Bruno is trying to come across as spontaneous, but he has practised this little speech. Referring to Rylander as a sick bastard is a subtle way of diminishing him as a victim. Anna makes a mental note, then concentrates on what is coming next.

‘Bruno and I went straight home from the police station and stayed in all night,’ Marie says, without anyone having asked her. ‘We were up half the night talking through what happened at the dance. The children stayed over with Bruno’s parents.’

Bruno nods with a little too much enthusiasm, which appears to irritate his wife. Marie isn’t happy with Bruno’s performance so far, Anna thinks.

‘Did you see or hear anything unusual when you drove back from the police station – a car you didn’t recognise, for example?’ Jens points to the window. ‘The viewpoint is just over half a mile from Kotorp as the crow flies.’

‘Norrblicka, not Kotorp,’ Marie snaps. ‘And no, not as far as I remember. I think it was raining quite hard, wasn’t it, darling?’

Bruno nods. ‘It was pouring down. The ditch out there almost overflowed – I had to go out and do some digging.’ He would like to embellish his account, but a look from Marie silences him. He receives the smallest of nods as a reward.

Marie smiles at Jens.

‘As we said, we haven’t seen this Rylander, or whatever his name is, for the last twenty-seven years. And we both spent all of Sunday at home together.’ She turns to Anna. ‘Perhaps you’d like to write that down so there won’t be any misunderstandings.’ The acid comment is entirely free of the fake warmth that characterised their previous conversations.

‘Simon Vidje,’ Anna says calmly. Even though the name has already been mentioned, Bruno can’t help reacting when he hears it.

‘You were both present on the night he died. In his email Rylander hinted that he knew the truth about what actually happened, and that he wanted you to pay.’ She observes the couple closely; Jens is doing the same thing.

Marie’s lips are pursed and she narrows her eyes. Bruno looks uneasy.

‘My cousin’s death was purely accidental,’ Marie says. ‘The police investigation has already established that.’ Her tone conveys the fact that she finds their questions very unfair. ‘As we already stated when we were interviewed, we all went to bed just after midnight when Rylander and the girl had left and it started to rain. Carina and I . . .’ She stops, corrects herself. ‘Caia and I were in one tent, Bruno and Alex in another. Simon always slept by himself.’

‘Why?’ Jens asks.

Bruno shrugs. ‘He preferred it that way. We had a four-man tent in the first few years when we camped up there, but Simon didn’t like it. He preferred to cycle home at night rather than share.’