‘And the car? Any trace of it?’

‘Not yet,’ Klippan said. ‘But I’ve put out an internal alert for both the model and the plates, so if he’s still driving around, it shouldn’t be long before we nab him.’

‘I think we should ask the public for help, too.’

‘All right,’ Klippan made a note.

‘Oh, right, I completely forgot.’ Lilja took out a police sketch of the man she had been chasing. ‘Here he is.’

‘When did you have time to have that done?’ Tuvesson looked at the sketch.

‘Just now. That’s why I was a bit late. I figured it was best to get it over with before I forgot that creepy smile.’

‘Is it Gudrun Scheele?’

‘Of course it’s Gudrun Scheele,’ Klippan said, studying the drawing.

Gudrun Scheele was a half-blind former art teacher in a wheelchair who had retired almost twenty years earlier and happened to live in the same nursing home as Klippan’s mother. He had noticed her collection of portraits on one of his visits and asked if she would consider helping the police out, and the rest was history.

As usual, she had used coal, and with the help of deft shadowing and more or less strongly marked lines managed to draw a face that leaped off the page. It was miraculous every time.

‘I was in the hospital anyway, so I just had to swing by Bergalid on my way back here,’ explained Lilja, who seemed to have calmed down. ‘And your mother says hello. She was bitter, to put it mildly. Apparently, you promised to stop by and set the channels on her TV over two weeks ago.’

Klippan shook his head. ‘I was there yesterday.’

‘What, does she have Alzheimer’s? Why haven’t you said something?’ Tuvesson exclaimed.

‘Because that’s not what’s wrong with her. What she does suffer from is selective memory lapses. Whenever it suits her.’

‘What do you reckon? Should we make this available to the public along with the car?’ Lilja asked.

‘No, let’s hold off, keep it internal for now. And see what the prosecutor has to say.’

‘Is it Stina Högsell?’

Tuvesson nodded just as her phone started ringing. ‘Speak of the devil… Hi, Stina. Give me two seconds, I’m just wrapping things up here. Klippan, you know what to do, and Irene, I suggest you start mapping the racist elements of Bjuv.’

‘Absolutely. I was going to pay a visit to the Sweden Democrats.’ Lilja downed the rest of her coffee and stood up as Tuvesson left.

‘Why the Sweden Democrats?’ Klippan said.

‘Because they’re both xenophobic and racist. And because the guy wore a jacket with their logo. Any other questions I can answer for you?’

7