I thought of my dad, who had driven off the road. Maybe it was hereditary – maybe Imo had passed out too. I knew that he wasn’t in perfect health with his back problems and all the medicines I’d seen in his bathroom cupboard. I wondered if history had repeated itself.

I don’t know how long I stood there in front of Mork, waiting for an answer, but then, suddenly, it appeared as if Imo came back on the line. Mork asked what had happened. I watched as he listened, nodding. I could just about hear my uncle’s voice. He was clearly agitated.

‘OK,’ Mork said. ‘Is he stable?’

Stable?

Mork continued: ‘Make sure he’s in the recovery position. Keep him calm and I’ll get the hold of the nearest ambulance. Where are you?’

Mork fired his instructions so fast I nearly didn’t hear what he said.

‘Akershus University Hospital is closest then,’ he said. ‘I’ll call and give them your number.’

Then the inspector hung up and turned towards me. He looked at me for moment and took a deep breath.

‘Even, your brother…’ He paused while he handed me back my phone. Then he sighed and said: ‘There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll just be blunt and go ahead and say it. Your brother just tried to kill himself.’

I heard Mork call for an ambulance, giving them Imo’s and Tobias’s location. Then he gave the operator Imo’s phone number. The last thing Mork said before hanging up, was ‘hurry’.

Then he looked at me.

‘Is he … is he going to be alright?’ I stammered.

‘I…’ Mork paused, then continued: ‘I don’t know.’

It was all too unreal. My throat was tight, but I didn’t cry. Perhaps it was too early for tears. I had to find out what had happened first, and why.

‘Did he do it while … Imo was talking to you?’ I asked.

‘Seems like it,’ Mork said.

‘But … how? How did he try to do it?’

The inspector put a hand on my shoulder. ‘Imo said that he’d swallowed something, a pill or … maybe lots of them – he wasn’t sure. He just fell forward in his seat.’ Mork took a deep breath. ‘Imo put down his phone when it happened. From what I could hear, it sounded like he slammed on the brakes, ran over to the other side of the car and pulled your brother out onto the road. Then he stuck his fingers down his throat and got him to vomit. But…’ Mork looked around ‘…Imo doesn’t know if he’d got it all up.’

I tried to picture it. Imo must have reacted fast. We could only hope that he’d been fast enough.

‘An ambulance will be there very soon,’ Mork said. ‘And then your brother will be in the best possible hands.’