‘Irene, you’re going to have to get a hold of yourself,’ Tuvesson said. ‘Klippan is right. Our political opinions have no place in this room. If you have a problem with that, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.’

Lilja said nothing, just looked at each of them in turn as though she were in fact considering leaving the meeting. But then she gave a curt nod and sat back down.

‘All right,’ Tuvesson continued. ‘Back to the subject at hand: the fire at the Sweden Democrats’ offices. Do we have any suspects at all?’

‘The case is being handled by the Bjuv Police,’ Lilja replied.

‘Fine, would you mind getting in touch with them and checking what they have so far? A lot of signs point to it being a direct response to the murder of Moonif Ganem.’

Lilja nodded almost imperceptibly and made a note in her papers.

‘Then I suggest we move on to the laundry room. Ingvar, how are you getting on? Have you found anything?’

‘So far nothing more than a bunch of fingerprints, bloodstains and lots of hair. Not entirely unexpected in a laundry room. But ask me again after lunch, we should be done by then.’

‘All right, then let’s move on. Klippan, have you had time to have a closer look at Samira and her family to see if this could be honour-related?’

‘I have, and there’s nothing in the criminal records. On the contrary, they seem to be model citizens. Both the mother and the father work in health care and speak fluent Swedish even though they’ve only been here for three years.’

‘What do you know,’ Lilja said, topping up her coffee. ‘There’s that kind of immigrant too.’

‘That said, I’m still far from convinced the motive has to be racism.’ Klippan held up his hand pre-emptively to silence Lilja. ‘And before you throw your coffee in my face, I would appreciate it if you’d hear me out.’

‘No need to worry. I prefer to drink it.’

‘Klippan, tell us. What motive are you considering?’ Tuvesson said.

‘Paedophilia.’

Tuvesson nodded thoughtfully. ‘How old was he?’

‘Eleven.’ Lilja turned to Klippan. ‘Why paedophilia? As far as I know, there were no signs of sexual assault.’

‘Have we heard from Flätan yet?’ Molander asked.

‘Yes, I actually saw him yesterday. Which reminds me, I forgot to show you these.’ Tuvesson handed out a number of pictures showing Moonif lying on a gleaming morgue gurney. ‘I have to say I’ve never seen Flätan so shaken.’

‘That’s hardly a surprise.’ Lilja picked up and studied one of the pictures. The slender body had been straightened out as much as possible but still lay in a kind of reverse foetal position with his legs bent the wrong way. ‘I can’t even imagine how painful it must have been.’

‘Has he determined a cause of death?’ Molander asked.