Tainted Blood

37

At around 11.00 that same night, the policemen on duty in front of Katrin's house watched her husband leave, slam the door behind him, storm into his car and drive off. He seemed to be in a tearing rush and they noticed he was carrying the same suitcase as when he arrived home earlier that day. The policemen saw no further movement during the night and there was no sign of Katrin. A police patrol car was called to the neighbourhood and followed Albert to Hotel Esja where he checked in for the night.

Erlendur turned up outside Katrin's house at eight o'clock the following morning. Elinborg was with him. It was still raining. The sun hadn't come out for days. They rang the bell three times before they heard a rustling inside and the door opened. Katrin appeared in the doorway. Elinborg noticed she was wearing the same clothes as on the day before and she had clearly been crying. Her face was drawn and her eyes were red and swollen.

"Sorry," Katrin said as if in a daze, "I must have fallen asleep in the chair. What's the time?"

"May we come in?" Erlendur said.

"I never told Albert what happened," she said and went inside, without inviting them in. Erlendur and Elinborg exchanged glances and followed her.

"He walked out on me last night," Katrin said. "What's the time anyway? I think I must have fallen asleep in the chair. Albert was so angry. I've never seen him that angry."

"Can you contact some of your family?" Elinborg asked. "Someone who can come and stay with you? Your sons?"

"No, Albert will come back and everything will be all right. I don't want to disturb the boys. It'll be all right. Albert will come back."

"Why was he so angry?" Erlendur asked. Katrin had sat down on the sofa in the sitting room, Erlendur and Elinborg sat down opposite her just as before.

"He was furious, Albert was. And he's generally so calm. Albert's a good man, such a good man, and he's always been so good to me. It's a good marriage. We've always been happy."

"Maybe you want us to come back later," Elinborg said. Erlendur glared at her.

"No," Katrin said, "it's all right. It'll be all right. Albert will come back. He just needs to get over it. My God, how difficult this is. I should have told him straightaway, he said. He couldn't understand how I could keep quiet about it all that time. He shouted at me."

Katrin looked at them.

"He's never shouted at me before."

"Can I get you some help? Shall I call your doctor?" Elinborg said and stood up. Erlendur looked at her in bewilderment.

"No, it's all right," Katrin said. "That's not necessary. I'm just a bit sleepy-headed. It'll be all right. Sit down, dear. Everything will be all right."

"What was it you told your husband?" Erlendur asked. "Did you tell him about the rape?"

"I'd wanted to all these years, but I never had the guts to. I've never told anyone about that incident. I tried to forget it, pretend it had never happened. It's often been difficult, but I've managed, somehow. Then you came and I found myself telling you everything. Somehow I felt better. It was like you'd relieved me of a great burden. I knew I could finally talk openly and that was the only right thing to do. Even after all this time."

Katrin stopped talking.

"Did he get angry with you because you hadn't told him about the rape?" Erlendur asked.

"Yes."

"Didn't he understand your point of view?" Elinborg asked.

"He said I should have told him about it straightaway. That's understandable, of course. He said he'd always been honest with me and he didn't deserve this."

"But I don't quite understand," Erlendur said. "Albert sounds like a better person than that. I'd have thought he'd try to comfort you instead and stand by you, not storm out through the door."

"I know," Katrin said. "Maybe I didn't tell him about it in the right way."

"The right way," Elinborg said, not even trying to conceal her disbelief. "How can you tell anyone about that sort of thing in the right way?"

Katrin shook her head.

"I don't know. I swear, I don't know."

"Did you tell him the whole truth?" Erlendur asked.

"I told him what I told you."

"And nothing else?"

"No," Katrin said.

"Only about the rape?"

"Only," Katrin repeated. "Only! As if that's not enough. As if it's not enough for him to hear that I'd been raped and never told him about it. Isn't that enough?"

They all fell silent.

"Didn't you tell him about your youngest son?" Erlendur asked eventually.

Katrin suddenly looked daggers at him.

"What about our youngest son?" she said, spitting out the words.

"You named him Einar," said Erlendur, who had looked through the details Elinborg had collected about the family the day before.

"What about Einar?"

Erlendur looked at her.

"What about Einar?" she repeated.

"He's your son," Erlendur said. "But he's not his father's son."

"What are you talking about? Not his father's son? Of course he's his father's son! Who isn't his father's son?"

"Sorry, I'm not being precise enough. He isn't the son of the father he thought was his," Erlendur said calmly. "He's the son of the man who raped you. Holberg's son. Did you tell your husband that? Was that why he left as he did?"

Katrin stayed silent.

"Did you tell him the whole truth?"

Katrin looked at Erlendur. He sensed she was preparing to resist. A few moments passed and then he saw how her lips gave in. Her shoulders sank, she closed her eyes, she half collapsed in the chair and burst into tears. Elinborg glared at Erlendur but he just watched Katrin in the chair and gave her time to collect herself.

"Did you tell him about Einar?" he asked again when he thought she had managed to pull herself together.

"He didn't believe it," she said.

"That Einar wasn't his son?" Erlendur said.

"They're particularly close, Einar and Albert, they always have been. Ever since he was born. Albert loves his other two sons as well, of course, but especially Einar. Right from the start. He's the youngest child and Albert's pampered him."

Katrin paused.

"Maybe that's why I never said anything. I knew Albert wouldn't be able to stand it. The years went by and I pretended there was nothing amiss. Never said a thing. And it worked. Holberg had left a wound and why not let it heal in peace? Why should he be able to destroy our future together? To ignore it was my way of dealing with the horror."

"Did you know at once that Einar was Holberg's son?" Elinborg asked.

"He could well have been Albert's son."

Katrin fell silent again.

"But you saw it in his face," Erlendur said.

Katrin looked at him.

"How do you know all this?"

"He looks like Holberg, doesn't he?" Erlendur said. "Holberg as a young man. A woman saw him in Keflavik and thought it was Holberg himself."

"There's a certain resemblance between them."

"If you never told your son anything and your husband didn't know about Einar, why this big showdown now between you and Albert? What started it?"

"What woman in Keflavik?" Katrin said. "What woman who lives in Keflavik knows Holberg? Did he live with a woman there?"

"No," Erlendur said, wondering whether he ought to tell her about Kolbrun and Audur. She'd hear about them sooner or later and he couldn't see any valid reason for Katrin not to learn the truth now. He'd already told her about the rape in Keflavik, but now he named Holberg's victim and told her about Audur, who died young after a serious and difficult illness. He told her how they'd found the photograph of the gravestone in Holberg's desk and how it had led them to Keflavik and to Elin, and he told of the treatment Kolbrun had been given when she tried to press charges.

Katrin took in every word of the account. Tears welled up in her eyes when Erlendur told her about Audur's death. He also told her about Gretar, the man with the camera, whom she'd seen with Holberg, and how he vanished without trace, but had been found underneath the concrete floor of Holberg's basement flat.

"Is that all the fuss in Nordurmyri that's been in the news?" Katrin said.

Erlendur nodded.

"I didn't know Holberg raped any other women. I thought I was the only one."

"We know only about you two," Erlendur said. "There could be others. We can't be sure we will ever know."

"So Audur was Einar's half-sister," Katrin said, deep in thought. "The poor child."

"Are you sure you didn't know about this?" Erlendur asked.

"Of course I'm sure," she said. "I didn't have the faintest idea about it."

"Einar knows about her," Erlendur said. "He tracked down Elin in Keflavik."

Katrin didn't answer. He decided to try a different question.

"If your son didn't know anything and you never told your husband about the rape, how has Einar suddenly found out the truth now?"

"I don't know," Katrin said. "Tell me, how did the poor girl die?"

"You know your son is suspected of Holberg's murder," Erlendur said, not answering her. He tried to phrase what he had to say as carefully as he could. He thought Katrin was astonishingly calm, as if it didn't surprise her that her son was suspected of murder.

"My son's no murderer," she said softly. "He could never kill anyone."

"There's a strong probability that he hit Holberg over the head. Maybe he didn't intend to murder him. He probably did it in a fit of rage. He left a message for us. It said: I am him. Do you understand what that means?"

Katrin said nothing.

"Did he know Holberg was his father? Did he know what Holberg did to you? Did he know about Audur and Elin? How?"

Katrin stared into her lap.

"Where's your son now?" Elinborg asked.

"I don't know," Katrin said quietly. "I haven't heard from him for several days."

She looked at Erlendur.

"Suddenly he found out about Holberg. He knew something wasn't right. He found it out at work. He said we couldn't hide any secrets these days. He said it was all in the database."