He said something else as well, but Susanne couldn’t tell what it was. She went back upstairs again, back into Tobias’s room. He wasn’t there this time, either. She walked back down and called his name, half expecting him to just appear, like he’d been playing a prank. She went down into the basement. Couldn’t find him in the laundry room. He wasn’t in the larder either. Not in the bathroom. Not in Even’s bedroom.

‘Mum,’ Even said as she came back up again, her face hot.

She searched for Tobias in the hall, the living room; she looked out of the windows, but he wasn’t in the garden or out the front.

‘It’ll be alright,’ Even said behind her. ‘We’re going to find him.’

‘His coat,’ Susanne said and went into the hall again, to the pegs where his outdoor clothes normally hung. ‘It’s still here,’ she said, pointing to it. ‘His shoes, too. He … he must have worn his trainers. He complained about them being too small, but he … he must have taken them anyway…’

Even took a step closer and put a firm hand on her shoulders. ‘The best thing you can do right now, Mum, is to sit down and wait by the phone. Have yourself a cup of tea or something. I’ll call you as soon as I’ve been to his school.’

Susanne looked at him, but couldn’t focus on his eyes. She could see his mouth moving, but couldn’t make out the words it was making. Yes, he was saying something about a phone and Imo being on his way.

‘OK,’ she whimpered.

‘Call Knut,’ Even said. ‘Tell him what’s happened, and get him to come over. He can help.’

Tears were running from her eyes, but she couldn’t make a sound.

‘But don’t stay too long on the phone,’ Even shouted. ‘In case I’m calling.’

Susanne nodded, carefully at first, then more and more vigorously. Even pulled her close and gave her a hug. Then he hurried out.

53

NOW

‘Did you really think you were going to find your brother at his school?’ Ms Håkonsen asks.

‘Not really,’ I reply. ‘But I had to do something. School was the obvious place to look for him first.’

She nods. ‘Do you remember what you were thinking on your way there?

‘How do you mean?’

‘What were you thinking about your brother’s behaviour?’

‘I remember thinking that maybe Tobias had run away. That maybe he thought the net was closing in on him or something.’

‘And why would that be?’

‘Because of the videotape. And the fact he’d been seen in the school newspaper room – the place the police said the killer had left the building that night, and the fact that he really didn’t have a good explanation as to why he was there in the first place.’