Yrsa Sigurdardottir - Last Rituals

A sudden idea pulled her out of her reverie. "Wait a minutewere the eyes sent to her?"

"No," Matthew said. "They weren't included. I have no idea why. Maybe they got lost or damaged; I simply don't know."

Thora sat in thought for a while. "Halldor, the medical student. It must have been him who took care of the body," Thora said. "So he killed Harald."

"It looks that way," Matthew replied. "Unless Harald caused his own death and Halldor took over."

"How?" Thora asked. "He was strangled."

"Maybe doing his erotic asphyxiation? We have to consider that possibility at least. Or that one of the others killed Harald or made the contract with him. They all looked equally sheepish when we showed them the magic symbol. So Hugi could just as easily have been involved."

"We have to talk to Halldor againthat's for sure. All of them if we can. Good luck arranging that."

Matthew smiled. "So we're not total idiots. We've made a lot of progress. All that's missing from the picture is the money. What happened to that?"

Thora shrugged. "Maybe Harald managed to buy that repulsive sorcery manuscript. It would be in character."

Matthew mulled the idea. "Maybe. But I doubt it because Pall said it was in the national library of Norway. That's also why the police couldn't identify the symbolit's very unfamiliar, there's really no one in Iceland who knows it apart from Pall, who's studying abroad. He was never consulted about its origin."

"Maybe Harald transferred the money here to pay Pall for the information and then buy the manuscript from the library, but then he was killed for it by one of his so-called friends. They could have taken the money, couldn't they? People have killed for less."

Matthew agreed. He looked at the clock and then at Thora, thoughtfully. "The plane from Frankfurt landed at half past three."

"Damn it!" Thora swore. "I can't talk to his mother nowI simply can't. What if she asks me about my children? What am I supposed to say? 'Yes, Frau, my son is a precocious boydidn't I tell you, he's going to be a father?'"

"Believe me, she won't have much interest in your children," Matthew said calmly.

"It won't be any better discussing her own son. How can I look her in the face and tell her that Harald struck a bargain with the devil, or as good as, to make her life sheer hell and eventually kill her?" Thora looked at Matthew, hoping for a constructive answer.

"I'll tell her the news, don't you worry. But you can't get out of talking to her. If you don't do it today, it will have to be tomorrow. She's come all this way for the express purpose of talking to you, remember. When she told me she wanted to meet you in person and alone, she sounded more relaxed than I've ever heard her. You have nothing to fear."

Matthew did not sound quite convincing enough for Thora. "Will they phone, or what are the arrangements?"

"They'll phone when they get to the hotel." He looked at the clock. "Very soon, I expect. I could call them, if you want."

Ow. Catch22. Thora could not decide. "Yes, call them," she said suddenly, then immediately shouted: "No, don't!"

Before she could change her mind again, Matthew's phone rang. Thora groaned when he took it out, checked the display, and said: "It's them." He pressed the talk button and said: "Hello, Matthew here."

Thora heard only one side of the conversation but could vaguely discern the voice on the other end while Matthew listened. The conversation seemed very superficial: "Did you have a good trip?" "What a pity." "You know the name of the hotel, don't you?" and so on. The conversation ended when he said: "Auf Wiedersehen. Good-bye." He looked at Thora and smiled. "You're in luck, Granny."

"What?" Thora asked excitedly. "Didn't she come?"

"Oh, yes, she came. But she has a migraine and wants to postpone meeting you until tomorrow. It was Elisa who calledthey're in a taxi on their way down to Hotel Borg. She wants to meet us there in half an hour."

The young woman bore no resemblance to her mother, but was good-looking nonetheless. She was dark like her father and seemed to take after him, judging from the family photographs Thora had seen. Her whole air was unpretentious; her long, straight hair kept away from her face in a ponytail, and she wore nice black slacks and a black shirt that looked like silk. The only visible jewelry was a diamond ring on the ring finger of her right hand, the one Thora had seen on the photograph from the kitchen. Thora was struck by how slim she was, and when she shook her hand she thought the girl was probably even skinnier than these clothes made her look. Matthew received a much warmer welcomeElisa hugged him and they kissed each other on both cheeks.

"How are you doing?" he asked after releasing his grip on Elisa's shoulder. Thora noticed that he did not address her formally, as she would have expected from an employee of the family. Matthew was clearly close to these people, or ranked higher in the firm than she had presumed.

Elisa shrugged and forced a faint smile. "Not too good," she said. "It's been difficult." She turned to Thora. "I would have come much sooner if I'd known you wanted to talk to me. I had no idea my visit to Harald would matter."

Thora found this strange, given that the girl had been with her brother immediately prior to his murder, but said only: "Well, you're here now and that's what matters."

"Yes, I bought a ticket as soon as Matthew phoned. I want to help," she said, apparently sincere. Then she added: "And so does Mother."

"Good," said Matthew in an uncharacteristically loud voice. Thora wondered whether he did so from a fear that she would say something inappropriate.

"Yes, good," Thora parroted, to convince him she had no such intention.

"Shouldn't we sit down?" asked Elisa. "Can I get you a coffee or a glass of wine?" Thora had quit drinking for life so she ordered a cup of coffee. The others ordered glasses of white wine.

"Well," Matthew said, settling back in the armchair. "What can you tell us about your visit, then?"

"Shouldn't we wait for the wine? I think I need that first," Elisa said with a pleading look at Matthew.

"Of course," he answered, and leaned forward to pat her hand where it rested on the arm of the sofa.

Elisa looked at Thora apologetically. "I can't quite explain it but I find that visit so uncomfortable to recall. My feelings are still in a tangle; in retrospect it's as if I was really self-absorbed and only talked to him about myself. If only I'd known it was the last time I'd ever see him I would have told him so much about my feelings for him." She bit her lower lip. "But I didn't, and now I never can."

The waiter brought the drinks and they toasted nothing in particular. Thora regretted having given up drinking when she sipped her coffee and watched them take their first swallows of wine. She decided to fall off the wagon at the earliest opportunitybut was embarrassed to ask for a glass after making her choice.

"Maybe I should tell you why I came to see Harald," Elisa said, putting down her glass. Thora and Matthew nodded. "As you know, Matthew, I'm going through a bit of a crisis with Mother and Father. They want me to study business and join the bank, as do most people I know, in fact. Harald was the only one who told me always to do what I wantedplay the cello. Everyone thinks I should do business and keep the cello as a hobby. But Harald knew it's not like that, although he was not a musician. He understood that once you've achieved a certain level of skill and potential, it's either/or."

"I understand," Thora said, not really understanding.

"That's why we mainly talked about me when I came," Elisa continued. "I went to him for encouragement and that's exactly what I got. He told me to defy them and keep on playing. He said faceless suits who could run a bank were a dime a dozen but brilliant musicians were so much rarer." She hastened to add: "'Faceless suits' were his wordsthat's what he said."