It was cold comfort, though. I couldn’t help feeling that this was partly my fault. I had half accused Tobias of being a murderer the night before. Maybe I’d pushed him over the edge.

‘Would you like to go to the hospital yourself?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Yes, please.’

Mork took me to his police car and let me in.

‘And what about your mother?’ he asked.

‘She’s at Knut’s. Should we go and collect her?’

He nodded and got in beside me.

I sat and stared at the road in silence as we drove to Knut’s. Mork didn’t say anything either; so I was left to my own thoughts: Was Tobias really in such a bad way? How much had he really suffered?

When Mum came out of the flat, her eyes were flooded with tears. She ran over and threw her arms around me, then sobbed against my neck. I let her do it; this was not the time to be angry because she’d slapped me.

It took us about thirty minutes to get to the hospital. We found Imo in a waiting room on the first floor. He got up as soon as he saw us.

Mum ran over and grabbed him, wanting to know how Tobias was.

‘They’re trying to … to pump his stomach,’ Imo said, holding her arm. ‘He’s got a tube down here…’ He pointed at his throat. ‘And they’re … flushing him out.’

‘What does that mean?’ Mum shouted.

‘They’re trying to get him to vomit as much as possible.’

I pulled a face.

‘And then they’ll give him activated charcoal. It binds itself to any poison that’s left, so it doesn’t enter his system. And then it will be discharged normally.’

Mum cried uncontrollably for a few more minutes. We all stood around, not knowing what to do.

Finally she pulled herself together enough to ask Imo to tell her exactly what had happened from the time he found Tobias to the moment he collapsed in the car. Even though Imo said everything slowly and clearly, I wasn’t sure Mum was able to take much in. She just stood there, her face blank, shaking her head.

‘Can I see him?’ she asked, when Imo was finished.

‘His body’s had a bit of bashing, so I’m not sure that now’s the right time to—’

‘I just want to see him,’ she begged.

‘I spoke to the nurse just before you came. It’s not possible. At least not yet. We have to give his body time to deal with this and then we might be able to talk to him later.’

Later, I thought. What would happen later?

Would my brother be sectioned? And how should we care for him if he wasn’t? How could we make sure that he stayed away from drugs? Would we manage?