hurriedly:‘Of course, we didn’t even think that there was an investigation.’
‘You say we,’ said Thora.‘Who do you mean?’
‘Oh, yes, of course,’ Dis replied. ‘I mean myself and Agust, my partner in the clinic. He’s a plastic surgeon too, and Alda worked with both of us.’
‘I understand,’ said Thora. ‘But when you saw this morning that it was a murder investigation – did anyone come to mind as the culprit?’
Dis’s cheeks reddened slightly and she muttered a negative, before enquiring: ‘A thief, maybe?’
‘Well, I don’t know about that,’ Thora replied. ‘Would anything in Alda’s house have been particularly attractive to thieves?’
‘No, nothing I can think of,’said Dis. ‘But are burglars that picky? I suppose Alda had everything one might imagine a petty thief would steal – television, stereo equipment, some jewellery. Maybe these things weren’t top of the range, but I would imagine anyone poor enough to take others’ property isn’t very fussy.’
‘That’s true,’ conceded Thora. ‘But they’re also not usually into killing people and making it look like suicide.’
‘No, I don’t imagine they are,’ said Dis. ‘It’s just that Alda had no enemies I’m aware of, so that was the only thing I could come up with.’
‘No ex-husbands or boyfriends who had been bothering or harassing her?’ asked Thora.
‘Nothing likethat,’ the woman replied. ‘Not to my knowledge. As a matter of fact she was divorced, but as far as I gathered the divorce was amicable, and they hadn’t had any recent contact. As far as boyfriends were concerned, she kept that to herself, if there were any. She never spoke to me about men.’
Thora found it incredible that the woman hadn’t been in any relationships. The autopsy report stated that she had had breast implants, signs of a face-lift, Botox in her forehead and scars where the bags under her eyes had been removed, along with evidence of stomach stapling and several other minor operations. Why would she undergo such ordeals if not to attract a man’s attention? ‘Could she have been in relationships that she chose not to talk about?’ she asked.
‘Yes, yes,’ replied Dis, and her cheeks flushed again. ‘That’s quite likely. Alda didn’t confide in people much, although she was always pleasant and friendly.’
‘Did she ever mention why she never went to the Westmann Islands, or talk about a bad experience she’d had around the time of the eruption there?’ Considering that Dis had described Alda as the shy, retiring type, Thora didn’t expect much of an answer to this question.
‘She never talked about the Westmann Islands,’ said Dis. ‘She tended to change the subject if conversation ever turned to anything about the Islands, which wasn’t often.’ She looked curiously at Thora. ‘What experience are you referring to?’ she asked. ‘Alda never mentioned anything.’
Thora chose not to answer the doctor’s question, since she didn’t know what had happened. She smiled at the woman and simply said ‘Botox,’ then waited for Dis’s reaction. She clearly couldn’t expect any useful theories on Alda’s murder or insight into her life, so she might as well change the subject.
Thora didn’t have to wait long for Dis’s reaction, though it was somewhat baffling. The woman leaned back in her chair and said nothing for a moment. She looked straight at Thora, who would have given a lot to know what she was thinking.‘What about Botox? Are you thinking of getting some injections?’She pulled out a pen. ‘If so, you need to make an appointment like everyone else.’
Thora smiled fiercely, so all the possible wrinkles in her face would show themselves. ‘No, actually I’m not,’ she said. ‘Not right now, anyway. The forensic pathologist’s tests revealed that Botox is one of the likeliest causes of Alda’s death.’
‘What?’ muttered Dis, not completely convincingly in Thora’s opinion.‘How could that be? Botox isn’t life-threatening.’
‘Not in the forehead,’ said Thora. ‘I can’t tell you what the report said, other than that the Botox was used in a very unconventional manner.’ She could see that the doctor was almost biting her tongue with the effort not to blurt out questions. ‘Could Alda possibly have had Botox at home?’ she asked, before Dis’s curiosity could get the better of her.
‘What, Alda?’ asked Dis. Thora said nothing, allowing Dis to realize the stupidity of her question. ‘No,’ she said. ‘Alda didn’t have any Botox, to my knowledge. Of course she had access to it here, but we keep close track of all our supplies and it’s out of the question that she took drugs from this clinic. We’re particularly careful about all our work here and would never have let her take the substance for her own use. Where else she could have got it from, I couldn’t say. The A &E doesn’t keep a supply of it, I know that much.’
‘Where do you get the Botox you use in this office?’ asked Thora.
‘We order it through the pharmacy that supplies us,’ replied
Dis. ‘We have a good deal there and get a decent enough Discount to allow us not to have to contract with wholesalers. Of course we buy far more goods and drugs than just Botox.’
‘Who was the clinic’s point of contact with the pharmacy?’ asked Thora.
Dis looked at her. ‘I was. Agust a couple of times.’ She pressed her lips together. ‘Alda never had anything to do with it,’ she added.
‘You realize that if Alda didn’t have Botox in her house, then whoever murdered her took it there?’ said Thora. She allowed Dis to digest this for a moment before continuing.‘There aren’t that many people with access -to those kind of supplies. Certainly not my client.’
Dis’s foundation partially masked the blush that was spreading over her cheeks again, but it didn’t escape Thora’s notice. ‘I should admit now that I haven’t taken an inventory since the end of last month. It may well be that there’s something missing from the drug cabinet, but if there is it would be the first time.’ She cleared her throat daintily. ‘Neither Agust nor I had any reason to wish Alda harm. On the contrary, her death was a great blow to us. That’s no secret.’
The woman appeared to be sincere. ‘No doubt the police will be in touch with you,’ said Thora.‘The results of the drug test have just come back, and I expect they have had more urgent matters to attend to in the light of this. But they will be here sooner or later. They’ll go over the inventory with you, which may clear a few things up.’
‘The police?’ repeated Dis. ‘Yes, of course. I gave a statement after I found the body. They thought it was suicide at the time, and didn’t really ask me anything.’ She shook her head. ‘Of all the crazy things.’ She closed her eyes and shuddered slightly.‘It’s unbelievable how self-centred one can be. When you said that, my first thought was how embarrassing it would be to have the police stampeding through here.’ She looked away. ‘Of course that doesn’t matter. We have nothing to hide and hopefully that will be proven as quickly as possible.’
Thora saw Dis glance at a little clock on her desk. Her time would soon be up. ‘Until recently I’ve heard only good things about Alda, from her childhood friends, her sister, and others. Then I spoke to a woman who worked with her in the A &E and I started to see a different picture emerging. She didn’t actually say anything bad about Alda, but she did suggest that something had happened, although I couldn’t find out exactly what it was. Do you know what might have happened to make Alda resign?’
Dis shook her head. ‘No, I’m afraid not,’ she said. ‘I thought she didn’t want to talk about it, but that she might open up later. Now she’ll never have the chance. It’s easy to be wise in hindsight.’ She shrugged unhappily. ‘I’ve thought a lot about this and can’t say I’ve reached any conclusions. Plenty of wild theories, of course, but nothing more.’
Thora had the feeling there was more behind this comment. ‘And do you find one theory more plausible than the rest?’
Dis bit her lip. ‘I don’t know if I should tell you this.’ She stared at Thora, who could do little more than look back at her and wait. ‘I found an unbelievable amount of pornography on Alda’s computer. I was mortified. She didn’t strike me as that type – generally it’smen who get obsessed with it.’ She took a deep breath. ‘After I Discovered it I started putting two and two together and wondered if she’d had a
