Angel Maker: An Unputdownable Scandinavian Crime Thriller With A Chilling Twist (DI Jamie Johansson Book 1)

‘Hans was nineteen, and I was fourteen,’ Annika said, looking down into her mug of tea. She was perched on her sofa, legs crossed, leaning on the arm. Her shoulders were at odd angles, her expression vacant as she dug into the deepest recesses of her mind. ‘That’s why there was so much fuss over it.’

Jamie nodded slowly, watching the woman from the chair opposite. There was an elegance to her, a certain restrained beauty that she hadn’t noticed before. She wasn’t stunning, not head-turning, but she held herself gracefully. Jamie could imagine that she would have matured early. She was slim but shapely, womanly in every sense.

‘Rättvik was a small town then – smaller, I mean.’ She sipped some of her tea. It was camomile. Jamie didn’t really like it, but was glad for the warmth in her hands. Annika went on, ‘We lived just a street away from each other, out there’ – she nodded towards the window – ‘across the lake. There were just a few houses – and we were the only two kids. My parents moved to the house in the early spring of 1974. I was just twelve at the time – Hans was seventeen. Of course, he wanted nothing to do with me.’ She shook her head, smiled a little. ‘I was in love with him from the moment I saw him, though.’

Jamie looked at her, at the softness of her eyes as she recalled him as a young man. As she recalled a serial killer. A convicted child-killer. Jamie swallowed and looked down into her tea.

‘The house my parents bought was falling down – and Hans was good with his hands, a skilled woodworker.’

Jamie thought about the expertly trimmed birch boughs used in the killing but said nothing.

‘He came around to ask if they needed help with the garden or with any repairs – that sort of thing – for pocket money. That summer he was there often. But he never looked twice at me.’ She chuckled a little. ‘But then, by that winter, I turned thirteen, and was beginning to grow up.’

Jamie nodded that she was still following, that she wanted Annika to go on.

‘Hans didn’t work as much in the winter – the snow, the rain. And you know, thick jackets, scarves to cover yourself up… But then, when the spring came around, he came back, and the coat came off…’

‘And he began to notice you.’

‘Yes.’ Annika shook her head again, unable to help the smile on her face. Jamie found it disconcerting. But she reserved judgement until the story was over. ‘He did. He was eighteen, me thirteen. Still just a girl, but beginning to know myself. And my friends, from school – we were all at that age, you know? Where dollies were replaced with boys, where shoes became heels, where face-paint became make-up.’

‘A difficult age,’ Jamie added quietly, not wanting to derail her.

Annika nodded, swallowed, and a glimmer of something like remorse shone in her eyes. She adjusted herself on the sofa and clutched her tea a little tighter. ‘My father was impressed with Hans’s skill and wanted him to do some work to our roof – replace some battens and tiles. It was the summer by that point, and we’d exchanged glances, but nothing more. He was a sweet boy – and some of the older girls in my school had talked about him. He was handsome, charming. They all told me I was lucky to have him working around the house.’ She let out a long breath. ‘That second summer had now worn into autumn and the weather was beginning to turn. I had just turned fourteen – and the house was nearly finished. I feared that I wouldn’t see him around anymore, and that I was going to miss my chance.’

Jamie set her jaw, listening intently.

‘He was cutting wood in the back garden, finishing the roof of the back porch, and I took some cola out to him. I had it in my hand and held it up in front of me. He came closer and reached out for it. I took his hand before it reached the bottle and held it. He looked down into my eyes – now nineteen years old – and looked at me for the first time. And that was it.’ Annika trailed off, inhaling slowly.

‘What happened next?’ Jamie asked.

‘He was cautious, of course – I was just a girl, and he a man by all accounts. He seemed secretive about his feelings – I didn’t know why. I thought it was fine – love was love to me. But I agreed to meet with him that night, in the forest between our two streets. There was a path leading through the trees. We said midnight. So after my parents fell asleep, I crept outside, crossed the road, and went into the woods…’

Jamie felt her spine straighten, her shoulders tighten. Imagined that her father had sat opposite this woman two decades ago and had heard this exact same story.

‘I did not know what to expect, or what I was doing. But Hans was there, and he knew. He had brought a blanket and laid it down at the side of the path among the birch trees. His breath smelled like beer – I remember thinking how sour it was. And that I should try not to make a face – that it was just something I would grow to love, like the taste of the wine or cigarettes that my parents seemed to enjoy so much.’ She laughed a little. ‘We laid down there, and spoke for a while, in whispered voices. Hans told me that his parents thought he should join the army – that there was no money in woodworking. But that he didn’t want to. I told him he should stay, of course. I wanted that. And then he kissed me – his top lip bristling with hair…’ Annika reached up and touched her own lips, staring into space. ‘He was gentle – he asked me if it was okay. If I felt alright. If it was hurting. I lied and said no.’ She sipped her tea. ‘But it was my first time – and he knew that.’ She bit her lip now, stopped speaking for a few seconds. Then she swallowed, placed her mug on the table between them. ‘When we were finished, we stayed there for a long time, and he held me in his arms.’ Her voice had lost the warm quality it had. ‘Our eyes had grown accustomed to the dark, our skin used to the chill of the coming autumn. But then, as I looked up at him, I saw his face more clearly, a glint reflecting in his eyes. They were fixed on something over my shoulder – and then he was scared. He rolled away, pushed me off, and got to his feet, pulling on his jeans and boots as quickly as he could. I kept saying his name, “Hans? Hans? Hans?” But he didn’t answer.

‘I glanced back and saw that the lights in my house were on – my bedroom light lit. My parents were awake and knew I wasn’t there. The light in our front hall was burning, my front door open. A beam flashed through the trees, catching the silver peeling skin of the trees around us. A figure was approaching, a torch in hand. And then I heard my name – my father’s voice carrying in the darkness. “Annika?” Hans was full of fear, but I didn’t know why. How could my parents not understand love? I clutched the blanket against my naked body as my father came closer. And then Hans was running away, my father’s torch on his back.

‘My mother’s voice penetrated the quiet then, and lights came to life around us as other houses woke up to the sound of the shouting.

‘My father shouted at Hans to stop, but he didn’t. They reached me and fell to their knees. My mother hugged me hard, sobbing. My father was swearing, asking if I was alright, what had he done to me? Who had done it?’

Jamie could feel a lump of hot iron in her throat, but she said nothing.

‘They took me back,’ Annika went on, nodding, her own voice strained now, ‘and sent me to bed. They made a phone call, argued in the kitchen about something. I was afraid then, myself.’ She wiped a tear from her cheek. ‘A police car arrived an hour later, my father spoke to the officer on the porch, and then he was gone. I watched it from the top of the stairs, peeking around the corner, still not aware then what I had done wrong. What the problem was.’

‘And then what happened?’

‘I never saw Hans again.’

Jamie processed it. ‘I’m sorry.’

She nodded. ‘Of course, I was young. Too young – and Hans, at nineteen. He a man, me a child still. It happens – a lot. Then, now. Older boys and teenage girls. But my parents were very conservative. Hans’s too. I found out later that his parents and mine spoke while Hans was in custody, arrested on suspicion of…’ She cleared her throat, not wanting to use the word. ‘It was never that – never. But the age difference… Hans’s parents pleaded, offered to send him away if my parents didn’t pursue it. They agreed, reluctantly. And so Hans was sent to the army, and life went on.’

Jamie reflected on the story for a moment. ‘So my fa—’ She cut herself off, seeing Annika looking at her. ‘The detective who came to speak to you twenty years ago. You told him all this?’

Annika looked at Jamie, a little amused. ‘Your father, yes.’

Jamie cursed herself.

‘Your name is Johansson, his name was Johansson. You look alike… And the fact that you’re here asking about the same questions he was… You wouldn’t have to be a detective yourself to work it out.’

‘I wasn’t sure if you would remember him that well,’ Jamie said, meeting her eye again.

Annika smiled warmly. ‘I do. And yes, I did tell him this story.’

‘Do you know how he found you?’

‘I suspect he looked into Hans, came to Rättvik, found out that he was arrested and what for, and then tracked me down…’

Jamie couldn’t help but be impressed by the idea of it. For all his faults, he was a great detective.

‘As I told him, I could see his face changing,’ Annika said. ‘I could see that he was deciding that Hans was guilty.’ She sighed. ‘He wouldn’t tell me what the investigation was about, but we’d heard stories of girls going missing in Stockholm. Aged thirteen, fourteen… When he confirmed how old I was when it happened…’

Jamie nodded. ‘The same age.’

‘I assume there was a sexual element at work in those crimes?’

Jamie nodded again. ‘Yes.’

Annika saw now the train of logic. ‘Hans was arrested soon after your father came to see me. I remember reading about it in the paper. “Angel Maker Suspect Finally In Custody.” That was the headline.’

Jamie could see the guilt on her face. ‘You may have helped put away a serial killer. You did a good thing.’

‘May.’ She laughed.

Jamie looked at her quizzically.

‘You said “may”. I may have helped put away a serial killer. You’re not sure it was him, are you?’

Jamie said nothing.

‘This girl who is dead – you think it’s the same killer? As before?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Do you think Hans could have been innocent?’ Annika probed. She had a keen mind. Was connecting the dots as she went.

‘We’re exploring all avenues of enquiry.’

Annika filled her chest and studied Jamie. ‘What were you hoping to get out of this? Coming here?’

‘I wanted to know what my father knew.’

‘And now you do.’

‘And now I do.’

Annika smiled softly. ‘Has it helped?’

Jamie thought on it for a moment. ‘No,’ she said with a sigh. ‘It hasn’t.’