He feels his flesh crawl as he thinks of Eva Blau’s sharp face, her aggressive voice, her flashing eyes, and her nose with its cruelly severed tip.
“I think it upset a lot of people when it came out that you’d been practising hypnosis again, Erik.”
“It was a special case.”
She takes his hand in hers. “I never thought, never believed- ” She stops. “You helped me,” she whispers. “That time when I saw… do you remember?”
“I do remember,” Erik says quietly.
Charlotte smiles at him. “It was enough. I went inside the haunted house. I looked up and saw the person who had hurt me.”
“I know.”
“It would never have happened without you, Erik.”
“Yes, but- ”
“Something inside me became whole again,” she says, gesturing toward her heart.
“Where is Eva now?” asks Joona.
Charlotte frowns. “When she was discharged she moved into a apartment in the centre of Akersberga and became a Jehovah’s Witness. At first we kept in contact- I helped her out financially- but then we lost touch. She thought she was being persecuted. She kept talking about finding protection, saying that evil was after her.”
Charlotte looks at Erik. “You look sad,” she says.
“My son is missing. Eva is our only clue.”
Charlotte’s expression is troubled. “I’m sorry, Erik. I hope you find him.”
“Do you know what her name is?” asks Joona.
“Her real name, you mean? She doesn’t tell anyone that; perhaps she doesn’t even know it herself.”
“OK.”
“But she called herself Veronica when she rang me.”
“Veronica?”
“It comes from the story of the veil of Veronica.”
They hug each other briefly, then Erik and Joona hurry back to the car. As they drive south, heading for Stockholm, Joona calls Anja to ask her to look for someone called Veronica in the centre of Akersberga, and he requests an address for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, either their office or the Kingdom Hall. Erik half listens, his mind thick with exhaustion. He feels his eyes slowly begin to close.
“Yes, Anja, I’m writing it down,” he hears Joona say. “Vastra Banvagen… hang on, Stationsvagen 5, all right, thanks.”
Chapter 78
Erik wakes up as they are driving down a long hill beside a golf course.
“Nearly there,” says Joona.
“I fell asleep,” says Erik, mainly to himself.
“Eva Blau rang Charlotte on the same day you were featured in all the newspapers,” Joona muses.
“And the following day Benjamin was kidnapped,” says Erik.
“Because someone spotted you.”
“Or because I broke my promise never to hypnotize anyone again.”
“In which case it’s my fault,” says Joona.
Erik doesn’t really know what to say.
“I’m sorry,” says Joona, his eyes fixed on the road.
They pass a discount shop with smashed windows. Joona glances in the rear-view mirror. A woman wrapped in a shawl sweeps up broken glass on the pavement.
“I don’t know what happened with Eva,” says Erik. “Every now and then a patient completely eludes you. It was as if my treatment aggravated her condition. She blamed me and my hypnosis for everything, she became delusional, she harmed herself, and in the end… I should never have accepted her into the group. I should never have hypnotized anyone.”
“But you helped Charlotte,” Joona says.
“So it seems,” Erik says quietly.
Just after a traffic circle, they bump over a railroad crossing, turn off to the left at a playing field, drive across a river, and stop outside a large grey apartment building.
Joona points to the glove compartment. “Would you pass me my gun, please.”
Erik opens the compartment and hands over the heavy weapon. Joona checks the barrel and the magazine and makes sure the safety catch is on before slipping the gun into his pocket.
They walk quickly across the parking lot, passing a playground with swings, a sandbox, and a jungle gym.
Erik points out the way to the main door; he looks up and sees flashing Christmas decorations and satellite dishes on virtually every balcony.
An old woman is standing inside the locked door, leaning on a wheeled walker. Joona knocks and waves cheerily. She looks at them and shakes her head. Joona shows her his ID through the glass, but she just shakes her head again. Erik rummages in his pockets and finds an envelope containing a receipt he was supposed to hand in to the finance office. He walks up to the glass, taps on it, and holds up the envelope. The woman immediately moves over to the door and presses the button to release the electrical lock.
“Is it the mail?” she asks shakily.
“Express delivery,” Erik replies.
“There’s so much sobbing and screaming in here,” the woman whispers toward the wall.
“What did you say?” asks Joona.
Erik looks at the list of names and finds Veronica Andersson on the second floor. The narrow staircase is covered with graffiti. A rank smell comes from the rubbish chute. The fluorescent fixture overhead flickers. They locate the right door and Joona rings the bell. Muddy footprints from children’s boots lead up and down the stairs.
No response.
“Try again,” says Erik.
Joona pushes open the letterbox and shouts that he has a letter from The Watchtower. Erik sees the detective’s head jerk back, as if he has been hit by a blast wave.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know, but I want you to wait outside,” says Joona, his expression strained in the flickering light.
“No.”
“I’m going in alone.”
Something crashes to the floor in one of the neighbouring apartments. Joona reaches out and tries the door. It isn’t locked. A powerful smell surges out as the door swings open. Joona draws his gun and gestures sharply to Erik to stay where he is.
Chapter 79
Erik clamps a hand to his nose and mouth. His heart pounds in his chest and the blood rushes to his ears. The stillness within is horribly ominous. Benjamin can’t be here. The lights in the stairwell go out altogether, and darkness surrounds him. Suddenly Joona is standing in front of him again.
