Arnaldur Indriðason - Hypothermia

‘Leonóra and María’s description of what happened when he drowned is correct on all the main points apart from one. You may have examined the case; you seem incapable of leaving any of our affairs alone.’

‘I know something about it,’ Erlendur said.

‘I only knew the official version, like everyone else. The propeller came loose, Magnús probably tried to fiddle with the motor and fell overboard, the water was freezing cold and he drowned.’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, according to María, he wasn’t alone in the boat. I know I shouldn’t be telling you this but I don’t know how else to get rid of you.’

‘Who was with him in the boat?’

‘Leonóra.’

‘Leonóra?’

‘Yes. Leonóra and…’

‘And who?’

‘María.’

‘María was in the boat as well?’

‘Magnús went behind Leonóra’s back; he was having an affair. I gather he told her at Thingvellir. At the holiday cottage. Leonóra was shattered. She’d had no idea. Then Magnús, Leonóra and María went out in the boat. María didn’t tell me what happened there but we know that Magnús fell overboard. The end came very quickly. No one survives long in Lake Thingvallavatn in autumn.’

‘And María?’

‘María witnessed it,’ Baldvin said. ‘She said nothing when the police arrived, simply confirmed the story that Magnús had been alone in the boat.’

‘Didn’t she tell you what happened on board?’

‘No. She didn’t want to.’

‘And you believed her?’

‘Of course.’

‘Did it affect her badly?’

‘Yes, all her life. It wasn’t until after Leonóra had died, after the harrowing period when she’d lain dying here in the house, that María told me. I promised not to tell a soul. I hope you’ll honour that promise.’

‘Was that why they didn’t touch his money? Because of a guilty conscience?’

‘The land was completely worthless until the suburbs around Reykjavík started to grow. They forgot all about it until a big building contractor tracked them down and made them an offer. Three hundred million. They were flabbergasted.’

Baldvin looked at the photograph of María that stood on the table beside them.

‘She’d quite simply had enough,’ he said. ‘She’d never been able to talk to anyone about what happened and Leonóra somehow managed to make her complicit in her guilt, secured her silence. María couldn’t live alone with the truth and… chose this way out.’

‘You mean that the suicide was connected to this business with her father?’

‘It seems obvious to me,’ Baldvin said. ‘I wasn’t going to tell you but…’

Erlendur rose to his feet.

‘I won’t bother you any more,’ he said. ‘That’s enough for today.’

‘Are you going to use this knowledge? About what happened at Thingvellir?’

‘I see no reason to reopen the case. It was a long time ago and both Leonóra and María are dead.’

Baldvin escorted Erlendur to the door. He had already stepped out on to the pavement when he turned back.

‘Just one more thing,’ Erlendur said. ‘Do you have a shower at Thingvellir?’

‘A shower?’ Baldvin said, perplexed.

‘Yes, or a bathtub?’

‘We have both. A shower and a hot tub. I expect you mean the hot tub. It’s out on the veranda. Why do you ask?’

‘No reason. Of course, a hot tub. Doesn’t everyone have one at their holiday home?’

‘Goodbye.’

‘Yes, goodbye.’

María had not had any problems with hallucinations for a long time until her father appeared to her in the garden and shouted at her to be careful, No one else had seen him, No one else had heard him shouting, Her father vanished as suddenly as he had appeared and all María could hear afterwards was the moaning of the wind and the slamming of the gate, Fleeing inside, she locked the door to the veranda, retreated into her bedroom and buried her face in the pillow.

She had heard that voice before during the seance with Andersen, exactly the same words of warning, but did not know what they were supposed to mean, why they had been said and how much notice she should take of them, She did not know what she was supposed to be careful of.

She was still awake when Baldvin came home late that night and they returned to the topic of the seance with Magdalena that María had told him about, She described the meeting and its effect on her more fully, saying she not only believed what had emerged there but wanted to believe it too, Wanted to believe that there was another life after this one, That our time on Earth was not the end of it all.

Baldvin lay listening to her in silence.

‘Have I ever told you about a guy I knew when I was studying medicine? His name was Tryggvi,’ he said.

‘No,’ María said.

‘He wanted to try and find out if there was an afterlife, He persuaded his cousin who was a doctor to help him, He had read something about a French experiment on near-death experience, We studied medicine together, There was a girl with us, The four of us took part in the experiment.’

María listened attentively to Baldvin’s account of how they had stopped Tryggvi’s heart, then revived him, and how it had worked perfectly except that Tryggvi had had nothing to tell.

‘What became of him?’ María asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Baldvin said, ‘I haven’t seen him since.’

A long silence descended on the room where Leonóra’s final struggle had taken place.

‘Do you think…?’

María broke off.

‘What?’ Baldvin asked.

‘Do you think you could do something like that?’

‘It’s perfectly possible.’

‘Could you do it to me? For me?’

‘Foryou?’

‘Yes, I… I’ve read so much about near-death experiences.’

‘I know.’

‘Is the experiment risky?’

‘It could be,’ Baldvin said. ‘I’m not going to-’

‘Could we do it here?’ María asked. ‘Here at home?’

‘María… ’

‘Is it very dangerous?’

‘María, I can’t-’

‘Is it very dangerous?’

‘That… that depends, Are you seriously considering it?’

‘Why not?’ María said, ‘What have I got to lose?’

‘Are you sure?’ Baldvin said.

‘Did you lock the gate?’ María asked.

‘Yes, I locked it when I came in.’

‘He looked horrible,’ María said, ‘Horrible.’

‘Who?’

‘Dad. I know he’s not happy, Hecan’t be happy. I know that, Hewasn’t meant to go like that, Hewasn’t meant to die like that, It should never have happened.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Tell me more about this Tryggvi,’ María said. ‘What happened exactly? How would you go about something like that? What would you need to make it work?’

Erlendur called his daughter early on Sunday morning and asked if she would like to come for a drive. He wanted to spend the day driving around the Reykjavík area, looking at lakes. Eva Lind was asleep when he rang and it took her a while to grasp what he was saying. She was unenthusiastic but Erlendur would not accept no for an answer. Surely she didn’t have much to do that Sunday, any more than she ever did. It was not as if she went to church, after all. Finally she gave in. Erlendur tried to get hold of Sindri Snaer but received a message saying that either his phone was switched off or he was out of range. Valgerdur was working all weekend.

Under normal circumstances he would have made the trip alone and been happy to do so, but this time he wanted Eva’s company; naturally he was fed up with his own, as she was quick to point out during their phone conversation. He smiled. Eva Lind was in a better humour than usual, even though her idea of bringing Erlendur and Halldóra together had led nowhere and her dream of establishing a better relationship between her parents seemed doomed to failure.