Page 215 of The Sleepwalker
Erik gets onto his knees, straddling her legs, and leansforward. Supporting himself on either side of her shoulders, he kisses her and starts making his way downwards, his lips grazing her ornate tattoo and her pubic mound.
‘You’ve got the volume on your phone turned up, right? In case the detective calls,’ she jokes.
Erik shakes his head and pulls her knickers down over her thighs. She is so aroused that her vulva glistens in the soft light.
The wind howls in the chimney.
Erik kisses her thick black curls and breathes in her heady scent.
The candle on the coffee table flickers, the flame tilting to one side.
He gets up, glances through to the kitchen and hallway, then pulls down his trousers and steps out of them.
The glow of the fire reaches as far as the whipping branches of the willow outside.
A clump of dust rolls across the parquet in a sudden draught.
Erik looks down at Moa, who has kicked off her knickers and crossed her legs at the ankle. Her eyes are glittering.
‘What is it?’ she asks.
‘You’re just so beautiful.’
‘No.’ She smiles.
‘Too beautiful for me.’
She reaches for his hand, pulls him towards her and parts her thighs. She kisses him on the lips, strokes his back and lets out a loud groan as he pushes into her.
* * *
Joona is driving north towards Uppsala with his blue lights on in an attempt to make it to Lars Grind’s home in time for the raid.
There is a red car up ahead, and he blasts the horn and swings out onto the hard shoulder as he undertakes it.
The fast-approaching storm is already causing trees to bend, branches to break and debris and loose objects to blow across the road or catch on the central barrier.
On learning that the Opel and property in Grillby belonged to Grind, Joona immediately jumped into his car and set off, trying to reach Hugo as he drove.
He grips the wheel with both hands in an attempt to keep the car steady.
Over the radio, he hears that a nationwide alert has been issued for the doctor, along with an APB for his new Tesla.
A tactical unit from Stockholm is currently preparing to storm Lars Grind’s home.
Joona first met the commander of the unit, Thor, years ago – in another life – during the search for Jurek Walter in an abandoned house more than fifty kilometres away.
Back then, Thor was dangerously over-confident, and Joona worries that he might not take the threat posed by the Widow seriously enough.
A few snowflakes have begun to flash by in the fierce wind, crossing the road horizontally like tiny projectiles.
Joona hears reports that Storm Eyolf has now made landfall in Sweden, wrecking jetties, dragging small boats inland, breaking windows, tearing tiles from roofs and felling thousands of trees.
The rescue services and emergency hospitals have already declared a critical incident, and the Meteorological and Hydrological Institute has issued a nationwide red warning, urging the public to remain indoors.
Across much of northern Sweden, train services have ground to a halt.
Rubbish and twigs fly through the air, and an SUV travelling in the opposite direction swerves in the wind and bumps against the crash barrier.
