she was flabbergasted to see Bella, dressed and ready to go.
‘I’m ready,’ said Bella. She looked at Thora and appeared to be unhappy with her boss, who wasn’t dressed yet. ‘I couldn’t sleep because my room was too quiet.’
Thora looked at the clock and saw that it was almost eight. ‘I’m coming,’ she said apologetically.‘Would you like to go down to breakfast and get us a table?’ She handed Bella the page with her summary of events. ‘You can look over this while you wait. A second set of eyes.’ It was apparent from the young woman’s expression that she had never heard this idiom before.
‘I’ll be down in ten minutes,’ said Thora, smiling as she closed the door on her secretary.
‘Can’t I have the list a bit longer?’ asked Bella, sipping the black coffee she’d poured for herself. Thora couldn’t count the number of sweet rolls that had disappeared into the girl as they ate their breakfast.
‘No problem,’ said Thora in surprise. ‘Did you see anything in it?’
Bella shook her head. ‘No, not yet,’ she said. ‘Actually you forgot to put in about Adolf and the rape.’ She turned the list towards Thora. ‘I stuck it in there,’ she said, pointing at an illegible scribble in the margin.
‘I definitely overlooked a few other things,’ said Thora. ‘If you remember anything else you can certainly add it. It’s not sacred.’
‘I’m also wondering if I should check on this tattoo for you,’ said Bella, pointing at the list.‘Love Sex,’ she muttered. ‘That’s so lame.’
A foreign couple at the next table, who had been immersed in a guidebook, finally understood two words of the women’s conversation and smiled knowingly at each other.
Thora thought tattoos were pretty dumb at the best of times, so Love Sex was no worse than anything else as far as she was concerned. ‘What are you thinking of doing?’ she asked.‘Do you know much about tattoos?’
‘I’ve got three,’ replied Bella, and she started to fiddle with the collar of her sweater. She pulled it down and Thora caught a glimpse of a unicorn on the upper slope of the girl’s hefty breast. ‘One,’ she said, arching in her seat to show Thora her belly. ‘Two…’ The foreign couple were now staring at them.
‘It’s okay, I believe you,’said Thora uncomfortably. ‘But what are you going to do with this tattoo?’
Bella tidied her clothing and adjusted herself in her seat. ‘I’m going to see whether anyone recognizes it. There aren’t many tattoo shops in Reykjavik, so it won’t take long. It’s an unusual tattoo, I think,’ she said. ‘At least, I’ve never seen it in any albums.’
‘Albums?’ repeated Thora, blankly.
‘Tattoo parlours have books or folders with drawings of the tattoos that they offer,’ said Bella, casually.‘When I got mine done I had a look at the selection, but I don’t remember one saying Love Sex.’
The young couple at the next table giggled.‘Definitely check on it if you feel like it,’ said Thora, as she tried to ignore them. ‘I doubt it will make any difference, but you never know.’ She looked at her watch and stood up. ‘We should get going,’ she said, grabbing her bag from where it hung on the back of her chair. ‘Now let’s see whether we can’t score a hit with Gudni.’
Bella snorted. ‘Good luck with that,’ she said, apparently far from optimistic.
‘So you thought you’d left your wallet in the basement when you went down there with Markus?’ asked Gudni, clearly not believing a word of what Thora was saying. He leaned back and glowered at her. He had agreed to meet them at the police station when Thora called him just after eight in the morning, and she had heard in his voice that she’d woken him up.
‘Yes,’ said Thora peevishly. ‘Does it matter?’ She pointed at the salmon priest on Gudni’s desk. Next to it lay the knife that had been in the same box. ‘Here you have the possible murder weapons in an unsolved case with four corpses, so I think you should be thanking me for stepping in, rather than questioning my story.’
‘I just think it’s best that we have everything clear,’ said Gudni calmly. ‘You and this…lady…’ he pointed at Bella.
‘Lady?’ snarled Bella. Thora remembered how strange she’d felt the first time someone had called her a lady rather than a girl or young woman, but this was neither the time nor the place to share that experience with her secretary.
Gudni raised an eyebrow at Bella, but continued. ‘You travel all the way to the Islands, then instead of coming to me or the archaeologists to check if your lost wallet might be in the basement, you wait until the evening then go to the house yourself?’
‘I’m sorry,’ interrupted Thora. ‘But we didn’t see any signs saying that it was still a closed crime scene, so we wanted to save you the trouble and just go down there ourselves. I hope you’re not saying the house is still under your jurisdiction?’
‘No, actually it isn’t,’replied Gudni. ‘We finished up yesterday, but that doesn’t alter the fact that there’s a large notice at the end of the access road stating clearly that people walking through have to remain outside the boundary tape.’
‘Oh, is there?’ said Thora, smiling innocently at him. ‘We completely missed that.’ She pointed again at the objects on the table. ‘In any case, I have handed over evidence from a serious murder case, but all that seems to matter to you is our little mix-up.’ Thora wasn’t entirely sure if the warning sign was legally enforceable, but suspected not. ‘I would like to know whether you consider this a significant discovery or not, and I would also like the mallet and the knife to be taken into consideration if you are thinking of requesting an extension of Markus’s custody period. The weapons are not his, and I’m certain that a forensic examination will show he’s never touched them.’ Thora had contacted Markus and told him about the weapons before going to the police station. Stunned, he had denied ever having laid a finger on them, let alone hidden them in the storeroom.
‘You would have to speak to my colleagues in Reykjavik about his detention. They handle these matters,’replied Gudni, with sarcastic emphasis on the word Reykjavik. ‘I don’t know what their plans are for Markus.’
Thora had hoped Gudni might have been kept abreast of developments in the case and would therefore be able to tell her – or at least give her a hint about – what the police were planning for tomorrow, when Markus’s custody period expired. She tried to act unconcerned. Gudni annoyed her just as much every time she met him, and she seemed to irritate him, so she wouldn’t give him the pleasure of witnessing her disappointment. She smiled. ‘But as far as these weapons are concerned…’ she said.
Gudni laughed dryly. ‘Weapons?’he said. ‘These are work tools.’
She paused a moment before continuing,‘It may surprise you to learn that tools have been used before for acts of violence. I can assure you such a thing is not unheard of.’
Gudni stared at her, poker-faced. He leaned forward and glanced at the tools on the desk. ‘I don’t know how you can be so sure these are linked to the bodies.’
‘It’s not natural to keep dangerous tools stored among baby clothes, especially not a christening gown,’ she replied. ‘What’s more, I suspect there’s blood on both of them. I’m fairly certain these items were put there in an attempt to conceal evidence.’
‘That would be a stroke of genius,’ said Gudni, smiling mirthlessly. ‘Hiding the murder weapons in a box but putting the bodies on display in the middle of the room.’ He frowned and shook his head. ‘Do you think the murderer was a raving idiot?’
Thora turned bright red, but kept her emotions in check. ‘Now is not the time to conjure up theories about exactly how it happened. First it must be determined whether this is blood, and if so, whether it’s from those men. At the same time, it would no doubt be wise to check these items for fingerprints.’
‘You probably haven’t had much call to use tools like these,’ said Gudni patronizingly, as if no one could call himself a real man unless he went around with a mallet in one hand and a
