The Shadow Killer

33

They asked if she lived in the house where she worked and she said yes, she slept in a little room in the attic. She invited them in, and as they entered the laundry, Thorson and Flóvent offered their apologies and said they wouldn’t take up much of her time. They just had a few more questions concerning Eyvindur and Felix. For example, did she have any idea what Eyvindur could have been doing at Felix’s flat? She busied herself with the washing and said no, she didn’t, but she did remember how astonished Eyvindur had been to bump into Felix aboard the Súd and discover that they were in the same line of work. Their paths hadn’t crossed for donkey’s years before that, not since they were at school. They hadn’t been in the same form because they came from such different backgrounds, but in spite of that they had been friends once. Their friendship had ended when Felix just lost interest in Eyvindur one day.

Though Eyvindur didn’t talk much about the past, Vera gathered that he’d had a rough home life and few friends, so his relationship with Felix had meant a lot to him. Eyvindur’s mother might never have existed for all he mentioned her, but he’d spoken briefly about his father after he and Vera lost the rooms they were renting and he was forced to throw himself on the mercy of his uncle. Only then did she learn that his father had done time for a variety of offences, including assault, which had come as quite a surprise to her since Eyvindur himself wouldn’t have said boo to a goose.

The encounter on board the Súd had not been a particularly cordial one, according to Eyvindur. He and Felix had very little to say to one another. Eyvindur had wanted to ask him why their friendship had ended so suddenly when they were boys. Vera understood from Eyvindur that he kept going round to the doctor’s house to ask after Felix and had been told each time that he wasn’t home, until finally Felix himself had said he wanted nothing more to do with him and that he was to stop bothering them.

But Eyvindur didn’t like to talk about it and changed the subject whenever Vera asked about his old friend. He wasn’t one for reminiscing, but he would chat about his sales trips, though mostly he just harped on about his failures. It had rankled that Felix was far more successful than him, and that had got him started on Runki, another salesman whose feats Eyvindur could only dream of.

Now that she came to think of it, Eyvindur had mentioned one thing that had struck him as very odd. Felix had taken great pains to cover as wide an area as possible on his sales trips. He would trek to the most out-of-the-way places where only a few souls scratched a living. Other salesmen knew they weren’t worth the trouble, yet Felix had been determined to visit them. Eyvindur couldn’t imagine it was worth his while, however gifted a salesman he was.

‘It may sound like a strange question, but did Eyvindur happen to mention where any of these places were?’ asked Thorson. ‘Were they close to any military facilities, for example?’

Vera shook her head. She didn’t think he’d mentioned that. Now that she had got over her indignation at the gossip they’d had repeated, she was friendly and willing to chat despite the late hour. She answered their questions thoughtfully and sensibly, and, at their prompting, tried to search her memory for anything she might have forgotten. Yet Flóvent’s thoughts kept returning to her upstairs neighbour, who had called her sex mad and accused her of being a soldier’s whore. And then there was the brown envelope he had found on the living room floor. She had cheated on Eyvindur, then walked out on him, straight into the arms of a British soldier. When Flóvent looked for traces of sorrow or remorse, for any kind of emotional turmoil, he could see none. The news didn’t seem to touch her at all, now that she had got over her initial surprise. Either she was more heartless than he had thought or the news hadn’t truly hit home yet.

‘Why do you ask about military facilities?’ she said. ‘Was Felix interested in them for some reason?’

‘We don’t know,’ said Thorson.

‘Are you suggesting he was some kind of spy? Eyvindur did say his father was a Nazi.’

‘We have no proof that he was spying,’ Flóvent corrected her. ‘Did Eyvindur imply that he was? Did he see Felix taking photographs on his trips, for example? Or expressing an interest in troop movements or military instillations?’

‘No, I don’t remember anything like that, but...’

‘Yes?’

‘It’s so strange you should mention spying because Felix... Eyvindur told me once that he thought Felix only wanted to be his friend so he could spy on him.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Apparently, Felix was always asking Eyvindur about his father, insisted on going round to his house to play every time, and seemed very curious about his family — downright nosy in fact. Eyvindur found it very odd.’

There was a knock at the laundry door. A British soldier appeared and smiled at Vera, simultaneously casting a suspicious glance at Flóvent and Thorson. Returning his smile, Vera put down the washing and began to tell the man that they were from the police, but soon faltered as her English wasn’t up to the task. Thorson chipped in, explaining that they had come to see Vera in connection with Eyvindur’s death. The man turned out to be Billy Wiggins, Vera’s boyfriend, a rather stocky British sergeant of around thirty, with red hair and a ruddy complexion, who was clearly none too pleased to find his girlfriend in the company of other men so late in the evening.

‘You all right, love?’ he asked Vera. She nodded. He walked over and took her in his arms and they kissed. The news of Eyvindur’s death didn’t seem to faze him in the slightest. Flóvent caught Thorson’s eye, then asked Vera to step outside with him. When Billy made to follow, Thorson blocked his path, saying that he’d like to ask him a few questions; it would only take a minute. Billy looked set to push past him, but Thorson was firm, repeating that he didn’t want any trouble but he had a few questions. When Billy continued to ignore him, Thorson informed him that he would have to accompany him to police headquarters. The sergeant gave in and Thorson began asking him about his relationship with Vera and whether he had ever met Eyvindur.

‘What’s it to you?’ asked Billy Wiggins, with an uneasy glance out of the door to where Flóvent and Vera stood talking. ‘Why don’t you leave me alone?’

‘Did you know him, sergeant?’

‘No, I never met him. Never laid eyes on the man.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Sure? Of course I’m sure. What do you take me for? You don’t think I had anything to do with his... with his death?’

‘I didn’t say that. Are you concerned about that?’

‘About what?’

‘About being implicated in the murder?’

‘No, I’m not. Because I didn’t do anything to the bloke. Vera’s a great girl and... and we get on well together. She’d made up her mind to leave him ages ago. She was just waiting for the right moment.’

‘How did you meet Vera?’

‘How? At Hótel Ísland. She was out having fun.’

‘Was she there with Eyvindur?’

‘No,’ said Billy with an ugly laugh, raising his eyebrows at Thorson’s naivety. ‘He wasn’t there.’

Flóvent was standing outside, watching the washing fluttering in the evening breeze. Vera had taken out another cigarette. She inhaled, her eyes on the door of the laundry where Thorson was talking to Billy.

‘So you can’t imagine why Eyvindur would have gone to see Felix after all these years?’ Flóvent asked.

‘No, I... nothing comes to mind.’

‘Could it have been something to do with his sales trips? Or their school days? Something he wanted to ask him about? Had they started meeting up again? Renewed their friendship?’

‘I simply can’t help you,’ said Vera, blowing on the glowing tip of her cigarette. ‘Eyvindur sometimes talked about Felix, but he never had anything good to say about him. Only that when they were boys he’d suddenly dropped him and refused to have anything more to do with him. Eyvindur felt used. That’s how he talked about Felix. He said it hadn’t been a real friendship after all.’

‘It’s possible Felix was no longer allowed to see him,’ said Flóvent. ‘To associate with him. That’s the sort of home he was from. His father was very strict, I’d imagine. A snob.’

‘Yes, anyway, Eyvindur was still wondering about it. About what really happened.’

‘Did he ever mention taking part in any experiments at his school?’ asked Flóvent.

‘What kind of experiments?’

‘I’m not entirely sure,’ said Flóvent. ‘I just wondered if he’d said anything. A series of tests — to do with his health, perhaps. Or his development.’

‘No, I don’t remember him talking about that. Though he did once mention a school nurse, whose name I’ve forgotten. He showed me a picture of her. Felix was in it too.’

Flóvent took out the school pamphlet from Eyvindur’s flat and showed it to her. Vera confirmed that it was the same picture. She held it up to the light from the laundry door and peered at it.

‘I wonder if it could have been him?’ she mused, as if to herself.

‘Who?’

‘Him,’ she said, pointing to the boy standing next to Eyvindur and Felix in the photo. ‘I have a feeling he was the one Eyvindur was talking about. I can’t remember his name but he had a similar story to tell.’

‘A similar story? How do you mean?’

‘It was like he’d experienced the same thing,’ said Vera. ‘Eyvindur ran into him one day and they started talking about Felix and it was exactly the same story. Felix had gone out of his way to get to know the boy at school and was close friends with him for a while, spent a lot of time with him. Then he suddenly dropped him, never spoke to him again.’

‘Do you think that could have been why Eyvindur went to see Felix?’ asked Flóvent. ‘To ask what was going on?’

‘I suppose it’s possible.’ said Vera. ‘I just don’t know. Haven’t the foggiest. He was always... always trying to sort something out, always saying that things were about to get better. He claimed he was about to come into a load of money. I gave up on him in the end. Couldn’t take it any more.’

‘Where was this money supposed to come from?’

‘He never said. I expect it was all talk, as usual.’