Page 165 of The Sleepwalker
He tugs at the handle and glances back in the direction of the library. The skeleton man has paused at the end of the hallway.
In the dim light, Hugo can make out the curve of five different skulls on his body, several femurs, a pelvis and a number of strangely interlinked vertebrae.
He realises that there is a plastic button featuring a picture of a key on the wall, and he presses it, hears a faint click, and turnsaround.
As he yanks open the door, the skeleton man starts charging towards him.
The blade of his spade scrapes against the tiles.
Hugo runs outside, gasping when he crashes into something. He cuts across the raked gravel, but his mother is nowhere to be seen.
He hopes she has the same plan as him: to head down to the fence separating the garden from the common land, and then straight over to the closest neighbour.
When Hugo looks back over his shoulder to the house, he sees flickering torchlights in the windows.
He ducks down as he hurries through the garden, which slopes gently towards the water.
The grass is cold beneath his feet.
He catches a glimpse of his mother down by the lake house, her white nightie and pale skin almost glowing in the darkness.
A rabbit bolts away among the flowers.
Hugo’s heart is pounding.
There are raised voices outside the house now, and Hugo lifts a hand to push back the branches of the weeping willow. Up ahead, he can see the silhouette of the lake house against the water.
Hugo is approaching the seating area by the lilacs, and he hears a soft thumping sound, almost like fingertips drumming a table. He slows down a little to listen, but the sound has stopped.
All he can hear is the gentle breeze in the leaves. The lilacs loom dark around the little white garden table.
The gate is just ten metres away.
Hugo is moving more slowly now, trying to spot his mother. He steps over a red frisbee on the grass, notices the heavy flowers on the lilacs and has almost made it past the bush when someone grabs his arm and pulls him back.
It is one of the skeleton man’s soldiers.
He knocks Hugo to the ground and presses his knee between his shoulder blades. Hugo tries to get away, but it is impossible.
The skeleton man appears out of nowhere. He must have been creeping behind him the whole time. Together, the two men haul Hugo onto his feet and start dragging him backwards, towards the shouting and gunfire inside the house.
An explosion in the kitchen shatters the windows, causing glass to rain down on Dad’s new Volvo.
58
After saying goodnight to Valeria in Brazil and Lumi in France, Joona sits down at his desk and gazes out at the rooftops beneath the dark December sky, at the Advent stars in windows and balconies decorated with fairy lights and spruce branches.
He takes notes as he reads through his colleagues’ reports from their interviews with the victims’ families and friends, from their door knocking rounds, reviews of the CCTV footage and lists of forensic evidence.
Joona calls Saga, who answers with a subdued hello after seven rings.
‘How are you, really?’ he asks.
‘Fine.’
‘I want you to know that I’ve been nagging Noah non-stop about bringing you in as my partner.’
‘Thanks, but I’m OK with it, being on desk duty.’
