‘What is it?’ I asked, suddenly anxious.

‘Before I say anything else, it’s important that you listen to me now. Can you do that, Even?’

I was confused. Imo never talked like this. ‘Yes, of course,’ I said. ‘What is it? What’s happened?’

‘Don’t get wound up, but the police are coming round to see me.’

‘The police?’ I said. ‘Why?’

I felt a huge knot form in my belly.

‘It’s not what it sounds,’ Imo said. ‘But you know the leather glove the police are looking for?’

‘Yeah…’

It was a few seconds before Imo spoke again:

‘That leather glove is mine.’

43

43

‘What the hell are you saying, Imo?’

It had become hard to breathe. I noticed that Mum and Tobias had turned to look at me.

‘Well, at least I think it’s mine,’ Imo continued. ‘I just called the police to tell them.’

‘So…?’ My thoughts were all over the place. ‘So, were they stolen or something?’

‘Maybe,’ he answered. ‘I just know that I wore them before the show, when I carried the keyboard and all the other stuff inside the school, and that I couldn’t find them later when I was going home. I don’t know if anyone actually stole them. And I really didn’t look that hard for them, either. I thought I would find them the day after. I really just wanted to get home.’

I waited for him to tell me more.

‘I thought it best to be open and honest with the police,’ Imo said. ‘So I thought it was best to tell you too, in case, you know, rumours start to spread. You know how things get around here.’

I did have a good idea, yes.

‘Don’t worry, champ,’ Imo added. ‘It’s all good.’

‘Let’s hope so.

‘It is. It will be.’

After we’d hung up, I filled Mum and Tobias in on what Imo had told me. Tobias finished his glass of milk and then went upstairs, without saying a word, while Mum seemed to retreat – to somewhere deep inside her mind. Her eyes faded, and she had a worried look on her face.

‘I want to know something,’ I asked her.

She needed a moment or two to realise that I’d spoken to her. ‘Hm?’

‘When did you leave the school that night?’

She looked at me, bewildered. ‘I left right away,’ she answered.

‘You went straight home?’ By ‘home’ I meant Knut’s apartment.

She seemed to understand. ‘Mhm…’

‘When did you get there?’

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I didn’t check the time. Why do you ask?’

‘Did you walk home alone?’

‘Yes. What is this? Why do I feel like I’m being interrogated all of a sudden?’

I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I just said: ‘I was just wondering.’

She snorted. ‘You’ll make an excellent cop one day.’