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

Jamie caught a ride back to HQ and then headed down to the underground car park to collect her car.

There was no sign of Wiik’s Volvo, and she’d not heard from him in the last hour.

Afternoon had descended and the darkness was heavy now. She thought about calling him but decided against it. He was no doubt in the midst of a very serious talk with Falk, and maybe even the SID. Jamie had been worried that Wiik had pushed too hard with Lindvall, and her hunch had proved right. She just wished she’d stepped in sooner.

The Special Investigations Division, if they were anything like the Professional Standards Department, wouldn’t give two shits about an ongoing investigation, and would be up Wiik’s ass so far he’d be tasting them before the day was out. By the way he’d scurried off, she suspected they were already.

Jamie would leave him to it. Not only was he not her partner, this wasn’t even her police. Or her country. She hovered next to her car, thinking about it. During Lindvall's arrest, she’d tripped him, and then put him down for the count, too. Would this blow back on her? No, she’d done nothing but defend herself. He’d come at her. She was safe. She hoped.

Jamie got in the car and cranked the engine, setting the heating to max. She’d been standing around far too much today and she was cold to her bones.

The question now was what the hell was she supposed to do with her afternoon? The investigation was stalled. Gunnarson had his walls up. Leif Lundgren was under surveillance. Hallberg was in the process of contacting the parents of the original victims for statements. Per Eriksson was still in the wind. And while Jan Hansen was a giant dickhead, that wasn’t a prosecutable offence. The techs would have to go over the electronics recovered from the Hansens’ house and let her and Wiik know the results. Hopefully, it would be before William was brought in the next morning. She expected Jan Hansen to have lawyered up by then. But Anna had signed the form and agreed to bring William in. Jan Hansen had no reason to block that unless he had something to hide.

She was reserving judgement until the techs were inside his computer, but even thinking about the bastard made her skin crawl.

The only other thing she could think of was Robert Nyström. The one missing piece of this puzzle, the one crime that everyone seemed to have ignored.

The first crime in this tangled web.

Someone had abducted a former police officer, and no one seemed to care.

She thought about the man then as she waited for her windscreen to defog.

He’d been a good friend to her father. And a friend to her, too. The number of times she’d heard a car pull up outside and watched as Robert Nyström had carried her father in through the door, blind drunk, barely conscious, and laid him on the sofa.

The number of times that he’d got her father out of a bad situation, had vouched for his sobriety when he was drunk on the job, had lied to Jamie’s mother about where he was. Had brought her hot chocolate when her father had abandoned her at his desk to go and get drunk or high in the middle of the day.

He’d always ruffle her hair, and say, ‘Hey, you want to play with my gun?’ and then snatch it away at the last second. ‘Maybe when you’re older,’ he’d add, and then ruffle her hair again.

She always hated him doing it. But he was a good guy.

Jamie would feel sad for him that he worked late so much – that he’d stay after hours at his desk when all the other officers had gone home. She realised much later that he did it for her sake. That he stayed to keep an eye on her when her father disappeared. Wordlessly, thanklessly. Just because he was a good man. Jesus, he was the best. And now he’d been taken.

Jamie brushed her hair off her forehead, feeling a tight knot in the pit of her stomach.

Hell, he was probably dead in a ditch somewhere. Buried in a shallow grave.

But she could find him.

And she had nothing else to do.

Jamie let the handbrake down and slotted the car into gear, pulling out of the car park and creeping into the frozen city of Stockholm.

Her city.

Through the frozen streets.

Her streets.

Towards a frozen house.

Her house.