Alex glanced up. ‘Could you expand on that?’

‘I don’t know what else there is to say. We spoke on the phone a few times a year. I didn’t visit him on his birthday, nor did I open the presents or cards he sent when it was my birthday. We didn’t celebrate Christmas together, and when I come to Sweden I only see my mother.’

Clear and simple.

‘How long has the situation been this bad?’

‘A long time.’

‘Can you be more precise?’

‘At least ten years.’

You’re like all the rest, Alex thought. Someone who chooses not to tell me everything.

‘At least ten years? So I assume things were better when you were growing up. Did you fall out as a result of a particular event?’

Bernhard coughed and reached for the glass of water on the table.

‘I wouldn’t call it an event. We had different opinions about something. Very different opinions.’

The door opened and Fredrika came back in. She nodded to Alex before sitting down. I’ve pulled myself together.

‘About what?’

‘My sister Beata had major problems in her marriage. Her husband was a pig, to put it bluntly. He never missed a chance to humiliate and belittle her. She took a lot of abuse in that relationship – in every sense of the word. My father and I didn’t agree on how much the family could or should intervene.’

Alex lowered his gaze, fiddled with the pen he was holding. Fredrika took over.

‘What did you think the family ought to do?’

‘Me? I wanted us to do as much as possible. Whatever we could, because Beata didn’t deserve to be treated like that. No one does. My father agreed, in principle, but he wasn’t prepared to do his utmost, and I couldn’t accept that. Not then, and certainly not . . . afterwards. When she was gone and it was too late.’

Alex put down his pen.

‘What do you mean when you say your father wasn’t prepared to do his utmost?’

Bernhard’s face was cold and hard.

‘That doesn’t matter now.’

‘It matters to us,’ Fredrika said.

Bernhard shook his head. ‘I have nothing more to add on that point. My father was pathetic, I wanted to take a tougher approach. That’s all there was to it.’

‘Why do you think your father felt that way?’ Alex asked.

Bernhard spread his hands wide.

‘I assume he was afraid. Too busy putting himself and his reputation first rather than his own child.’

Fredrika didn’t feel the slightest desire to laugh now.

‘It sounds to me as if you would have had no problem in breaking the law in order to help your sister. Am I right?’

Bernhard folded his hands and placed them on his lap.

‘Of course not.’

What else could we expect? Alex thought.