Dori avoided looking at her. 'I don't believe Hugi killed him,' he said in a low voice. 'It's a load of bullshit.'
'You're fond of your friend, I can tell,' said Thora. 'If you want to help him, by far the best course is not to conceal anything from us. Remember that your friend can't expect help from anyone except us.'
Dori grunted, without indicating whether or not he would help them.
Matthew came back and threw himself down in the chair. He watched Dori thoughtfully for a while. 'A strange circle of friends you've got. The girls didn't exactly look like they'd fall into each other's arms on the way out.'
Dori shrugged. 'They're all kind of down at the moment.'
'I see. Well, shouldn't we get down to business?' asked Matthew.
'I don't mind,' Dori replied. 'Just ask and I'll try to answer.' When he reached out for a cigarette, Thora noticed his hands were shaking.
'Okay, buddy,' said Matthew, sounding almost paternal. 'We're interested in a number of points you can surely help us with. One is the money that Harald spent and another is the historical research you worked on with him. Let's begin with the money. What can you tell us about his finances?'
'Finances? I knew nothing about that, I swear. But you didn't have to be Einstein to see that he was filthy rich.' Dori gestured around the room, then shrugged. 'His car was pretty flashy, too, and he dined out a lot. Unfortunately it wasn't a lifestyle the rest of us could afford.'
'Did he dine out by himself?' asked Thora. 'Since you were poor students.'
This was clearly an uncomfortable question. 'Well, sometimes.' He puffed on his cigarette. 'Sometimes I went with him. He invited me.'
'So he took you along and paid the bill, is that it?' Matthew asked, and Dori nodded. 'More often than he dined alone?' Dori nodded again. 'What else did he treat you to?'
Dori was seized with a sudden interest in the ashtray and stared at it as if the answer to the question was to be found there. 'Well, just stuff.'
'That's not an answer,' Thora said calmly. 'Just tell uswe haven't come here to pass judgment on you or Harald.'
A short pause and then: 'He paid for all sorts of stuff for me. My rent, textbooks, clothes, taxis. Dope. Everything really.'
'Why?' asked Matthew.
Dori shrugged. 'Harald said the money was his to do with as he pleasedhe never denied himself something just because his friends were broke. I found it embarrassing, but I was flat broke and he was such a fun guy. There were never any hassles. I tried to repay him by helping with those translations and other stuff.'
'What kind of stuff?' Matthew asked.
'Nothing.' Dori's blushing cheeks grew even redder. 'It was nothing sexual, if that's what you think. Neither Harald nor I were, are, on that side of the fence. There have been plenty of girls.'
Thora and Matthew exchanged a look. The spending that Dori described was peanuts compared with the amount that had disappeared. 'Do you know of any large investment Harald made just before the murder?'
Dori looked up. From his expression it was plain that he was telling the truth. 'No, no idea. He never mentioned anything like that. Actually, I hardly saw him the week beforehe was busy and I was trying to catch up on my course work.'
'You don't know what he was up to, or why he didn't meet you on those days?' Thora interjected.
'No. I phoned him a few times and he just wasn't in the mood to do anything. I don't know why.'
'So you hadn't seen him for several days when he was murdered?' asked Matthew.
'Nojust talked to him on the phone.'
'Didn't that strike you as odd? Or was he in the habit of locking himself away for days on end?' Matthew persisted.
Dori thought about it. 'I didn't wonder about it then, but now that you mention it, it was a bit unusual. It hadn't happened before, anyway, I don't think it had. I asked him what was going on, but he said he just needed a bit of time by himself. But he was cheerful and all that.'
'Didn't you develop a grudge against him over that time?' asked Thora. It must have been strange for him to lose his best friend for several days with no explanation, considering how much time they spent together.
'No, not like that. I had plenty to do for my classes anyway. And I took shifts and stuff like that. So I had lots of other things to think about.'
'You work at the hospital in Fossvogur, don't you?' Thora asked. Dori nodded. 'How do you manage to work there, study medicine, and do all that partying?'
Dori shrugged. 'It isn't a full-time job, no way. I do the occasional relief shift, that's all. I work there over summer vacations, and if there's a crisis in the winter, I cover if someone's sick or can't come in. As far as my courses go, I'm just incredibly organized about studying. I've always found learning easy.'
'What do you do at the hospital?' asked Matthew.
'This and that. I work as an assistant in surgeryclean the instruments after operations, clear up, that sort of thing. Nothing important.'
Matthew gave him a meaningful look. 'Clear up what? I'm just curious to ask, I know very little about hospitals.'
'Just stuff,' Dori replied, reaching for his cigarettes again. 'Garbage and things.'
'Aha!' Matthew cried. 'What's the name of your superior, or someone we could ask about this workin particular about the night Harald was murdered?'
Dori picked at one of the studded straps on his left wrist and clearly did not know how to reply. 'Gunnur Helgadottir,' he eventually muttered in a sullen voice. 'She's the senior surgical nurse.'
'I have a question,' said Thora as she scribbled down the name. 'Who did Harald's tongue job? It was you, wasn't it?'
Dori was about to light a cigarette but stopped, startled. 'Why? What difference does that make?'
'I want to know. Harald has photos on his computer showing the operation and it was done in someone's house. Presumably someone he knew. The operation isn't the issueI just want to know.'
Hesitantly, Dori looked at each of them in turn. Thora thought he was probably weighing whether the operation required professional qualifications or was illegal. After biting his lower lip for a while he finally said: 'No. I didn't do it.'
'May I see your upper arm?' Thora asked, smiling as she remembered what Hugi had said about Dori's regrets over the tattoo he had there.
'Why?' replied Dori, leaning back in the sofa to put more distance between them.
'We just want to,' said Matthew, moving to the edge of his chair. He had no idea where Thora was taking this. 'Be a good boy and roll up your sleeves for the nice lady.'
Dori went red as a beet. Matthew moved even farther forward on the edge of his seat, and Dori edged farther back in the sofa. Suddenly he lost his nerve. Glowering, he rolled up his sleeves. 'Here,' he snapped, and held out his arms. Thora leaned forward and smiled. ''Crap'?' she read, looking at his right arm just above the wrist.
'So?' Dori said, rolling his sleeves down again.
'Interesting,' Thora said. 'The person who performed the operation on Harald had exactly the same tattoo.' She grinned at Dori as she pointed at his right arm. 'So, what's the story?'
'Nothing,' Dori said slowly. He ran his fingers through his hair, then squeezed his eyes shut. 'Okay, I did it. We were at Hugi's place. Harald had been pestering me for ages to do it for him and in the end I gave in. I borrowed the instruments from the hospital and stole some anesthetic. Nobody missed it. Hugi helped me. It was pretty disgusting. But it looked cool.'
'Of course not. That's why I don't want word to get around,' replied Dori. 'It's not something most people would understand, and I don't want to get called a freak.'
Matthew shook his head, then suddenly changed tack. 'I'd like to ask you about one thing that may sound rather strangeor perhaps not; you've presumably been around a bit.' After a quick pause in which he caught Dori's gaze with his own, he continued. 'Were you ever aware that Harald practiced sex using asphyxiation to increase the pleasure?'
