were so hilarious that the storytellers would gasp for breath through their laughter or burst into fits of coughing that left them curled up, spluttering and shaking from sheer joy. All these stories were about people he had lived with and known, or those who had lived in the countryside, generation after generation: uncles and nieces, grandmothers and great-grand-mothers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers way back in time. He knew all these characters from stories, even those who were long dead and buried in the little cemetery beside the parish church: midwives who waded icy glacial rivers to help women in childbirth; farmers who heroically rescued their flocks in raging storms; farmhands who froze to death on their way to the sheepcote; drunken clergymen, ghosts and monsters; tales of lives that were part of his own life.
He brought all these tales with him when his parents moved to the city. They bought a wartime bathhouse built by the British military on the outskirts of the city, and converted it into a tiny house because that was all they could afford. Urban life did not suit his father, who had a weak heart and died not long after he moved. His mother sold the bathhouse, bought a cramped little basement flat not far from the harbour and worked in a fish factory. The son did not know what to do when he finished his compulsory schooling. Did manual labour. Building sites. Fishing boats. Saw a vacancy advertised with the police force.
He no longer heard any tales, and they became lost to him. All his people were gone, forgotten and buried in deserted rural areas. He, in turn, drifted through a city that he had no business being in. Knew that he was not the urban type. Could not really tell what he was. But he never lost his yearning for a different life, felt rootless and uncomfortable, and sensed how his last links with the past evaporated when his mother died.
He went to dancehalls. At one of them, Glaumbaer, he met a woman. He had known others, but never for more than casual meetings. This one was different, more steadfast, and he felt that she took control of him. Everything happened too quickly for him to grasp. She made demands of him which he fulfilled without any particular motivation and before he knew it, he had married her and they had a daughter. They rented a small flat. She had big plans for their future and talked about having more children and buying an apartment, quick and tense with a tone of expectation in her voice as if she saw her life on a safe track that nothing would ever overshadow. He looked at her and it dawned on him that he did not really know this woman at all.
They had another child and she became increasingly aware of how distant he was. When their baby son entered the world he was only moderately happy to be a father again and had already begun mentioning that he wanted to put an end to all this, he wanted to leave. She felt it. She asked whether there was another woman, but he just stared blankly without the question even registering. He had never contemplated it. 'There must be another woman,' she said. 'It's not that,' he said, and started to explain to her his feelings and his thoughts, but she did not want to hear. She had two children by him and he could not seriously be talking about leaving her. Them. His children.
His children. Eva Lind and Sindri Snaer. Pet names that she chose for them. He did not regard them as part of him. Lacked all paternal feeling, but recognised the responsibility he bore. His duty towards them, which had absolutely nothing to do with their mother or his relationship with her. He said he wanted to provide for the children and divorce amicably. She said there would be nothing amicable about it, as she picked up Eva Lind and clutched her. His impression was that she would use the children to keep hold of him, and that only strengthened the resolution that he could not live with this woman. It had all been one huge mistake from the outset and he should have acted long ago. He had no idea what he had been thinking all that time, but now it had to come to an end.
He tried to get her to agree to him having the children for part of the week or month, but she flatly refused and told him that he would never see them again if he left her. She would see to that.
And then he disappeared. Disappeared out of the life of the little girl of two who was in her nappy and holding a dummy as she watched him walk out of the door. A little, white dummy that squeaked when she bit it.
'We're going about this the wrong way,' Erlendur said.
That squeaking.
He bowed his head. He thought the nurse was walking past the door again.
'I don't know what became of that man,' Erlendur said in a barely audible voice, looking at his daughter's face, which was more peaceful than he had ever seen it. The outlines clearer. Looked at the equipment that was keeping her alive. Then looked back down at the floor.
A long time passed in this way until he stood up, bent over Eva Lind and kissed her on the forehead.
'He disappeared and I think he's still lost and has been for a long time, and I'm not certain he'll ever be found. It's not your fault. It happened before you came into the world. I think he's looking for himself, but he doesn't know why or exactly what he's searching for, and obviously he'll never find it.'
Erlendur looked down at Eva Lind.
'Unless you help him.'
Her face like a cold mask in the lamplight from the table next to her bed.
'I know you're searching for him and I know that if there's anyone who can find him, it's you.'
He turned away from her, poised to leave, when he saw his ex-wife standing in the doorway. He did not know how long she had been standing there. Did not know how much she had heard of what he had told Eva Lind. She was wearing the same brown coat as before, on top of a jogging suit, but now she wore stilettos too, an outfit which made her look ridiculous. Erlendur had barely seen her for more than two decades, and he noticed how she had aged during that time, how her facial features had lost their sharpness, her cheeks fattened and a double chin started to form.
'That was a repulsive lie you told Eva Lind about the abortion.' Erlendur seethed with rage.
'Leave me alone,' Halldora said. Her voice had aged too. Grown hoarse. Smoking too much. Too long.
'What other lies did you tell the kids?'
'Get out,' she said, moving away from the door so that he could get past.
'Halldora…'
'Get out,' she repeated. 'Just go and leave me in peace.'
'We both wanted the children.'
'Don't you regret it?' she said.
Erlendur didn't follow.
'Do you think they had any business coming into this world?'
'What happened?' Erlendur said. 'What made you like this?'
'Get out,' she said. 'You're good at leaving. So leave! Leave me in peace with her.'
Erlendur stared at her.
'Halldora…'
'Leave, I said.' She raised her voice. 'Get out of here. This minute. Leave! I don't want you around! I never want to see you again!'
Erlendur walked past her and out of the room, and she closed the door behind him.
21
Sigurdur Oli finished searching the cellar that evening without discovering any more about Benjamin's tenants in the chalet on the hill. He did not care. He was relieved to escape from that task. Bergthora was waiting for him when he got home. She had bought some red wine and was in the kitchen sipping it. Took out another glass and handed it to him.
'I'm not like Erlendur,' Sigurdur Oli said. 'Never say anything so nasty about me.'
'But you want to be like him,' Bergthora said. She was cooking pasta and had lit candles in the dining room. A beautiful setting for an execution, Sigurdur Oli thought.
'All men want to be like him,' Bergthora said.
'Aei, why do you say that?'
'Left to their own devices.'
'That's not right. You can't imagine what a pathetic life Erlendur leads.'
'I need to work out our relationship at least,' Bergthora said, pouring wine into Sigurdur Oli's glass.
'Okay, let's work out our relationship.' Sigurdur Oli had never met a more practical woman than Bergthora.
