‘He was in jail, so I wrote to him, asked about him and my mum, how they met and so on. To my surprise, he actually replied. Not in any detail, but he did agree to meet. When he was released, we had lunch now and again. He told me that he and my mum came from the same area here in Skåne, and that they got to know each other in a children’s home. They became so close that they often pretended to be brother and sister instead of girlfriend and boyfriend.

‘He was sent to jail for two years just before I was born. They drifted apart, but carried on having some kind of on/off relationship until Mum’s overdose in 2002. According to him, she was the love of his life, but I think that was just something he said for my sake.’

A wry smile.

‘After those initial meetings he got in touch two or three times a year, almost always because he needed help. He usually wanted to borrow money.’

‘Did you help him?’

‘When I could afford it – and no, I wasn’t stupid enough to think I’d ever get it back. He was no saint, but my foster mother often said that sometimes you have to do good deeds for people who aren’t that good.’

Anna nods. She instinctively likes Lisa – her voice, her gentle aura, her positive attitude towards other people. Her mother gave her away and her father didn’t want anything to do with her, and yet the young woman doesn’t seem to be at all bitter. Was she the same at Lisa’s age? Probably not. She was already a police officer by then, and most of her belief in the goodness of humanity had been severely dented.

‘A little while ago my father called and said he’d like to meet up. He wondered if I’d kept any of Mum’s stuff, and if so, could he take a look at it? I saw this as a chance to find out more about Mum, so I invited him over. It was actually very pleasant; we had dinner, drank some wine and went through Mum’s things. There were a couple of boxes of books and bits and pieces that my foster parents had gathered up from her apartment – nothing of any value.’

‘So, when was this?’ Anna asks. She is beginning to suspect where Lisa’s story is leading.

‘Around 20 September.’

‘Just after you received the letter from Elisabet Vidje?’

Lisa nods. ‘That’s right – maybe a week or so after that.’

‘Do you happen to remember if there was a cassette tape in one of those boxes?’