The Shadow Killer

11

Rudolf Lunden objected in the strongest possible terms to being brought in for questioning at the prison on Skólavördustígur. Two police officers had been dispatched to his home the morning after Flóvent’s visit. Before bringing him in, they had carried out a thorough search of the premises in case Felix was hiding there, ignoring Rudolf’s curses and threats that they wouldn’t keep their jobs for long. He was still furious two hours later when Flóvent arrived at the prison to take his statement. Flóvent had been at a meeting with Thorson, who had brought him up to date with the results of his trip to the Leper Hospital. The wait had not improved the doctor’s temper.

‘Have you any idea how humiliating it is to be picked up by the police from one’s home in this manner?’ he hissed at Flóvent.

They were sitting in the small interview room to which Rudolf had been escorted when he arrived at the prison. There he had been left to stew — without explanation, without anyone deigning to speak to him or offer him water or coffee to drink — seething with rage all the while.

‘You left me no choice, sir.’

‘A police car outside my house!’

‘You’ve shown absolutely no willingness to cooperate, sir,’ said Flóvent. He had known that his heavy-handed methods would do nothing to mollify the German. ‘You refused to answer my questions when I visited you at home, so I had no alternative but to bring you in. I assure you, sir, that I would much rather it hadn’t come to this.’

‘You are a fool!’ shouted Rudolf. ‘A damned, bloody fool!’

‘I wish I could say the same to you, sir, but I’m afraid I don’t know you well enough,’ said Flóvent. ‘All I know is that you’re not making life any easier for yourself by shouting at me and refusing to answer my questions and throwing me out of your house. You can hardly have been so naive as to believe that this would deter the police. There is every indication that your son has committed a murder. I would have thought you’d want to find out the truth of the matter — find out what actually happened. We don’t know where he is. If you’re protecting him that would make you an accessory to the crime, and I have to say that your conduct, both to me last night and to the police officers who had to bring you here by force, suggests that you have something to hide. For your own sake, I hope that’s not true, but I have to find out.’

Rudolf listened to this speech with a sober expression and for once didn’t rudely interrupt. Flóvent thought briefly that he might have succeeded in pacifying him and persuading him to face facts. But as the rancorous pause grew longer, Flóvent began to wonder if Rudolf intended to protest by refusing to speak at all. He cast around for a new way of getting through to the doctor, though it galled him to have to humour the man.

‘You’re not under arrest, sir,’ Flóvent said. ‘Let me stress that. You’ve only been brought in for an interview. How we proceed now is entirely up to you — whether you’re obliged to remain here longer or allowed to go home.’

‘I regard that as a threat,’ said Rudolf. ‘You had better not try to threaten me.’

‘It was no threat,’ said Flóvent. ‘But you have every right to know what your position is.’

Rudolf didn’t bother to respond to this.

‘I know that you’re a widower,’ said Flóvent. ‘I’m told you lost your wife in the autumn of 1918. It occurs to me that it might have been during the Spanish flu epidemic. Am I right?’

‘I fail to see what possible concern that is of yours.’

‘I only ask because I lost my mother and sister to the Spanish flu.’

Rudolf didn’t react.

‘It does a child no good to watch his loved ones suffer and die. I suppose Felix had to go through something similar?’

‘Felix does not remember his mother.’

‘Ah, I see.’

‘I demand to speak to your superiors,’ said Rudolf. ‘You are clearly not up to the job. You are making a serious mistake, and I wish to be sure that they are aware of the fact. Aware of how I am being treated. Of your disgraceful behaviour towards a man who... a man who has difficulty... a man who is handicapped.’

‘I assume you’re referring to Reykjavík’s police commissioner,’ said Flóvent. ‘Would you like me to fetch him for you? There’s nobody else. I’m the only detective in the Criminal Investigation Department at present. My head of department and my colleagues were assigned to other tasks following the occupation. Would you like me to call in the commissioner? I’m willing to do so.’

Rudolf vacillated, as though he couldn’t tell whether Flóvent was in earnest or merely calling his bluff. He seemed unsure whether he should summon the highest authority in the police at this stage or if it was better to deal with the underling facing him for the time being.

‘She gave birth to him shortly before she succumbed to the flu,’ Rudolf said at last, grudgingly. ‘There was little that could be done. Felix was... We do not discuss it.’

‘My mother and sister are buried in one of the two mass graves in the cemetery on Sudurgata,’ said Flóvent. ‘I often visit them there. My father’s keen to have them exhumed so we can rebury them in a family plot.’

‘Why are you...? Of what possible interest is that to me?’ said Rudolf. ‘I do not know why you are telling me this.’

‘I’m finding it hard to understand your hostility,’ said Flóvent. ‘Is it directed at the police? At the Icelanders? The war? The occupying army? Or are you being obstructive in an attempt to protect your son?’

Rudolf shook his head. It was clear that he had no patience with Flóvent. The tiny chink that had opened in his armour had snapped shut again.

‘I have been inside this building before,’ Rudolf said through gritted teeth. ‘You people do not frighten me. I have nothing to say to you. Nothing.’

‘I wanted to ask you about that,’ said Flóvent. ‘Why did the British arrest you?’

‘Because they are fools.’

‘Wasn’t it actually because you were a close friend of the German consul, Werner Gerlach?’

‘It was outrageous how they treated him. Outrageous.’

‘Were the British under the impression that you worked for him? Was that why they arrested you?’

‘I refuse to answer that,’ said Rudolf. ‘I am no spy. I never have been. I... I object to the insinuation.’

‘What was your relationship with Gerlach?’

‘I do not see what concern that is of yours.’

‘Did you have regular meetings with him?’

‘We were close acquaintances.’

‘What did you talk about?’

‘That is none of your business.’

‘About your son, Felix, perhaps?’

‘Felix? No. Why should we have talked about him?’

‘Did he accompany you to these meetings?’

‘No, he did not. Why should he have done? What kind of questions are these?’

‘I’m only trying to gather information about Felix,’ said Flóvent. ‘To find out who he is. Where he is. What sort of relationship you have with him. Whether you’re protecting him. I hope you appreciate that it would be best if he turned himself in. If not, it could make your position very difficult — if you know where he’s hiding, that is.’

‘I do not know where he is.’

‘Do you know the identity of the man found shot in the head in his flat?’

Rudolf shook his head.

‘Does Felix own a gun?’

‘He has never, to my knowledge, owned a firearm.’

‘Do you think his life could be in danger?’

‘Why should you think that?’ asked Rudolf, and for the first time Flóvent detected a flicker of interest.

‘We found something among his belongings that I’d like to ask you about,’ said Flóvent.

‘Among his belongings? What do you mean? What did you find?’

‘A pill,’ said Flóvent. ‘A capsule, in fact.’

‘A pill? What nonsense is this? What kind of pill?’

‘No ordinary pill,’ said Flóvent. ‘It has a very specific purpose. We believe it originated in Germany, that it’s what’s known as a suicide pill.’

‘A suicide...?’

‘It was hidden in a suitcase that your son uses for his samples, so he would have had it close to hand. A tiny capsule filled with cyanide. There are three questions I would like to put to you.’

‘What... what questions?’

‘Did you know about the cyanide pill?’ Flóvent saw that Rudolf was looking badly shaken, but he pressed on remorselessly. ‘Was it you who procured it for him? And was it agreed between you that he should use it in an emergency?’