The father took his wallet from his jacket, counted out some notes and handed them to her. ‘Is that right?’
She counted the money herself, then nodded. ‘Yes, perfect.’
After she’d left, the father turned to their daughter.
‘Aren’t you tired, sweetheart?’
‘Yes, maybe a little. But could we watch just a bit more?’
Her father shook his head, saying kindly, ‘Sorry, it’s awfully late.’
‘Oh, please. I don’t want to go to bed yet,’ said the little girl, sounding on the verge of tears.
‘OK, OK.’ He ushered her into the sitting room. The TV schedule was over for the evening, but he turned on the video machine and inserted a new cassette.
Then he joined her on the sofa and they waited for the film to begin.
‘Didn’t you have a nice time together?’ he asked, warily.
‘Yes … yes, it was fine,’ she said, not very convincingly.
‘She was … kind to you, wasn’t she?’
‘Yes,’ answered the child. ‘Yes, they were both kind.’
Her father was wrong-footed. ‘What do you mean both?’ he asked.
‘There were two of them.’
Turning round to look at her, he asked again, gently: ‘What do you mean by them?’
‘There were two of them.’
‘Did one of her friends come round?’
There was a brief pause before the girl answered. Seeing the fear in her eyes, he gave an involuntary shiver.
‘No. But it was kind of weird, Daddy …’
THE BEGINNING
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MICHAEL JOSEPH
UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia
India | New Zealand | South Africa
Michael Joseph is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com
First published in Iceland with the title Dimma by Veröld Publishing 2015
First published in Great Britain by Michael Joseph 2018
Copyright © Ragnar Jónasson, 2015
English translation copyright © Victoria Cribb, 2018
The moral right of the author and translator has been asserted
Cover images © Ebru Sidar/Arcangel Images
ISBN: 978-1-405-93081-9
