Reykjavik Nights

50

Later, once Erlendur had learned the whole story from the detectives who had taken over the case, he went to see Rebekka and told her that he finally had an answer for her. It was pure chance that Hannibal had witnessed Gústaf’s crime.

Oddný had gone home after all that night, to be met at the door by her furious husband. He had been waiting up for her, suspecting her of cheating on him. Because she was drunk she gave him an earful. They had a violent row, in the course of which he had threatened and slapped her. She had fled out of the house and run up the Fossvogur valley towards Kringlumýri.

‘The poor woman.’

‘There’s no way of knowing where she was going; Gústaf didn’t know,’ said Erlendur. ‘Perhaps she was thinking of returning to her friends. I couldn’t say. Gústaf followed some way behind and, according to his statement, saw her climb up on the hot-water conduit. By then she had slowed down, so he was able to creep up behind her and grab her, not far from the hole in the casing where Hannibal was living. They started quarrelling again and he hit her. She fell off the pipeline, he leapt after her, seized her by the throat and banged her head against the concrete until he realised she was dead, and—’

‘Please, spare me the details,’ Rebekka interrupted. ‘I don’t want to hear.’

‘Sorry,’ said Erlendur. ‘I didn’t mean—’

‘What happened next?’

‘Just then Hannibal appeared from inside the tunnel, clearly felt he was no match for a man who had completely lost his mind, and fled in the direction of the peat diggings. Gústaf ran after him, caught up in no time and pushed him into the pool, then waded in after him and held him down until he... until he reckoned it was enough.’

‘Oh, sweet Jesus,’ murmured Rebekka.

‘He left Hannibal in the water and ran back to where Oddný was lying by the pipeline. By then he was beginning to calm down but it never occurred to him to give himself up and confess his crimes. Instead, his first thought was to hide the body. He pulled it in through the opening and hid it in the darkness deep inside the tunnel, then raced home. He didn’t notice that one of her earrings had fallen off and landed under the hot-water pipes, though later he discovered he’d lost one of his cufflinks but didn’t know when or where. He waited in a state of frantic anxiety for the police to find Oddný’s body when they went to clear out Hannibal’s belongings, but nothing happened. It didn’t cross anyone’s mind to explore further inside the tunnel.’

Rebekka sat quietly during Erlendur’s account. This time she had invited him round to her pleasant flat in an apartment block on Álfheimar. Later that day he had a date with Halldóra: they were going look at places to rent together.

‘Long afterwards, when the fuss had died down — the police had taken no action over Hannibal’s death and were treating Oddný’s as a probable suicide — Gústaf crept back to the pipeline at night, carrying a torch and a small spade, to bury the body. He couldn’t bring himself to move it from the tunnel, so he had no real alternative. Apparently, he avoided looking at her as far as possible and never noticed the cufflink in her hand.’

It had also emerged during an interview, as Erlendur now informed Rebekka, that Gústaf had expected the district heating company to repair the hole in the conduit casing before long, thus perfecting the final resting place he had chosen for Oddný. But months had passed without any sign of activity. He had even made an anonymous phone call to the company to complain. It had achieved nothing.

‘Was that all he cared about?’ asked Rebekka.

‘Well, naturally, he wasn’t in his right mind,’ said Erlendur. ‘I think that’s gradually coming home to him now.’

‘So this Bergmundur had no part in the affair?’

‘None at all. Mind you, he held such a grudge against your brother for his relationship with Thurí that he was almost certainly behind the arson attack on the cellar.’

‘What about Thurí?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Erlendur. ‘I haven’t seen her.’

‘Think she’d be willing to meet me?’

‘Is that what you want?’

‘Yes, I’d like to talk to her. About Hannibal.’

‘I’m sure it would help you,’ said Erlendur. ‘She’s all right. Once you get to know her.’