for obvious reasons, johns aren’t usually keen to talk to the police, even if they’re the victim of some sort of crime.’

‘No.’

‘I reached out to the Mika Clinic, which helps people selling sex .?.?. Two of them had heard about this blonde woman, and one of them actually had a counselling session with a girl who mentioned her just last week.’

* * *

Anna Gilbert helped Joona to arrange a meeting with the sex worker in question that same evening. Her name is Tiffany Eklund, and she operates out of a studio flat close to Frihamnen.