Thora was sitting at her computer in her office when Matthew showed up at nine o'clock. She was just finishing replying to e-mails that had arrived the previous day, most of which she had passed on to Thor. Bragi was all smiles when he greeted her that morning. He was still toying with the idea that this German job would be their passport to the worlda source of endless business for their practice. Thora made no attempt to bring him back to earth, relieved at being able to concentrate on the murder riddle without being torn between petty jobs as well.
She e-mailed Harald's mysterious friend Mal with a brief account of Harald's death and how she and Matthew were involved in the case on the Guntliebs' behalf. She ended her message with a polite request for Mal to contact her, since he might have crucial information. When Bella phoned to announce Matthew's arrival, Thora said she needed five minutes to finish and asked the girl to tell him to take a seat and wait in the reception area. She was determined to clear her desk so that she would not have to return to the office in the afternoon. She managed to finish in just over five minutes and switched off her computer, pleased with her morning's achievements. She wondered if she should start coming in earlier. Although it would be tough at home, this hour was exceptionally productive, free from the harassment of the telephone before normal office opening hours.
She took a small tape recorder from one of her desk drawers to record their interview with Hugi. While she was checking if the batteries worked her thoughts returned to her son, who had been terribly down in the dumps that morning. Whatever the problem was, it had not gone away overnight as Thora had hoped. The boy had sat there vacantly with no appetite and she managed to drag only a few words out of him. Soley, on the other hand, talked nonstop as she always did in the mornings, so Thora had no time alone with her son. She decided to probe the matter calmly that evening after Soley had gone to bed. Then she drove these thoughts out of her mind, put the recorder in her handbag, and left the office.
Thora was taken aback when she entered reception. Matthew was sitting on the edge of Bella's desk talking excitedly to the secretary, who glowed like the midday sun. They did not even notice Thora's presence and she had to clear her throat to get their attention.
Matthew looked around. "Oh, you, I was hoping you'd be busy a bit longer." He smiled at Thora and gave her a wink.
Thora could hardly take her eyes off Bella's face, which had been transformed by simply smiling. She looked almost pretty. "Well, shouldn't we get a move on?" Thora said, fetching her coat. "Nice to see you so cheerful, Bella," she added, beaming at the secretary.
Bella's smile vanished instantly. Matthew's charm offensive clearly benefited him alone. "When are you coming back?" she asked grumpily.
Thora tried not to sound disappointed at being cut out. "I don't expect to be back today but I'll phone if anything changes."
"Right, whatever," Bella said huffily, her tone implying that Thora made a habit of not letting people know her whereabouts, which was absurd.
"You heard what I said." Thora could not let it pass without comment although she immediately regretted it. "Come on, Matthew."
"Yes, madam," Matthew said with a smile at Bella. Much to Thora's chagrin, it was reciprocated.
When they got into the car Thora fastened her belt and turned to Matthew. "Do you know how to drive on icy roads?"
"We'll find out," said Matthew as they left the parking spot. Seeing Thora's expression he added: "Don't worry, I'm a good driver."
"Just don't slam on the brakes if the car goes into a skid," Thora said, by no means convinced that Matthew was aware of this.
"Do you want to drive?"
"No, thanks," she answered. "I can't handle that no-brakes rule, if I start to skid I instinctively put my foot downagainst my better judgment. I'm very limited when it comes to driving."
They headed straight out of the city and were up on the moor when Thora's curiosity about Matthew's conversation with Bella finally got the best of her. "What were you two talking about?"
"Us two?" Matthew repeated, all innocence.
"Yes, you and Bella, my secretary. She's normally such a sourpuss."
"Oh, her. We were talking about horses. I'd like to try horse riding while I'm here; you hear so much about Icelandic horses. She was giving me some tips."
"What does she know about horses?" Thora was flabbergasted.
"She's a horse lover, didn't you know?"
"No, actually I didn't." She could only pity the horse that had to bear Bella's weight. "What kind of horses does she have? Cart horses?"
Matthew took his eyes off the road and looked at Thora. "Are you jealous?" he asked, smirking.
"Are you drunk?" she fired back.
They drove in silence across the lava field toward the mountain pass. Thora admired the landscape through the car windowperhaps few people would agree with her, but she thought this was one of the most beautiful places in Iceland, especially in summer when the moss blazed green, its soft outlines in total contrast with the rough and jagged lava. Now the land was covered with snow and seemed two-dimensional. It lacked the majesty of summer. Still, a calmness reigned that appealed to Thora. She broke the silence. "Don't you think the scenery's beautiful?"
Matthew flicked his eyes off the road to admire the surroundings. There was hardly any traffic. "Well." He smiled at her as if declaring a truce. "It is different, I'll give it that much, but 'bleak' is the word that springs to mind." He pointed at two thick pillars of smoke that stretched up into the sky ahead of them. "What's that?" he asked. "An eruption?"
"Oh, that's steam from boreholes," Thora replied. "Up ahead there's a geothermal power plant, which produces electricity from steam piped from underground. It also supplies hot water to heat houses in Reykjavik."
Matthew nodded, impressed. "Lucky you, no pollution."
"Yup," said Thora. "Clean air, clean water. Not bad."
"Your offices could actually be cleaner, as long as we're on the subject of hygiene," said Matthew.
"Oh, please," snapped Thora. "They're clean enough. We're lawyers, not surgeons." She turned to look at Matthew. "We don't exactly make a good team," she said, referring to their repeated skirmishes. "Maybe we should change tactics."
He smiled at her again. "You think so? I'm delighted. You're much more fun than my normal company at work. All the old men and the few women I deal with are so poker-faced they'd fall apart if they took off their frowns."
Now it was Thora's turn to smile. "Actually, you're not half as bad as Bella. I'll give you that." She paused for a while. "Tell me one thing. In the folder was a German newspaper clipping about a young man who died performing that erotic asphyxiation stuff. What was that included for?"
"Ahhh." Matthew drew out the exclamation. "That bloody thing. One of the people in the article was a good friend of Harald's. They met at university in Munich and must have been the same kind of searching souls, so they made a good pair in all the outrageous stunts they got up to. I don't know which of them introduced the other to that peculiar practice but Harald swore it was his friend who started. Harald was present when the man died, so he ended up being interrogated and got into a nasty mess. It's a shameful thing to say, but I think he bought his way out of the situationyou noticed the large bank withdrawal I marked from then?" Thora said she had. "I included it because Harald was strangled. It may be important. Who knowspossibly he met the same death as his friend, although it seems very doubtful."
They parked in the lot outside the fence of Litla-Hraun prison and walked over to the visitors' gate. A warden showed them into a small lounge on the second floor. "We thought you could stay in here; you should be quite comfortable, it's much nicer than the interrogation room," he said. "Hugi's calm and shouldn't cause any trouble. He'll be here any minute."
"Thank you, that's fine," Thora said, and walked inside. She perched herself on the edge of a brown sofa and Matthew sat down close by her side. She was surprised by his choice of seat, because there were plenty of chairs.
He looked at her. "If Hugi sits facing us it's better for us to sit like this. I want to look him straight in the face." He raised his eyebrows quickly, twice. "And it's so terribly nice to sit close to you."
Before Thora could answer, the door opened again and Hugi Thorisson appeared accompanied by a guard, whose hand was on his shoulder. The young man's head was bowed as he was steered through the door. Hugi was handcuffed but he looked so helpless that Thora couldn't believe it was necessary. When the guard spoke his name he looked up. He swept his waxy hair out of his eyes with both hands and Thora saw that he was very handsome, completely different from what she had imagined. She found it hard to believe that he was twenty-fiveseventeen would have seemed a closer guess. He had dark brows and big eyes, but his most prominent feature was his bony cheeks, probably caused by his thinness. If he did murder Harald, it must have taken every ounce of his strength. He did not look capable of lugging a one-hundred-ninety-pound corpse very far.
"You going to behave yourself, pal?" the guard asked Hugi in a friendly tone. When Hugi nodded, the guard lifted his arms and took off the cuffs. Then he put his hand back on Hugi's shoulder and guided him over to the chair directly opposite Thora and Matthew. The young man sat down, or rather slumped, into the chair. He avoided looking Thora and Matthew straight in the eye, turned his face away from them and gaped down at the floor beside the chair where he sat sprawled.
"We're in the room next door if you need us. He shouldn't cause any trouble." The guard addressed his words to Thora.
"Fine," Thora said. "We won't keep him any longer than necessary." She looked at her watch. "We should be done by noon."
The guard left and when he had closed the door the only sound in the room came from Hugi as he rhythmically scratched at the knee of his camouflage trousers. He had not looked at the visitors yet.
Prisoners were clearly allowed to wear their own clothesunlike in the American jails Thora knew from television and films, whose inmates pranced around in jumpsuits that seemed to be made from orange peel.
"Hugi," said Thora in the gentlest voice she could muster. She went on in Icelandic, thinking it was silly to begin the interview in English. They would find out later whether that was possible. They couldn't afford to get bogged down in language difficulties; if he didn't speak reasonable English she would have to handle this alone. "Presumably you know who we are. My name's Thora Gudmundsdottir and I'm a lawyer, and this is Matthew Reich from Germany. We're here in connection with the murder of Harald Guntlieb, which we're investigating independently from the police."
No reaction. Thora continued. "We wanted to see you because we're not convinced you had any part in the murder." She took a deep breath to emphasize what she was about to say. "We're looking for Harald's murderer and we think it's quite conceivable that it wasn't you. Our aim is to find the person who killed Harald and if it wasn't you, then it's in your interests to help us." Hugi looked up at Thora. When he did not open his mouth or show any other desire to express himself, she continued. "You presumably understand that if we manage to prove that someone other than you killed Harald, then you're more or less off the hook."
"I didn't kill him," Hugi said in a weak voice. "Nobody believes me, but I didn't kill him."
Thora went on. "Hugi, Matthew here is from Germany. He knows all about investigations but he doesn't speak Icelandic. Do you feel up to speaking English with us so that he can understand? If not, that's fine. We want you to understand our questions and be able to answer them without any language problems."
"I can speak English," came the reply, half muttered.
"Good," said Thora. "If you don't understand anything we say or have trouble answering, we can simply switch back to Icelandic."
Thora turned to Matthew and told him they could continue in English. Without a moment's hesitation he leaned forward and spoke. "Hugi, you can start by sitting up straight and facing us. Get rid of that whining voice and act like a man, if only for the short while that we're here."
Thora sighed: what macho bullshit! She almost expected the young man to stand up, burst into tears, and demand to leave, which they would have to accept, since he was here of his own free will. But she had no chance to interrupt because Matthew marched straight on. "You're in big trouble, I don't need to rub your nose in that. You're sitting in front of your only hope of getting out of that trouble, so you should do all you can to help us and answer honestly. Self-pity's easy in your position so it's vital to act like a grown-up, not a kid. Do as I say, sit up straight, look me in the face, and give a conscientious answer to all our questions. You'll feel better if you act like a man. Just try it."
Thora watched in surprise as Hugi obeyed Matthew's words. He shifted out of his fetal position and did his best to put on a manly show. His teenage looks made it hard for him, but there was some transformation. When he spoke his voice was clearer and more mature. "It's hard for me to look you in the eye all the time. I'm on some medication that makes me confused." Thora could tell from his eyes; they fluttered and had a dull look most likely produced by tranquilizers. "But I'll try to answer your questions."
"How did you and Harald meet?" Thora asked.
"I met him partying in town. Talked to him and he turned out to be a fun guy. I introduced him to Dori just after that."
"Who's Dori?" Thora asked.
"Halldor Kristinsson. He's a medical student," replied Hugi, almost with a hint of pride in his voice. "We've been friends since we were little kids. We lived next door to each other in Grafavogur. He's incredibly bright but not a scholarly type, always up for partying."
Thora scribbled notes; although she had turned on her Dictaphone she was worried that the device would not record properly. Halldor was the young man who missed the party Harald had attended the night of his murderthe one who decided to wait for the partygoers in the downtown bar. "Were you good friends, you and Harald?"
Hugi shrugged. "Sure. Not as close as Harald and Dori, though. I sometimes sold Harald" Hugi suddenly stopped in midsentence with a worried look on his face.
"Nobody gives a damn about your dealing now. Go on," said Matthew sharply.
Hugi's Adam's apple bobbed up and down before he decided to resume. "Okay. Sometimes he called me his best friend; but that was just a joke when he wanted to score dope off me. He was fun, though, completely different from everyone else I know."
"In what way?" asked Thora.
"For a start, he was rolling in money and never minded buying you a drink and stuff. And he had this awesome flat and car." He thought for a moment before proceeding. "But that wasn't the issue. He was so much cooler than other people. He wasn't afraid of anything, always found crazy stuff to do and swept everyone else along with him somehow. He was megacool with all that body artnone of us dared try to copy him. Not even Dori, who really wanted to. He thought it would ruin his career prospects and really regretted the one little tattoo he had on his arm. But Harald didn't give a shit about the future."
"And it turned out that he didn't have to," said Matthew. "What did you do, what did you talk about?"
"I can't remember what we talked about."
"Did he ever talk about his studies or burning witches at the stake?" Thora asked hopefully.
"Witchcraft." Hugi snorted. "No one talked about anything else to begin with. When I started hanging out with them Harald invited me to join their witchcraft society."
Matthew butted in. "Witchcraft society? What witchcraft society?"
"Malleus something. It was supposed to be a society for people interested in witch hunts and historical stuff." He avoided Thora's glare, blushed slightly, and addressed Matthew. "But it was totally different. It wasn't Harry Potter, believe me. It involved four things. Sex, black magic, drugs, and more sex." He smiled. "That's why I liked going around with them. I couldn't care less about history or witchcraft or those magic symbols and incantations they did. I just wanted to have fun. The chicks were pretty." Hugi lost his thread for a momentpresumably reminiscing about an adventure with the "pretty chicks." "But some of the witchcraft stories were actually pretty cool. I remember one where this pregnant woman got thrown into a fire and she gave birth in the flames. The priests got the baby out alive but decided it might be infected with the mother's magic, so they threw it back in. Harald said that was absolutely true."
Thora pulled a face to bring Hugi back to earth. "Who was in this society? What were the 'pretty chicks' called?"
"Harald was the boss, then Dori, who was his right-hand man really; me; Briet, who was studying history at the universityshe was the only one who was seriously interested in all this, I think; Brjansi, or Brjann, who did history too; Andri, who was studying chemistry; and Marta Mist, who was in gender studies. She was awful, always moaning about injustice against women. Sometimes she'd ruin the fun with her bitching. Harald was always messing with her, always calling her 'Nebel,' which really got on her nerves. It's German for 'mist,' get it?" Thora indicated that she understood but Matthew sat poker-faced. "That was the core of the group. Occasionally new members joined but we were the only ones who stuck it out. I didn't really follow what they did that closelyas I said I wasn't interested in black magic, just in what went with it."
"You say Dori was his right-hand man. What do you mean by that?" asked Thora.
"Those two were always up to things. I think Dori helped him with translations and stuff. And it was obvious Dori would take over when Harald went back to Germany. Dori was well pleased with that; he was infatuated with Harald."
"Is Dori gay?" Matthew asked.
Hugi shook his head. "No, no way. He was just starstruck, you know. Dori comes from a poor family, like me actually. Harald threw money at him, expensive presents and praise, so Dori worshipped him. You could tell Harald enjoyed that. Actually he wasn't always nice to Dori; sometimes he humiliated him in front of us. But he always made sure to make up for it so that Dori wouldn't get fed up and bail out on him. It was quite a weird relationship."
"You said Dori was your childhood friend. How did you feel seeing him so infatuated with Harald? Weren't you jealous?" asked Thora.
Hugi smiled. "No, no way. We stayed friends. Harald was just in Iceland temporarily and I knew it would pass. If anything I found it quite funny seeing Dori in the role of the admirer. Up to then he'd always been the one I looked up to; it was sort of a change, seeing him in my role, you know. Not that Dori ever treated me the way Harald treated him, not so kind and not such a bastard either." Suddenly Hugi's expression turned anxious. "I didn't kill him to get my friend back. It wasn't like that."
"No, perhaps not," said Matthew. "But tell me one thing. If you didn't kill him, who did? You must have some theories. You know it can't have been suicide or an accident."
Hugi's eyes dropped back to the floor. "I don't know. If I knew, I'd say. I don't want to be here."
"Do you think your friend Dori killed him?" Thora asked. "Are you covering for him?"
Hugi shook his head. "Dori would never kill anyone. Least of all Harald. I told you he worshipped him."
"Yes, but you also said Harald was nasty to him, humiliated him in front of the others. Maybe he had got fed up and attacked in a fit of rage. That happens," said Thora.
Hugi looked up, firmer than before. "No. Dori's not like that. He's studying to be a doctor. He wants to help people live, not kill them."
"Hugi, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but doctors have killed people for centuries. All professions have their rotten apples," said Matthew sarcastically. "But if it wasn't Doriwho was it?"
"Maybe Marta Mist," muttered Hugi unconvincingly. She clearly wasn't his number one. "Maybe Harald called her 'Nebel' once too often."
"Marta Mist, yes," Matthew said. "That's a great theory apart from the fact that she has a watertight alibi. Like everyone else in this little witches' coven of yours. Except Dori perhaps. His alibi is the shakiest. It's quite conceivable that he could have popped out of the bar, killed Harald, and gone back in without anyone noticing."
"And got the same seat? At Kaffibrennslan on a Saturday night? I don't think so." Hugi sneered.
"No one else springs to mind?" Thora asked.
Hugi puffed up his cheeks and then exhaled. "Maybe someone from the university. I don't know. Or someone from Germany." He made sure not to look at Matthew when he said this, as if he expected him to be hypersensitive about his countrymen. "I know Harald was celebrating something that evening. He told me he wanted to buy some dope from me to mark some occasion or something."
"What kind of 'something'?" snapped Matthew. "You must be clearer. What exactly did he say?"
Hugi looked affronted. "Exactly? I can't remember exactly but it was something to do with something he'd found at last. He shouted something in German and clenched his fist. Then he put his arms around me and squeezed me really hard and said I'd have to fix up some Es because he was in a really good mood and wanted to party like hell."
"Was that when you left the party?" Thora asked. "After he squeezed you and asked for some Es?"
"Yes, soon after. I was so out of it. I'd drunk too much and tried to sober up with some speed. It didn't work. I was way too drunk. Anyway, we took a taxi back to my place and all I remember was that I couldn't find any Es. I was so hammered I couldn't even have found the milk in the fridge. I remember Harald was pretty pissed off with me and said it was a fucking waste of time. And I remember lying down on the sofa because my head suddenly started spinning."
Thora interrupted Hugi. "Did you say you didn't let him have any ecstasy?"
"I couldn't find them," Hugi replied. "I was out of it, like I said."
Thora looked at Matthew without saying a word. The autopsy report stated that the active substance from ecstasy had been found in Harald's blood, so at some stage he had got hold of some. "Could he have taken some earlier that evening? Or found them at your place when you passed out?"
"He hadn't done any at the party, that's for sure. He wasn't acting that way and I know the effects. And there's no way he found them at my place because the police dug them out from the storage room in the basement when they searched my flat. I'd stashed them there and had the key in my pocket. Harald couldn't have looked in the storage room; I doubt he even knew about it. Maybe he went home to get some. I know he had a few that he said weren't much good. Why are you so interested in this?"
"Are you sure Harald didn't look in your pockets and find the key? You might not remember now, but maybe you told him at the time," said Matthew. "Try to remember. You were lying on the sofa with your head spinning, and then what?"
Hugi squeezed his eyes shut and did everything he could to recall the incident. Suddenly he opened his eyes and looked at them in astonishment. "Yes, I remember. I didn't say anything, but Harald said something to me. He bent down and whispered something to me. I remember I really wanted to answer him and ask him to wait for me but I couldn't."
"What? What did he say?" Matthew asked impatiently.
Hugi looked unsure of himself. "Maybe this is bullshit but I think he said: Sweet dreams. We'll celebrate later. I came to Iceland looking for hell, and guess what? I've found it."