Ms Håkonsens purses her lips. ‘And at that point you still didn’t remember that you had been out the previous night, walking your dog?’

I shake my head and say no. A quiet murmur spreads across the room. The lawyer doesn’t look at me while asking her next question.

‘How did your friends react to Børre’s comment?’

I search for Oskar’s eyes in the audience. He doesn’t want to meet mine.

18

THEN

I looked at the screen, my jaw dropping. I couldn’t get a word out. I just sat there and stared.

‘What the actual fuck?’ I finally muttered.

Fredrik and Kaiss got out their phones to check the feed themselves.

‘It’s not true,’ I told them, in a much quieter voice than I had intended. None of my friends answered. ‘It’s not true,’ I repeated, louder this time. ‘He can’t have seen me. I was here, in my room, all evening. Tobias was at home, he knows, he can…’

No, I said to myself. He couldn’t.

I handed Oskar his phone. No one said anything, they just nodded, slowly. Seventeen people had already liked Børre Halvorsen’s comment.

They believed him.

They fucking believed him.

‘Want us to find the idiot?’ Oskar asked. ‘Find out what the hell he’s talking about?’

I wanted to find Børre myself and beat the shit out of him, telling lies like that, but I knew that would be stupid, so I said: ‘Yeah. Maybe.’ Then: ‘Yes. That would be great, actually.’

Oskar leapt up from the bed. ‘Alright,’ he said, looking at Fredrik and Kaiss. ‘Let’s go, then.’

Kaiss put down the guitar. I got up, hoping for a hug or a fist bump as they left my room.

‘Talk later,’ Oskar said. He was already in the staircase. Fredrik put his hands in his pockets and just nodded as he walked past me.

‘Talk later,’ Kaiss said too, and hurried after the others.

‘Yeah,’ I replied, my voice all quiet and slow. I remained where I was while my friends walked up the stairs without saying another word. I heard the front door open and then shut a moment later. The silence in the house made me realise that I’d never felt more alone.

19

19

Yngve placed his finger on the doorbell, but waited a few seconds before pressing it. This was the worst part of his job – talking to people who’d just lost a loved one. He’d done it many times, but nothing ever really prepared you for it. This time, with a child involved, it was worse than ever.