I think about my answer for a second. ‘Well, it made me realise how people could have thought they saw me there. I mean, from a distance my brother and I aren’t too different. We’re about the same height. And we did have almost the same kind of denim jacket. The same baseball cap. A lot of pieces fell into place for me when I saw it.’

‘Did you, at that point, think that your brother could have been the one behind all this?’

‘Well, the questions did hit me pretty quick. What was he doing there? Did he kill them? I guess it was only natural.’

Ms Håkonsen nods slightly. ‘Then what did you do?’

‘I went home. To confront him.’

49

THEN

I was standing on the outskirts of Fredheim, not far away from where Børre Halvorsen had been murdered. My thoughts were running riot. I pressed play again and watched the video to the end, but I couldn’t see where my brother went. I did see Mari, though, to the far right of the screen. And I almost sank to my knees.

It shouldn’t have taken me by surprise. I knew she’d been there. But still, it was weird to see her again. It was like she was still alive. She had a camera around her neck. Seemed focused on the work she was there to do. As she disappeared out of view, I let out a loud sob.

There she was, only an hour and a half before someone killed her. I wondered if she’d had any idea she was in danger as she went around, trying to behave like a professional journalist. Had she been afraid of anyone? Had she known that something might happen? Probably not. She was going to conduct an interview. Then go home and continue to hide from me.

My thoughts went back to my brother. Yes, he’d turned up at the school looking a bit like me; but wasn’t it a huge leap to then think he’d killed my ex-girlfriend and the star of the school show? As I cycled home, I tried to work out how I was going to confront him. I thought about phoning Imo, just to get his advice, but I decided against it.

When I pulled up in front of our house, I looked up at Tobias’s window. A bluish light flickered across the walls of his room. I went inside, poured myself a large glass of water, drank it all down, then went to knock on his door.

‘Go away!’ Tobias yelled.

‘It’s me,’ I said.

Behind the door cars were crashing and smashing into something. Grand Theft Auto, probably. Tobias didn’t answer. I knocked again and tried the door. It was locked. The noises stopped: he’d paused the game. I heard him coming to open the door.

‘Hi,’ I said.