‘If we’re lucky, it serves as an example and thins out the hordes of people who think they can just come here and take over,’ he continued. ‘So yeah, sure.’ He gathered snus between his thumb, index and middle finger and pushed it up loose under his top lip. ‘Given how many little gingerbread men die of starvation every day, it seems a fairly low price to pay for saving this country from complete meltdown.’

She was about to argue with him. Her arguments were lined up like the gun belt of an automatic weapon. But she remained silent because she’d just realized why he was studying her.

She would have given a lot to be able to stand up, leave the room and let someone else take over. But there was no one else, and no matter how heinous Igor Skanås was, he wasn’t who she was after.

‘Your brother. Is he as big a racist as you?’

‘You should ask him.’

‘Fine, I just have to find him first. When did you last see him?’ she said, doing everything in her power to keep her feelings from showing.

‘Wow, okay, I guess we’re changing the subject again.’

‘We’re here to discuss your brother. Not your twisted world view.’ Giving him short shrift was all she could do. ‘So if you wouldn’t mind focusing on answering, I promise I’ll ask questions. Like this one: When did you last see Assar Skanås?’

‘Last Wednesday when he got back, at around three or four in the afternoon.’

‘Did anything seem strange to you? Anything out of the ordinary that stood out?’

‘Everything about Assar is strange.’

‘But there was nothing to make you suspect that he had just committed a murder.’

‘No.’

‘You didn’t ask where he’d been or what he’d been doing? Or why he came home in an orange Volvo 240?’

‘He wouldn’t have told me anyway, since he was in a mood.’

‘What kind of mood was that?’

‘Closed. Shut up inside himself. When he’s like that, it’s best to just leave him to his own devices.’

‘And what did he get up to?’

‘The usual.’ Igor Skanås shrugged. ‘Put on some Astrid Lindgren films.’

‘So he’s the paedo and you’re the Nazi. Wow, your parents really did a great job.’

‘I have no problem articulating and defending my political views. But as you said, we’re not here to discuss me. As far as my brother’s concerned, he’s always liked children, and in a way he’s still a child himself. He has an imagination like no one else and for as long as I’ve known him, he’s lived in his own bubble.’

‘But if everything’s just the same old, and you didn’t react to anything, why did you call him last night?’

‘So that was you in our house. I figured.’