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

By the time Jamie got outside, Wiik was already barking orders at Hallberg down the phone in the middle of the street. ‘I want CSTs out here immediately to search this place top to bottom.’ He didn’t pause for breath. ‘And I need an arrest warrant in place for Per Eriksson an hour ago… On what charges? How about breaking and entering, removing evidence from a crime scene, abduction, gross abuse of a corpse, rape, murder – take your fucking pick!’

He clocked Jamie coming and snapped his fingers at her, beckoning her over.

She didn’t appreciate the gesture but she let it slide considering the circumstances.

Wiik kept going. ‘Send it over the second you have it, and dispatch uniforms to the church to take him into custody, along with a pair of techs to collect his belongings… I want his phone, his laptop, everything. Then get CSTs over there too… I don’t care… The same ones, different ones, just fucking do it! I want Eriksson in an interview room within the hour and his life picked down to the fucking bones. We missed this son of a bitch once, we’re not going to again.’

Jamie looked at him again, letting it slide. That wasn’t a shot at her father. Even though a few days ago she would have taken it as such.

Wiik hung up abruptly, let out a long breath of thick steam, and then slicked his hair against his head, finally looking up at Jamie.

He didn’t say anything, and neither did she. But they both knew they’d missed a step – and it may have just cost them the investigation.

Eriksson was smart. Smarter than they gave him credit for.

He was charming, he was cunning and he’d got inside their heads. He’d manipulated them both – pushed Wiik’s buttons until Jamie removed him, and then wrapped Jamie around his little finger with stories of her father. He’d played them both like fiddles. And she was half expecting to receive a call in the next few minutes saying that Eriksson wasn’t at the church. That they didn’t know where he was.

That he’d slipped through their fingers.

A tight knot built itself in her stomach, and judging by the look on Wiik’s face, he was feeling the exact same way.

He groaned, cracked his neck and then licked his bottom lip. ‘I need to call Falk.’

Jamie nodded, her own phone vibrating in her pocket. ‘Probably a good idea,’ Jamie said, pulling it out. She glanced down, reading the text on-screen.

‘Everything okay?’ Wiik asked.

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Just a personal thing, give me a sec?’

He proffered her the open road in front of them and then stepped away, dialling Falk’s number.

The message was from a number she didn’t have saved, and read:

Jamie obliged, and called the number back once she was out of earshot. She could hear Wiik bringing Falk up to speed in the distance.

The phone at her ear rang once and then Hallberg answered. ‘Detective Johansson,’ she said quickly.

‘What’s up?’ Jamie asked, turning to keep an eye on Wiik. She didn’t really want to get caught speaking to his partner behind his back, but she knew she needed to give the girl a chance. She wouldn’t get in touch without a reason.

‘You with Wiik?’ she asked quickly.

‘Yeah,’ Jamie said. ‘But he can’t hear us. What’s this about?’

‘He cut me off before I had a chance to say anything, and I didn’t want to call him back, so I thought if—’

‘Just spit it out,’ Jamie urged her, not wanting Wiik to finish his call before her. He was nodding vigorously as Falk spoke in his ear.

‘It’s the parents.’

‘Parents?’

‘Of the original victims.’

Jamie held her breath, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip.

‘For five of the seven victims, one parent is missing or dead.’

The words rang in Jamie’s ears and it took her a few seconds to process what Hallberg was saying. ‘You’re sure?’

Hallberg sighed. ‘Yeah – I’m sure. I’ve double- and tripled-checked. The first victim – Christina Bergner – her father was killed in a car accident three months after her death. He was run off the road and into a lake. The other driver was never found. The second, Britta Engdahl, her mother disappeared just two weeks after her death. The father was questioned, but the case was never taken forward – the conclusion was that she simply left because of Britta’s death. The third, Hilda Nordell – her father was found a little under a month later. He’d hanged himself in their garage. The fourth, Agnes Floden – her father went missing about six weeks after she died. The mother believed he was having an affair and ran off. But no trace was ever found, and he never got in touch again. The fifth, Elin Wickstrom – her father was stabbed during a mugging. Killer never found. Sound familiar?’

Jamie swallowed painfully. Her mouth had gone dry all of a sudden. But her mind was whirling. ‘What was the, uh,’ she started, the words more like croaks. ‘What was the delay between the murders of the fifth and sixth victims?’

‘Around three months,’ Hallberg said, all the information right there in front of her. ‘Elin Wickstrom was killed in March 1996, and Tilde Gunnarson was killed in early June of the same year.’

‘And Elin Wickstrom’s father – when was he attacked?’

‘In May.’

Jamie closed her eyes, mapping a timeline. ‘Were all of the parents’ deaths and disappearances before the next girl was killed?’

‘Uh,’ Hallberg hedged. ‘Looks like. Yes.’

Jamie exhaled hard, her hand shaking a little at her ear. ‘Hanna Lundgren was the seventh victim, right? And we know her father was attacked. But what about the sixth victim? Tilde Gunnarson?’

Hallberg took a few seconds to look over her notes. ‘It doesn’t look like anything was reported, but I can look into it a little more. See what I can find?’

‘Do that,’ Jamie ordered.

‘There was a much shorter delay between the last two victims, though.’

‘What do you mean?’ Jamie eyed Wiik now. His call seemed to be winding down now and he was glancing over, keen to know who Jamie was talking to and what about, no doubt.

‘Tilde Gunnarson and Hanna Lundgren were murdered just ten days apart.’

‘Jesus,’ Jamie muttered, thinking about it. Did the killer know the net was closing in? Did they know her father was getting close? Upped their timeline? She swallowed hard. ‘What dates?’

‘Tilde Gunnarson was sixth of June – and then… Hanna Lundgren was found on the sixteenth.’

Jamie set her jaw. ‘And when was Sjöberg arrested?’

‘I pulled the records from the solicitor’s firm that represented him. The information was privileged, but they confirmed that they began representing him on the sixth of July 1996. So maybe a day or two before that?’

‘Jesus. We have to assume this isn’t coincidence. It can’t be.’ Jamie shook her head, laying it out quickly. ‘So the killer takes Tilde Gunnarson, lines up her father, or mother or whoever, but then gets nervous? Knows the net is closing, so he acts fast. Takes Hanna Lundgren first. But why?’

Hallberg was quiet, unsure if it was rhetorical or not.

‘Can you look into Tilde Gunnarson’s parents? They must have been questioned – but it was all in the case files.’ Jamie was thinking out loud now. ‘See if you can find any contact details. I want to talk to them.’

‘Right. Okay.’

Wiik was coming over now.

‘I have to go,’ Jamie said. ‘Keep me posted on what you find – and don’t worry,’ she said, reading Hallberg’s silence. ‘I’ll deal with Wiik for you.’ She dropped the phone from her ear and hung up.

Wiik narrowed his eyes, maybe catching his name before Jamie ended the call. ‘Who was that?’ he asked.

‘Hallberg,’ she said truthfully. ‘She wanted to run something by me.’

‘What?’ Wiik probed.

‘A potential link between the original case and some unexplained disappearances.’

‘Why didn’t she call me?’ he asked sharply, offended by it.

‘She wanted my opinion before she bothered you with it.’

He didn’t know how to take that. ‘And?’

Jamie drew a slow breath and looked out into the cold, grey sky. It was early afternoon now and the cloud cover was thick today, bathing everything in a flat, dingy light. ‘And I think we’re in trouble,’ Jamie said.

Wiik waited for her to expound.

‘One parent of five of the seven victims either died, was murdered, or disappeared without a trace.’

Wiik’s jaw flexed. ‘She should have called me with it.’

‘She knew you needed to speak to Falk – wanted me to confirm it was worth thinking about. Didn’t want to waste your time if not.’ She met Wiik’s eye, remembering what Falk said about him being quick to conclusions and prone to emotional reactions. About him needing someone to keep him in line. ‘The girl did everything right, Wiik. And she uncovered another potential lead in this case. A big one. Don’t chide her for it.’

The muscles on his clean-shaven chin all bunched and twitched.

‘Now,’ Jamie went on, dragging him back to the tracks and setting him straight. ‘Hallberg’s pulling together some more information for us, but meanwhile, we could be looking at an oversight in the original case – twelve victims, not seven.’

Wiik blinked slowly, taking it in, and then seemed to relax, knowing this outranked any sourness he had over Hallberg calling Jamie first. ‘Okay. So what do we do?’

Jamie looked down, thinking for a moment. ‘A parent of each of the first five victims was targeted – we need to figure out why. Lundgren was attacked but got away with it. The parents of the sixth victim were left alone. But I think maybe Sjöberg was arrested before any attempt was made.’

Wiik was right there with her. ‘But why would that matter if it wasn’t Sjöberg? Eriksson could have dealt with them anyway.’

‘And risk alerting my father to Sjöberg’s innocence?’ Jamie shook her head. ‘He’s too smart for that – no, he got away with it. And he just left them be.’

‘So why has he started again now?’ Wiik was doing his job – he was testing Jamie’s theory. Her line of reasoning.

She measured the focus in his face, could see that he was a good detective. And despite herself, she was beginning to warm to him. He had about as much charm as a cactus, but she respected his mind and his will to get the job done, even if she didn’t always agree with his methods. ‘I think Sjöberg reached out to him – awakened a part of him that he buried, or let go… He went and spoke to Sjöberg, didn’t he? And he said they didn’t talk about the murders. He said he never asked and Hans didn’t tell.’

Wiik nodded. ‘And why would he ask if he knew Sjöberg didn’t do it?’

‘Exactly. He wouldn’t.’

Wiik bared his teeth. ‘Son of a bitch,’ he growled.

‘Eriksson, sitting there, listening to Sjöberg talk about how he was wrongfully convicted for those killings, how he was innocent – telling Sjöberg he could repent, get into heaven, that all was forgiven – hell, it probably got his juices flowing again. Sitting there, face to face with the man who went to prison for his own crimes – he starts thinking maybe he can pull it off again. Get away with it a second time.’

‘Shit,’ Wiik said, putting his hands on his hips. ‘I wish we could get a copy of that conversation.’

‘If it was a visitor’s conversation we’d have a chance. But a deathbed confession with a priest? No way. No one would think to, let alone enforce that.’

Wiik agreed sullenly. ‘So Eriksson takes the girls, kills them, works the religious angle to frame Sjöberg, and—’

‘Maybe not just to frame him. He worked at a church as the groundskeeper, then went to a seminary. He must be interested in it – maybe just the iconography or the history or—’

‘The way religion is used to indoctrinate and control people?’

Jamie was surprised, but noted the look of semi-disgust in Wiik’s face. He really did hate the whole idea of it all. ‘It chimes with the classic psychopath profile. They are drawn to professions that allow them to control people. And if he was interested in theism, a priesthood would give him the opportunity to not only embrace that obsession, but also satiate that need to control.’

Wiik looked over Jamie’s head, thinking now. ‘So he comes back from visiting Sjöberg and starts scheming? He lines up Nyström, knows he needs to get rid of him to clear the field.’

‘Kidnaps him, gets him to talk him through stealing the case files,’ Jamie added.

‘Then he finds himself a victim and goes to work.’

‘You don’t understand,’ Jamie said, bunching her mouth under her nose.

Wiik’s brow furrowed. ‘What don’t I understand?’

‘No, not you – the note. On my car. It said, “You don’t understand. Stop.”’

‘Okay. So what don’t we understand?’ Wiik asked.

Jamie shook her head. ‘I don’t know – but we need to get back. If Hallberg’s lead is right and Eriksson is targeting the parents as well, then we need to ID our victim fast – or we could have another kill on our hands.’

Wiik agreed, letting his own hands go to his sides. He raised one then and ran it over his head, slicking his hair to his scalp. ‘If Eriksson is following the same method he did before, then we can circulate the photo of the girl – put out a statement to the press. They’re beginning to frenzy as it is. They don’t deal well with radio silence, and we need to make headway. Throw them a bone before they crucify us, and see what comes back. I don’t like doing it, but we’re out of options here.’

‘Yeah, we are.’

Jamie and Wiik looked at each other for a second, and then Wiik went for the car. ‘Come on,’ he said, walking fast. ‘Let’s get going before anything else happens.’

Jamie caught up with him. ‘Don’t say that.’

‘Why not?’

She circled to the other side of the car and looked at him across the roof. ‘Because every time someone does, something else happens.’

Wiik cracked a smile. ‘You didn’t strike me as the superstitious type, Johansson.’

‘I’m not,’ Jamie said, getting into the car. ‘I’ve just been doing this long enough to know not to tempt fate.’