Last Rituals

'They could have quarreled.' Thora thought for a moment. 'Or maybe it wasn't a girlfriend, just a friend or relative. His sister maybe?'

Matthew paused. 'If that's the case I don't think we should go there.'

'Are you crazy?' snapped Thora. 'Why the hell not?'

'She's had problems recentlyher brother was murdered, and there's a minor crisis surrounding her own future.'

'In what way?' asked Thora.

'She's a very gifted cellist and wants to make a career of it. Her father wants her to study business and take over the bank. There's no one lefteven if Harald were still alive he would have been out of the question. The disagreement over her studies had arisen before he was murdered.'

'Does she wear jewelry?' Thora asked. The hands on the photograph could well have belonged to a cellistwith exceptionally short and well-kept nails.

'No, never. She's not the type,' Matthew answered. 'She doesn't go in for accessories at all.'

'Not even a little diamond ring?'

A short silence and then: 'Yes, I think maybe she has. How do you know?'

After Thora had described the photographs, Matthew promised to consider contacting the girl, and they said good-bye.

'Aren't you done yet?' her daughter said through a mouth full of toothpaste froth. She'd had to put up with having her teeth brushed for the duration of a whole phone callpearly white, until tomorrow at least. Thora tucked her in and read to her until she began to grow drowsy. She kissed her half-sleeping child on the forehead, switched off the light, and shut the door. Then she went back to her computer.

After two hours of perusing Harald's other files without finding anything useful, she gave up and switched off the laptop. She decided to get into bed and read the copy of Malleus Maleficarum that Matthew had told her to look into. It was bound to be an interesting read.

She opened the book and a folded piece of paper fell out.

* * *

'Shut up,' Marta Mist growled. 'It won't work unless we all concentrate.'

'Shut up yourself,' retorted Andri. 'I can talk if I want.'

Briet thought she saw Marta Mist bare her teeth, but could not be sure because the room was dimly litthe only light came from a few liquid candles that had been spread around the sitting room. 'Oh, stop arguing and let's get this over with.' She made herself comfortable on the floor where they were sitting cross-legged in a tight circle.

'Yes, for God's sake,' mumbled Dori, rubbing his eyes. 'I was going to have an early night and can't be bothered to carry on with this crap all night.'

'Crap?' said Marta Mist, clearly still in a temper. 'I thought we all agreed to do this. Did I misunderstand you?'

Dori groaned. 'No, don't twist my words. Just get it over with.'

'It's just not the same as it was at Harald's place,' Brjann chipped in. He had made little contribution until then. He scanned their faces. 'Harald's gone. I'm not sure it will work without him.'

Andri ignored the remark about his apartment. 'We can't do much about Harald not being here.' He reached for an ashtray. 'What was that old cow's name again?'

'Thora Gudmundsdottir,' answered Briet. 'The lawyer.'

'Okay,' said Andri. 'Let's start. Agreed?' He looked at the others who either nodded or shrugged. 'Who wants to start?'

Briet looked at Marta Mist. 'You start,' she said, trying to butter up her friend. 'You're the best at this by far, and it's important to do it properly.'

Marta Mist ignored her attempt at flattery. She looked round the circle. 'You know this woman could get us into a hell of a lot of trouble if she starts sticking her nose in the wrong places. It was pure luck that the cops went offtrack.'

'We're all aware of that,' Brjann said on their behalf. 'One hundred percent.'

'Good,' said Marta Mist. She placed her hands on her thighs. 'Absolute silence, please.' No one spoke a word. She picked up the thick pile of papers that was in the middle of the circle and a small bowl of red liquid. She put the papers down in front of her and positioned the bowl by her side. Briet solemnly handed her a chopstick. Marta Mist dipped it into the viscous liquid and drew a symbol onto the paper with slow strokes. She closed her eyes and began to chant in a low, eerie voice: 'If you wish your enemies to fear you'

CHAPTER 20

DECEMBER 9, 2005

Thora had read well into the night and she woke up feeling heavy-headed and tired. She had spent a long time examining the page that fell out of the book, which turned out to contain an assortment of handwritten words and dates. Thora assumed that the handwriting was Harald'shis name was on the flyleaf of the book. Also, some of the text was in German. He had not written it particularly neatly and Thora was by no means certain she had read all the words correctly. What she could decipher of the writing said:

'1485 Malleus,' the date apparently underlined by Harald several times and the phrase itself double- underlined. Below that, 'J. A. 1550??,' crossed out. Then came what seemed to be two interlaced ls followed by 'Loricatus Lupus.' Beneath that was some German which Thora read as: 'Where? Where? The ancient cross??' Half of the sheet was a kind of flowchart with arrows linking points marked by dates and place-names. The arrangement of the points suggested this was a rough map. One point was marked 'Innsbruck1485,' above it 'Kiel1486,' and above that 'Roskilde.' That name was marked with two dates: '1486dead' and '1505pardoned.' There were two more points above these three. The upper one was marked 'Holar1535,' but this had been crossed out, as had its link with the other point, marked 'Skalholt.' Two dates accompanied that label, '1505' and '1675.' A welter of arrows spread out from the latter date, all ending in question marks. To one side of them the question 'The ancient cross??' was repeated. In a different pen, the word 'Gastbuch' had been added, immediately followed by either a drawing of a small cross or the letter t. Thora pondered the meaning of this. A visitors' book? The visitors' book of the cross? Beneath it was 'chimneystove3rd symbol!' if her German was to be trusted. In the end Thora gave up trying to decipher the chart and turned to reading the book itself.

Malleus Maleficarum turned out to be anything but pleasant. Its sheer gruesomeness held Thora's attention. She did not read it from cover to cover; the first and second chapters were too bizarre for her to take in fully. The book was structured with questions or claims about witchcraft at the beginning of each chapter or paragraph, which were then answered or explained using outrageously flawed theological sophistry.

The stories and descriptions of the witches' deeds and rituals were incredible. Their powers seemed to know no boundsthey could conjure up storms at will, fly, transform men into cattle and other animals, cause impotence and make a man's penis appear to detach from his body. A considerable amount of space was devoted to debating whether the dismemberment was an illusion or a physical detachment. After reading it, Thora was still not sure what the authors had concluded. Witches had to go to extraordinary lengths to acquire such powers, including cooking and/or eating babies and having sex with the devil himself. Although she was no psychologist, Thora guessed that the authors were sorely afflicted by the vows of chastity they had sworn as Black Friar monks. This was obvious from their unpleasantly bitter depictions of women. Disgust oozed from every account and it was almost more than Thora could take. The explanations for women's tainted, demonic character were outlandish, including the claim that the rib taken from Adam to create the first woman was curved inwardwhich naturally had fateful consequences. Women would have been perfect if God had used a thighbone. All this evidence was then