Imo nodded towards one of the walls in his studio. And there, on the floor, was Johannes’ microphone case.

78

78

‘Imo,’ I said. ‘What the fuck?’

‘Mari would never have managed to keep it a secret,’ Imo said. ‘The fact that you were half-siblings. And if your mum found out that Jimmy had another child, too, who’d been conceived when they were married … I don’t think she would have dealt with that especially well. It would have destroyed her.’

He sat down and shook his head. ‘I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let your mother go through that, on top of everything else she’d already had to deal with. And I certainly can’t let that happen now, after Tobias…’ He stopped himself again.

I closed my eyes.

No, I said to myself. No, no, no.

‘I want you to know, Even, that I never wanted any of this to happen. I tried to convince Mari to let it all lie, but then she split up with you – obviously, because she discovered you both had the same father. But she knew you would never just accept it without a decent explanation, so…’

‘So it’s my fault, is that what you’re saying?’ I shouted. There were tears in my eyes.

‘No, no,’ he said quickly, hands raised apologetically in front of him. ‘Not at all. You’re not to blame for any of this. You just fell in love with the wrong girl – you can’t decide things like that. It’s like me – I wish I had fallen in love with someone other than your mother. But the heart does what the heart wants.’

I balled up my fists, and before I knew what I was doing, I’d punched him in the face.

Imo staggered backwards, straight into the mixing desk. Blood started to trickle from his nose, but he didn’t make a sound, just held on to the desk and tried to steady himself.

‘Come on,’ he said, and wiped some blood off his face. ‘Get it all out. You can punch me as much as you like. I know I deserve it.’

I was just about to let loose, when something pulled me back. The thought of Ole Hoff being here somewhere, that Imo had the microphone case and that he had called me because he needed help with … something.

‘Tell me what happened,’ I said, my voice shaking. ‘Tell me everything.’