'Thank you very much,' Matthew said, taking the refreshments. 'Some people don't understand the importance of breakfast.' He nodded toward Thora and winked at Bella. Bella frowned at Thora, then gave Matthew a wide smile and walked out.
'You winked at her,' Thora said, astonished.
Matthew winked twice at Thora. 'Two for you. Happy?' He put a biscuit in his mouth with a dramatic gesture.
Thora rolled her eyes. 'Watch it, she's unattached and I might just tell her what hotel you're staying at.' Her mobile rang.
'Hello, is that Thora Gudmundsdottir?' asked a woman's voice that Thora vaguely recognized.
'Yes, hello.'
'This is Gudrun, Harald's landlady.'
'Ah, yes, hello.' Thora scribbled down her name and who she was and showed it to Matthew. She added a double question mark to indicate that the purpose of the call was unclear.
'I don't know if I'm phoning the right person but I had your card andanyway, I found a box belonging to Harald here this weekend, with all sorts of things in it.' She fell silent.
'Yes, I know what was found,' Thora said to spare the woman from describing the baked body parts.
'You do?' The relief in her voice was tangible. 'I was terribly shocked as you can imagine, but I just now realized that I took a piece of paper with me when I ran out of the laundry room.'
'Which you still have?' Thora felt she had to help the woman stay focused.
'Yes, right. I took it with me when I went to phone the police and just found it in the kitchen by the telephone.'
'Did this piece of paper belong to Harald?'
'Well, I honestly don't know. It's an old letter. Ancient really. I remembered that you were looking for something like that, and thought it might be better to let you have it rather than the police.' Thora heard the woman take a deep breath before continuing. 'They've got enough on their plate. I can't imagine this has anything to do with the case.'
Thora wrote on the piece of paper: 'Old letter??' Matthew raised his eyebrows and took another biscuit. To Gudrun, Thora said: 'We'd like to take a look at it at least. Can we come to see you now?'
'Um, yes. I'm at home. There's just one thing.' She paused.
'What?' Thora asked cautiously.
'I'm afraid the letter got quite crumpled in my rush. I was in total shock. It's not ruined, though.' She hurried to add: 'That was really why I didn't tell the police about it. I didn't want them fussing about me damaging it. I hope you understand how it happened.'
'No problem. We're on our way.' Thora put the phone down and stood up. 'You'll have to take the biscuits with you, we're leaving. We may have found the lost letter from Denmark.'
Matthew grabbed two biscuits and had a last sip of coffee. 'The letter the professor was looking for?'
'Yes, hopefully.' Thora swung her bag over her arm and went to the door. 'If it is, we can return it to Gunnar and maybe try to get some more details out of him about the story Halldor told me about Briet.' She smiled triumphantly, pleased at her good fortune. 'Even if it's not the letter, we can pretend to think it is.'
'Are you going to trick the old fellow?' Matthew asked. 'That's not a very nice thing to dogiven what the poor guy's been through.'
Thora looked over her shoulder on her way down the corridor and smiled at him. 'The only way to find out if this is the letter is to take it to Gunnar. He'll be so delighted when he sees it that he'll do anything for us. Two or three questions about Briet can hardly hurt.'
Thora's smile had faded by the time they found themselves sitting in Gudrun's kitchen with the letter on the table in front of them. Gunnar would hardly be pleased to retrieve it in such bad condition. He'd probably wish it had never been found. 'You're sure it wasn't torn when you took it out of the box?' asked Thora, carefully trying to smooth out the thick sheet without ripping the part that had almost been torn off.
Gudrun cast a guilty look at the letter. 'I'm quite certain. It was intact. I must have ripped it in my agitation.' She smiled apologetically. 'They can stick it back togethercan't they? Maybe iron it out a bit?'
'Oh, yes. I'm sure they can,' said Thora, although she suspected that a repair would be a rather complicated procedure, if it was possible at all. 'Thank you very much for contacting us. You did the right thingthis is probably the document we were looking for and it really has nothing to do with the police investigation. We'll return it to its rightful owners.'
'Good. The sooner I get rid of everything to do with Harald and leave all this mess behind, the better. It hasn't been pleasant for my husband and me since the murder. And I'd like you to tell his family I really want the apartment cleared soon. The sooner I can forget all this, the sooner I can start to get over it.' She placed her slender hands down flat on the table and stared at her fingers, adorned with rings. 'Not that I didn't like Harald himself. Don't misunderstand me.'
'Oh, no,' Thora said in a friendly voice. 'I can't imagine it's been at all pleasant.' After a short pause she asked: 'One final question. I'd like to ask if you got to know Harald's friendssaw them or heard them?'
'Are you trying to be funny?' the woman asked, her tone suddenly turning dry. 'Did I hear them? At times they might as well have been in
'What kind of noise?' Thora asked cautiously. 'Quarreling? Shouting?'
Gudrun snorted. 'It was mostly loud music. If music's the word. And terrible thuds, like they were stamping their feet or jumping. The odd howl, shouting and hootingI often thought I'd have done better renting the place to animal keepers.'
'Why did you go on renting it to him?' asked Matthew, who had kept himself out of their conversation up to that point. 'If I remember correctly, there was a clause about conduct in the tenancy agreement and the right to terminate it in the event of noncompliance.'
Gudrun blushed. 'I liked him despite everything. I suppose that's the explanation. He paid the rent promptly and was a good tenant himself.'
'So was it mainly his friends who made all the noise?' asked Thora.
'Yes, you could say that,' said Gudrun. 'At least, it intensified when they were around. Harald played loud music and stomped around sometimesbut when his friends were with him it was so much louder.'
'Did you ever witness arguments or disagreements between Harald and his friends?' Thora asked.
'No, I can't say I did. The police asked me the same question. All I remember was one very heated exchange between Harald and some girl in the laundry room. I didn't get involved, I was busy baking. I wasn't in there or anything, I just happened to hear it when I walked past.' The blush returned to her cheeks. Previously, Gudrun had shown them the laundry room to explain how she found the box. The room was off the hallway and it was impossible for her to have walked
'Oh.' She sighed, full of sympathy. 'I once lived in an apartment where the door to the laundry room was next to mine, and the things I had to put up with. You could hear almost every single word. I found it awfully uncomfortable.'
'Yes,' Gudrun said hesitantly. 'Harald was generally in the laundry room by himselffortunately. I don't know if this girl was helping him with the washing or was just there to keep him company, but they were very worked up. It had to do with a missing letter if I recall. This one, I guess.' She gestured with her chin toward the table. 'Harald kept asking her to forget about something; calmly at first, but he got very worked up when she demanded to know why he refused to back her up. She kept saying it would give her such awesome leveragewhatever that means. That was all I heard because I was just walking past, as I said.'
'Did you recognize the girl's voicecould it have been that little blond friend of his?' Thora asked hopefully.
'I couldn't really say,' said Gudrun, sarcasm creeping back into her tone. 'There were mainly two who came here: a tall redhead and that blond one. They both looked like hookers who'd suddenly been drafted into the armycovered in war paint and wearing those baggy camouflage trousers. Awfully unattractive and rude, both of
