HE HAD TO READ the article a few times before he understood what had happened. He had been incapable of taking it in the first time. It felt like news from some parallel reality. But after reading it through twice, the news hit him like a bucket of cold water. Could it really be true? He had searched other news sites, watching as the story got bigger and bigger. It really had happened: Monika Krusenstierna was dead.
“Shit,” he hissed to himself. Everything had gone as planned with Risk and he had just rented a second car to go pick up Monika when he’d glanced through the latest news on his phone. He stopped on the side of the road to read the article a third time. Could it be a different Monika Krusenstierna? He’d searched her name in the White Pages, and only got one hit. And that was in Helsingborg, at an address he’d unearthed during his research. He needed to see it with his own eyes to make sure it wasn’t another trick set up by Risk.
Monika Krusenstierna lived at Dalhemsvägen 69, on the fifth floor of a high rise that had just received new steel siding: yellow had been discarded in favour of grey. He parked the car by Dalhem School and went the last little bit on foot. From the top of the pedestrian bridge across Dalhemsvägen he could see the flashing blue lights reflected on the facades — the parking lot was full of police cars. It definitely was his Monika.
Not only had it cost time and resources to prepare the space for the old homeroom teacher, but it was also to be the crowning glory of his plan, the last piece of the puzzle that would make everything else fall into place. Now none of it would work, and once more he would have to go back to the drawing board.
Time was his biggest problem. He’d already gone over his margins, and couldn’t afford to spend any more days adjusting the plan. Tomorrow’s schedule was already full — he had to go back to Denmark and finish what he’d started. Why he hadn’t done so in the first place, he didn’t know. He hadn’t intended to take the lives of innocent bystanders, and had been taken by surprise: first by the girl, and then by the police officer. He hesitated, choosing to flee instead of finishing the job. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. From now on, he would let nothing stand in his way.
His phone buzzed and the screen lit up. He saw that the camera in the rental car had come to life. He’d programmed a time delay into the motion detector so it wouldn’t react each time someone walked by — only if someone went up the front steps. He entered his code and waited.
He saw Risk opening his door and letting in his visitor. Suddenly it all fell into place. Instead of Monika Krusenstierna, he would give Fabian Risk the main role. Going forward, he would play the central, most crucial part in the whole scenario. The solution was as simple as it was brilliant, and once he thought of it he didn’t know why it hadn’t been part of his original plan.