Strange Shores

18

Ingunn told no one about her condition. Nor did she ever reveal the identity of the child’s father. When she discovered she was pregnant, she decided to move to the city. At first she had considered an abortion and was put in touch with people who could organise one, but when the time came she decided against it. Instead she took a job at a fish factory and had a tough few months as a single mother until she met and married a fishery foreman, going on to have three more children with him. She never looked back and never returned to Reydarfjördur or anywhere else in the east while Jakob was alive.

She had gone to see him shortly before moving to Reykjavík, to inform him that she thought she was pregnant and that the baby was his, which Jakob immediately cast doubt on. They had met when Ingunn took a summer job at the same fish factory in the village of Djúpivogur and had slept together once, towards the end of the season. She had fallen in love with him, believing him to be a good, decent man, but the truth had turned out to be different. After sleeping with her, he quickly lost interest and eventually told her bluntly to stop chasing him around. Their relationship was over almost before it began. When she went to see him to tell him about the baby, he lost his temper and declared that she could never prove it was his, then called her a slut and said he wanted nothing more to do with her. She had better not dare name the child after him, were his final words.

Shattered and humiliated, Ingunn chose to remain silent. She had often talked about wanting to go and live in Reykjavík, so no one was particularly surprised when she acted on her impulse. Most of her belongings fitted into a single suitcase. Some months later she gave birth to a son and, once they got together, her husband took the place of the boy’s father.

‘Matthildur knew all about it,’ Ninna said, looking Erlendur straight in the eye. ‘I heard the story from her. But Ingunn didn’t tell her until too late. She didn’t speak out when she first learned they were seeing each other — probably couldn’t bring herself to — but you can imagine how she must have felt. At first I don’t suppose she wanted to believe it. Perhaps she hoped it wouldn’t last. It wasn’t until later that she summoned up the courage to send Matthildur a letter describing what had happened between her and Jakob.’

Ninna glanced out of the window at the snowflakes drifting to the ground.

‘I never blabbed about this and I hope you won’t either,’ she said sternly. ‘Though I can’t imagine who’d be interested. Not many people knew them at the time and I don’t suppose anyone would remember them nowadays.’

‘You said Matthildur was distraught when she heard,’ said Erlendur.

‘Jakob had never told her about his relationship with Ingunn — I suppose it’s not surprising. He’d never been to the sisters’ house, so he didn’t really know the family. That business between him and Ingunn happened in Djúpivogur. Ingunn must have been horrified when she found out who Matthildur had married.’

‘Matthildur too, surely?’

‘Devastated. Told me so herself. When she confronted Jakob, he didn’t deny he’d known Ingunn but he refused point-blank to acknowledge the child.’

‘Could it have driven her to do something desperate?’

‘You mean did she kill herself over it? I don’t believe that for one minute. She wasn’t the type. She got the letter from her sister a year before she died, so she’d had plenty of time to recover. No, I think she meant to leave him.’

‘To divorce Jakob?’

‘Yes.’

‘Over this?’

‘It’s all I can think of.’

‘Could there have been another motive?’

‘That’s the only one I’m aware of.’

Ninna relapsed into silence and stared down at her gnarled hands. Then she sighed and began to tug absent-mindedly at her grey hair, as if from habit, apparently lost in reverie. Time passed. It was very quiet in the nursing home. Outside, the houses across the road were barely visible. Ninna’s eyes were trained on the window but she was staring past the snow, buildings and mountains to something far beyond.

‘I wonder if I’ll live to see the spring,’ she remarked distractedly.

Erlendur did not know how to answer. He wanted to say that of course she would but knew he had no grounds for thinking so.

‘Haven’t we had enough?’ said Ninna. ‘Enough of these interminable winters?’

‘Do you think Ingunn might have sent the letter in a deliberate attempt to destroy Matthildur’s marriage? As a way of taking revenge on Jakob?’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘Because I have reason to believe she wrote elsewhere that he was a bastard. She seems to have nursed a real grievance against him.’

‘Do you want to see her letter?’

‘Are you. . You mean you have it?’

‘Matthildur showed it to me and asked me to keep it for her. She was afraid Jakob might destroy it. See that chest? There’s a small box in the bottom drawer. Could you bring it to me? I’m a bit rickety on my pins these days.’

Erlendur got up, found the carved wooden box in the chest, and brought it over to Ninna. She opened it and rummaged around among photographs and letters until she found what she was looking for. Putting the box down, she held up the letter and studied the address briefly before handing it to Erlendur.

‘I’ve kept it ever since,’ she said.

He opened the envelope carefully. The letter consisted of a single sheet, written in a feminine hand, and dated in Reykjavík, a year before Matthildur’s disappearance.

Dear Matthildur,

What I have to tell you is something I never meant to reveal to anyone, and I wouldn’t do so now if it weren’t for the unusual circumstances we find ourselves in. You must have wondered why I was against your relationship with Jakob from the start. I’m afraid that what I have to tell you is not very pleasant. I do hope you can forgive me.

I don’t know how best to put this into words, so I’ll just come straight out and say it: Jakob is the father of my son. He’ll deny it but it’s true. It happened when I was in Djúpivogur over the summer. When I realised I was pregnant with his baby I told him, but he questioned what I said as if I was some kind of whore and insulted me in ways I can never forgive him for. So I moved here to the city and met Halldór. He’s a lovely man and I have a good life with him. I didn’t tell Mum or the rest of you at the time but since then I’ve confided in Jóa. She’s been a real brick. Jakob’s son is a bouncing boy who takes after his father.

I’m not one to tell tales but I felt I had to let you know the truth. Jakob made such ugly threats against me that I’m afraid of him. Since then I’ve heard that he beat up a woman he was seeing in Höfn in a fit of jealousy. He told me that if I didn’t leave him alone he would spread all kinds of filthy lies about me, and I know he’d already started before I left. He threatened to batter me too and used words I shan’t repeat here.

Dearest Matthildur, you can hardly imagine my shock when I heard that you two had got together. I couldn’t believe my ears and maybe I’ve dithered for longer than I should before telling you the whole story. I suppose I’m still ashamed of letting him seduce me. I’m still angry with myself. I wish I had some advice for you but I don’t know what to say. Maybe he’s changed, but I doubt it. Matthildur, dear, I’m so sorry to have to tell you that Jakob is not an honourable man. He’s not a good man.

Please forgive me for this terrible letter.

Your loving sister,

Ingunn

Erlendur folded the letter again, replaced it in the envelope with care and handed it back to Ninna.

‘Did she show this to Jakob?’ he asked.

‘Of course she did,’ said Ninna. ‘He denied it, as I told you. Denied the whole story, then and always.’

‘Matthildur must have been in a real quandary. Did she want to leave him?’

‘I think that became obvious as time went by.’

‘But perhaps not in the way she did?’

‘I couldn’t say.’

‘I gather Jakob didn’t have a very good reputation around here,’ said Erlendur. ‘Do you think it could have been because of this? Because the secret had got out?’

‘I haven’t a clue,’ said Ninna. ‘Look, I’m getting rather tired of this. It’s high time you were leaving.’

‘Just a minute. Jakob and Ingunn’s son — where is he now?’

‘He used to live here in the east. I gather he’s in a home in Egilsstadir now, since losing the sight in one eye. He’s called Kjartan after the girls’ father.’

‘Kjartan Halldórsson!’ exclaimed Erlendur, his mind leaping to the old man in Egilsstadir who had allowed him access to his mother’s trunk.

‘He adopted his stepfather’s patronymic,’ explained Ninna. ‘Naturally, Ingunn didn’t want the boy to be named after Jakob. Have you met him?’

‘Someone I know sent me to see him and now I understand why.’