The Day Is Dark

outlining the technical aspects of the study.

‘Yes and no. The research is based on the theory that particular manmade toxins in the diet affect the gender of foetuses. These toxins are persistent organic pollutants that do not degrade in nature, so they accumulate in the food chain and more often than not wind up in the sea. They are found in more plentiful quantities the higher they go in the sea’s food chain, so they occur in the greatest quantity at its surface. They include substances like the pesticide DDT; PCB, which is used in coolants; fire-retardant chemicals, and other chemicals that affect the endocrine system. It has long been known that seals and polar bears have a high level of these toxins in their systems – a million times higher than in plankton, for example. Their meat is the main subsistence food in the Inuit diet, therefore it’s not too surprising that the Inuits are the most impacted by this pollution.’

‘It’s pretty ironic, given that there can’t be people that pollute the environment less.’ Thora had never read about any of what the doctor was telling them, since she was hardly a news addict – she made do with skimming the headlines.

The doctor appeared angered by her comment. ‘Yes, it is. It’s thought that if the toxins are present in excessive amounts during the first weeks of pregnancy they can be carried to the foetus through the mother’s blood. There they imitate the hormones controlling the child’s gender and prevent the creation of boys. Figures on the gender ratios of newborns in the Arctic support this theory. Among the Inuits in Russia and in northern Greenland it’s not uncommon for two girls to be born for every boy. In some villages no boys are born – as appears to be the case here in these parts.’ Matthew’s expression suggested that he found this rather disagreeable. ‘What do you mean about the hormones controlling gender? Is it like a sex change in the womb?’

‘No, not exactly. During the first weeks of development male and female foetuses are identical. The genitals, for example, are formed from the same cells, so this makes sense. Even without these pollutants, historically more girls are born than boys. The difference is very small, but it’s increasing throughout the world. I found an article there saying that since 1970, around 250,000 fewer boys than girls are being born each year in Japan and the US. No one has been able to explain this development, but these pollutants might be involved. Of course they cause much more damage to the natural environment than just these gender changes, but in a hunting culture in which the men provide the food it’s extremely serious.’

‘And elsewhere, too,’ added Thora. ‘It’s hardly desirable to disrupt the ratio of men to women in any community.’

‘No, of course not,’ said the doctor. ‘But this is still just a theory, and this woman’s research was trying to demonstrate that it could be substantiated.’

‘Isn’t a whole village where only girls are born pretty compelling evidence?’ asked Matthew.

Finnbogi smiled patronizingly. ‘That alone proves nothing about the relationship between these substances and the gender ratios. They could be caused by something completely different. Demonstrating it properly would require, among other things, the collection of blood samples from the girls’ mothers, and that’s one thing this woman was doing.’

This seemed a likely explanation for Oddny Hildur’s entry about Usinna. Blood tests. ‘Was she able to prove anything? Did she get the blood?’ asked Thora.

Finnbogi took a deep breath before continuing. ‘I found a list with the names of the mothers, I think, and she’d put ticks against all of them. She’d probably got her samples, even though there are no results recorded there. She’s hardly likely to have had the necessary equipment here to identify the substances in the blood. I don’t know if she made several trips here and stored the samples elsewhere in the meantime, or whether they were still here when she disappeared. It actually doesn’t matter. New samples can always be taken from the mothers.’

‘So none of this is useful to us, is that what you’re saying?’ Thora was slightly disappointed. Although the theory was interesting, it didn’t look as if it would make a difference for the bank. ‘Why did she come up here? She can’t have thought she’d find any mothers.’

‘I wasn’t finished.’ The doctor bristled impatiently. ‘Usinna was going to try to find the bodies of the original inhabitants who died here at the beginning of last century, to demonstrate that the level of toxins in the blood of the locals had increased. The settlers were apparently interred in this area.’

Matthew and Thora stared at the doctor. Matthew was the first to speak. ‘Blood? Aren’t those people just skeletons after all these years?’ The doctor shrugged, causing his glasses to slip back down his forehead. He grabbed them and returned them to their place. ‘I found a printout of e-mails sent between Usinna and her university supervisor, in which she says she had reason to believe that they hadn’t managed to inter some of the original inhabitants of the village; they’d died in the middle of winter and had had to be buried in snowdrifts. Judging by the e-mails, Usinna seems to have known where these temporary graves were, without providing any further information on their location. I take this to mean that these bodies had been put on ice, so to speak, with the intention of finding them permanent resting places in the spring. Usinna seems to have been of the view that these unfortunate settlers were never actually buried.’

‘Spring never came.’ Thora recalled the story from the book in the cafeteria. ‘At least, not for those who were supposed to take care of the burials, because they died too. According to the article part of the group was missing, among them an infant and its mother. Maybe Usinna hoped to find them.’

‘There’s one thing I don’t understand.’ Matthew had been listening carefully to the conversation. ‘How could Usinna have thought she knew where they were buried, since everyone died? You told me, Thora, that nothing more was heard from the settlers after that winter. I don’t see how she can have had any idea that some of the bodies were buried in snow and ice in the first place, let alone known exactly where they were.’

Thora did not know how to reply, nor did the doctor have any explanation for where Usinna might have got this information. ‘In any case, I think we have an explanation for the bones that we found here in the office building,’ said Finnbogi.

‘That these are bones from the people who died here a hundred years ago?’ This seemed more than likely to Thora. ‘They couldn’t have yielded much blood.’

‘No, but they seem to be from one individual. The snow cover has been diminishing over the last decade. What once lay deep in the ice is maybe coming to the surface now, or almost. That’s why the bones appear to be younger than I thought. So the ice could easily be hiding other bodies that simply haven’t surfaced yet. The photos you had of the hand might actually show another body that has lain all this time at a greater depth, and is therefore still frozen.’

‘What does this mean?’ Thora suddenly sensed a headache that immediately started to intensify. Before long she would have to take painkillers, and would wash them down with a handful of snow if she had to. ‘If this whole place is crawling with the corpses of the original settlers, you can hardly justify allowing construction work to go ahead while they’re being dug up.’

Matthew’s face brightened. ‘Of course. Aren’t they counted as antiquities?’

Thora wasn’t quite sure, but thought they probably were. ‘Hopefully. I think this provides us with good grounds for negotiating for a postponement with Arctic Mining.’ She was relieved, but had to remind herself that this proposition was far from certain. ‘We just have to hope that if the area is gone over with a fine-tooth comb, Oddny Hildur and the two drillers will be found. I doubt the employees of Berg Technology will return unless that happens. If they refuse to return, all the postponements in the world won’t help. The project will never be completed if there’s no one to work on it.’

‘I would be most intrigued to be allowed to examine the man in the freezer again,’ said Finnbogi. ‘I only caught a fleeting glimpse of him. After the police come we’ll have no further opportunity and it’s uncertain whether we’ll gain the information that you need for your case.’

‘Information?’ Matthew looked wary, and Thora didn’t blame him. Was the doctor manipulating the situation for his own needs, masking his medical curiosity with concern for the interests of the bank and the project? ‘What information could we need about this body that we can’t get from the police?’

The doctor must have sensed their suspicion. ‘There was more in Usinna’s files than what I’ve just described. For example, there were instructions on how to protect against bird flu.’ The doctor paused and gave them a meaningful look. ‘I don’t want to overinterpret this, but it did cross my mind that perhaps the two drillers had contracted it. To my knowledge no cases have been diagnosed this far north, but it could still have happened. Maybe the man in the freezer also died of bird flu. I just want to look at him and see whether I can find anything pointing to the cause of his death. Greenland has a peculiar history when it comes to epidemics, because all the settlements are so isolated. As recently as 1962 a third of the population was badly infected by measles, which