‘Amazing.’ Karítas gave Bella a conspiratorial smile, apparently oblivious to the animosity sparking off her. ‘That’s, like, so weird. Did you used to be skinnier back then? Not so … you know?’
Thóra hastily interrupted to prevent violence from breaking out. ‘When did you get back to the country?’
‘I only just got here.’
Karítas’s mother broke in. Her eyes were red and swollen, her cheeriness forced. ‘I don’t understand how you can look so well, darling, after such an awful journey. All the way from Brazil. We wouldn’t look so fresh after such a long flight, would we?’ She addressed her words to Bella who stiffened even more.
‘Did you come via the States?’ Thóra noticed how oddly Karítas had reacted to her mother’s words, as if she would have liked to smash the nearby crystal vase over her head.
‘No.’ She did not elaborate but twined her fingers into a lattice, enlivened by slightly chipped hot-pink nail varnish. ‘Look, I didn’t get you round to talk about boring things like flights.’ She untwined her fingers and rested her hands demurely on the cushions on either side of her. The hot pink clashed violently with the crimson velvet. ‘You’re working on the yacht, aren’t you?’
‘Not directly.’ Out of the corner of her eye, Thóra noticed that Karítas’s mother was looking embarrassed; presumably she had already told her daughter this. ‘I’m acting for the parents of one of the men who went missing. So my case is only indirectly linked to the yacht.’
‘Have you been on board?’ Karítas stretched, then tucked her legs under her as Thóra nodded. ‘Isn’t she to die for?’
‘Well, my reason for going on board was rather grim, so I didn’t really stop to think about it.’ A shadow fell over Karítas’s face and Thóra saw that she had better praise the boat quickly if she wanted to stay on the right side of her. ‘But, of course, she’s … to die for.’ She tried to sound enthusiastic. ‘Amazing.’
‘Yes, well.’ Karítas had apparently seen through her pretence. ‘Obviously you’ve never been on board a yacht before but believe me, Lady K is totally fabulous.’ If Karítas realised how boastful she sounded, she didn’t seem to care. ‘She’s the reason I wanted to see you. The thing is, I need to go on board. You could fix that for me, couldn’t you? I don’t want to bother the police.’
‘The police wouldn’t be able to help you anyway. They’ve concluded their examination, so I don’t even know if they have the keys any more. The resolution committee is responsible for her now, so you should really talk to them.’
‘That’s too much hassle.’ Angry red spots formed on Karítas’s cheeks. ‘It would be much better if you could let me in. It’s not as if I’m going to do any damage.’
‘May I ask why you want to go on board?’
‘I’ve still got a lot of personal belongings there and I want them back. Clothes and so on. I didn’t manage to fetch them before the yacht left Europe, though I had a perfect right to. I just didn’t have time.’
Thóra resisted the impulse to point out that Iceland was part of Europe. ‘I thought you’d gone to Lisbon to do precisely that. To remove your personal property. Was that a misunderstanding?’
‘Yes. I mean no. I was going to but I didn’t have a chance.’
‘You mean you didn’t have a chance to fetch your stuff or you didn’t make it to Lisbon?’
‘You know, I really can’t remember. I travel so much.’ Karítas avoided Thóra’s eye. Her words hung in the air during the ensuing silence. The lie was so blatant that in the end she added awkwardly: ‘Actually, I think I did. I went there but the yacht had already left or something. At least, I didn’t manage to get on board.’
‘Oh?’ Thóra felt as if she were negotiating a minefield. If she put a foot wrong there was a risk they would be shown the door. It wasn’t the choice of words that was difficult so much as the effort to make one’s questions and comments sound innocuous. ‘I must have misunderstood, because when I looked in the closets I thought one of the dresses had been removed. At least, there was an empty hanger. I know so little about this whole business that I just assumed you must have taken it and left the rest because they’d gone out of fashion.’
‘Clothes like that never go out of fashion. They’re haute couture.’ Karítas’s pronunciation owed more to Akureyri than to France. ‘But the fact is, I haven’t had a chance to fetch anything and that’s why I wanted to speak to you. To get you to help me gain access. I won’t need long.’ She spoke like a woman used to having her slightest whim obeyed.
‘Is it possible that your PA, Aldís, went on board, either at your request or on her own initiative? When the crew arrived to bring the yacht home the seal over the door had been broken. The person who did it must have had keys as there was no sign of a break-in. And if it had been an ordinary burglar, you’d have thought something would have been stolen. There were enough valuables on board.’
‘I haven’t a clue what Aldís did or didn’t get up to. She doesn’t work for me any more.’
‘Did you give her the sack or was it just that you couldn’t afford to pay her any longer?’ Bella’s sudden entry into the conversation came as a relief to Thóra. She could be a loose cannon but it was good to have a moment’s respite from her thinly disguised interrogation.
Karítas rounded on Bella. ‘I can afford staff perfectly well.’ She flicked her hair back with a quick movement of her head. ‘If you really want to know, I fired her.’
‘Why?’ Bella certainly didn’t beat about the bush.
‘Why?’ said Karítas. ‘Why wouldn’t I? She was lazy and she was nicking my stuff.’ She was beginning to look distinctly tight-lipped.
‘One question, Karítas.’ Thóra smiled pleasantly. ‘Were you by any chance in contact with a man called Ægir, from the resolution committee? Your phone number was found among his papers. Did you approach him about granting you access to the yacht, as you’re approaching me?’
‘Ægir, you say?’ Karítas was a terrible actress; it was plain to everyone in the room that she wasn’t racking her brains to remember. ‘Yes, that sounds vaguely familiar.’
‘He was on board the yacht with his family. I’m representing his parents. His wife and two small daughters are missing as well. It could be significant if you spoke to him. The police will probably be in touch to discuss it. I know they want to talk to you.’
‘The police?’ Karítas finally sat up properly. ‘What do they want? I haven’t done anything.’
‘Perhaps because there’s a possibility that the body of a woman was found on board the yacht. In the freezer, to be precise. At first people thought it must have been you.’
‘Shit, why would they think that?’ Interesting that she seemed less worked up about the presence of a dead woman in the freezer than the fact that the woman had been wrongly identified. ‘Anyway, what are you talking about? A woman? In the freezer?’
‘There was no body in the freezer when I was there.’ Karítas’s mother looked outraged. ‘What’s this nonsense?’
‘All I know is that the police are investigating the matter. As I explained, my involvement is indirect, so I may have got it wrong. But what were you saying about Ægir? Did he speak to you before going on board? Or meet up with you in Lisbon? You must have been there at the same time.’
Karítas scratched her neck, leaving red marks. ‘No, I didn’t see him. But I did talk to him on the phone. That’s not a crime. In fact, he rang me.’
‘Really?’ Thóra was trying hard to keep her voice friendly. ‘Was that when he was in Portugal?’
‘No, here in Iceland. I rang that bloody resolution committee and the woman who answered the phone told me he was dealing with the yacht. He wasn’t there, though, so I asked if he could call me back and gave her my number. He rang. Big deal.’
‘What did you want from him?’
‘I wanted to go on board. Like I do now. He had the keys.’
‘What happened? Did he agree to help yo
u?’
‘Sort of. At first he was really unhelpful.’ She gave Thóra a dirty look. ‘Like you. But I talked him round and he agreed to arrange it.’
‘What did you promise in return?’ Bella opened her mouth to add a further comment that Thóra feared would be highly inflammatory, but she didn’t get a chance.
‘I said I’d make it worth his while.’ Karítas flushed a little when she saw Bella’s grin. ‘Not in the way you’re insinuating. I was going to pay him. Pay him well.’
‘Just to get your dresses back?’ Thóra couldn’t imagine promising a hefty reward for the return of any of her own clothes.
‘Not just them. I need to pick up a few other items too.’ Karítas’s lips thinned until they almost disappeared.
‘And what happened?’
‘He was going to meet me in Lisbon before the yacht left. But it didn’t work out.’
‘Why not?’ Thóra had given up trying to be nice.
‘I didn’t go. Something came up and I didn’t need his help any more. Or so I thought.’ Karítas bared her teeth in a failed attempt at a smile. ‘But now I’m hoping you can sort out the red tape for me and let me in. You know, better late than never, and all that.’
Thóra studied this woman who had been created in the likeness of an angel, the beautiful outer shell concealing something much darker inside. The missing people were of no consequence to her, merely an inconvenience. It didn’t seem to matter that they included two little girls. ‘I’ll consider it if you tell me what it is you want. The police have been over the yacht with a fine-toothed comb. I can’t quite see what could be so important to you apart from the dresses.’
‘You don’t need to worry about that. If you’re going to get all weird about it I’ll pay you. How about that?’
‘No, thanks.’ Out of the corner of her eye Thóra caught Begga’s expression of relief and swung round to her. ‘Is something the matter?’
The woman jumped. ‘Oh no, nothing. I was just worried about the money. We’re in a spot of bother at the moment, you see. Only temporary, mind.’ She turned to her daughter. ‘Darling, when it comes to little things like this it makes more sense to trade information than to pay for it. She doesn’t want your money anyway.’ She gazed pleadingly at her daughter, brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes. Her grey roots had not been touched up since Thóra and Bella’s last visit.
Karítas was not remotely grateful for this intervention. She shot her mother a spiteful look. ‘I’m selling this house, Mum. It’s not up for discussion. You’ll just have to fend for yourself until everything’s sorted out.’ She added to Thóra: ‘Lawyers handle conveyancing, don’t they?’ Her mother seemed to shrink in her ornate chair, a symbol of a lifestyle that would soon be history.
‘I’m not an estate agent.’ Thóra caught a smirk on Bella’s face. She seemed to be delighted with her employer, for the first time in living memory. ‘And I’d like to know why you didn’t go ahead with your meeting with Ægir, since it was so important to you.’
‘I told you. The situation changed. I didn’t need him any more and I wasn’t going to pay him for what someone else was prepared to do for less.’
‘Someone else?’
‘Yes. I bumped into one of the crew members in town – I recognised him – and he was much nicer than that Ægir. I discussed the problem with him and he was more than willing to oblige. But everything got screwed up because his stupid friend had an accident and he had to help him, so he couldn’t meet me as planned. He rang and said he’d sort it when they reached Reykjavík. What was I supposed to do? By then it was too late to try and persuade Ægir to meet me because the captain had arrived and was staying on board. So I had a wasted journey to Lisbon and was forced to wait until the Lady K got to Reykjavík.’ She closed her eyes. ‘Then everyone goes and disappears, and I’m the one that loses out.’
‘What was this man called?’ asked Thóra, though there could only be one answer if the man’s friend had had an accident in Lisbon.
Karítas was silent for a moment, thinking. Then she turned her heavily mascaraed gaze on Thóra. ‘Halli, I think. He used to work for me on the Lady K in the old days. Yes, I’m pretty sure his name was Halli.’
Chapter 29
The hardest part, Ægir thought, was not having a clue how far they were from their destination. He had no idea how long he had been asleep; nor could he remember what Thráinn had said about the length of time remaining. Had he said twenty-four hours, or a day? And if the latter, what had he meant by a day? Twelve hours? Was it possible they only had a few hours left at sea? He cursed himself for not having checked the clock at the time or demanded more detailed information. Had he done so, he would have been able to calculate how far the yacht had sailed while he was asleep and plan his next moves accordingly, such as whether it would pay to jump ship in a lifeboat with the girls. The raft might be equipped with an emergency transmitter that would be activated when it hit the water, but Ægir didn’t know how far the signal would carry, so this course of action would only make sense if the yacht was nearing Iceland. The ocean surrounding them was so vast that there was almost no chance of crossing the path of another vessel if they were still up to a day’s journey from land.
In any case, it was too late now. Thráinn wouldn’t be giving any more answers, at least not in this world; and Ægir wasn’t about to seek out Halli, as the question would no doubt be his last. He lay back and stared at the ceiling, then closed his eyes and watched the white specks dancing on the lids. Never had so much ridden on a decision of his. Never had he felt so bewildered – or alone.
‘Daddy? What’s the time?’ He looked over at Arna who was sitting up rubbing her eyes. She had fallen asleep on a crayon and it had stuck to her jumper without her noticing.
‘I don’t know.’ He didn’t wear a watch and hadn’t charged his phone since they lost reception. He perched on the edge of the bed beside her and reached for the crayon. It was blood red and the sight of it over her heart disturbed him. ‘It’s night-time, as far as I can tell.’
‘When will we be home? My tummy hurts.’
‘Soon, hopefully.’ Ægir smoothed her hair but it sprang up again in a mass of tangles. ‘We might go home in one of the lifeboats. How would you like that?’
‘I don’t care. I just want to go home.’ She pushed his hand away. ‘Then we won’t have to be brave any more.’
‘You’re right.’ Ægir lapsed into silence, not knowing what else to say. The easiest course would be to lie and claim there was nothing to fear; before they knew it they would be home, where no one would have to behave themselves any more. But that wasn’t true; there was no guarantee that they would ever reach Reykjavík and, even if they did, they were unlikely to take any comfort in their homecoming now that Lára was gone. ‘You’ve coped so well, Arna. Much better than I’d have dared hope. With any luck you won’t need to keep it up much longer.’
‘Good.’ Arna lay down again with her eyes open. She regarded her sleeping sister, then asked: ‘What do you think Sigga Dögg’s doing?’
‘I expect she’s gone to beddy-byes by now.’ Ægir spoke in a low voice; the thought of his youngest daughter was too painful to bear. She would grow up without a mother and he wasn’t sure he was capable of providing her with the sort of care she would have received from Lára. He didn’t know how to comfort his daughters, how to brush their hair, choose their clothes or presents, or help with their homework. And he was a hopeless cook. He worked too hard, but then he had to; if he applied to work fewer hours he would soon find himself out on his ear. Not that money would be a problem. Indeed, perhaps that would be the best solution after all that had happened; to retire from work and become a full-time father instead; devote himself to his daughters. But how long would it be before people began to wonder how he was supporting himself and the kids? A year, two years, three? It didn’t matter: sooner or later the time would come. And he would be unable to answer. The sudden thought of Lára�
��s life insurance policy brought a bad taste to his mouth. It would solve that particular problem. But what would it feel like to see that huge sum appear in his bank account? He had long dreamt of a fortune but it had never occurred to him that he would acquire it like this. He had paid far too high a price.
‘Sigga Dögg doesn’t know Mummy’s dead.’ Arna closed her eyes. ‘She’s so lucky.’
‘She’ll find out, darling, as soon as we see her again. But I’m not sure she’ll understand. She’s so young.’
‘She’s still lucky. I wish I didn’t know.’
‘Me too.’ He would have given anything to have Lára back but, since that was impossible, he wished he could have deceived himself, even if only for a few days or until they reached port. Having to cope with the grief and terrifying uncertainty at the same time was unendurable. He felt as if the chances of a happy ending would be many times greater if all he had to contend with right now was the uncertainty. But deep down he knew it wasn’t like that; there could be no good moves in this game.
‘Can we go up on deck and see if we can spot Iceland?’
‘No,’ he snapped and immediately regretted how harsh it sounded. He didn’t want Arna to suspect that something even worse had happened. ‘It’s too dark. We wouldn’t be able to see.’
‘We would. There might be lights. You can see lights from outer space.’
‘That only applies to big cities. I’m sure Reykjavík isn’t visible from space or from this far out at sea, for that matter.’ He lacked the energy to explain about the curvature of the earth. ‘All there’d be is black sea and more black sea.’
‘Perhaps the captain has binoculars that work in the dark. We could go and find him. I don’t believe he’s a bad man.’
‘No, I don’t suppose he is, but it doesn’t change the fact that only soldiers and commandos have binoculars like that. They cost a bomb and, anyway, sailors don’t need to see in the dark; they have radar and all kinds of other equipment to do it for them.’ Ægir hastily steered the conversation away from Thráinn; it was easier to talk nonsense about binoculars. The memory of how the man’s body had floated away was too horrible, and somewhere at the back of his mind a voice whispered that the captain had not been quite dead when he was thrown overboard. The voice grew ever more insistent, though Ægir didn’t believe it. If that had been true, surely Thráinn would have at least attempted to raise his head out of the water? And what did it matter if he had drowned within reach? Thráinn had given Lára the gun and Ægir would never forgive him for that. It had almost certainly influenced his decision to do nothing as Thráinn vanished into the darkness. The captain was to blame for Lára’s death. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. ‘Aren’t you thirsty?’
The Silence of the Sea Page 33
