Last Rituals

CHAPTER 30

Thora felt uncomfortable sitting at the police station. She was wondering whether she could be disbarred for serious abuse of her position and a flagrant conflict of interest. In fact she was unsure whether the law made such a provision; if not, it needed to be amended. The position was this: she was working for the family of a murdered man and was about to become the lawyer of the alleged killer. It was an on-the-spot decision and she had rushed out to hail a taxi. Matthew stayed behind with Elisa and took it upon himself to tell Frau Guntlieb the news and the rationale behind their sudden decision. Presumably he would argue that it gave Thora a chance to talk to the murderer in person and get answers to the remaining questions. Good luck to him, Thora thought, not envying him the task. Migraine sufferers were not usually very understanding.

"Hello. He's ready." The police officer had walked up to Thora without her noticing him.

"Yes, thank you," Thora said, and stood up. "Can I see him alone or am I supposed to be present when he's interrogated?"

"He's made a statement. He refused counsel then. It was a rather awkward situationwe're not used to questioning people without counsel on such serious charges. But he insisted, and in the end we had to leave it to him. It was only when he'd given his statement that he asked to see his lawyer. You."

"Is Markus Helgason in?" asked Thora. "I was wondering if I could have a word with him before I see Halldor," she added as meekly as she could.

The officer showed her into his colleague's office.

Thora greeted Markus, who was sitting with his Manchester United coffee cup in front of him. "I don't want to bother you for long, I just wanted to see you for a moment before I go in to Halldor."

"Of course," Markus said, but his tone suggested that he was none too excited.

"I expect you remember that I'm working for Harald Guntlieb's family, don't you?" The officer nodded thoughtfully. "I'm in a rather uncomfortable position, sitting on both sides of the table, so to speak."

"Yes, you certainly are. You ought to be aware that we strongly advised Halldor against choosing you, for precisely that reason. But he wouldn't listen. In his mind you're a kind of Robin Hood figure. He hasn't confessed to the murder. I suppose he thinks you can get him out of this mess." Markus grinned spitefully. "Which you can't."

Thora brushed aside the slight. "So you believe he's guilty?"

"Oh, yes," said Markus. "Further evidence has come to light that proves his involvement. Watertightabsolutely. They did it together, the two childhood friends. The funny thing, if you can call it that, is that the evidence came from two different sources on the very same day. I've always liked coincidences." He smiled.

"And this has just happened?"

"Yesterday afternoon. We received phone calls connected with the dead man from two people. Both had acquired information that demonstrated not only Halldor's guilt but also the probable scene of the murder."

"Who were these people, if I may ask?"

"It doesn't make any difference if you find out now or later." Thora shrugged. "A box of gruesome objects was found where Harald livedin the space he shared with the other tenants. This box contained a strip of skin with a contr"

"A contract about removing his eyes," interrupted Thora calmly. "I knew about it."

The officer's face reddened. "And it didn't occur to you to contact me? Do you know anything else that you've been concealing from us?"

Thora dodged the second question by answering only the first. "To tell you the truth, Matthew and I just discovered this today, and it was only a suspicion. We didn't have the proof you seem to have."

"But you still would have been legally required to let us know," said Markus, still annoyed.

"Which we would have done, of course," Thora said, quite irritated herself. "It's Sunday todaywe would hardly drag you out on your day off because of a hunch. We were going to try to see you tomorrow." She turned on the sweetest smile she could manage.

"All right. I hope that's true." He gave her a skeptical look.

"What other 'gruesome objects' did you find?" Thora asked.

"Two fingers, a whole hand, a foot, and an ear." He stared at her, half expecting her to say she knew about them too. Her expression told him that she didn't. "From different owners, we think." He waited for her reaction.

"What?" Thora was taken aback. She knew only about the finger that Gunnar had mentionedthe finger that was found at the faculty building but could not be linked to Harald. What was going on? "Are you talking mass murder? Collecting body parts from the victims?"

"At the moment we don't know. Your client says he knows nothing about it. But he's lying. I can tell when people are lying."

"So what evidence do you haveonly the contract, presumably signed by Halldor?"

"Yes," replied Markus. "And a steel star from the shoes Harald was wearing the night of his murderfound under the doorsill in the students' common room. That suggests the body was dragged through the door, and it's worth noting that Halldor had access to that room. So the murder was surely committed there. What's more, a teaspoon was found at the same location. A bloodstained teaspoon. It's been dusted and Hall-dor's fingerprints were on it. The blood is from Harald; at least, that's what the initial tests suggest."

"A teaspoon," repeated Thora, surprised. "A bloodstained teaspoon. How do you link that to the case?"

Markus evaded a direct answer. "The janitor, who's also the head of maintenance, handed it over to a professor who brought it straight here." Markus looked reproachfully at Thora. "Unlike some people, he didn't decide to wait until Monday."

"But a bloodstained teaspoon? I don't quite see how that fits in, nor why it's just now being discovered. Didn't you search the whole building after the body was found?"

"The teaspoon is thought to have been used to remove the eyes from the body. As far as the janitor goes" Markus hesitated and Thora realized she had hit a sore spot. "Of course a search was made. How we missed the spoon is unclear at the moment. We'll find out why."

"So you have a contract and a bloodstained teaspoon," Thora said, watching Markus rock back and forth on his chair. There was something else. "I don't think that necessarily proves Halldor's guilt, to tell you the truth. As far as I remember he has an alibi."

"That barman?" Markus scoffed. "We need to talk to him again. Don't faint if his testimony starts to crack under pressure." He looked at her down his nose. "Also, we have more evidence against your client. Two pieces of evidence, actually."

Thora raised her eyebrows. "Two?"

"Yesor one pair, to be more accurate. They turned up in a search of Halldor's place this morning. I have no doubt they'll be enough to convince even his own mother of his guilt." Markus's expression was so smug that Thora thought about yawning and leaving without asking any more questions just to put him in his place. But her curiosity got the better of her.

"So what did you find?"

"Harald's eyes."