Last Rituals

CHAPTER 33

Matthew looked at Thora and shook his head. They were standing in the lobby of the faculty building. "That went well."

"Didn't you notice his tiepin?" Thora hissed. "It was a sword. The pin had a silver base with a silver sword on it, lying across the tie. Didn't you notice it?"

"Yes. So?" replied Matthew.

"Don't you remember the pictures of Harald's neck? The mark that looked like a dagger or a cross? What was it the doctor said? 'If you look closely you can see it resembles a little dagger.'"

"Oh, yes," Matthew responded. "I see what you're driving at. But I'm not sure it's the same object. The photos weren't that clear, Thora." He sighed. "The man's a historian. The Viking sword on his tiepin is obviously connected with his specialist field, the settlement of Iceland. I wouldn't read too much into it. The mark on Harald's neck looked more like a cross to me." He smiled. "Maybe he was killed by a mad vicar."

Thora hesitated. She reached for her mobile. "I want to talk to Briet. There's something funny about all this."

Matthew shook his head, but Thora went ahead undeterred. Briet answered on the fourth ring, grumpily. When Thora told her the news of Halldor's arrest, the girl relaxed a little and agreed to meet them at the student bookshop in a quarter of an hour. Matthew mumbled a protest, but when Thora told him he could buy something to eat there, he gave in. He was busy devouring a pizza when Briet appeared.

"What's Dori told the police?" she asked in a quavering voice the moment she sat down at the table.

"Nothing," replied Thora. "But he's told me bits and pieces about that night and your part in what went on. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if he tells more people before long. He thinks you killed Harald."

All the color drained from Briet's face. "Me?" she squeaked. "I had nothing to do with his death."

"He said that you vanished from the group that night and acted strange when you all found the bodynot like your usual self."

Briet's jaw dropped and she sat gaping for a while before she spoke. "I nipped out for twenty minutesmax. And I was in total shock when we found the body. I couldn't even think, let alone string a sentence together."

"Where did you go?" asked Matthew.

Briet gave him a suggestive smile. "Me? I went to the bathroom with an old friend of mine. He can vouch for that."

"For twenty minutes?" Matthew asked doubtfully.

"Yes. So? You want to know what we were doing?"

"No, thanks," interrupted Thora. "We can guess."

"What do you want from me, anyway? I didn't kill Harald. I just stood beside Dori while he fixed the body. Andri's the only one in deep shit if Dori tells the cops. He helped. I didn't even touch Harald." Briet was trying to reassure herself, without much success.

"I'd like to ask you about a project you did with Harald on Bishop Brynjolfur Sveinsson, and the missing letter," said Thora. "Dori told me you and Harald quarreled over it. Is that right?"

Briet looked blank. "That crap? What's that got to do with this?"

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking," Thora replied.

"Harald was pathetic," said Briet suddenly. "I had Gunnar by the balls. He got nervous when I went to him and told him I knew he'd stolen a letter from the national archives. He definitely did it, whatever anyone says."

"In what way was Harald pathetic?" Matthew asked.

"At first he thought it was funny and dared me to have a go at Gunnar. We even sneaked into his office to look for it after the old bastard threw me out. It was really weird. We were inside and then Harald suddenly changed his mind. He found some old article about Irish monks and flipped like I've never seen before."

"How do you mean?" asked Thora.

Briet shrugged. "It was some research paper by Gunnar in one of the cabinets. Harald found it and got me to tell him what the captions said. He was incredibly excited about two of them. One was a cross and the other some fucking hole. Then he wanted to know all about another drawing. I was shitting bricks because I was afraid Gunnar would come. I didn't want to hang around there translating for Harald. In the end he stuffed the article in his pocket and we stopped searching. We just ran."

"What did he say exactly? Can you remember?" asked Thora.

"Not exactly. We went to the common room and he insisted I tell him what the hole in the photograph was. It was a fireplace in some cave. The cross too. It was carved into the wall there. Some kind of altar."

"And the drawing?" asked Matthew. "What did it show?"

"It was a plan of the cave with symbols showing what was what. If I remember right, one was beside the cross, another by a hole in the roofI think that was a chimneyand the third was by a hole that was supposed to be a fireplace." Briet looked at Matthew. "I remember him pointing excitedly at the third symbol and asking me if I thought the monks would have cooked on the altar. I said I had no idea. Then he asked if I thought they would have put the fireplace under the chimney. It wasn't like that at all on the drawing. The fireplace was beside the altar but the chimney was by the entrance. It was so boring, and it wasn't like Harald to get worked up about that kind of nonsense."

"Then what happened?" Matthew asked.

"He went and talked to Gunnar. Afterward he ordered me not to do anything else about the letter." She looked at them angrily. "But he was the one who'd been egging me on to torment Gunnar in the first placefucking Gastbucht, as he called him."

"Gastbucht?" exclaimed Thora. What did it say on Harald's sketch? Gastbucht? So it wasn't the visitors' book of the cross, as she had imaginedit wasn't a cross but the letter t, and Gastbucht was the nickname Harald had made up from Gunnar's last name, Gestvik: Guest's bay.

Thora and Matthew went straight back to the faculty building. As they hurried along, she called Markus at the police station and told him the idea she and Matthew had had about Gunnar, which he immediately scoffed at. After a little persuasion, however, he agreed to check the professor's bank account transactions.

Gunnar's office was empty when they arrived. Instead of waiting, they took the liberty of sitting down inside, assuming that Gunnar had gone to meet the director of the Manuscript Institute to hand back the letter.

Matthew looked at the clock. "Surely he'll be back soon."

At that moment the door opened and Gunnar walked in.

He was flabbergasted to see them. "Who let you in?"

"No one. It was open," Thora said calmly.

Gunnar strode over to his desk. "I thought we'd said good-bye earlier." He sat down at his desk and glared at them. "I'm not in the best of moods. Maria wasn't exactly overjoyed at getting the letter back in that state."

"We won't keep you for long," said Matthew. "We didn't quite manage to conclude our business with you."

"Really?" snapped Gunnar. "I don't think I have anything left to say to you."

"We just want to ask you about a few outstanding details," Thora said.

Gunnar tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling. He groaned before looking back at them. "Fair enough. What would you like to know?"

Thora looked at Matthew first, then at Gunnar. "The ancient cross mentioned in the letter to Arni Magnussoncould it be the cross in the Irish monks' cave near Hella?" she asked. "You're supposed to be an expert on that periodaren't you? At least, the cross was in Iceland before the settlement proper began."

Gunnar turned beet red. "What would I know about that?" he stammered.

Thora shrugged. "Actually, I think you know all about it. Isn't that a photograph of you and the farmer who owns the land where the caves are?" She pointed to the framed photograph on the wall. "The monks' caves?"

"As it happens, it is. But I don't see the connection," Gunnar said. "I find your questions irrelevant and I can't understand your interest in history. If you want to enroll in the department, there are application forms in the office."

Thora went on, unruffled. "I think you understand the connection perfectly. You were at the celebration that lasted until midnight on the night of Harald's murder." When Gunnar said nothing she added: "Could it be that you met Harald that night?"

"What nonsense is this? I've made countless statements to the police about Harald's untimely death. I had the misfortune to find the body but in other respects it has nothing to do with me. You should get out of here." He pointed a shaking finger at the door.

"I'm certain the police will recheck all their statements from you now that it's clear how the marks on Harald's body were made," Thora said, smiling nastily.

"What do you mean?" asked Gunnar, agitated.

"They've found the person who removed the eyes and carved the symbol on the body. Your reaction on seeing the body is no guarantee that the police will treat you with silk gloves. Everything appears in a completely different light now."

Gunnar seemed to be having difficulty breathing. "You're busy people. So am I. I'd hate to delay you. Let's call this a day."

"You strangled him with your tie," Thora continued. "Your tiepin will confirm that." She stood up. "The motive has yet to be revealed but it's unimportant at the moment. You killed him. Not Hugi, not Halldor, and not Briet. You." She looked him in the eye, torn between revulsion and pity. Gunnar shuddered and Matthew stood up slowly, using one hand to edge Thora gently back toward the door. It was as if he feared Gunnar would jump over the desk with his tie held aloft to strangle her too.

"Are you mad?" shouted Gunnar, staring at Thora. He leaped clumsily to his feet. "How could you imagine such a thing? I advise you to seek help immediately."

"I'm not madyou killed him." Thora stood her ground. "We have several pieces of evidence to prove your guilt. Believe me. When the police get it and look into your case you'll have trouble coming up with a defense."

"This is ludicrous, I didn't kill him." Gunnar looked at Matthew plead-ingly, hoping for support.

"The police may be interested in hearing you deny itbut we're not." Matthew was stone-faced. "Perhaps the department can assist with an investigation into your private affairs. And perhaps a search will reveal more clues if the tiepin isn't enough."

Thora's phone rang. She kept her eyes on Gunnar for the short duration of the call. He nervously listened to her conversation without a clue about the context. Thora put her phone back in her pocket. "That was the police, Gunnar."

"So?" he blustered. His Adam's apple bobbed.

"They asked me to go down to the station. They've discovered some interesting transactions from your bank account and want Matthew and me to explain our case more fully. As far as I can see, the police are closing in on you." She stopped talking and stared at him.

Gunnar looked back at them, confused. Then he lifted his tie and stared at the pin. He opened his mouth twice to say something, then thought better of it. In the end he bowed his head in resignation. "Are you looking for the money?" he slurred. "I haven't spent much of it." He watched them, but got no response. "I have the book, too, but I'd rather not hand it over. It's mine. I found it." He clutched his forehead in a gesture of desperation. "I have nothing else valuable or unique. Harald seemed to have everything, plenty of money at least. Why couldn't he covet something else?"

"Gunnar, I think we ought to call the police," said Thora gently. "You don't need to tell us any moresave your strength." She saw Matthew take out his phone, ready to dial. "One-one-two," she said quietly to him. Gunnar didn't notice. Matthew stepped outside to make the call.

"I always expected the police to accuse me of murder when they questioned me about finding the body. I was convinced they were just playing a game with me, pretending not to know I killed him. Then it turned out I wasn't even under suspicion." He looked up, smiling faintly. "It would have been impossible for me to feign the horror I felt when the corpse fell on me. The last time I'd seen it was on the floor of the common room. For a moment I thought he had risen from the dead to take revenge. You must believe that I did nothing to his eyes. I just strangled him."

"In itself that's quite enough," said Thora. "But why? Because he wanted to buy the manuscript of The Witches' Hammer from you? Did you have it?"

Gunnar nodded. "I found it in the cave. Twenty years ago. I was on sabbatical, absorbed in the Irish monks. I got permission from the farmer to excavate there in the hope of finding relics of human habitation to prove whether the caves had been dug by them. They hadn't been studied before. Mine was the first shovel to break the earth there, although a few other caves in the area had been investigated much earlier. Cattle were kept in them until the middle of the last century, so they were largely unexplored. But instead of finding relics of presettlement habitation I found a little chest which was completely hidden in a hole beside the altar. It contained that manuscript and a few other works. A handwritten Bible in Danish, a hymnal, and two beautiful books on the natural sciences in Norwegian." He looked deep into Thora's eyes. "I couldn't resist. I rushed off to hide the chest in my car before the farmer caught me, and I never told a soul about it. Gradually it dawned on me what treasures I had in my possession: the lost bounty from Skalholt. Two of the books were marked with Brynjolfur Sveinsson's initialsLL. But it was not until Harald turned up that I received an explanation for what this bizarre edition of The Witches' Hammer was doing there."

"But how did he figure it out?" Thora asked, adding: "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Gunnar ignored the latter remark and answered her. "Beginner's luck," he said. "Actually, I wouldn't call it luck, but rather misfortune. Harald came here specifically to look for that manuscript, as I'm sure you know. He turned all the sources inside out until he got on the right track, or so he thought. He was convinced that Bishop Jon Arason had taken the manuscript to be printed but hid it when his power base began to collapse upon the conversion to Lutheranism. At that time I didn't realize what he was up to and did nothing to obstruct him. He went to Skalholt to examine the site of Jon Arason's execution. There he got on the trail of the manuscript by sheer chancesomeone told him about Brynjolfur's collection of manuscripts and he studied all the records in the hope of identifying what had gone missing. It was only when he came to see me after Briet had found out about the letter that disappeared from the national archive"

He lowered his gaze, then looked back up at Thora. "Of course I kept the letter after I realized what I'd discovered. I was scared it would lead other people to the cavesthat someone would reach the same conclusion as you about the holy cross. That was a costly mistake. Briet was easy to deal with, but then Harald appeared. He had studied the content of the letter. He got straight to the point, said he knew I'd found Kramer's Witches' Hammer and he wanted it. He had stolen an article about the Irish monks and the caves from my officean old paper I was forced to write at the end of my sabbatical. I had to report on what I'd done and I published the article in an obscure journal that has since gone under. I made the mistake of including a photograph of the hole where I dug up the chest. I said it was an ancient fireplace. No one countered that findingin fact I don't think anyone ever bothered to read the paper at all. Harald simply put two and two together. And I thought the cleaner had stolen the article."

Gunnar paused for a moment. "He wanted The Witches' Hammer. Said he didn't care what else had been there, but he had to have the book. Then he offered to buy it from me. He named an incredible sum, much more than I could have got for it on the black market even if I had the faintest idea where that market is. Instead of refusing and throwing him out, I lowered my defenses. The money tempted me. At the time I still didn't know how remarkable the manuscript was. Harald didn't tell me the whole story until he gave me the money. And that made me change my mind. But of course I couldn't tell him that." Gunnar sighed. "Naturally you can't understand, but when you spend your whole life working with history, you instinctively become enchanted by what's survived. I had my hands on a remarkable treasure. Absolutely unique."

"So you killed Harald to keep the manuscriptwithout trying to return the money or find out if he was prepared to back down?" asked Thora. "Maybe he would have chosen to live without it, rather than to die."

Gunnar laughed weakly. "Of course I tried. He just laughed in my face and said I'd be better off dealing with him than with the authorities, because he wouldn't hesitate to inform on me if I double-crossed him." He sighed. "I saw him. He was cycling up to the campus when I was driving home. I turned back and caught up with him at the entrance. He threw his bike aside and we entered the building together. One of his hands was covered in blood from a nosebleed he had. Disgusting." Gunnar closed his eyes.

"He used his key and PIN number to open the door. He was drunk and high. I tried to talk to him again, asked him to show a little understanding. He just laughed at me. I followed him into the common room where he rummaged around in a cupboard and found a white tablet that he swallowed. That made him even weirder. He slumped down in an armchair, turned his back to me, and asked me to massage his shoulders. I thought he'd gone mad, but I later learned that he'd taken ecstasy, which apparently heightens the need for physical contact. I went up to him and at first I thought of indulging him in the hope that he would agree to my request. Suddenly I was seized with such fury that before I knew it I'd taken off my tie and wrapped it round his throat. I tightened it. He struggled. But there was no fight. Then he died. He slowly slipped out of the chair onto the floor. And I left." Gunnar looked at Thora, gauging her reaction. He seemed to have completely forgotten Matthew.

The sound of sirens could be heard through the window, growing louder. "They're here to collect you," said Thora.

Gunnar looked away from her and stared out of the window. "I was going to run for vice chancellor," he said sadly.

"I think you can forget that now."