Cars with media logos on their bonnets and vans with satellite dishes on their roofs were parked just outside the school perimeter. I saw men and women who presumably had never set foot in our tiny little town before, but were here in numbers, as part of their job. I saw faces I’d only ever seen on TV. Camera crews, radio journalists with microphones in their hands. Others who were checking the light on their cameras or talking to someone on the phone. It dawned on me for the first time that this wasn’t something that only concerned us in Fredheim. It affected the whole of Norway.

The school building was still cordoned off. There were several police cars outside the entrance. I thought I saw people turning towards us, and I slid down in my seat. It was as though a wall of hate and suspicion had sprung up in front of me.

I looked over to the handball court, where we normally had PE. There were loads of people outside that entrance as well.

‘That’s where they’re interviewing people,’ Imo said. ‘The police, that is.’

It was too far away for me to recognise anyone.

‘Have they questioned you yet?’ I asked.

‘I haven’t been interviewed formally yet, no. I did speak to Mork this morning, though. Briefly.’

‘What did he ask you?’

My uncle took a deep breath. ‘He wanted to know when I left the school, what exit I’d used, if I’d seen anything. Just a few basic questions really, to begin with. First they just want to work out who they need to talk to some more.’

‘And you’re one of them?’

Imo shrugged and said: ‘I don’t think so, but … who knows?’

I moved in my seat so I could face him better. ‘Did you see anything?’ I asked. ‘Did you see Mari?’

‘I did,’ he said. ‘Straight after the show. She was going to interview Johannes.’

I stared at him, waiting for more. ‘I was busy talking to people,’ he continued. ‘You know what it’s like after a show. Everyone wants a word. I had some equipment to sort out as well, so I didn’t really pay attention to anything. Then I went home.’

‘How many people were still there when you left?’

He turned to me with a fleeting smile. ‘That’s what Mork asked me as well. Hard to say. I didn’t count. Fifteen, twenty people, maybe.’

‘Did you know them? Could you recognise them, do you think?

Imo sighed. ‘I was tired. I really didn’t think about anything apart from getting home.’

I could understand that. Imo had been working day and night in the run-up to the show.

‘Have you seen enough?’ he asked.

‘I think so,’ I replied.

‘OK,’ he said and put a firm hand on my thigh. ‘Let’s eat, then. I’m starving.’

22

NOW