Edge of Nowhere

6

Magnus was deep in thought as he walked back through the lamp-lit streets of Bolungarvík to the police station. A Land Rover Freelander drove gently through the gloom towards him and slowed.

The window slid down. ‘Hi, Magnús! I was looking for you.’

The Mayor of Bolungarvík looked radiant, with her blond curls falling on her warm, white jacket. She smiled broadly at him.

‘And now you’ve found me.’

‘I expect you’re busy, but do you want to come to dinner again tonight?’

Magnus was taken aback. ‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’

‘Quite sure. In fact Davíd wanted me to ask you.’

‘Really.’

‘Yes, really. Jump in and I’ll explain.’

It was true that Magnus had a lot to do back at the station. But he shrugged and climbed in to the Land Rover beside Eyrún. ‘What happened?’

‘I was really angry last night,’ Eyrún said. ‘About what Davíd said to you. We had a major row. It went on for hours, it was really horrible. Then we went to bed. And then in the middle of the night, Davíd started talking. He said he was sorry. He said his jealousy was unreasonable. He said he just hadn’t come to terms with losing his job, with having nothing to do here and me having all the status of being Mayor.’

Eyrún smiled to herself. ‘I never realized he thought that. He said he knew he had been behaving badly, but he couldn’t help himself. It was, well, it was such a relief. Oh, I know he’s not cured yet, but it was a step forward. A huge step forward.’

‘And you are sure I won’t ruin it all?’ said Magnus.

‘I really don’t think so. He wants to see you again to apologize. To show himself and me that he can behave normally. At least that’s what he said, and I believe him.’

‘OK,’ said Magnus. ‘I’m game. But let me just call the station.’

Vigdís answered. ‘Where are you, Magnús?’ she said.

‘I’ll just be a couple of hours,’ Magnus said. ‘I’m having dinner with the Mayor.’

‘We need you back here,’ said Vigdís. ‘The press are asking questions about the hidden people.’

‘Don’t answer them,’ said Magnus. ‘Tell them we’ll give them a full press conference at eight a.m. tomorrow?’

‘Are you sure? Who knows what they’ll publish?’

‘That’s their problem,’ said Magnus. ‘See you later.’ He hung up.

‘The press?’ Eyrún asked.

‘Yes. They’ve got the hidden people angle. It was inevitable.’

‘One of them collared me earlier. The RÚV woman.’

‘What did you say?’

‘I said I had no idea about the investigation. But I had to tell them about the little ceremony on Sunday.’

‘Had they figured out we had Rós in custody?’

‘They knew you were questioning a woman, but they hadn’t worked out who. It won’t take them long, though. And then they’ll have a field day. Are you sure you don’t want to talk to them now?’

‘Let them make fools of themselves,’ said Magnus. ‘We’ll straighten them out tomorrow.’

They pulled up outside Eyrún’s house. Magnus noted that the lights were on in Arnór’s house over the street, and through a gap in the curtains he thought he caught sight of a family around a dining table.

Eyrún opened the door. There was a similar scampering of children and dogs as the evening before, and then Davíd appeared from the kitchen. He had shaved. His brow was still twisted in a question mark, but he smiled stiffly at Magnus and held out his hand. ‘Welcome,’ he said. ‘And thank you for coming. I’m sorry about my behaviour yesterday.’

Eyrún opened a bottle of wine, and she and Davíd both had glasses. Magnus excused himself, saying he still had work to do that evening. Eyrún’s cheeks glowed as she watched her husband take the fish stew out of the oven. Davíd did his best to talk, asking Magnus polite questions about the case and where he lived in Reykjavík. But he was struggling, and by the time the kids were called to dinner he had lapsed into silence.

Lára, the four-year-old girl, showed up with a panda and plonked it on the table beside her.

‘Take that down, darling,’ said Eyrún. ‘Put it on the floor.’

‘OK,’ said Lára, doing what she was told.

‘What’s his name?’ Magnus asked the girl.

‘He’s called Panda.’

‘Nice name,’ said Magnus. ‘Does he have any friends?’

‘Yes. There’s an elephant called Nellie, and an old teddy that used to belong to my Mum.’

‘I see,’ said Magnus. ‘And no polar bear?’

‘I used to have a polar bear, but I didn’t like him and then he ran away.’

‘Lára, the policeman doesn’t want to know about your toys,’ said Eyrún sharply.

Magnus glanced at her. Her cheeks were reddening.

‘That’s OK,’ said Magnus. ‘Maybe we can find him. When did he run away?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Lára. ‘But I don’t mind. Panda didn’t like him.’

Eyrún opened her mouth to scold her child, but then closed it. It was too late.

Magnus watched the Mayor closely. After a moment, he spoke. ‘Would you excuse me while I check in with the station?’

He got up from the table and went out into the hallway, where Eyrún and her husband could hear him, but not the person he was speaking to. He dialled Vigdís.

‘Hi, Magnús?’

‘Anything going on, Vigdís?’

‘The journalists are still pestering us.’

‘OK. I’ll be there in a moment. And I’ll bring the Mayor with me.’

‘Excellent. See you soon.’

Magnus returned to the kitchen. There was silence as the family stared at their food, waiting for Magnus to return before they started. Eyrún glanced at Magnus anxiously, her face bright red. Davíd stared at both of them, his expression a mixture of puzzlement, anger and fear.

He knew something was wrong, but he didn’t know what.

‘Eyrún, can you come with me to the police station? We really need to talk to the press and I’d like to have you with me.’

Eyrún hesitated. Glanced at her children and her husband.

Magnus waited.

Eventually she stood up and hugged each child. Then she kissed her husband on the lips. ‘See you later,’ she said.

‘What is it, Eyrún?’ he asked.

But she left her family and led Magnus out of the house.

‘I suppose I should give you a lift?’ she said, as soon as they were outside.

‘Please,’ said Magnus. ‘Or I could get a police car to come out.’

‘Don’t worry.’ She opened the door of the Land Rover.

Magnus waited until the car had driven to the end of the street. ‘Just stop here a moment, Eyrún.’

Eyrún pulled over in the yellow pool of one of the street lights. Dead ahead of them the rock wall of the mountain rose up towards the night sky, so high that they couldn’t see the summit without craning their necks.

‘Was it blackmail?’ Magnus asked.

Eyrún nodded. ‘How did you know?’

‘I’ve just been to Gústi’s house,’ Magnus said. ‘He had a video. Of you and him together.’

‘Oh, God, no,’ said Eyrún.

‘That was you, wasn’t it?’ Magnus asked.

Eyrún nodded.

In truth the woman in the video had been impossible to identify. Gústi hadn’t set up the camera very well. There was a lot of him, prancing around naked and talking, but very little of the woman. Just an ankle, a leg. The only sound apart from Gústi’s grunting was a female groan of disgust rather than excitement. Technicians would probably have figured out who it was eventually, but it was good to have confirmation without all that hassle.

‘He made you do it?’

Eyrún nodded again. ‘Twice,’ she said. ‘But then I refused.’

‘And he didn’t like that?’

‘No he didn’t.’

‘So what was he threatening to do?’

Eyrún bit her thumbnail. ‘Tell Davíd.’

‘Tell Davíd what?’

Eyrún took a deep breath. ‘About my affair. He saw me and another man, right after I had arrived in Bolungarvík. While Davíd was still in Reykjavík.’ She turned to Magnus. ‘It was a stupid thing to do, but it was such a relief to get away from Davíd that I just took the opportunity. I stopped as soon as Davíd brought the kids up here. But it was too late. Gústi had seen us.’

Her eyes were desperate, pleading for Magnus’s understanding. ‘You saw Davíd. He was jealous enough already. If he knew that I was having an affair, it would have tipped him over the edge. It would have finished us. It would have finished him. And the children. It would have been disastrous.’

‘Who was the affair with?’

Eyrún shook her head. ‘I can’t say. It wouldn’t be fair.’

‘Wouldn’t be fair?’ Magnus said. ‘Murdering someone is hardly fair, no matter what they have done to you. Even if they have blackmailed you.’

‘And forced you to have sex with them?’ There were tears in Eyrún’s eyes. ‘He said unless I had sex with him, he would tell Davíd. I was an idiot to go along with it. It just made me feel worse. That man deserved to die. No I meant it wouldn’t be fair on the other man.’

‘We’ll talk about it at the station,’ Magnus said. ‘You are under arrest. Shall I call out a car?’

‘No. I’ll drive there.’

She pulled away from the kerb. ‘Does Davíd need to know? About Gústi? And the other man?’

‘He’s going to find out at the trial.’

‘What if I plead guilty? Do you have to tell him?’

‘We do,’ said Magnus. ‘We’ll have to ask him questions. I’m sorry. For him. Not for you.’

They drove to the station in silence. Tómas, Vigdís and Árni were waiting for them. Fortunately, there were no journalists about.

‘I’ve arrested Eyrún for the murder of Ágúst Sigurdsson,’ Magnus said. ‘Tómas can you take her to the interview room? We’ll take a statement in a few minutes.’

Tómas flinched, but stood motionless.

‘Tómas?’

‘Yes, of course,’ he said, held out his hand to take Eyrún by the arm and then withdrew it. Eyrún avoided his eyes or Magnus’s and stared at the ground.

At that moment, Magnus knew whom Gústi had seen her with.

Two days later, Magnus and Vigdís departed Bolungarvík, leaving Árni behind to tidy up loose ends. They were driven by a constable from Ísafjördur: Tómas was suspended and was under investigation for obstructing a police investigation. He admitted to a very brief affair with Eyrún, but claimed he had had no part in the murder of Gústi, and that he didn’t even know that Gústi had seen him and Eyrún together and blackmailed the Mayor. Magnus believed him, but he was glad that he wasn’t responsible for proving it one way or the other.

Eyrún had made a full statement and had been transported to Kópavogur Women’s Prison near Reykjavík. Her husband had not taken the news well: if Eyrún had intended to protect him by killing Gústi, she had failed. The children had gone to stay with their grandmother, Davíd’s mother. Magnus felt for them — after all, he and his brother had had to stay with his own grandparents at the farm in Snaefellsnes when he was only a little older than them, and that had been one of the worst experiences of his life. But he didn’t feel sympathy for Eyrún. She had destroyed her family as well as finishing someone’s life.

It was mid-morning, and a murky dawn was suffusing sky and sea with a lighter shade of grey. A stiff breeze corkscrewed into the fjord, twisting around the edge of the brooding mountain and whipping up angry little waves. They crossed the bridge over the river and drove up past the church on its little knoll. Magnus spotted the postman’s van parked next to the rectory.

‘Wait a moment,’ he said.

As the Ísafjördur constable pulled over, Magnus got out of the police car and approached Haraldur who was checking his postbag. The postman grunted a stiff greeting.

‘Thanks for your help,’ Magnus said.

‘Not at all,’ said Haraldur. ‘I was sure Rós hadn’t killed Gústi but I thought you should know she had tampered with the construction machinery.’

‘Yes, that was very useful.’ Magnus hesitated, suddenly embarrassed. But there was no one to hear him apart from the postman himself. ‘Did you know who had killed Gústi?’

The postman shook his head. ‘I had no idea.’

‘Um.’

‘Yes?’ The postman’s eyes were clear.

Since he was twenty, Magnus had asked questions about his father’s death. Mostly he had just asked those questions of himself, but sometimes he had asked other people. And all he got were more questions, no answers. Now he wanted to ask questions again. Perhaps this quiet man really could see things. Perhaps he had answers. Or an answer.

Then Magnus shook his head. He was losing it: he needed to get out of town quick before he became like the rest of the nutters clinging on to the edge of nowhere.

‘It’s OK,’ he said. ‘It’s nothing. Thanks again.’ And he turned on his heel back to the police car.

‘Oh, Magnús?’ the postman said.

Magnus turned. ‘Yes?’

‘You’re American, aren’t you?’

‘Not really. But I did live there for a while.’

‘Well, the answer lies here in Iceland. Not in America. Remember that.’

Magnus stared at the postman as he got into his van and drove off back to the little town.

Was that an answer? Or was it just another question?