Yrsa Sigurdardóttir - My Soul to Take

“It would be just as serious for my client were he to end up in the same position,” said Thóra. “He also cherishes his reputation.” She thanked her lucky stars that the password to Jónas’s computer was not common knowledge. “My client has now admitted to having had sex with the deceased on the Thursday in question, but long before the estimated time of the murder. That explains his fingerprints on her belt, because she didn’t change her clothes that day—at least I am not aware of any evidence to suggest that she did. Furthermore, my client has explained his whereabouts on both days, although there has not been time to corroborate his account. In his statement to the police he suffered a lapse of memory about his trip to Reykjavík on Sunday, but that can be put down to simple human error.”

The judge indicated to the official from the commissioner’s office that he could speak. “All this discussion has demonstrated,” he said, “is that the investigation of the crime scenes is a long way from completion, since evidence is still being gathered. Even less cause, therefore, to release the suspect at this stage. We do not know what further evidence he might remove. Regarding his confession before the court just now admitting to having had intercourse with the deceased, it is in my opinion obvious that he is aware that the results of the DNA testing of the semen will soon be available and is merely making a futile attempt at explaining away damning evidence. Lastly, interesting as the hypothesis about Baldvin Baldvinsson may be, it seems highly implausible and in no way reduces the suspicion cast upon the person present here. For example, no connection has been demonstrated between Baldvin and Eiríkur. We therefore reiterate our request for fourteen days’ custody.”

“With reference to Paragraph 1, Article 103 of the Penal Code,” replied Thóra, “we consider the allegations against my client to be in no way sufficiently supported, besides which the conditions for such a request as stated in the article are lacking. Given that we have raised the question of investigative negligence on the part of the police, I put it to you that it is absurd to presume the suspect would jeopardize the investigation by removing evidence, as described in Clause A of the aforementioned article. Had my client been aware of the photograph in question, he would have had ample opportunity to either destroy it or make it public. He is therefore demonstrably unlikely to tamper with any evidence, because he could already have done so over the past few days. This he has not done, as the photograph proves, so we request that the police demand be rejected, with a reserve appeal for the requested period of custody to be reduced. If this conclusion is reached, I also insist on immediate access to all police evidence regarding the case.”

“If I may, Your Honor,” the official said, “it is clear that two people have died at the hands of a murderer and we have probable cause to suspect the accused. Such crimes are obviously against the public interest, since it is unclear whether the murderer chooses his victims on any basis other than impulse. Anyone could be next. If the conditions of Article 1 are not found to be fulfilled, we request that the suspect be committed into custody on the basis of Article 2 regarding the public interest.”

The judge brought the proceedings to an end and stood up. He said he would consider the matter until noon and then deliver his ruling, and told them not to leave the vicinity of the court. He left the courtroom, followed by the recorder.

Thóra turned to Jónas. “We can only wait and hope, then,” she murmured.

“What do you think he’ll say?” Jónas whispered back. “I thought you did a brilliant job, and the configuration of the planets is very favorable, to say the least. I can’t imagine they’ll do anything except throw out that ridiculous custody request.” He looked proudly at her. “It was awesome how you remembered all the numbers of those legal articles.”

Thóra smiled at him. At last, someone who appreciated her recitals. She had been waiting a long time for this moment. If only the man singing her praises wasn’t a murder suspect who’d mentioned the configuration of the planets in the same breath. “That was nothing,” she said. “You ought to hear me when I get started on letter apertures.”

Thóra coll apsed into one of the cane chairs outside the lobby of the hotel with a groan and put a heavy folder of case documents on the table. She had been presented with them at the district court, wrapped in a supermarket carrier bag. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work,” she said to Matthew as he sat down beside her. “He was remanded in custody for seven days.” She looked around. “Where are the children?”

“They went to look at the beached whale,” Matthew said. “I’m not sure they quite understood my description, so they might get a nasty surprise.”

Thóra thought he was probably right. “No, they can’t have understood you,” she said. She knew her children well enough to realize that neither of them would go out of their way to see any decaying animal, let alone a whale. She didn’t know Sigga well enough to be able to tell whether she’d be able to handle it.

She tapped the orange plastic bag. “I did get the case documents, though,” she said. “Thórólfur tried to delay handing them over by saying he’d get someone in Reykjavík to photocopy them as soon as possible, but the judge offered the assistance of his own secretary, took the folder from them, and made a copy for me. The police attorney had his own copy in court, of course.” She smiled, remembering this small but sweet victory. “I have to rush through all this in the hope of finding something we don’t know.”

“I hope it’s nothing bad for Jónas,” said Matthew. “Could the police have more evidence against him than they’ve told him, or you?”

“I promise you, they threw everything at him during the hearing,” she replied. “It was a very close thing.” She didn’t think she was exaggerating, but at least the judge had shortened the custody term to one week, so she had done some good. She had to let herself believe that. “Poor Jónas didn’t take the news too well,” she said.

“What did you expect?” said Matthew. “Where is he now?”

“The police took him to the prison at Litla-Hraun. It’s a real pain that they keep remanding prisoners there. It takes such a long time to drive from Reykjavík,” she said, then added, “Even longer from here.”

“Don’t you need to get back to town soon?” he asked.

“I’m better off here, actually,” she replied. “Thórólfur said they wouldn’t interrogate Jónas for the next two days. They’re going to focus their investigations here and finish questioning witnesses they’ve been unable to locate. He wasn’t too pleased with the judge’s remarks about the handling of the crime scene.”

“Is there anything more to see here?” Matthew asked. “It was sheer chance that we found the key to the locker. We won’t get that lucky again.”

“I’m not sure. Something’s bothering me, and I mean something other than all the loose ends in this case.” She stood up and clutched the plastic bag to her chest. “I’ll take a quick look through this to check if anything in it turns the case around completely. I also went to the library to take out a copy of those folktales, on the off chance that the story behind that verse could provide an explanation,” she said. “I won’t be long, but it would be nice if you could send my children off on another mission impossible, if and when they return.”

Two hours later, Thóra walked out of Jónas’s office having made no real progress. She had read every word of the documents in the folder, which contained numerous witness statements, scene-ofcrime investigation summaries, two autopsy reports, and the results of tests on the deceaseds’ corpses and bodily fluids. The outcome of the DNA tests on the semen found inside Birna’s body was not in the folder, but the documents included a request to that effect. However, there were results on the blood group of the source of the sperm, which revealed that it came from two men. Thóra couldn’t work out if that discovery was a coincidence or whether it had been suspected when the test was requested. She wondered how common it was for a woman to have sex with two different men the same day, except on a professional basis. One thing that puzzled her was a report stating that besides the semen, another organic substance had been found inside Birna’s vagina, described as A. barbadensis Mill, A. vulgaris Lam. Thóra wrote down the name in the hope that Matthew would recognize it, but it seemed unlikely. Perhaps the substance had been inserted there by Birna herself, although Thóra couldn’t imagine why.