‘All right,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘On whose instructions did you do that?’
‘Valgeir’s. I thought you knew that.’
‘Ah, yes. Maybe. I must have forgotten,’ she said, and ended the call.
But she hadn’t forgotten a single thing.
26
Monday, 25th August 2014
‘Did you take those case files away with you?’ Valgeir thundered as he stood on the landing between floors of the police station.
This Monday morning had got off to exactly the start that Salka had expected.
‘Yes, I did,’ she said without looking at him. She marched past him into the office that had been allocated to her on the upper floor. She could hear Valgeir’s fast steps behind her as he followed. ‘I took photocopies.’
‘Photocopies or whatever. Taking case files off-site is strictly forbidden. Can I ask exactly why you’re digging into this case concerning Anton?’ he asked, following her into the office. He shut the door behind him.
‘How did you know it was the Anton case? I thought I told you it was an old case concerning Hróbjartur and Helgi.’
‘I checked the search log,’ he said awkwardly, after a pause. ‘Salka, I want to know why you’re snooping through these old documents.’
‘What do you think happened to Anton?’ she asked, taking a seat at the desk.
‘What do you mean? Nobody knows what happened to him.’
‘The last sighting of him was by the Glerá church, talking to Gunnleifur, then pffft. He’s gone.’
‘I went through all this in great detail and nobody knows what happened,’ Valgeir said, taking a seat by the desk. ‘I spoke to Gunnleifur many times, and other witnesses. Nothing at all came out of it.’
‘What about the kids?’
‘Kids? What kids?’
‘According to the documents, Gunnleifur had a confirmation class at the church on the day Anton disappeared. He was seen talking to Gunnleifur by the church. I can’t see anything in the files that indicates they were all interviewed.’
‘Yes. I spoke to them. It’s all in…’ he said, pointing at the stack of papers in front of Salka.
‘Yes, it’s here. You spoke to three of them.’
‘That’s right. I did, and…’
‘There were fourteen of them, Valgeir. Fourteen kids in the confirmation class. Why didn’t you speak to the other eleven?’
‘There was no need to,’ he said, after glaring at Salka. ‘It was clear that Anton came up to the church, as drunk as a lord, and in a proper state. The children were terrified. He swore at Gunnleifur and left. He walked away, and that was the last that was seen of him.’
‘These three kids you actually spoke to had nothing to say,’ Salka said, opening the folder and leafing through it. ‘In broad terms, it’s all I don’t know, I don’t remember, and maybe. Reading through the transcripts, I can’t see much other than that they were frightened. Were they, Valgeir? Were they frightened?’
‘Damn it, they weren’t frightened,’ he said, standing up and going to the door. ‘I did everything I could to get to the bottom of this case, but, unfortunately, that’s the way it turned out. There was nothing and nobody you could pin down. Why are you digging this up now?’
‘I think this is connected to the murders of Hróbjartur and Helgi.’
‘How the… And how have you figured that out?’ he said, hands spread wide.
‘Did you talk to Rafn when you were investigating Anton’s disappearance?’
‘No. Why would I?’
‘Because they were childhood friends. He and Anton. Rafn is sure that Gunnleifur had something to do with this.’
‘How do you know?’ he demanded, and Salka began to have concerns about the colour Valgeir’s face was taking on.
‘I spoke to Marta.’
‘Marta? You know her background, Salka? And Rafn’s? To put it mildly, he’s a troublemaker. I remember he had some outlandish theories that never stood up to scrutiny.’
’You know he was one of those who had charges brought against Hróbjartur, Helgi and Gunnleifur for sexual abuse?’
‘It’s my experience that there’s no point taking notice of anything that boy says,’ Valgeir said, as if reading from a book. ‘He tries, and has always tried, to extort money and that was one of his many attempts to do that. He’s a wastrel who has destroyed himself with long-term drug abuse. Everyone here knows that. You can go through the whole Anton case with a fine-toothed comb, and I can tell you right away that there’s nothing to be found.’
‘Do you have any idea why the charges Rafn brought against Gunnleifur didn’t get any further?’
‘No,’ he said. His response was so fast that it made Salka wonder, as if there was no need for thought.
‘We need to find them,’ she said.
‘Find who?’ he asked, his irritation crystal clear.
‘The kids who were in that confirmation class. We need to talk to them.’
27
‘Good morning,’ Salka said, introducing herself and shaking Gunnleifur’s hand as he was brought into the police station.
‘Yes, good day to you,’ Gunnleifur said with a broad smile. ‘That was a very unexpected welcoming committee at the airport. I don’t remember her name, but the police lady didn’t want to say too much. Maybe you can inform me of what is going on.’
Police lady, Salka thought. It wasn’t just Gunnleifur’s old-fashioned choice of words that troubled her, but the fact that she had given Gísli instructions to meet him.
‘Yes, I can do just that,’ Salka said, gesturing for him to take a seat in front of the desk. ‘I imagine you’ve already heard about what has happened to Hróbjartur and Helgi?’
‘I most certainly have,’ he said and the smile faded from his face. He laid a drab coloured raincoat over his knee as he took a seat. ‘It was deeply shocking to receive such dreadful news. Have you made progress?’
‘I’m right in thinking that you knew Hróbjartur and Helgi?’
‘I did. They were gentlemen in every way. True to the Lord in word and deed.’
‘Exactly,’ Salka said, examining this man of seventy-three who looked to be ten years younger. There was hardly any grey to be seen in his dark, but thinning hair, combed to one side. She wondered if it was dyed. The skin of his narrow face was smooth, with sharp lines that formed at the corners of his mouth and on his forehead. His ears were large, prominent, somewhat out of proportion to the rest of his head, although that didn’t seem unusual as ears often seemed to experience a spurt of growth once their owner reached a certain age. His lips resembled a blueish line. His deep-set eyes were clear blue and had an almost benevolent look in them.
‘Do you have an idea who could have wanted to harm them?’
‘No,’ he said with emphasis. ‘That is something that is completely beyond me.’
‘Were you in frequent contact with them?’
‘I wouldn’t say so.’
‘And in the past?’
Gunnleifur stared at Salka in surprise.
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘Just whether you have been in contact with them over an extended period, or…’
‘Our dealings have always been in connection with our work; Hróbjartur and I in our functions as priests. Helgi was a deacon and assisted me with a number of things over the years.’
‘Helgi was also active in youth activities. Were you also involved with that?’
‘No,’ he said, drawing the word out. Salka had the feeling that he was on the defensive.
‘Nothing to do with the YMCA or such activities?’
‘That was very limited,’ he said with a smile, and Salka wondered if that indicated an untruth. ‘I am not entirely sure what this is about. I fail to see what that has to do with anything at all.’
‘Maybe not. I’d like to discuss the disappearance of Anton.’
‘Hmm?’
‘Anton Hermannsson. He disappeared without trace in 199
5.’
‘Yes,’ Gunnleifur said, looking serious. ‘And what do you wish to discuss in that connection?’ he asked, almost with a note of caution in his voice.
‘According to the case files, when he disappeared, you were the last person he spoke to.’
‘That’s right.’
‘Tell me briefly about that meeting.’
‘I am sure that all this is in your case files, my dear Salka.’
My dear Salka, she thought, instinctively suspicious of this smooth, oleaginous tone. The smile returned to his face.
‘I often spoke with Valgeir around the time that the lad disappeared,’ he continued. ‘I did my utmost to shine a light on the matter, but my participation in this was marginal. I met the boy for just a moment.’
‘Good friends, are you? You and Valgeir?’
‘I wouldn’t say that. We are acquaintances.’
‘Really? Nothing more than that?’
‘No. Nothing more than that.’
The smile appeared again.
‘Valgeir has three children. You baptised all three. You confirmed them all and officiated at the wedding of one.’
‘Yes. I have been able to share in this family’s happy moments. Delightful children, all of them. Intelligent, and perfectly good people, every single one. Of course, it’s a long time since all this happened, my dear Salka. One’s memory develops some gaps,’ he said once the silence had hung uncomfortably long in the air.
‘That’s right. Nineteen years. But there are always certain special events in anyone’s life that stay with them, and don’t fall through the cracks,’ Salka said with a smile of her own. ‘You knew Anton well, didn’t you? As I mentioned just now, you are the last person known to have spoken to him. After that he was never heard of again. That could hardly have slipped your mind.’
There was silence. Then another smile.
‘No, you are quite right. It was a dreadful matter and a tragic one. I held a prayer meeting for the boy’s immediate family once it was obvious that he was … that he would not return.’
Salka noticed that Gunnleifur never spoke Anton’s name.
Experience told her that people avoided saying out loud things with any painful association. That would trigger bad memories that would become increasingly acute.
‘You still haven’t answered my question.’
‘What question?’
‘I asked if you had known Anton well.’
‘I wouldn’t say that. Of course, I became acquainted with a great many young people through my work as the parish priest. But I remember him well, that lad had demons of his own.’
‘How about Rafn? Did you know him?’
The silence and the smile were repeated.
‘I remember him, yes,’ he said cautiously, as if every word were fragile. ‘Could I ask, my dear Salka, where you are going with this?’
Salka leaned slowly forward over the desk. She looked into his eyes and smiled.
‘I’m not your dear Salka. Just like you’re not my dear Gunnleifur. Tell me how you know Rafn.’
‘Do you know, Salka? I have other fish to fry,’ he said in a condescending tone, once he had stopped laughing. ‘I’ve just come from a health spa and now I intend to go home. I was advised to take things easy and avoid unnecessary stress. Which is precisely what this meeting is. It has been a pleasure to meet you,’ he said, and this time there was no sign of the various forms of the smile that had flickered across his face since his arrival. He made to stand up.
‘He had charges placed against you.’
‘Who?’ he said in surprise and sat down again.
‘Rafn.’
‘Now you can hear me out,’ he said in a tone that bordered on anger. ‘That was the most appalling slander and it was dismissed. There was nothing in his accusations that was any basis for a prosecution.’
‘That’s fine. But for security reasons we unfortunately can’t allow you to go home.’
‘Why on earth shouldn’t I do that?’
‘For your own safety, we can’t take that risk. There’s a murderer on the loose and we believe that the murders could even be connected to Anton. And I would very much appreciate it if you would start by telling me the truth. You ought to know how that’s done. You knew Hróbjartur and Helgi and were in considerably closer touch with them than you seem inclined to admit.’
‘This is unacceptable,’ Gunnleifur said, rising to his feet. ‘Is Valgeir here?’
‘He is,’ Salka said calmly. ‘Would you like me to take you to him?’
‘No, thank you,’ he snapped, and stormed out.
28
Gunnleifur had protested furiously at not being allowed to go home. Valgeir had given way, on the condition that he agreed to police protection.
‘We found fingerprints on the knife that was used to stab Helgi,’ Óttar said, placing a sheet of paper in front of Salka. ‘The dimensions of the blade also fit the stab wound we found on Hróbjartur’s body.’
He had called and asked her to come down to the technical department’s office.
Salka took the sheet and scanned it. Unconsciously and out loud she spoke the name that appeared on it. Skúli Pálsson.
‘This isn’t possible,’ she said, staring at Óttar.
‘What isn’t possible?’
‘I don’t know … But this doesn’t add up. Sometimes you can just smell evil, and that’s not the way it is with Skúli. He doesn’t fit with this at all. He’s not capable of carrying out what we have seen. Unless there was someone with him,’ she said thoughtfully.
‘His alibi isn’t strong. There’s nothing to corroborate that he was there at the pool the night he found Hróbjartur,’ Óttar said.
‘Yes, I agree with that. But there’s something here that isn’t right. I know he wasn’t telling the whole story, and I know there’s something he’s keeping back. But to my mind him being the killer doesn’t ring true.’
‘Then what do you make of this?’
Salka looked over a second sheet of paper Óttar placed in front of her, showing the analysis of the blood found in the church.
‘Blood from a dog?’
‘Yes. It’s blood from Húbert. You mentioned that Skúli’s dog had lost blood. Something certainly went on there in the church.’
Salka’s phone rang, and Gísli’s name appeared on the screen.
‘They’re here,’ he said.
‘Who?’
‘Confirmation kids. You know, people who were in the confirmation class back then.’
‘Good. You’ll have to send someone to Grenivík right away to fetch Skúli,’ Salka said, and explained what Óttar’s conclusions had been. ‘We’ll need an arrest warrant straight away, but I’d like you with me when I talk to the confirmation group.’ There was silence on the line. ‘Are you there?’ she said.
‘Yes, of course. I’d prefer to go out to Grenivík to fetch Skúli.’
‘Why?’ she asked in surprise. ‘I’d be a lot happier to have your support with the group.’
‘You know what Skúli’s like. And Alda. I reckon it would be best if someone familiar goes to bring him in.’
‘Fair enough,’ Salka said, after a moment’s thought.
‘Good afternoon and thank you for coming at such short notice,’ Salka said to the group that had been waiting for her upstairs. The look Valgeir had given her in the corridor had been far from friendly.
She looked from face to face of the group seated around the long table, and took a seat at the end, with the case files in front of her.
Fanney had made a considerable effort to track down the 1995 confirmation class, but only eight of the fourteen were present. These were the ones who lived in Akureyri or close by. Others had moved south to Reykjavík, some lived overseas and one had died in an accident.
‘I remember it like it was yesterday,’ one of the group said when Salka asked for someone to take the initiative and make a start. ‘We were all in the confirmation class
when Anton turned up. We were all scared stiff.’
A mutter of agreement went through the group.
‘What was it about him that made you afraid?’ Salka asked.
‘He was somehow completely out of it,’ the woman said.
‘Not sure I agree entirely,’ said a man with a beard. ‘He may have been drunk, but there was something about him. Something in his face,’ he added thoughtfully, and fell silent.
‘What was that?’ Salka asked, after having allowed him a moment’s reflection.
‘A terrible depth of sorrow,’ the man said, catching her eye.
‘Yes, I agree with that. He was desperately unhappy,’ another woman added. ‘Of course, we were just kids at the time and we laughed at him. Even though we wouldn’t have dared do it openly in front of him. But his appearance was dreadful.’
‘In what way?’
‘There was make-up on his face and he was wearing a white robe. And … y’know, genitals … had been drawn on the robe.’
‘A cock and balls,’ someone said.
‘Yes, and the wings.’
‘Wings?’ Salka asked.
‘That’s right,’ said the one who had spoken first. ‘We thought he’d been at a graduation party. He had angel’s wings on his back. Then we heard later that it was to do with a play that had been performed at Dynheimar the evening before he disappeared. He had been the costume designer. There had been a party somewhere near the church and he had come straight from there.’
Salka had seen in the case files that Valgeir had spoken to party guests and the one who had invited the revellers home. He had also spoken to several people who had taken part in Helgi’s performance. Some of them had taken part in the celebration, but said that they hadn’t seen Anton after that.
‘I understand he didn’t spend long in front of the church,’ Salka said.
‘Didn’t spend long?’ the bearded man said. ‘You could say that, because he went into the church with Gunnleifur.’
‘Precisely,’ Salka said, making an effort to remain calm. Nowhere in the files had it been mentioned that he had gone inside the church. ‘Go on, please.’
The Commandments : A Novel (2021) Page 15
