Black Skies

45

When the interrogation of Thórarinn and Hördur resumed that afternoon at the Litla-Hraun prison, where the two men had been remanded in custody, Sigurdur Óli joined Finnur to interview Thórarinn. He had given Finnur an update on his investigation into Lína’s links with the three bankers and a summary of his conversations with them, which had not proved particularly informative. They had agreed on a strategy for dealing with Thórarinn, who until now had been singularly uncooperative. It was time, they resolved, that he woke up to the predicament he was in.

‘A tiresome character,’ commented Finnur.

‘Insufferable,’ agreed Sigurdur Óli.

But Thórarinn appeared undaunted when he was led into the interview room, smirking at them, accompanied by his lawyer.

‘What’s with the porridge in this place, day in, day out?’ he asked.

‘You’d better get used to it,’ Finnur said.

Sigurdur Óli switched on the tape recorder and they began by repeating the same questions about Lína and the reason Thórarinn had turned up at her house, armed with a weapon, and hit her, thereby causing her death. Thórarinn stuck to his story about a debt and to his claim that he had not meant to go so far. He remained adamant that he had acted in self-defence.

‘All right,’ said Sigurdur Óli. ‘Let’s change the subject. Do you know a banker called Sverrir?’

‘Who’s he?’

‘Can’t you tell me?’

‘I don’t know a Sverrir. What’s he saying? Is he telling lies about me? I don’t know him.’

‘What about a man called Arnar, also a banker? He works at the same firm.’

‘No idea.’

‘The third banker I’m going to ask you about is called Knútur. Ring any bells?’

‘Nope.’

‘What about a man called Thorfinnur?’

‘No. Who are these guys?’

‘Have you had any business dealings with the men I’ve just named?’

‘No.’

‘Have you had any other sort of dealings with them?’

‘No.’

‘Did one of them approach you about Lína?’

‘I’m telling you, I don’t know them.’

‘So you deny having any dealings with them?’

‘Yes, I do. I don’t bloody know them.’

‘Have you heard the name Alain Sörensen?’

‘Who the hell is he?’

‘All right,’ said Sigurdur Óli. ‘That’s all. Thank you.’

He reached over to the tape recorder and turned it off.

‘You’re admitting sole liability for Lína’s death so you’re looking at a life sentence,’ said Sigurdur Óli. ‘You’ve got what you wanted. You should be pleased. Congratulations.’

‘What? Is that it?’ asked Thórarinn in surprise. ‘Who are these characters you were asking about?’

‘I think we’re finished here,’ said Finnur to Thórarinn’s lawyer. Neither he nor Sigurdur Óli looked at the prisoner. They explained that as far as they were concerned the case was solved and no longer a matter for the police but would now be passed to the public prosecutor’s office. Toggi listened intently. Gradually it dawned on him that he no longer had any power over the assembled company.

‘We expect he’ll remain in custody here at Litla-Hraun until the trial, and ultimately he’ll probably get a reduced sentence. That’s par for the course,’ Sigurdur Óli told the lawyer.

‘Run that bit about liability by me again,’ said Thórarinn, glancing from one of the police officers to the other.

‘What about liability?’ asked Sigurdur Óli. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘If someone … how did you put it? That thing you said last time. If someone’s just … if someone’s just an instrument or whatever the hell you said.’

‘Are you referring to what I explained about complicity?’

‘Yeah, what was that all about?’

‘Are you suggesting that you want to alter your statement?’

Thórarinn was silent.

‘Do you want to change your statement?’ repeated Finnur.

‘Let’s just say that I’m not necessarily the only one to blame,’ Thórarinn replied, still addressing Sigurdur Óli. ‘Let’s just say that. You said yourself that it wasn’t necessarily all my fault. You said that last time.’

‘What are you getting at?’ asked Sigurdur Óli. ‘Could you try to be clearer?’

‘I’m just saying that maybe it wasn’t all my fault.’

‘Oh?’

‘Yeah.’

‘You’ll have to be more precise,’ said Finnur. ‘How exactly?’

Thórarinn’s lawyer leaned over and whispered in his ear. Thórarinn nodded. The lawyer whispered something more and Thórarinn shook his head.

‘My client has expressed an interest in cooperating with the police,’ announced the lawyer, once their conference was over. ‘He wishes to know if he can come to an accommodation that would grant him leniency in return for information.’

‘There will be no leniency on our part,’ said Finnur. ‘But the prosecution is another matter.’

‘He’s wasted too much of our time,’ added Sigurdur Óli.

‘He’s offering to cooperate,’ the lawyer pointed out.

‘Lighten up, man,’ said Thórarinn. ‘What’s the problem?’

‘Right,’ said Sigurdur Óli, sitting down by the tape recorder again. ‘Out with it then.’

An hour or so later Höddi was led into the interview room with his lawyer. Sigurdur Óli and Finnur were there to receive him. Soon the barely audible hissing of the tape recorder started up again and Sigurdur Óli conscientiously announced the time and place and those present. Höddi seemed to sense that something had changed, that the game might be turning against him. His eyes flickered from them to his lawyer, who shrugged.

Finnur cleared his throat. ‘Your friend and associate, Thórarinn, has volunteered under questioning that he was acting as a favour to you when he forced entry to Sigurlína Thorgrímsdóttir’s home.’

‘He’s lying,’ said Höddi.

Finnur continued unperturbed. ‘He claims that you asked him to go to the home of Sigurlína Thorgrímsdóttir, or Lína, in order to intimidate her by inflicting injuries on her that would cause her considerable pain, and to deliver the message that if she didn’t stop she would be killed. He was also told to find and bring away certain photographs.’

‘That’s a pack of lies!’

‘He alleges moreover that you told him you had received this request from a party who was known to you and that you had found it amusing that this person should have contacted you about this favour.’

‘Fucking bullshit.’

‘Thórarinn asserts furthermore that he did not receive payment for his attack on Sigurlína because you were calling in a favour that he owed you, dating back to when you set fire to a four-wheel drive that was parked in front of a car sales office in Selfoss, as part of a tax avoidance and insurance scam perpetrated by one of Toggi’s acquaintances.’

‘Is that what he’s claiming? The man’s a nutter!’

‘He also pleaded that it had not been his intention to kill Sigurlína but that the two blows had struck her unfortunately, as he put it. It was not his intention, nor the intention of you or the person who commissioned you, to kill the woman. That was merely an accident on Thórarinn’s part.’

Finnur paused. Neither he nor Sigurdur Óli knew whether Thórarinn had told them the truth but his statement had sounded plausible, in spite of the holes it still contained. He had shown a willingness to help them bring the case to a conclusion. But Höddi might conceivably be right: Thórarinn might be trying to frame him, unlikely though it seemed.

Finnur and Sigurdur Óli gave him time to digest this new development. Eventually he leaned over to his lawyer and they began conferring. The lawyer requested a break so that he could take further instruction from his client. They agreed, and he and Höddi went out into the corridor.

‘It’s all bullshit,’ they heard Höddi saying as the door swung closed behind them. Sigurdur Óli and Finnur waited patiently. It was many minutes before the two men reappeared.

‘I want to go back to my cell,’ announced Höddi on re-entering the room.

‘Who told you to attack Lína?’ asked Sigurdur Óli.

‘No one,’ replied Höddi.

‘What was the purpose behind it?’ asked Finnur.

‘Nothing. There was no purpose.’

‘What was it that Lína was supposed to stop doing?’ asked Sigurdur Óli.

Höddi did not answer.

‘Do you know any of the following bankers: Sverrir, Arnar or Knútur?’ asked Finnur.

Höddi remained mute.

‘Was it one of them who encouraged you to prevent Lína from talking?’

Still no answer.

‘What about men called Patrekur and Hermann?’ asked Finnur, with an eye on Sigurdur Óli, as if he should have put the question himself.

‘I want to go back to my cell,’ repeated Höddi. ‘You won’t get me to back up Toggi’s lies. He’s just trying to stitch me up. You must see that! Don’t you get it? It was him who killed that woman. Him and no one else. There’s no way he’s going to pin it on me. No fucking way!’

‘Are you acquainted with any of the men we named?’

‘No! I don’t know them.’

‘What was Lína supposed to stop doing?’ asked Sigurdur Óli again.

Thórarinn had been extremely evasive on this point. He had claimed that Höddi had said something along these lines, though he had forgotten the precise words, so he had simply told her to stop. According to Thórarinn’s statement, he had driven up to the house, seen Lína arrive home and assumed she was alone. After parking some distance away he had launched his attack, not giving her a chance to defend herself or to demand an explanation, and he had not really taken in whatever she was saying. He had struck her on the shoulder as he passed on the message but she had not seemed to understand. He had intended to hit her again, a harder blow to her shoulder or upper body, but the baseball bat had struck her head instead and she had fallen to the floor. Just then he had heard someone outside the house and hastily sought a hiding place.

‘Don’t tell me you’re so thick that you can’t remember,’ said Sigurdur Óli.

‘Shut your face!’ said Höddi.

‘Stop what?’ repeated Finnur. ‘What was Lína doing that you were supposed to stop?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Who sent you?’

‘No one.’

Sigurdur Óli switched off the tape recorder.

‘We’ll resume this interview tomorrow morning,’ he said. ‘I hope you’ll give it some thought tonight.’

‘Dream on,’ retorted Höddi.