‘None of it was. Not one word I said was true. She wasn’t home that Friday when I got back from work. But did I get worried and call the police?’ Reidar shook his head. ‘I assumed she’d left me and would be back when she ran out of money. I wasn’t even worried. Our relationship was so destructive that looking back now, I’ve no idea why she stayed. I made everything toxic and made sure I broke her to make her need me.’ He turned around and looked Fabian in the eyes. ‘She never came out and said it, but I could tell from the look in her eyes and read it between the lines. She hated me intensely. At times, I think she even wished I would die. And in hindsight, I have no problem seeing why. Living with me must have been torture. I’m a different person now, but back then I was a controlling, condescending prick. And to answer your question – of course I was convinced she was having an affair, so I watched her like a hawk.’ He shook his head. ‘Once, I even got it in my head that she was sleeping with our neighbour. Right, maybe you know him. Ingvar Molander. He works for the police, too, but he’s a crime technician.’

Fabian ignored the question. He’d been given all the information he needed. He was about to thank the man for talking to him and wish him a good day, when a woman on a bicycle suddenly called out to them.

‘Why, hello there!’

Fabian looked at the woman, who was wearing a bike helmet and sunglasses, but couldn’t place her.

‘It’s Fabian, isn’t it?’

He did recognize her voice, though.

‘Hi, Gertrud,’ Reidar shouted, waving. ‘I figured you two might know each other.’

Of course Ingvar Molander’s wife had to ride by at this precise moment. He almost couldn’t believe it, but the very thing he’d been trying to avoid by not going to Reidar’s house had just happened anyway.

‘Hi there,’ he finally managed to squeeze out, and he added a wave, frantically trying to think of some way of saving the situation. ‘Long time no see. How are you these days?’

‘Good, thank you.’ Gertrud had now pedalled over to them. ‘But I didn’t know you two knew each other.’

‘We don’t,’ Reidar Dahlberg replied. ‘But they’ve reopened Inga’s case. Apparently there’s new information, which as far as I can make out is interesting enough that they’re hoping it might lead to an arrest down the line.’

It was too late. The catastrophe was already a fact.

‘Oh, really. Well, imagine that. I haven’t heard anything about it.’