The Mirror Man by Lars Kepler

Author:Lars Kepler [Kepler, Lars]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zaffre Publishing

53

The recent heatwave has made the leaves on the trees in Vanadislunden darken and curl. Pamela and Dennis walk slowly around the large red-brick reservoir, dust from the dry trail swirling around their legs.

They decided last night to meet for lunch today, and Dennis has brought a bag of sandwiches and freshly squeezed orange juice.

A slim man with an old-fashioned hatbox beneath one arm was walking close behind them for a while, but Pamela can no longer see him.

They sit down on a shady park bench, and Dennis takes out a sandwich and hands it to Pamela.

She thanks him and studies the disused water park. A pile of rubbish and blackened leaves has built up at the bottom of the cracked slide.

It feels like just yesterday that she and Mia were riding the roller coaster together.

Pamela has finally submitted her appeal to the administrative court. It took her a while to gather all the necessary certificates and references, but the process is now underway, and social services’ decision will likely be overturned.

The minute Martin was named as an eyewitness in the press, the threat arrived – and before Pamela even had time to process that fact, Mia was gone.

Over and over again, an icy rush of anxiety shoots through her as her mind drifts to the terrible things Mia might be going through right now.

She has no idea whether it was right to try to help the police.

What if Mia suffers as a result?

But, at the same time, she knows that she has to do everything she can to find her.

Joona Linna claims Martin is the key.

His transformation during the hypnosis session was certainly eye-opening. Just like that, he could talk in coherent sentences, something he hasn’t done in years, remembering fragments from the playground that night.

‘You look sad,’ Dennis tells her, pushing a lock of hair back from her cheek.

‘I’m OK . . . Actually, no I’m not,’ she tells him. ‘I’m not OK. I can’t bear the thought that he’s taken Mia, and it’s all my fault.’

‘No, it—’

‘But it is,’ she interrupts him.

‘Why would it be your fault?’

‘Because we’ve been helping the police.’

‘Have you, really?’

‘Martin told them he heard a patient in his ward talking about hurting Jenny Lind . . . that’s why he went to the playground in the middle of the night.’

‘Were you there? Did you hear Martin say that?’ he asks, dabbing at the corner of his mouth.

‘It was under hypnosis,’ she replies.

‘Seriously – this is too much,’ Dennis says, exasperated. ‘First they force him to confess to murder, and now they’re trying to—’

‘It wasn’t like that,’ she interrupts again. ‘It was . . . I can’t explain it, but they need to find Mia, and Martin could suddenly speak while he was hypnotised . . . it was incredible, really, he was talking in long sentences . . .’

‘Was the person who hypnotised him at least a doctor?’ Dennis asks sceptically.

‘Yes, they were.’

‘And did Martin agree to it?’

‘Of course.’

‘But did he really understand what it involved? Did Martin know he wouldn’t be in

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