‘Yes, please.’ Emilie smiled and followed the little boy up the stairs to the first floor.
The first floor was just as bad as the ground floor. Emilie struggled to make sense of it all. It was almost too much for her. Poverty was one thing, but this? It wasn’t until they reached what was clearly the two boys’ bedroom that the house began to resemble a home. It smelled clean inside and the room was tidy and light.
‘We hide things inside the mattress in case the baddies come,’ Torben explained, and knelt down in front of the bed.
He unzipped the thin mattress and pulled it apart so that Emilie could see it.
‘Is that the note from Tobias?’ Emilie pointed at it.
‘Yes.’ Torben nodded eagerly.
‘Please may I see it?’
‘Of course.’
He stuck a filthy hand into the secret hiding place and gave her the note.
I’m going to spy on the Christian girls, I will be back soon. Tobias.
‘Do you know when he wrote it?’
The little boy thought hard.
‘No. But it must have been before I came home, because it was here when I got back.’
Emilie couldn’t help laughing.
‘I’m sure you’re right. So when did you get back?’
‘After the football match.’
‘Which football match was that? Do you remember?
‘Liverpool against Norwich. I watched it at my friend Clas’s house. Yhey get the football on their telly, not just the Norwegian Cup Final, but all kinds of games. Clas and I support Liverpool. They won.’
‘Would that have been last Saturday?’
‘Probably, I guess,’ Torben nodded, scratching his hair.
The boy was covered in grime, and he didn’t smell too good either. He needed a bath, clean clothes, food, fresh bedlinen. Today was Friday. The boy had been home at home alone since last Saturday evening. Emilie sat on the floor in the boys’ bedroom somewhat at a loss. What was she going to do? She couldn’t leave the boy here alone. Then again, she couldn’t take him home either. Or could she?
‘Do you want to see what else we keep in the secret hiding place?’ Torben offered.
He acted almost as if he was scared that she would leave him now that she had got what she came for.
‘Yes, I would like to, but listen, Torben?’
‘Yes?’
‘Are you saying that Tobias hasn’t been back home since you found the note?’
‘No, no one has been here.’
‘Hasn’t anyone called you?’
The boy shook his head.
‘The landline doesn’t work. There’s no noise when I pick up the handset and mobiles are really expensive, did you know that?’ Emilie nodded and stroked the boy’s hair.
‘They are quite expensive, that’s true, and you don’t need to have one, either.’
‘No, that’s what Tobias says.’
‘Who are the Christian girls?’
‘We don’t know, we’re just guessing,’ the little boy said. ‘Some say they eat people, though that’s not true, but we know they don’t go to our school, they have their own school.’
Emilie Isaksen knew about as much as everybody else about the new residents up in the forest. Which was practically nothing. The teachers had discussed them in the staff room, but it had mostly been gossip; after all, none of the children was registered with the school, so they were not their responsibility.
‘So he went there last Saturday and no one has seen him since?’
‘I don’t know if he went there on Saturday. Liverpool won three nil. Luis Suarez scored a hat-trick, do you know what that is? Why don’t all televisions show the football? Did you bring me any food? I really like pizza.’
‘Do you fancy some pizza?’
‘Yeah, I really do,’ Torben said. ‘But you have to see this first.’
‘OK.’ Emilie smiled.
‘This is a piece of rock that fell from the moon,’ Torben said, showing her a black stone with holes in it. ‘We kept it because the aliens might want it back, and then they can kill two birds with one stone, because they’ll be able to repair the hole in the moon and we get to see the people who live there. Cool, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, that really is cool,’ Emilie said, getting impatient.
Tobias Iversen had been missing for seven days and no one had sounded the alarm. She dreaded to think what could have happened to the handsome boy she had come to like so much over the last year.
‘And this is the secret number for a police officer Tobias and I know. We can ring him whenever we need anything, or if we’re in Oslo. Because we’re heroes, did you know that?’
‘Yes, so I’ve heard,’ Emilie said, and stroked Torben’s hair again.
She could only just get her fingers through it. He really needed a bath. And some food. And, not least, someone to talk to. The two brothers had found the second murder victim in the grotesque series of child murders that was all over the media. At school, they had held an assembly the day after the discovery, with several psychologists present so the children could discuss the events with someone if they wanted to.
‘This man is called Kim. It says so here.’ Torben pointed proudly.
He handed her the business card and pointed at it again.
‘K-i-m, Kim, isn’t that right?’
‘Well done, Torben, I didn’t know you could read?’
‘Oh, I can,’ the boy smiled.
Emilie looked at the business card.
Kim Kolsø, Violent Crimes Section, Special Unit
‘Do you know something, Torben?’ Emilie said, getting up.
‘No?’
‘I think we should go get a pizza.’
‘Yes!’
The little boy punched the air.
‘But first I think you should have a shower and put on some clean clothes. Do you think you can manage that yourself, or do you want me to help you?’
‘Pah, I can do that myself,’ the little boy said, walking across to a wardrobe.
‘These are my clothes,’ he said, pointing to the three bottom shelves.
‘Great.’ Emilie smiled. ‘You find what you need and then take a shower. Afterwards we’ll go get some pizza.’
‘Ace,’ Torben said, kneeling down in front of the wardrobe to pick out the items he needed.
‘I’m stepping outside to make a phone call, is that OK?’
‘You’re not leaving, are you?’
The little boy looked at her with anxious eyes.
‘No, no,’ Emilie said.
‘Promise?’
‘I promise, Torben.’
She stroked his hair again.
‘Now, you go shower, OK?’
‘I will,’ Torben said, and skipped out of the bedroom and into the bathroom.
Emilie didn’t want to know what state the bathroom was in. She could barely conceal her despair any longer. The two brothers who had to live in these conditions without anyone taking care of them.
She waited until she heard the shower being turned on before she went downstairs and outside to make the call.
‘Ringerike Police?’
‘Yes, hi, my name is Emilie Isaksen. I’m a teacher at Hønefoss School and I would like to report a child missing.’
‘Hold on,’ the voice said. ‘I’m connecting you.’
Emilie waited impatiently while she was transferred through the system.
‘Holm speaking.’
Emilie introduced herself again and explained the situation.
‘And where are his parents?’ said the man on the phone.
‘I don’t know. I found his younger brother home alone. He’s been on his own for a week.’
‘And the boy, we’re talking about, Tobias, was that his name?’
‘Iversen. Tobias Iversen.’
‘When was he last seen?’
‘I’m not sure, but he left behind a note which was found last Saturday. The note said he had gone into the woods to look for, well, it’s a religious group that has bought the old rehab centre up there, perhaps you have heard about them?’
‘We have,’ the police officer said.
He fell silent for a moment. It sounded as if he was covering the microphone on his phone. Perhaps he was consulting some of his colleagues.