Yrsa Sigurdardottir - Last Rituals

For some reason, on her way out she could not take her eyes off the doorsill. It was much higher from the floor than the baseboards and she bent down to run the cloth along the gap. The cloth became lodged. Laura bent down for a better look at the obstruction. She caught sight of a silver object and looked around for something to dislodge it from the doorsill. She fetched a ruler from one of the desks. Then she tried to ease the object up, finally succeeding after several attempts. Laura picked it up and scrambled to her feet.

It was a little steel star, the size of the nail on her little finger. She placed it in her palm and scrutinized it. The star seemed familiar but Laura could not place it. Where could she have seen it before? But she had no time to wonder because she had to finish the windows or be late for her class. She put the star in her pocket, determined to give it to Tryggvi. He might know where it was from. It could hardly be connected with the murderany more than the blood on the window handle, for which there was a normal explanation. Or could it? An image of the finger suddenly crossed her mind. She made the sign of the cross to ward off the revolting memory. She decided to confide in Gloria. The girl was bound to be working over the weekend, and Laura would be as well. She might know something more than she had told the others and the police.

Marta Mist was lolling against the wall in the corridor, annoyed at how long the cleaner was taking to finish. It was not as if cleaning that room was a major jobthrowing out a few cans of soft drink, washing up some cups, and scrubbing the floor. She looked at the clock on her mobile phone. Damn itthat jerk must be taking a nap on the sofa. Marta Mist called up Briet's number from her address book with the push of a few buttons. She had better answer; few things got on Marta Mist's nerves more than knowing that someone she called might look at the screen, see who was dialing, and not pick up. Her worries proved unfounded.

"Hi," said Briet.

Marta Mist skipped the formalities. "I couldn't find it," she said crossly. "Are you sure you put it in the drawer?"

"Shit, shit, shit," moaned Briet. "I'm positive I put it there. You watched me do it."

Marta Mist gave a sarcastic laugh. "That means nothing, I was seeing double that night."

"I put it there. I know I did," Briet insisted. "What shall I tell Halldor? He'll go nuts."

"Nothing. Don't tell him a fucking thing."

"But"

"No buts. It isn't there, so what now? What are you going to do about it?" "WellI don't know," said Briet helplessly.

"Consider yourself lucky, then, as I do," Marta Mist retorted. "I talked to Andri and he agreeswe won't say anything or do anything, because there's not much we can do." She left out the fact that it had taken her twenty minutes to talk Andri out of letting Halldor know. Then she added in a gentler voice: "Don't worry about it. If it was a problem, we'd already have found out."

The door opened and the cleaner came out. Judging from the look on her face there was big news in the world of sanitary technology. She looked like she had been force-fed a lemon. About time too, Marta Mist thought to herself and lurched off the wall. "Briet," she said into her mobile. "The cleaner just came out. I'll take a better look. Call you later." She rang off without giving Briet a chance to say good-bye. Everything was such a bloody hassle.

Thora was sitting at Harald Guntlieb's desk, browsing through the pile of papers. She looked up, straightened her back, and turned to Matthew. He sat absorbed in the same task in an armchair in one corner of the study. They had decided to start by examining the documents the police took away when they searched the flat, which had just been returned. There were three large cardboard boxes full of papers of all descriptions and after almost an hour's reading Thora was beginning to lose sight of the point behind all this. The papers were a mixed bag, mostly documents connected with Harald's studies in one way or another along with statements from banks, credit card companies, and other official bodies. Many were in Icelandic so they were little help to Matthew, who had to put a large stack to one side for Thora to peruse later.

"What are we looking for, anyway?" she asked suddenly.

Matthew put his sheaf of papers on a small side table and rubbed his eyes wearily. "Basically, we're looking for a lead, something the police overlooked. For example, an explanation of what happened to the money Harald had transferred here. We could also come across"

Thora interrupted him. "That's no help. What I meant was that we should maybe try to establish who could possibly be connected with the murder or stand to benefit from it. I have absolutely no experience investigating murders and I'd like a better picture before I go through any more papers. I'm not particularly excited by the idea of having to do all this again if we have a bright idea later."

"No, I understand that," said Matthew. "But I'm not quite sure what to say. We're not looking for anything specific we already know about, unfortunately. Maybe we're not looking for anything at all. We're really just trying to figure out what Harald's life was like before the murder so that we have some idea about the circumstances and events that led up to itif something crops up that points us toward the murderer, that's just a bonus. If it helps you narrow things down, you could say that the main motives for murder are jealousy, anger, financial gain, revenge, madness, self-defense, sexual perversion."

Thora waited for more but Matthew had completed his tally. "Nothing else?" she asked. "There must be more motives."

"I didn't claim to be an expert," Matthew retorted. "Sure, there are more motives, but that was all I could think of offhand."

Thora thought before answering him. "All right, let's say those are the main motives. Which of them could apply to Harald's murder? Was he involved with a woman, for example? Could it be a case of jealousy?"

Matthew shrugged. "I think he was unattached. But jealousy could still play a part. Maybe someone loved him and it was unrequited." He paused for a moment, then added: "Actually I think women rarely murder by strangulation, so it's unlikely to have been a crime of passion."

"No," agreed Thora pensively. "Unless it was a crime of passion committed by another man. Was Harald gay, perhaps?"

Matthew shrugged. "No, he definitely wasn't."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"I just know," he replied. Seeing the dubious expression on Thora's face, he added: "It's quite remarkable. I can usually tell straightaway if a man bats for the other side. I don't know how, but I'm very intuitive about it."

Thora decided not to pursue the topic but knew from her own experience that there was an overwhelming probability Matthew was no better than anyone else at identifying people's sexuality. Her ex-husband had the same misconception and Thora had proved him wrong countless times. She changed the subject: "It doesn't seem to have been rape and there were no signs of recent sexual activity, so we can rule that out."

"So now there are fewer possible motives," Matthew said with a wry grin. "We'll get there soon."

Thora ignored him. "So why do you think he was killed?"

Matthew studied her for a moment before answering. "It was probably something to do with money. But I still can't shake off the feeling that it was somehow connected with his studies of sorcery. What happened to his eyes and the symbol carved on the body clearly suggest that. I can't figure out the motive and that annoys me. Why commit a murder for sorcery or something that happened centuries ago?"

"Isn't that a bit far-fetched? The police found no link between the murder and black magic, in spite of what was done to the corpse. They must have investigated that possibility," Thora said, hurriedly adding: "And don't say that they're just stupid. That's far too simplistic."