My Soul to Take: A Novel of Iceland (31 page)
"How?" asked Matthew. "I admit that a photograph like that, hidden in a place like that, suggests that Birna wanted to prevent it being found. The only person likely to want it is Magnus, but he's too old to kill anyone. Besides, I'm not exactly sure why he would want to murder Birna, even if he knew she had the photo."
"I don't think he's the only one, actually," Thora said. "His grandson, Baldvin, has much more to lose. It says here that he's entering the primaries for the parliamentary election next spring and a recent newspaper article pointed out just how much he resembles his grandfather in every way. A photo of his grandfather in Nazi uniform, which could just as easily be of him, could sink his campaign." She looked up. "This man drives around in a car with a registration plate that says
veritas.
It's obvious what impression he wants to give. Nazis aren't exactly part of his image. Part of the reason for his stellar political career is his grandfather. If the old man's reputation is tarnished, it will smear Baldvin, although he wasn't even a twinkle in his eye at the time."
"So what was Birna's motive?" wondered Matthew. "Why didn't she simply hand over the photograph? Was she trying to blackmail them? Neither of them looks seriously rich. That car with the
veritas
plates is just an old Jeep."
"When she found the photograph, presumably in that old album in the basement that seemed to have one missing, she might have taken it out just to examine it more closely. Obviously she was shocked to see a well-known person in it. Then she must have realized that she could turn it to her advantage, and I suspect that she wanted something other than money from them," Thora said, clicking yet another link. She read briefly, then looked up again. "This is quite interesting," she said. "Baldvin is on the council committee to select a design for a new bus station they're building in Reykjavik. You remember that drawing of the glass complex on the wall at Kreppa? There aren't many wooded areas in Iceland. The proposed site by the hill on Oskjuhlid is one of them. There were buses in the drawing." She stabbed her finger in the air triumphantly. "She was clearly determined to win that commission. That could also explain why she phoned him."
Matthew looked dubious. "Are you saying she would blackmail Baldvin into swaying the committee, just to win this project?" He shook his head. "I'm not sure I believe that."
"For an architect in Iceland, that sort of project is like a lottery win," she said. "It's a large public building in a busy place, and the designer becomes a household name at once. People queue up with new projects for them. That's the way it works here, and surely in other countries too."
"But how can one member of a committee sway its choice?" he asked. "The others must have some say as well."
"Of course," said Thora. "But he has access to information that isn't available to the other architects competing for the project, so he can find out the other members' priorities and so forth. Although all design competitions usually have to stipulate the basic requirements, the winning proposal often deviates slightly from the original specifications. For instance, if an architect knows that the committee actually wants a larger building than they're asking for"—Thora shrugged—"he or she has a definite advantage. And I'm positive that one person can swing the rest of a committee if he's a smooth talker who knows what he wants. I saw on one Web site that when Baldvin was at school, he was the debating champion two years in a row. He must be a very persuasive speaker."
"So what are you going to do?" asked Matthew. "This isn't watertight, and it doesn't explain Eirikur's murder either."
"Do you remember Baldvin's e-mail in Birna's diary?" Thora asked.
"Yes," Matthew said. "Are you going to mail him?"
"No," Thora said. "I'm considering taking a little chance." She picked up the telephone. "I'm going to ask the police to search her computer for e-mails to Baldvin. They must have it in their custody, and it's by no means certain that they would have been looking for e-mails to
him."
When the telephone was finally answered after a long wait, Thora introduced herself and tried to sound as official as possible. "Could you put me through to Thorolfur Kjartansson, please? I know it's late, but this is in connection with the murders on Snaefellsnes. I need to pass on an urgent message, or preferably speak to him in person."
She whistled along with the Muzak on the line as she waited to be connected. After a while it stopped and a weary Thorolfur said,
"What?"
Thora lay on the bed with her arms around her daughter.
She had carried her—fast asleep—out of Gylfi and Sigga's room and into her own, more from fear that Sigga would give birth all over her daughter than anything else. Matthew had moved back to his room without protest, and she was extremely grateful because she had quite enough to occupy her mind. Mainly she was apprehensive about the following morning, afraid that Thorolfur would not take the bait, which would leave her little more to do for Jonas than put up a standard defense. That was an awful prospect.
More thoughts plagued her, though. If either Magnus or Baldvin had murdered Birna, there was no visible explanation for their wanting to kill Eirikur, nor any link with them. Was he Birna's accomplice? What purpose did the fox serve, and what did "RER" mean, if anything?
Kristin was bothering her most. Thora had discovered that she was Gudny's daughter, but that seemed irrelevant to the case. More thoughts crowded her mind but she was too tired to focus on them and they soon merged into one amorphous mass: coal, walls, horses, deeds of sale, lapsed claims, a broken leg . . .
She woke with a start to the sound of a baby crying. In a daze, she freed her arm from beneath her sleeping daughter's head and sat up. The sound came again and she got out of bed and went to the window, but could see nothing in the half-light. Somewhere out there, the strange wailing resumed, then stopped as suddenly as it had started. Thora shut the window and arranged the curtains securely to block the view outside. A newborn infant dragging itself along by one arm in bloodstained swaddling clothes suddenly did not seem as preposterous as it had when she was teasing Matthew. She jumped back into bed with her daughter, determined not to mention this to anyone. She must have imagined the whole business. Through the closed window, she vaguely heard the pitiful crying start up again.
TUESDAY
, 13
JUNE
2006
Dressed in a
black robe trimmed with dark blue satin, the judge glared at Thora. He had cupped his hands over his chin, covering his mouth, and she felt he might just as easily be poking his tongue out at her behind them, or hiding a grimace of boredom. "Would the defense counsel please continue," he boomed. "This is most interesting."
Thora smiled politely. "As I have pointed out, I came across this piece of evidence by sheer coincidence and informed the police of its existence immediately. I reject the prosecution's argument that I should have contacted them before removing the photograph, because I couldn't tell what significance it would have for the investigation until I saw what it showed. To do so, I had to remove it. I took every precaution not to disturb anything and touched it only with tweezers."
"CSI: Miami?"
asked the judge, and removed his hands from his mouth. He smiled at Thora.
"Yes, you could say that," said Thora, smiling back.
The judge turned to the official from the district commissioner's office, which had requested that Jonas be detained in custody. "It appears that the commissioner's office did not make a proper investigation. Instead of objecting to the defense counsel's arguments, you ought to thank her for her assistance, otherwise the photograph in question might never have come to the notice of the authorities."
The official asked permission to respond and stood up. "It's true that we welcome this piece of evidence, and of course we shall examine this new angle on the case. An officer was sent to the scene immediately, even though this happened late last night, and the photograph is being examined as we speak." He cleared his throat. "However, we see no reason to reject the request to remand the suspect on these grounds alone. His alibi is inadequate, and he is still the chief suspect in these heinous crimes. The photo
graph alone does not alter that
fact."
"How do you answer this, counsel?" the judge asked Thora.
"The photograph is far from being the only evidence. Baldvin Baldvinsson's car went through the Hvalfjordur Tunnel on Sunday at 17:51. That would have taken him to Snaefellsnes in time to commit the second murder, even though he denied to me ever making that journey. The police presumably have a comparable list of traffic for the day that Birna was murdered, and I am informed that Mr. Baldvinsson was also present at the hotel on that day. He attended a seance that was held in the evening but left before the interval, which means that he had every opportunity to kill Birna. The police are undoubtedly in possession of email communications between Baldvin and Birna, but I have not been given the chance to see them, or indeed any other evidence apart from the list of traffic through the tunnel on Sunday, which they were kind enough to pass to me." Out of the corner of her eye, Thora saw Thorolfur shift in his seat. He was clearly burning to correct this fabrication, but the only way to do so was to admit that he had accidentally left the list behind, so he had to restrain himself.
Thora continued, "I should also point out that Eirikur may have intended to abbreviate the name of Reykjavik on the wall but did not manage to write the final letter correctly. The
K
may have come out as an
R.
It should be remembered that throughout his efforts a crazed stallion was in the process of trampling him to death. 'R-E-K' could refer to Baldvin's position as a Reykjavik city councilor. REK is a common abbreviation for Reykjavik."
The judge nodded slowly. "We should not jump to conclusions. Baldvin Baldvinsson is a city councilor and his grandfather Magnus a former cabinet minister, so we should be very wary of insinuating that they are guilty of a serious breach of the law. I need not elaborate on the consequences if such a notion became public without reason."
"It would be just as serious for my client were he to end up in the same position," said Thora. "He also cherishes his reputation." She thanked her lucky stars that the password to Jonas's computer was not common knowledge. "My client has now admitted to having had sex with the deceased on the Thursday in question, but long before the estimated time of the murder. That explains his fingerprints on her belt, because she didn't change her clothes that day—at least I am not aware of any evidence to suggest that she did. Furthermore, my client has explained his whereabouts on both days, although there has not been time to corroborate his account. In his statement to the police he suffered a lapse of memory about his trip to Reykjavik on Sunday, but that can be put down to simple human error."
The judge indicated to the official from the commissioner's office that he could speak. "All this discussion has demonstrated," he said, "is that the investigation of the crime scenes is a long way from completion, since evidence is still being gathered. Even less cause, therefore, to release the suspect at this stage. We do not know what further evidence he might remove. Regarding his confession before the court just now admitting to having had intercourse with the deceased, it is in my opinion obvious that he is aware that the results of the DNA testing of the semen will soon be available and is merely making a futile attempt at explaining away damning evidence. Lastly, interesting as the hypothesis about Baldvin Baldvinsson may be, it seems highly implausible and in no way reduces the suspicion cast upon the person present here. For example, no connection has been demonstrated between Baldvin and Eirikur. We therefore reiterate our request for fourteen days' custody."
"With reference to Paragraph 1, Article 103 of the Penal Code," replied Thora, "we consider the allegations against my client to be in no way sufficiently supported, besides which the conditions for such a request as stated in the article are lacking. Given that we have raised the question of investigative negligence on the part of the police, I put it to you that it is absurd to presume the suspect would jeopardize the investigation by removing evidence, as described in Clause A of the aforementioned article. Had my client been aware of the photograph in question, he would have had ample opportunity to either destroy it or make it public. He is therefore demonstrably unlikely to tamper with any evidence, because he could already have done so over the past few days. This he has not done, as the photograph proves, so we request that the police demand be rejected, with a reserve appeal for the requested period of custody to be reduced. If this conclusion is reached, I also insist on immediate access to all police evidence regarding the case."
"If I may, Your Honor," the official said, "it is clear that two people have died at the hands of a murderer and we have probable cause to suspect the accused. Such crimes are obviously against the public interest, since it is unclear whether the murderer chooses his victims on any basis other than impulse. Anyone could be next. If the conditions of Article 1 are not found to be fulfilled, we request that the suspect be committed into custody on the basis of Article 2 regarding the public interest."
The judge brought the proceedings to an end and stood up. He said he would consider the matter until noon and then deliver his ruling, and told them not to leave the vicinity of the court. He left the courtroom, followed by the recorder.
Thora turned to Jonas. "We can only wait and hope, then," she murmured.
"What do you think he'll say?" Jonas whispered back. "I thought you did a brilliant job, and the configuration of the planets is very favorable, to say the least. I can't imagine they'll do anything except throw out that ridiculous custody request." He looked proudly at her. "It was awesome how you remembered all the numbers of those legal articles."
Thora smiled at him. At last, someone who appreciated her recitals. She had been waiting a long time for this moment. If only the man singing her praises wasn't a murder suspect who'd mentioned the configuration of the planets in the same breath. "That was nothing," she said. "You ought to hear me when I get started on letter apertures."
T
HOR
A COLL
APSED INTO ONE OF THE CANE CHAIRS OUTSIDE THE
lobby of the hotel with a groan and put a heavy folder of case documents on the table. She had been presented with them at the district court, wrapped in a supermarket carrier bag. "Unfortunately, it didn't work," she said to Matthew as he sat down beside her. "He was remanded in custody for seven days." She looked around. "Where are the children?"
"They went to look at the beached whale," Matthew said. "I'm not sure they quite understood my description, so they might get a nasty surprise."
Thora thought he was probably right. "No, they can't have understood you," she said. She knew her children well enough to realize that neither of them would go out of their way to see any decaying animal, let alone a whale. She didn't know Sigga well enough to be able to tell whether she'd be able to handle it.
She tapped the orange plastic bag. "I did get the case documents, though," she said. "Thorolfur tried to delay handing them over by saying he'd get someone in Reykjavik to photocopy them as soon as possible, but the judge offered the assistance of his own secretary, took the folder from them, and made a copy for me. The police attorney had his own copy in court, of course." She smiled, remembering this small but sweet victory. "I have to rush through all this in the hope of finding something we don't know."
"I hope it's nothing bad for Jonas," said Matthew. "Could the police have more evidence against him than they've told him, or you?"
"I promise you, they threw everything at him during the hearing," she replied. "It was a very close thing." She didn't think she was exaggerating, but at least the judge had shortened the custody term to one week, so she had done some good. She had to let herself believe that. "Poor Jonas didn't take the news too well," she said.
"What did you expect?" said Matthew. "Where is he now?"
"The police
took him to the prison at Litlah
raun. It's a real pain that they keep remanding prisoners there. It takes such a long time to drive from Reykjavik," she said, then added, "Even longer from here."
"Don't you need to get back to town soon?" he asked.
"I'm better off here, actually," she replied. "Thorolfur said they wouldn't interrogate Jonas for the next two days. They're going to focus their investigations here and finish questioning witnesses they've been unable to locate. He wasn't too pleased with the judge's remarks about the handling of the crime scene."
"Is there anything more to see here?" Matthew asked. "It was sheer chance that we found the key to the locker. We won't get that lucky again."
"I'm not sure. Something's bothering me, and I mean something other than all the loose ends in this case." She stood up and clutched the plastic bag to her chest. "I'll take a quick look through this to check if anything in it turns the case around completely. I also went to the library to take out a copy of those folktales, on the off chance that the story behind that verse could provide an explanation," she said. "I won't be long, but it would be nice if you could send my children off on another mission impossible, if and when they return."
TWO HOURS LATER, THORA WXLKED OUT OF JONA
S'S OFF
I
CE hav
ing made no real progress. She had read every word of the documents in the folder, which contained numerous witness statements, scene-of-crime investigation summaries, two autopsy reports, and the results of tests on the deceaseds' corpses and bodily fluids. The outcome of the DNA tests on the semen found inside Birna's body was not in the folder, but the documents included a request to that effect. However, there were results on the blood group of the source of the sperm, which revealed that it came from two men. Thora couldn't work out if that discovery was a coincidence or whether it had been suspected when the test was requested. She wondered how common it was for a woman to have sex with two different men the same day, except on a professional basis. One thing that puzzled her was a report stating that besides the semen, another organic substance had been found inside Birna's vagina, described as
A. barbadensis Mill, A. vulgaris Lam.
Thora wrote down the name in the hope that Matthew would recognize it, but it seemed unlikely. Perhaps the substance had been inserted there by Birna herself, although Thora couldn't imagine why.
She waved to Matthew and crossed to where he sat having a beer at the bar. She put the folder down and sat beside him. "Are there still three children?" she asked.
"It was a close call," he said. "Your son and daughter were a bit green around the gills when they got back from the beach. The pregnant girl was the only one who looked okay. I bought them each a Coke at the bar and they took them up to their room to watch a video."
"I was more worried about whether a fourth had joined them," she said, beckoning to the waiter and ordering a glass of Coke.
"You're not a grandmother yet, so relax," said Matthew, clinking his glass against hers and indicating the folder. "Did you find anything interesting?" He sipped his drink.
"No, I can't say that I did. There was confirmation of various things we'd either heard or guessed. Needles or pins had been stuck into the soles of the feet of both victims, a fox had been tied to Eirikur's body, and according to tests carried out on the animal, it had been dead for some time—shot with a rifle. Unfortunately, there was no explanation as to why the fox was attached to his body."