Reykjavik Nights

31

Rebekka was tidying up when Erlendur dropped by the surgery later that afternoon. All the patients had gone and the doctors were leaving, one after the other, calling out their goodbyes to her. She asked Erlendur to wait a minute while she finished up, then followed him out into the sunshine. They walked to the lake again, this time finding a bench at the near end, by the Idnó Theatre. He pulled the earring from his pocket and handed it to her.

‘What’s this?’

‘It turned up in the pipeline where Hannibal was sleeping,’ Erlendur explained.

‘Oh, so you got managed to get hold of it?’

She examined it.

‘Seen it before?’ asked Erlendur.

‘No, who —?’

‘Quite sure?’

‘Definitely,’ she said firmly. ‘Was it Hannibal’s?’

‘No, it wasn’t his. But I think I know whose it was, and it’s very odd that it turned up in his camp.’

‘So whose was it?’

‘Are you absolutely sure you’ve never seen it before?’

‘Yes, I’ve never laid eyes on it,’ said Rebekka. ‘Did it belong to a girlfriend of Hannibal’s? Someone who visited him there? Why did you say it’s very odd? What’s so odd about it?’

‘The woman who owned this earring is almost certainly dead. There’s a chance that the night she went missing she was in the pipeline with Hannibal at some point.’

‘I don’t understand. What do you mean? She went missing?’

‘Her name was Oddný. Maybe you remember the news reports.’

Rebekka thought.

‘You mean the woman at Thórskaffi?’

He nodded.

‘Was she at the pipeline?’

‘Possibly.’

‘How... what...?’

‘It’s a year since she vanished and the police still haven’t worked out what happened to her. Either it was suicide or she was murdered. She disappeared around the same time — in fact the very same weekend — that Hannibal drowned in Kringlumýri. Nobody connected the incidents because there was nothing to link them. But recently I talked to a friend of Hannibal’s who’d been on the streets with him. She claimed she’d gone to his camp shortly after he died, found the earring and took it away with her. I’m afraid there’s no getting round the fact that Oddný may have been with Hannibal the night she went missing.’

Rebekka stared at Erlendur, stricken. Her gaze dropped to the earring and she jerked back her hand as if burnt. The earring fell on the ground. Erlendur bent over and retrieved it. Anticipating a reaction like this, he had tried to think of a way to mitigate the shock. Perhaps there wasn’t one.

‘Do... do the police know about this?’ stammered Rebekka. ‘Of course they must — you’re a policeman yourself.’

‘I’ve kept this to myself for the moment,’ he said. ‘But I can’t cover it up for ever. The woman who found the earring saw no reason to report it, so for the time being it’s just between us.’

‘Are you saying that Hannibal... that Hannibal played some part in her disappearance? The woman from Thórskaffi?’

‘Not necessarily. There’s an outside chance that he came across the earring somewhere else and took it home with him. Or wasn’t even aware it was in the pipeline and didn’t lay a finger on her. Then again...’

‘You think he might have harmed her!’

‘I didn’t say that.’

‘But it’s what you believe.’

‘Is it possible?’

‘For God’s sake, no!’ she exclaimed. ‘There’s absolutely no way. Hannibal could never have hurt her. I just can’t... Anyway, what does that have to do with him dying the same weekend?’

‘The earring was found in Hannibal’s camp. It belonged to the woman. Those are the facts. How to interpret them is another matter.’

‘She vanishes; he drowns. You really think there’s a link?’

‘It’s hard not to connect them.’

‘You’ll have to report this.’

‘Yes.’

‘Can you find out?’ Rebekka asked. ‘If Hannibal harmed her? On the quiet? Before you do?’

‘I’d really like to, but I can’t hush it up for much longer.’

‘Would you do it for me?’ Rebekka asked. ‘Please, Erlendur. Hannibal wasn’t like that. He wouldn’t have been capable of it. Under any circumstances.’

‘I’ll—’

‘The minute you tell them about the earring everyone’ll believe he killed that poor woman. Then the case will never be solved and we’ll never find out what really happened. And people will believe that about Hannibal. For ever. You have to help me, please, Erlendur. He didn’t hurt anyone. You have to believe me. He never hurt anyone!’

‘I’ll do my best. But I’m in an impossible position—’

‘Of course, I understand, but...’

Her words petered out.

‘You have to help me,’ she repeated eventually. ‘Please, for me, find out the truth before it’s too late.’