2012
Monday, 5 November
‘Sorry to bother you.’
Rut had rung Helgi late in the evening for the second time in a couple of days. And once again she seemed very agitated.
‘That’s all right, Rut.’
‘Do you have a moment?’
‘Yes, go ahead.’
‘No, I mean, for a quick meeting?’
‘Now? Can’t it wait?’
Helgi glanced at Aníta and shrugged. So much for their cosy evening together.
‘Not really. I could pop over to yours, or…’
Helgi glanced round the room. The flat was fairly tidy, but even so he was keen to avoid a visit from a woman he barely knew.
‘Why don’t I just come round to yours?’ he asked, despite his reluctance to go out in the miserable weather.The bright morning had soon clouded over and, in typical Reykjavík fashion, it had started to rain, washing away all the snow that had fallen at the weekend.
‘I’m already in the car. It’s really not a problem. Where do you live?’
He rolled his eyes and gave her his address, then rang off.
‘There’s, um… Look, there’s a woman coming round,’ he said to Aníta. ‘I don’t know what she wants.’
‘I hope you at least know who she is?’ Aníta grinned.
Helgi laughed. ‘Yes, I do, actually.’ He could feel the tiredness creeping over him after a long day working on the investigation. All he wanted was to lie on the sofa with his book and read for a while or chat to Aníta. Despite not having known each other long, they found it easy to sit together in companionable silence. He appreciated that. ‘Her name’s Rut. She’s Elín’s publisher.’
‘Ah. It’ll be interesting to meet her.’
Bergthóra would never have reacted like that, but then it would never have occurred to him to agree to an unexpected visit if she had been at home. Since they’d split up, it had been slowly dawning on him how reluctant he had been to introduce her to his friends and colleagues. She had sometimes been on her best behaviour around other people, but only when she was sober and in the right mood.
‘I can’t imagine what Rut wants,’ Helgi said, and sighed heavily. ‘She called me on Saturday evening too, remember? That time she’d forgotten –forgotten ’– he smiled cynically – ‘to tell me that Elín had disappeared a couple of times before. I suspect she still hasn’t told me thewhole sordid story. But perhaps things will be a bit clearer after this visit.’
‘Do you think she could have done something to Elín? And that she wants to confess?’
‘Impossible to tell. But I can’t imagine a publisher wanting to… well, murder her most popular author. That just doesn’t make sense.’
‘What I don’t understand is why the press aren’t all over the investigation. It’s front-page stuff, after all.’
‘They will be very soon,’ Helgi said, then asked: ‘By the way, what are we going to do at Christmas? Have you had a chance to think it over yet?’
‘Are you sure we’ll still be together at Christmas?’ Aníta fired back, grinning at him.
‘Oh, I think there’s a chance, yes. Would you like to go to Akureyri?’
‘I get the impression you want to.’
‘Yes, it’s lovely up there. Proper snow and a great atmosphere.’
‘Christmas with your mother, eh?’ Aníta laughed. ‘OK, let me think about it.’
