‘That could just be an expression,’ Haugen objects. ‘What does this Freske have to say about it? Because I’m given to understand you’ve already talked to him. Without informing your superiors, I might add, even though we made ourselves very clear.’

He shoots Karl Björken a quick glance.

‘Yes, we did speak to him. I made the decision to go over there after talking to Karen and reading Loa Marklund’s emails. I had the same reservations as you, but my assessment was that it needed to be followed up on. As the lead investigator, I have to be able t—’

Dineke Vegen puts an end to the discussion.

‘OK, whatever, you can work that out between yourselves later,’ she says impatiently. ‘Go on,’ she adds, turning to Karen.

‘We found that he was, indeed, in a wheelchair,’ she says. ‘But we knew he must have been standing up right before opening the door.’

‘And how did you know that?’

‘Because he was aware we were from the police before we introduced ourselves. I had held my ID up to the peephole which is placed at a height of approximately five foot three inches.’

‘Well, what do you know?’ Dineke Vegen says and makes a note. ‘Although, it is possible he can stand up for short periods of time.’

‘Yes, that’s exactly what he himself claimed later. To explain how he gets by without any form of assistance.’

‘Great. Then, why are we sitting here?’ Viggo Haugen demands angrily.

‘Because I don’t believe him. The wheelchair likely belonged to his recently deceased mother; it was certainly far too small for a man his size. Nothing about the flat indicated that a disabled person lives in it. The positioning of the furniture, the lack of threshold ramps, and so on. And Karl and I both had a strong feeling he was lying through his teeth.’

Dineke Vegen discreetly chews the inside of her cheek and taps her pen against the table while she considers what has been said.

‘All right,’ she says eventually. ‘Hunches and feelings, in other words. But I know you know that’s not enough to bring him in. So, what else do you have? Because I assume it’s something more substantial than this.’

‘Karen has been able to establish that all four victims had interactions with Gundar Freske,’ Karl replies. ‘And not the positive kind. In other words, we believe he has reason to hold a grudge against all four women.’

‘You believe?’ Viggo Haugen says. ‘Is there anything you actually know?’

‘Well, the incidents were all relatively trivial, but in each case, Freske ended up feeling demeaned by the victims and that can, as you know, be enough to trigger men of a certain type.’