The bedroom stank of vomit, the drawn curtains shut out all daylight and all the lights were turned off.
Sara went to the bed, pulled the duvet off Martin, who was curled up underneath it, and began pummelling him. Everywhere she could get at him. As hard as she could. He said nothing. He just let her hit him, and wailed like a wounded animal.
‘What have you done?!’ Sara shouted. ‘You killed her!’
‘I didn’t know!’
He looked up at her. In the light cast from the doorway she saw that his eyes were red-rimmed with tears.
‘It was you who paid,’ she said.
‘I . . . I thought it was for a regular sex show.’
‘Why didn’t you stop them? Why didn’t you call the police? Why didn’t you say anything when you got home?!’
‘I felt so terrible. Do you have any idea how awful it was?’
‘That you killed her? Yes. And don’t feel sorry for yourself. Of all the disgusting men who buy sex that I’ve ever met over the years, you’re the most disgusting of all! Waving your fucking black Amex around and murdering a poor girl just to turn yourself on!’
‘I didn’t know. I promise. I had no idea,’ her husband whimpered.
‘Why didn’t you stop it then?’
‘They had weapons. Automatic weapons. And we were on international soil so I couldn’t call the police.’
‘But when you left?’ Sara shouted in his face.
‘I couldn’t grass on our biggest star. Do you have any idea how much money he brings in for us? Billions. And it still wouldn’t have saved the girl’s life.’
‘I don’t want to hear your apologies! You’re going to tell us everything. Every single detail. And then you’ll take your punishment. I’ll make sure you never see your children again.’
‘I feel so fucking awful. I just sat there while someone was being tortured like that. And the others just kept pushing. Demanding more. I don’t know how I’m going to live with it,’ Martin said, crying so hard his face was covered in tears and snot.
‘And how the fuck do you think this is going to affect Olle? That his father and his idol think it’s OK to pay to watch a woman be tortured to death? What if it had been Ebba lying there?!’
‘You can’t tell him! Not a word to the kids. I’ll take my punishment, but tell them . . . tell them I’m away. Or that I’m in prison for fraudulent accounting or something. They shouldn’t have to suffer for what I’ve done. They shouldn’t have to be stigmatised as the children of a swine.’
‘Where did you find out about the peepshow?’ Sara said, pacing back and forth across the bedroom. She was afraid of what she might do if she stopped and really thought about everything that was happening. What she might do to her husband.
‘I didn’t know that was what happened. I’d just heard it was some kind of sex show, for people who liked the really rough videos online – but you could watch live. And control the action.’
‘And you thought that sounded good?’
‘I heard that Scam liked that kind of thing. But I had no idea what was going to happen. And then Scam wanted to see more, wanted to go all the way.’ He fell silent and looked up at Sara. ‘What was her name?’
‘Who?’
‘The girl. Wh-who . . . died.’
‘Jenna. That wasn’t her real name, but in this bloody country she was called Jenna.’