“Mr. Bartlett says he wasn’t carrying a knife,” said Ms. Lucas. “I think we should leave it and move on unless you can prove differently.”

“Fine. But is it really so stupid, Jason? Ask yourself. I don’t think so. What do you think of people from the Middle East? What do you think of Muslims?”

“What? I don’t think anything about them.”

“I think you do. I’ve read your essay. You talk about ‘migrant hordes streaming over the sea and through the ports’ and ‘open floodgates poisoning our society, our culture.’ You say that if it’s allowed to go on, we ‘won’t be able to live by our own laws in our own country anymore and there won’t be any jobs left for honest, decent white people.’ You call them ‘no better than animals’ and accuse them of ‘raping our women.’ You say we need to leave Europe and close our borders. Did you write that, Jason?”

“So what if I did? It’s true. A person’s entitled to his opinions, isn’t he? It’s still a free country. At least it was last time I looked.”

“Don’t you realize that even if we end free movement throughout the Union, it won’t mean getting rid of migrants, of all the migrants, especially the Pakistanis and blacks that seem to bother you so much? They’re not from Europe, Jason. Samir wasn’t from Europe.”

“I know that. They’re all the same, though, when you get right down to it. They’re all foreigners. They’re different from us. They’re contaminating our culture, our breeding, our way of life.”

“We’ve got your computer, Jason. We’re well aware of the sick websites you’ve been visiting, the kind of hate literature you’ve been reading. Is that what spurred you on to kill Samir?”

“I didn’t kill anyone.”

“Was it Chris, then? Did he do it? We know it happened when you were both in the park that night and Samir ran there from Hollyfield Lane.”

“How can you know that? You weren’t there. You’re just bluffing, trying to trick me into confessing to something I didn’t do.”

“If you tell us now, Jason, things will go better for you. If you help us.”

Jason folded his arms. “We didn’t do anything.”

“Where’s the knife, Jason? What did you do with it?”

“I told you. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Superintendent, I thought we’d left the knife behind us?” said Ms. Lucas.

“They didn’t do that,” said Banks. “They took it with them.”

“Cheap shot. You know what I mean. Stick to the script.”