unpretentious; her long, straight hair kept away from her face in a ponytail, and she wore nice black slacks and a black shirt that looked like silk. The only visible jewelry was a diamond ring on the ring finger of her right hand, the one Thora had seen on the photograph from the kitchen. Thora was struck by how slim she was, and when she shook her hand she thought the girl was probably even skinnier than these clothes made her look. Matthew received a much warmer welcomeElisa hugged him and they kissed each other on both cheeks.
'How are you doing?' he asked after releasing his grip on Elisa's shoulder. Thora noticed that he did not address her formally, as she would have expected from an employee of the family. Matthew was clearly close to these people, or ranked higher in the firm than she had presumed.
Elisa shrugged and forced a faint smile. 'Not too good,' she said. 'It's been difficult.' She turned to Thora. 'I would have come much sooner if I'd known you wanted to talk to me. I had no idea my visit to Harald would matter.'
Thora found this strange, given that the girl had been with her brother immediately prior to his murder, but said only: 'Well, you're here now and that's what matters.'
'Yes, I bought a ticket as soon as Matthew phoned. I want to help,' she said, apparently sincere. Then she added: 'And so does Mother.'
'Good,' said Matthew in an uncharacteristically loud voice. Thora wondered whether he did so from a fear that she would say something inappropriate.
'Yes, good,' Thora parroted, to convince him she had no such intention.
'Shouldn't we sit down?' asked Elisa. 'Can I get you a coffee or a glass of wine?' Thora had quit drinking for life so she ordered a cup of coffee. The others ordered glasses of white wine.
'Well,' Matthew said, settling back in the armchair. 'What can you tell us about your visit, then?'
'Shouldn't we wait for the wine? I think I need that first,' Elisa said with a pleading look at Matthew.
'Of course,' he answered, and leaned forward to pat her hand where it rested on the arm of the sofa.
Elisa looked at Thora apologetically. 'I can't quite explain it but I find that visit so uncomfortable to recall. My feelings are still in a tangle; in retrospect it's as if I was really self-absorbed and only talked to him about myself. If only I'd known it was the last time I'd ever see him I would have told him so much about my feelings for him.' She bit her lower lip. 'But I didn't, and now I never can.'
The waiter brought the drinks and they toasted nothing in particular. Thora regretted having given up drinking when she sipped her coffee and watched them take their first swallows of wine. She decided to fall off the wagon at the earliest opportunitybut was embarrassed to ask for a glass after making her choice.
'Maybe I should tell you why I came to see Harald,' Elisa said, putting down her glass. Thora and Matthew nodded. 'As you know, Matthew, I'm going through a bit of a crisis with Mother and Father. They want me to study business and join the bank, as do most people I know, in fact. Harald was the only one who told me always to do what I wantedplay the cello. Everyone thinks I should do business and keep the cello as a hobby. But Harald knew it's not like that, although he was not a musician. He understood that once you've achieved a certain level of skill and potential, it's either/or.'
'I understand,' Thora said, not really understanding.
'That's why we mainly talked about me when I came,' Elisa continued. 'I went to him for encouragement and that's exactly what I got. He told me to defy them and keep on playing. He said faceless suits who could run a bank were a dime a dozen but brilliant musicians were so much rarer.' She hastened to add: ''Faceless suits' were his wordsthat's what he said.'
'If I may ask, what did you decide to do?' Thora said, out of curiosity.
'To keep playing,' Elisa said with a bitter smile. 'But I've enrolled in business studies now and the course starts soon. You decide one thing and do something else, that's the way it goes.'
'Isn't your father pleased?' Matthew asked.
'Yes, but mostly he's relieved. It's hard to be happy in this family. Especially now.'
'Elisa, I know it's difficult to discuss your own family affairs, but we saw some of the e-mails between Harald and your father. They didn't seem to be particularly close, as father and son.' Thora paused, then added: 'Just as we have reason to believe he didn't exactly have a model relationship with your mother.'
Elisa took a sip of wine before answering. She looked Thora straight in the eye. 'Harald was the best brother you could imagine. He may well have been unconventional, especially recently.' She stuck out the tip of her tongue and pinched it, alluding to Harald's cleft tongue. 'But I would still have stood by his side anywhere. He had a noble character, and not just toward mehe championed our sister; I never saw anyone treat a disabled person so kindly.' She contemplated her wineglass on the table. 'Mother and Father, they justI really don't know what to sayThey never gave Harald his due. My first memories of them are endless hugs, love, and care, but I never saw Harald get much attention. They justwell, they just didn't seem to like him.' In a flurry of words she interrupted her own train of thought. 'They were never exactly bad to him. They just didn't love him. I don't know why, if there is any particular reason.'
Thora tried to conceal her low opinion of the Guntliebs. She itched to find the person who killed that poor boy. She could not conceive of a more wretched fate than a loveless upbringing. Children have a tangible need for affection and it was downright criminal to deprive them of it. No wonder Harald was strange. Suddenly she looked forward to meeting his mother the next day. 'Yes,' she said to break the silence. 'This doesn't sound good, I must say. It might not have anything to do with our speculations, but I do feel it explains a lot about his character. I'm sure you'd prefer not to discuss it with a stranger, though, so maybe we should turn to what happened between you.'
Elisa smiled, relieved. 'As I said, we mostly talked about me and my problems. Harald was great and we didn't do anything in particular really. He took me to the Blue Lagoon and to see a geyser. Otherwise we just strolled around town or stayed at home watching DVDs, cooking, and chilling out.'
Thora tried to visualize Harald swimming at the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, but could not conjure up a sufficiently convincing image. 'What did you watch?' she asked curiously.
Elisa grinned. '
Matthew winked at Thora. So he hadn't been lying about the disk in the player. 'Did he tell you anything about what he was up to?'
Elisa thought. 'Not much. Actually he was in incredibly good spirits and was clearly doing well here. I'd rarely seen him so cheerful. Maybe it was getting away from Mother and Father. Maybe because of a book he found.'
'A book?' asked Thora and Matthew in unison. 'What book?' said Matthew.
Their reaction clearly startled Elisa. 'That old book.
'I don't know, I don't even know what book you're talking about exactly,' said Matthew. 'Did he show it to you?'
Elisa shook her head. 'No, he hadn't got it yet.' She paused. 'Maybe he didn't manage to get it before he was murdered. It was just before then.'
'Do you know if he was going to pick it up from someone?' asked Matthew. 'Did he mention that?'
'No,' replied Elisa. 'Actually I didn't ask about itmaybe I should have.'
'That doesn't make any difference,' Matthew said. 'But did he tell you anything about this book?'
Elisa's face lit up. 'Yes. It was quite an awesome story. Let's see, how did it go again?' She thought for a moment before going on. 'You remember his grandfather's old letters, don't you?' She addressed Matthew, who nodded in agreement. Thora did not want to interrupt by asking what letters they were talking about, but assumed she meant the letters from Innsbruck in the leather wallet. 'Harald was like Grandfather,' Elisa went on. 'Fascinated by them, reading them over and over. He was convinced that the author had done something awful to Kramer in revenge for the way he treated his wife.' She looked at Thora. 'You know who Kramer was, don't you?'
It was Thora's turn to nod. 'Yes, I've even had the misfortune to read his masterpiece, if that's the right word for
'I've never bothered, but I know all about ityou can't avoid it in my family. Harald became obsessed with finding out what had happened. I tried to point out to him that it happened five hundred years ago and there was no chance of unearthing it now. But he always maintained that you could never rule anything out. The Church was involved and most of its documents have been preserved. He didn't give up, anywayhe enrolled in history to gain
