He had to stop now, he realised that. In the middle of all his hard work. Otherwise he would get caught. His mother had looked increasingly anxious each time she turned up to babysit. She didn’t ask any questions, but Peder knew she was wondering how he could possibly have so much to do in the middle of summer, why he’d had so much on his plate for so long. Deep down he was eternally grateful to her. Who else could he have called when he went over to England to pick up Beata’s wedding ring?

No part of Peder felt good; the fear and anxiety seemed to be howling inside his head.

But I did the right thing.

The only right thing.

Commitment, efficiency, availability. The three key principles of police work. Peder liked to think he’d been a good soldier. His commitment recently had been indisputable. His efficiency impeccable. And he had certainly been available.

No one he’d killed had been innocent. He’d seen so many people get away with it over the years – parents who had failed in their responsibility to their children, those who had stood by passively, well aware of the crimes of others, those who had committed crimes themselves, those who in one way or another had made it possible for someone else to do the most terrible things. He put them all in the same category as hit-and-run drivers, and there were so many of them. Hundreds.

When Ylva died, it was as if the last part of Peder that had been whole was shattered. He’d fought so hard during the years that had passed since he shot the man who’d murdered his brother, tried to find a path to reconciliation with what had happened, but such a path did not exist. Jimmy was gone. And Peder was a murderer. His action had been justified, but he had still extinguished a life. Outwardly he pretended that he was at peace with what he’d done, but a war was raging inside him, a war that escalated with each passing year. He couldn’t shake off the fear that he had joined the ranks of evil, and in the end that was why he declined Alex’s offer to speak up for him, try to get him back into the police. Peder didn’t belong there.