He took another sip of his tea. ‘You’ve still got a lot to learn, champ.’ His hand was shaking again.

‘How did you get on with the police?’ I asked. I hadn’t thought about Imo’s leather glove all evening.

‘Well … I think it went well,’ he said. ‘They’re still looking for my gloves.’

‘So you don’t think they suspect you of…?’

‘No, no,’ Imo said, without hesitation. ‘Not at all.’ He smiled. Then he got up and said: ‘It’s late, and you’ve got school tomorrow, right?’

I nodded.

‘Your mother will kill me if she finds out you’ve been sitting here nattering until midnight.’

I looked up at him. ‘You always say that, don’t you?’

‘What?’

‘That Mum will kill you if this or that.’

‘You don’t think she would?’ Imo said, and winked at me. ‘Go on, now. Off you go.’

It was pitch-dark outside when I left for home. Thankfully the main road back to Fredheim was lit. As I cycled along, I thought about Ida and her ferocious scream, but then the humming of a car behind me caught my attention. Traffic wasn’t uncommon, even at this hour, but I noticed that the sound of the engine didn’t change – it didn’t come any closer.

I looked over my shoulder. The car was about a hundred yards behind me. Only the parking lights were on. And I was right, it was keeping pace with me. The distance made it hard to see what kind of car it was, especially as new cars all looked the same to me. But it was definitely a car, not a van or a truck.

I slowed down. So did the car.

I stopped completely. Put my feet on the ground.

The car stopped, too.

I tried to get a good look at the driver, but the windscreen was too dark. I considered turning and cycling back towards it, just to see what would happen, but decided not to. Too risky. Instead, I got back on my bike and cycled as fast as I could towards Fredheim. Every now and then a car would come in the opposite direction. I wondered if I should call Imo, have him come to my rescue. For days now people had been saying more or less to my face, albeit online, that they were going to get justice for the dead, one way or the other. I hadn’t thought anyone would actually do anything. Now I wasn’t so sure.