Part 58 (2/2)

'I agree,' Joona says.

'Has he contacted you?' Margot asks.

'No,' Joona replies simply.

He looks down at the other bag, still on the floor between them.

'Is that my pistol?'

'Yes,' she replies, pus.h.i.+ng the bag towards him with her foot.

'Thanks,' Joona says, gazing down into it.

'If you carry on looking for the preacher, I have to remind you that you're not doing so on my orders,' Margot says, starting to squeeze out of the pew again. 'You haven't received any material from me, and we never met here do you understand?'

'I'm going to find the murderer,' Joona says quietly.

'Fine, but we can't have any more contact ...'

Joona pulls out his pistol, under cover of the pew, ejects the magazine in his lap, pulls the bolt back, checks the mechanism, trigger and hammer, then puts the safety catch back on and reinserts the magazine.

'Who the h.e.l.l uses a Colt Combat?' Margot asks. 'I'd have backache within a week.'

Joona doesn't reply, just tucks the pistol into his shoulder holster and slips the spare magazine in his jacket pocket.

'When are you going to accept that Erik might be guilty?' she asks roughly.

'You'll see that I'm right,' he says, meeting her gaze with icy calmness.

101.

Nelly Brandt is sitting at her computer, typing. Her neatly made-up face is blank with concentration as her blonde hair curls softly over her shoulders. She's wearing a beige suede skirt and a gold polo-necked sweater that sits tightly round her body.

When Joona comes in and says h.e.l.lo to her she doesn't answer, just stands up and goes over to the window and picks a deep pink flower from the bush outside.

'There you go,' she says, giving the flower to Joona. 'With my heartfelt thanks for the magnificent detective work-'

'I can understand that-'

'Hang on,' she interrupts. 'I need to pick another one.'

She reaches out and picks a second flower, and hands it to Joona.

'For the whole of the Swedish police force,' she says. 'f.u.c.king impressive ... No, I'm going to have to go out and dig up the whole bush ... if you open the boot of your car, then-'

'Nelly, I know the police have got it wrong,' Joona says.

It's as if all the air goes out of her, she sits down at the desk and rests her head on her hands, tries to say something but can't get the words out.

'I'm still trying to find the real murderer,' Joona goes on. 'But I need someone who can take over where Erik left off.'

'I'd be happy to help,' she says, looking up at him.

'Can you hypnotise people?'

'No,' she laughs, taken aback. 'I thought ... that's not my area, I actually find it a bit creepy.'

'Do you know anyone who could help me?'

She twists the engagement ring on her freckled finger a couple of times and tilts her head.

'Hypnosis is tricky,' she says bluntly. 'But there are a few people with a good reputation ... Not that that's the same thing as being brilliant. It's like a generally applicable algorithm: the reputation of the best people in any field goes down to compensate for brilliance.'

'You mean there's no one as good as Erik?'

She laughs, flas.h.i.+ng her white teeth.

'Nowhere near as good ... even if he's not exactly doing much for his reputation right now.'

'Is there someone I could talk to?'

'Anna Palmer here is supposed to be pretty good. It depends what you're after. She hasn't got Erik's experience when it comes to psychological trauma and states of shock, of course.'

Nelly leads Joona along the corridor, but after a little while she slows down and asks him if she's in danger.

'I can't answer that,' Joona replies honestly.

'My husband's working late all week.'

'You should ask for police protection.'

'No, not police protection, this is all too much ... It's just that we noticed that the lock at the back of the house was damaged yesterday.'

'Have you got someone you can go and stay with?'

'Yes, of course,' she says, blus.h.i.+ng slightly.

'Do that, until this is over.'

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