Yrsa Sigurdardottir - Last Rituals

So Harald had bought the hamsters to feed the snake. Of course. "So he expected to die?" Thora asked.

Halldor shrugged and left the question open. "I just did what I had to do. I remember Marta Mist and Brjann puked their guts out while I got to work on the body. Then Andri said we had to get Harald out of the room or we'd be suspects. We used the common room a lot. We thought that was a good idea so we dragged him to that little room. We had to prop him up inside because there wasn't space on the floor to stretch him out. It took a lot of shuffling around and it was a real hassle. Then we got outwent back to Andri's, who lives quite close by. Marta Mist threw up in his bathroom the whole morning. The rest of us just sat paralyzed in the living room until we all crashed out."

"Where did you get the raven's blood to write with?"

Shame clouded Halldor's face. "We shot it. By the sea at Grotta. There was no other way. We'd been to the children's zoo to see if anyone there would give us or sell us a raven, and we'd talked to all the pet shops. But that didn't work. We had to write the contract in blood."

"Where did you get a gun?"

"I stole my dad's rifle. He goes hunting. He didn't notice, though."

Thora was lost for words. Then she remembered the box with the body parts. "Halldor," she said calmly. "What about the body parts at Harald's flat? Did you two have any use for them or did they just happen to belong to Harald?" It was not exactly appropriate to say "belong" in this context, but it would simply have to do.

Halldor coughed, then wiped his nose with the back of his hand. "Um, yes, those," he said sheepishly. "They're not from corpses, if that's what you think."

"Think? I don't think anything," Thora snapped back. "Right now I'd expect you to say absolutely anything. You could tell me that you'd dug up coffins and I'd take it in stride"

Halldor cut her off. "That's just stuff from work. Stuff that was supposed to be thrown away."

Thora laughed mockingly. "I've been giving you the benefit of the doubt, but come on! Stuff that was supposed to be thrown away!" She pretended to lift something up and examine it with a sour face. "What's this foot? Bloody stuff everywhere. Just throw it out." She tossed aside the imaginary foot. "Don't be stupid. Where did it come from?"

Halldor stared at Thora, blushing furiously. "I'm not stupid. It was stuff that was supposed to be thrown awaynot literally thrown away, but incinerated. If the police investigate it, they'll find out it's all damaged body parts that had to be removed surgically. Part of my job is sending those things off to the incinerator. I took them home instead."

"I think it would be more correct to say it was your job, pal. I doubt that you'll be doing any more shifts there." Thora tried to get a grip on the countless thoughts and questions whizzing through her mind. "How can you keep a foot and a finger forhow long was it again? Doesn't human flesh get moldy if it's not preserved? Maybe you kept them in the freezer too?"

"No, I baked them," Halldor answered, as if nothing could have been more natural.

Thora gave another nervous laugh. "You baked body parts. Who do you think you are, Sweeney Todd? Jesus Christ, all I can say is I pity your lawyer."

"Ha-ha. Very funny. I didn't literally bake them." Halldor scowled. "I dried them over low heat in the oven. That way they don't rot. Or at least they rot a whole lot slower. By the way, decomposing flesh is said to rot, not 'get moldy.'" He flung himself back angrily in his chair. "We needed it for our spellsit made them much more fun."

"And the finger that was found in the faculty buildingwas that from your cooking sessions too?"

"It was the first one. I wanted to tease Briet with it and I put it in the hood of her coat. I expected it to slide down her face to freak her out, but it dropped out without her noticing. But fortunately they couldn't link it with us. I didn't play practical jokes with body parts after that, because we came very close to getting into big trouble."

Thora sat absorbing all this. She decided to change tack a littleshe'd had enough blood and guts for the time being. "Why did you lie to us about your trips to Strandir and Ranga? We know you went there with Harald."

Halldor looked down. "I didn't want anyone to connect me with the sorcery exhibition. It was there that Harald found the spells for our contract. Nothing much happened there. I waited outside on a bench while Harald talked to the curator. They got on well, I know that much, and they shook hands heartily when we left. I was incredibly hungover and felt like shit so I didn't want to go inside. A friendly raven stayed and kept me company."

"He didn't discuss it on the way home?" asked Thora.

"No, the pilot was with us."

"What about Ranga? What did he do there? I know you were with him there too."

Halldor blushed. "I don't know what he did. One thing's for certain, he didn't go hunting. I don't really know anything else. We stayed at the hotel and Harald went somewhere while I stayed in my room and read."

"Why didn't you go with him?" asked Thora.

"He didn't want me to," said Halldor. "He took me along because I'd told him I was up shit creek with one of my courseshe said he knew a place where there was nothing else to do and he'd lock me up with my books for the whole weekend. He kept his wordnot literally, but he refused to let me join him on his excursions. I don't know exactly what he did, but Skalholt's close by."

"You must have spent some time together then toodidn't you talk about it?" asked Thora.

"Of course we met up in the eveninghad dinner, then went to the bar," Halldor said, smiling at her. "We were discussing completely different things, though, you see."

"So why did you deny going there?" Thora asked in surprise. "And why on earth were you booked in under the name Harry Potter?"

"For a laugh," Halldor said in an irritated tone. "Harald booked me under that name. Nicknames amused him and that time I was the butt of his little joke." He paused. "And why didn't I tell you about it? I don't knowI just lied for the sake of lying. Okay?"

"Unfortunately I don't think the police were wrong. I think Hugi killed Harald and you took over, possibly without realizing. Maybe he had gone home, that could very well be true. But you're clearly a warped personalityand presumably he's just as crazy as you, so he killed Harald on account of some stupid thing that no one but him understands."

"No!" Halldor's anger had given way to desperation. "Hugi didn't kill Haraldthere's no way."

"A T-shirt with Harald's blood on it was found in his closet. Hugi hasn't managed to explain how it got there. The police think it was used to mop up Harald's blood." Thora looked at Halldor. "The T-shirt in question is the same one that someone was wearing when Harald's tongue job was done. It says '100% silicon' on it. Does that ring a bell?"

Halldor nodded eagerly. "That's the T-shirt Hugi was wearing. Some blood splashed onto it and he took it off. I used it to mop the floor after the operation." Sheepishly he added: "I didn't want to tell Hugi about it. I just threw the T-shirt in his closet. Hugi didn't kill Harald."

"Who, then, pal?" asked Thora. "Someone did, and I predict that Hugi will be found guilty of it, not to mention what's going to happen to you and your friends for abusing a dead body."

"Briet," Halldor said suddenly. "I think Briet killed him."

Thora pondered. Briet. That was the little blonde with the big breasts. "What makes you think that?" she asked calmly.

"I just do," Halldor answered in a weak voice.

"No, tell me. You must have some grounds for naming her in particular. Why her?" Thora asked firmly.

"Because. She slipped out of the bar when we were in town. She said she lost us, but we didn't leave the placesome of us anyway."