And then that bastard came along, smashing into Ylva’s car then driving away. He had also extinguished a life (Peder refused to think about Ylva inside the burning vehicle), but for no good reason and without the slightest inclination to take responsibility for what he’d done. A cowardly little shit who couldn’t face the consequences of his actions. And Peder sank. He hadn’t been on solid ground since he left the Solomon Community, and after Ylva’s death things got steadily worse. His behaviour rang alarm bells with his employers, who begged him to seek help. Eventually they had to let him go. Which was fine. Peder hadn’t enjoyed working there anyway. Might as well start over somewhere else, but first he had to pull himself together.

He didn’t realise until much later, but ironically it was Ylva’s death that released him, in a way. That was when he understood what separated him from others who killed, and he was satisfied with that difference. Peder had killed to make the world a better place. Somewhere deep down he knew why the law must be written as it was, why the state didn’t kill its own citizens. However, the law was one thing, the duty of the individual another. Something that Bernhard Benke had grasped, for example, but not his worthless father.

But now he knows. Now I’ve helped him to put right everything he did wrong.

A long series of decisions had simply made themselves. This was about duty, nothing more, nothing less. Ylva’s murderer was never going to be allowed to get away with it, no fucking chance. Peder made sure he got in first, took him before the court got the chance to fuck everything up with a pathetic eighteen-month sentence. As far as Peder was concerned, it was essential that the punishment, the revenge, was proportional. And it was. Afterwards he acknowledged that he had now become a double murderer. He had felt a little uncomfortable, but there had also been a sense of pride, particularly when he got away with it so easily. That was when the next thought was born: what else could Peder do to achieve justice for those who had been wronged?