Karolina sighed. ‘I tried to bring it up a few times, but he was evasive and said he didn’t want to force it. At first, I actually thought it was kind of sweet that he wasn’t like everyone else, just trying to get some as quickly as possible without a thought to how I felt. But then one day when I came home earlier than usual, I found him in front of the computer, taking care of himself. It turned out his hard drive was jam-packed with absolutely horrible things he’d bought or downloaded. We’d lived together for six months at that point, and I felt like he’d been cheating on me the entire time. I flew into a rage and pulled the computer out of the wall, cables and all, and threw it off the balcony. We lived on the third floor in Västra Berga, and I hate to think how it could’ve turned out if someone had happened to be walking by on the street.’

‘And how did he react to that?’

‘He had no choice but to confess and swear that he only loved me. But I put my foot down and forced him to choose between me and the porn.’

‘And he agreed.’

‘Well, that hard drive was beyond salvaging, and from what I gathered, he’d spent a fortune on those films. Either way, he started seeing a sex therapist in town. I never felt particularly comfortable about him. At the same time, though, I didn’t want to be the problem so I did everything I could to help Eric.’

‘And what could you do?’

‘That’s what I wondered. It was obviously Eric’s addiction, not mine. But this sex therapist seemed to think I had an important role in the process.’ She sighed and shook her head. ‘It was torture. The idea was for us to make incremental progress. So he gave us homework, like for Eric to sit next to me in bed and watch me pleasure myself. I don’t know how I could have agreed to that. But I did. I lay there, writhing and humiliating myself like some cheap tramp so he could get it up and want to come over to me. The problem was that he never did. Instead, he just sat there and watched and sorted himself out.’

Fabian handed her another tissue.

‘I did almost everything he asked me to for over a year before I’d had enough and gave up.’

‘Almost? What didn’t you agree to do?’

Karolina looked him in the eyes. ‘Is it relevant or are you just curious?’

‘As I said, I fully understand if you feel uncomfortable. But what I’m looking for is a motive, and I believe it may be found in the turning points, in a pivotal moment that might have triggered him to go from watching porn to placing hidden webcams in other people’s bedrooms.’