‘No, I’m not quite sure I follow,’ Erlendur said.
‘Maria told me that Leonora was going to let her know if what they talked about so much towards the end turned out to be true. If there was life after death. She was going to send her a sign from the next world.’
Erlendur cleared his throat.
‘A sign from the next world?’
‘Yes. If there turned out to be an afterlife.’
‘Do you know what it was? What sort of sign she was going to give her?’
Karen didn’t answer.
‘Did she do it?’ Erlendur asked.
‘What?’
‘Did she send her daughter a message from the next world?’
Karen gave Erlendur a long look.
‘You think I’m a fool, don’t you?’
‘I really couldn’t say,’ Erlendur said. ‘I don’t know you at all.’
‘You think I’m talking a load of gibberish!’
‘No, but I don’t know how all this concerns the police. Would you care to explain? A message from the afterlife! How are we supposed to investigate something like that?’
‘I think the least you could do is to listen to what I have to say.’
‘I am listening,’ Erlendur said.
‘No, you’re not.’ Karen opened her bag, took out a cassette and laid it on his desk. ‘Maybe this will help you,’ she said.
‘What is it?’
‘Listen to it and then talk to me. Listen to it and tell me what you think.’
‘I can’t…’
‘Don’t do it for me,’ Karen said. ‘Do it for Maria. Then you’ll know how she felt.’
She stood up.
‘Do it for Maria,’ Karen said, and left.
Erlendur took the tape home with him that evening. It was an ordinary, unmarked cassette tape. Erlendur had an old radio cassette player. He had never used it to play a tape and didn’t know if it worked. He stood for a long time with the tape in his hand, wondering if he should listen to it.
He found the machine, pressed ‘open’, inserted the cassette, then pressed ‘play’. At first he heard nothing. Several more seconds passed and still nothing happened. Erlendur expected to hear the dead woman’s favourite music, probably church music, since Maria was religious. Then there was a tiny click and the tape began to hiss.
‘… After falling into a trance,’ he heard a deep masculine voice say.
He turned up the volume.
‘After that I won’t be aware of myself,’ the man’s voice continued. ‘It’s the dead who choose either to speak through me or to reveal things to me. I am merely their channel for making contact with their loved ones. How long it lasts varies according to the nature of the contact.’
‘Yes, I see,’ a high female voice replied.
‘Did you bring what I asked?’
‘I’ve got a jumper that she was very fond of and a ring Dad gave her that she always wore.’
‘Thank you. I’d better take that.’
‘Here you are.’
‘Remind me to give you the tape afterwards. You forgot to take it the other day. It’s easy to forget oneself.’
‘Yes.’
‘Right, let’s see what happens. You’re not afraid, are you? You told me at first that you were a little nervous. Some people are anxious about what might come out in these sessions.’
‘No, not any more. I wasn’t really afraid, just a little uncertain. I’ve never done anything like this before.’
Long pause.
‘There’s a gleam of water.’
Silence.
‘It’s summer and there are bushes and the gleam of water. Like sunlight on a lake.’
‘Yes.’
‘There’s a boat by the lake – does that sound familiar?’
‘Yes.’
‘It’s a small boat.’
‘Yes.’
‘It’s empty.’
‘Yes.’
‘Does that sound familiar? Do you know this boat?’
‘Dad had a small boat. We have a holiday cottage by Lake Thingvallavatn.’
Erlendur turned off the cassette player. He realised that the recording was of a seance and he was certain that the high voice belonged to the woman who had killed herself. Not that he knew anything about it, beyond remembering her husband saying that her father had drowned in Lake Thingvallavatn. Hearing her voice felt peculiar somehow, as if he were prying into someone else’s private life. He stood by the cassette player for a long time without moving, until curiosity overcame his doubt and he pressed ‘play’ again.
‘I can smell cigar smoke,’ he heard the medium say. ‘Did he smoke?’
‘Yes. A lot.’
‘He wants you to take care.’
‘Thank you.’
A long pause followed the woman’s words. Erlendur listened to the silence. The hissing of the tape was the only sound audible. Then suddenly the medium began to speak again but now in a completely different voice, deep, harsh and gruff.
‘Be careful!… You don’t know what you’re doing!’
Erlendur was startled by the anger in the voice. But in the next breath it had changed.
‘Was that all right?’ the medium asked.
‘I think so,’ said the high-voiced woman. ‘What was…?’
She hesitated.
‘Did anyone you recognise make contact?’ the medium asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Good, I… Why am I so cold…? My teeth are chattering.’
‘There was a different voice…’
‘Different?’
‘Yes, not yours.’
‘What did it say?’
‘It said I should be careful.’
‘I don’t know what it was,’ the medium said. ‘I don’t remember any-’
‘It reminded me…’
‘Yes?’
‘It reminded me of my father.’
‘The cold… doesn’t come from there. The intense cold that I’m feeling. It’s directly connected to you. There’s something dangerous about it. Something you should beware of.’
Erlendur reached out and turned off the tape. He couldn’t face listening to any more. It felt disrespectful. The recording contained material that touched his conscience. He felt as if he were listening at a door. He couldn’t bear to dishonour the woman’s memory by eavesdropping any further.
