‘We did, once. Though it was more akin to rape. It was after midnight. He was down here as usual, working late. I’m usually asleep by then, but I was in the middle of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I couldn’t put it down. It was several years after it first came out. I don’t normally read crime novels. They’re all the same. Anyway, it was much too late and I’d finally managed to tear myself away and turn the lights off when he came into the room.’ She trailed off and swallowed hard. ‘I didn’t feel like talking, so I pretended to be asleep. That usually works out because I tend to fall asleep within minutes. But this particular night, he came and lay down right next to me, which he normally never does. It was as though it were the first time he’d touched me. Suddenly, his hands were everywhere, on my breasts and in my knickers. I just lay there and thought, finally, it’s happening. He even had an erection. So I turned over and was about to kiss him when my cheek suddenly burned. It was dark and I didn’t understand what was happening at first. Then he hit me a second time and hissed at me never to look at him ever again. Then he ordered me to get on all fours. But I just lay there in some kind of shock and didn’t understand what was happening. So he grabbed my arm and almost yanked it out of the socket. I had no idea he was so strong, and suddenly there I was on all fours, feeling him penetrating me. But not where he was supposed to, so eventually I tore and started bleeding. I could feel it trickling down the insides of my thighs. I asked him to stop, but he just hissed at me to shut up. That I was a dirty bitch who should shut my mouth. That’s exactly what he said, then he carried on until he was done.’

‘That was two years ago?’

‘Yes, almost exactly, actually. Just a few days before midsummer. How did you know?’

He could have told her the film in which Wessman received much the same treatment was also two years old and that it might have been her husband’s inspiration. But it would have to wait. ‘And the tattoo. You had that made after the incident?’