Yrsa Sigurðardóttir - The Silence of the Sea

‘What was he wearing?’ Thóra took the hint; if Loftur had been wearing clothes, he was unlikely to have died from natural causes. Nobody would get into a hot tub with their clothes on.

‘He was fully dressed.’ The man arched an eyebrow. ‘Which is rather odd, as people don’t usually bother to dress corpses. And how could he have come to fall in the sea after drowning in the Jacuzzi? It seems clear to me that somebody else was involved. And perhaps that person killed the others on board as well.’ He clicked his tongue and smiled. ‘Or not, as the case may be.’

Thóra was silent. The news had filled her with horror and for a moment she forgot how hot she was. ‘I can hardly bear to think about those little girls. It was bad enough before but everything looks much blacker now. Somehow it’s easier to accept the idea that they died in an accident than that they fell victim to a murderer.’ She sighed. ‘Though the outcome is the same.’

‘It’s certainly not looking good.’ The policeman’s expression was grave again. ‘But to get down to business, your part in the case seems straightforward, so I see no need to ask you any further questions. Unless there’s something you want to add?’

‘No.’ Her first interview had been long and rigorous, and the police had extracted all the information that mattered or that she was able to tell them. Not that she was hiding anything out of confidentiality to her clients, sadly. If she had been it would at least mean that she had some inkling about the fates of the passengers.

‘Our interests are not incompatible – would you agree?’ he continued. Thóra nodded; their goals might not exactly coincide but the difference was negligible. She needed to provide persuasive grounds for believing that Ægir and Lára were dead, and in order to do so she had to acquaint herself with as many details of the case as possible. The police needed to go a step further; probability was not enough for them, they needed to prove what had happened beyond reasonable doubt. The detective continued: ‘So we were wondering if we should join forces. I’m not insisting that you work for us since that would be inappropriate for both parties, but we were hoping you’d keep us abreast of any information you uncover that might be of relevance to our inquiry. That way we won’t have to keep hauling you in for a grilling. I don’t believe this arrangement would be in conflict with your duty to your clients. In fact, I assume it’s in all our interests to solve this case.’

‘Yes, I agree.’ Thóra paused before continuing: ‘Of course, I’ll need to inform my clients, but I assume they won’t object. It’s not as if I’m working on anything major; I’m merely trying to establish that the missing couple are dead. Since my last visit to the police station I’ve sent the insurance company formal notification of their presumed death and explained that a report will follow. I don’t know whether to expect a response before they receive the full report but we’ll soon see. I’m not exactly optimistic that they’ll accept the documentation as sufficient proof, in which case we’ll have little option but to take the matter to court. But obviously it would be better if we could avoid that by presenting a watertight case to start with. It’s quite possible that my investigation will uncover something that might be of benefit to you.’

‘But you do take my point? We can’t pay you for your time, and anyway it’s your public duty. You’re a lawyer so I need hardly remind you of article 73 of the Act on Criminal Procedure.’ He cleared his throat and for a moment Thóra thought he was going to quote the whole article from memory, but her fear proved unfounded. ‘You are obliged to render assistance to the police in their investigation of matters in the public interest. And it’s also important to bear in mind that you’re required to surrender any documents and other items in your possession should the police request them for their investigation.’

‘I assure you I’m not sitting on any evidence. I’ve already handed over copies of all the papers Snævar gave me connected to his hospital admission and flight tickets; that’s all I’ve acquired so far. In the next few days I’m expecting to obtain documents relating to Ægir and Lára’s finances, as well as a declaration from their GP that they were both in good health. It goes without saying that you can have copies of those too if you want. Then I’m going to try and persuade Snævar to obtain a certificate from an Icelandic doctor stating that his broken leg made him unfit for work, as confirmation that the crew was one man short. I won’t do that immediately, though, as I want to give him a chance to recover from his shock.’ Thóra had the uneasy feeling that the detective suspected her of concealing evidence, though nothing could be further from the truth. ‘Just to be completely clear about this, there are exceptions to the article you cited, as I’m sure you’re aware. I only raise the fact because I might have to resort to them at some stage and it would be better to establish from the outset that I reserve the right to assess each point on its own merits. But of course I’ll help as far I can.’

The detective seemed satisfied, perhaps even more satisfied than if she had simply acquiesced without reservation. ‘Fine. It would be good to receive copies of everything you get hold of. Better too much than too little.’ He turned back to the file. ‘About the box or case you mentioned in your statement following the discovery of the body; it transpires that it wasn’t among the items we removed from the yacht. So it looks as if it must have been taken by the person or persons who broke in. Perhaps they mistook it for a jewellery case.’

‘Perhaps, but it wasn’t locked. They would only have had to open it to realise there were no valuables inside.’

‘Are you sure? Did you go through all the contents? Valuables don’t necessarily consist of gold or money.’

Thóra was forced to admit that she had not made a very thorough inspection. ‘There’s one thing I forgot to mention. I noticed a safe in one of the wardrobes in the master bedroom. Were you aware of its existence?’

‘Yes. We had it opened but it was empty. It wasn’t stuffed with handy clues, more’s the pity.’ His tone was ironic. ‘Before I let you go, I’d like your opinion on a couple more matters that you must keep to yourself for the time being. They’re unlikely to have any bearing on your case, but you never know. Perhaps you’d keep your eyes open for any evidence that might relate to them.’

‘Absolutely.’

‘Good.’ Before going on, he met her eyes searchingly, as if scrutinising her for proof of her honesty. When he stared intently like that his green irises appeared even more unnatural. ‘You said the body was only partially uncovered, so all you saw was the head. Is that correct?’

‘Yes and no. It’s correct that all I saw was the head, because I looked away at once. I gather from Matthew that Snævar tore the canvas off in a frenzy, then threw up. I can’t stand corpses or people being sick, let alone both together, so I only caught a glimpse of the body. And that was more than enough. If I explained badly during questioning, I assure you it wasn’t deliberate.’

The man was reading the page in front of him, which probably contained one of the statements she had given. ‘No, no. It’s all down here. I just couldn’t quite recall.’ He looked up again. ‘So you didn’t notice that an attempt had been made to dismember the body?’

‘No. I wasn’t aware of that.’ Yet again she found herself completely thrown. It was bad enough that the yacht mystery should have developed into a murder inquiry, without people being chopped up as well. ‘Matthew didn’t mention it either.’