Yrsa Sigurðardóttir - The Silence of the Sea

On the way to the cabin Ægir wiped his eyes, which were still wet from laughing. He took several deep breaths and hoped he would recover his self-control. It was essential to keep calm while talking to Lára because if he showed the slightest hint of nerves, he would infect the twins, and no doubt her as well, with his anxiety. It was the first time since finding Loftur that he had admitted to himself how he felt. He was not just shaken or alarmed; he was terrified.

Before entering the cabin, he cleared his throat and rubbed his face in the hope of obliterating the marks of fear. Then, smiling weakly, he opened the door. His wife and daughters were awake and sitting up in bed, though still under the duvet. Three identical pairs of eyes stared at him and in each he read that he had failed to conceal his fear. ‘What? What’s the matter?’ Lára flung off the duvet and got out of bed.

‘Nothing. But something’s come up and we need to go to the bridge. It’s nothing to worry about, though. We’re going to search the ship and we want you to wait in the pilot house in the meantime. You too, girls.’ He signalled to Lára that he needed to speak to her alone. ‘Collect up your books and cards, then come along. Your mother and I will be outside in the corridor.’ The girls looked surprised but said nothing.

Lára hurriedly slipped on her shoes and threw a cardigan over her shoulders. ‘You needn’t hurry. We’re happy to wait,’ she said to the girls. She looked anything but happy, however, and as soon as the door swung to behind them, she made her feelings known. ‘Please don’t tell me if something bad has happened. Please, just let me believe that everything’s all right and that we can count the hours till we’re home. Please.’ Her eyes were beseeching and she hugged the cardigan to her as if she could hide inside it.

Ægir felt as if the words were being torn from his throat. He wanted to lie to her and say it had only been an excuse to get her to himself; that if they were quick they could take each other here and now in this overblown burgundy corridor. ‘I really wish I could.’ He told her about Loftur, that it was urgent to find out whether there was an uninvited guest hiding on board, and that while they were searching the boat, she would have to wait alone on the bridge with the girls. He waited for this to sink in before telling her about the gun.

‘Gun? Have you gone out of your mind?’ She slapped him. The blow was not hard or intended to inflict pain but it was the first time physical violence had ever been used between them.

‘Lára!’ Ægir was speechless.

‘What if this stupid search of yours doesn’t reveal anything? Well?’ She didn’t wait for an answer. ‘What am I to do if it’s not you who comes back but Thráinn? Or Halli? Am I supposed to shoot them?’

‘No.’ Ægir hesitated, cursing himself for having told the girls they needn’t hurry.

‘What if Halli claims he became separated from you and wants to come in? Am I supposed to shoot him in front of the girls? Be standing over his bleeding corpse when you and Thráinn come back? Are you all out of your minds?’

‘No.’ Ægir couldn’t meet her eye; couldn’t cope with this. He wished Thráinn was here to convince her and had to restrain himself from tearing open the cabin door and yelling at the girls to get a move on. The captain would make Lára see sense. He took himself in hand. ‘If anything like that happens, you mustn’t let Halli in. And if Thráinn and I don’t reappear soon, you may have to decide what action to take. And if Halli – or Thráinn or this imaginary stowaway – tries to break in, at least you’ll be armed.’ He felt relieved, convinced by his own arguments.

‘But what if Thráinn’s behind all this? Do you really think he’d give me a loaded gun? Do you know the difference between blanks and live ammunition?’ She observed his consternation. ‘I thought not.’

Mercifully, the girls now appeared with their arms full of books and other items that he and Lára had taken down to the cabin when they locked themselves in. They knew something serious was happening and kept quiet. Ægir made a lame joke about their not being short of stuff. They were to go straight up to the bridge and before they knew it they would be captaining the ship and finally things would start going right. Nobody smiled and they made their way in silence up to the pilot house where Thráinn and Halli were waiting. The captain took Lára aside and spoke to her while Ægir showed the girls the yacht’s steering system. He kept glancing over to see what was passing between his wife and the captain, and gulped when he saw Lára receive with trembling hands a parcel which must be the revolver, wrapped in a grey cloth. She stuck it clumsily into her waistband and pulled her top over it with a pained expression. Ægir turned away at once and made some meaningless remark to the girls.

‘Is the ship sinking, Daddy?’ Bylgja put her head on one side as was her habit when she wasn’t wearing her glasses. She was carrying them in her hand in case she wanted to read.

‘No.’ It came out more sharply than Ægir had intended, but the anger in his voice was directed at himself, not her. ‘Good heavens, no. There’s nothing wrong, everything’s going to be fine.’ He was saying the words Lára had wanted to hear.

‘Will we drown if the yacht sinks?’ Evidently he had failed to convince his daughter.

‘She’s not going to sink and even if she did, no one would drown. Do you remember the lifeboats?’ They both nodded doubtfully. ‘Ships carry lifeboats so that no one will drown even if they do go down. But this yacht is unsinkable, so there’s no need to worry.’

‘Then why does it carry lifeboats?’ Arna interjected, without sarcasm. It was an entirely logical question that demanded an answer.

‘Because it’s obligatory, sweetheart. All boats and ships have to carry lifeboats. It’s the law.’

‘How silly.’ Arna ran her finger over the radar screen. Ægir was glad he hadn’t told them what it showed; it was such a stark reminder of their isolation. If they needed help, it appeared there was none to be found nearby.

‘You know what they say, darling: better safe than sorry.’ He noticed that Thráinn was signalling to him. Lára stood a little way off, avoiding his eye. There was a conspicuous bulge at her slender waist. ‘Better safe than sorry.’

‘I swear I didn’t lay a finger on Loftur. Why would I have asked you where he was if I’d just killed him?’ No doubt the question had sounded sensible when Halli formed it in his head but spoken aloud, it was meaningless. Now that it looked as if they were going to come up empty-handed, the young man seemed on the brink of despair. The three of them were down in the engine room, having scoured the other two levels without finding any trace of a stowaway. They had given Halli’s cabin, which adjoined the engine room, a thorough going-over, as well as the small workshop next door. ‘Perhaps the murderer has moved while we’ve been searching.’ Halli was breathing rapidly. ‘I didn’t go anywhere near Loftur. I swear it.’

‘Methinks the laddie doth protest too much.’ The marks of strain were showing on Thráinn’s face and the weariness in his voice was audible. He lowered himself onto a wooden crate by the wall and leant backwards until his head encountered the steel bulkhead with a low thud. ‘I’m going to let you two search in here. Call me if you find anyone. I’ll sit tight.’

Halli turned to Ægir, having clearly given up all hope of persuading the captain of his innocence. ‘You believe me, don’t you?’

‘I don’t know who to believe. I’m working on the assumption that you’re both equally dangerous. It’s the safest option.’ Ægir ran his eyes over the engines that stood in the middle of the room. He was fairly sure that in addition to the ship’s engine there were two generators, one probably for backup, and some pumps. ‘Where shall we begin?’ He took a couple of steps away from Halli, who had come unnervingly close. ‘This is your domain so you must know it inside out. It’s not as if there are many hiding places here.’ He glimpsed a door at the back of the room, behind one of the generators. ‘What’s that?’