The Shadow Killer

54

Quite a crowd has gathered along Laugavegur. Men in hats, women wearing coats or jumpers over their light summer dresses, children running around their legs and out into the street. Police officers shoo them good-humouredly back onto the pavement and tell them to stay there and behave themselves. Some people are waving Union Jacks, others Icelandic flags, as if it was the first day of summer when the townspeople traditionally celebrate the end of winter. British soldiers are patrolling the crowd, keeping their eyes open. There is a rumour that he will drive along this route on his way to Parliament House, and the crowd has been waiting patiently for hours, excited at the prospect of catching a glimpse of the great man.

A girl of about twenty hurries up the road from the Shadow District and finds herself a vantage point on the corner of Klapparstígur. She’s wearing a smart coat and a pretty hat, and is carrying a two-year-old girl in her arms. She’s adjusting the child’s sunhat when she hears a murmur further up the street and knows something’s starting to happen.

The swell of excitement reaches her, and she spots the car at the front of the procession. The people around her start frantically waving their flags and break out in cheers as the vehicles approach and finally drive by. Daringly, the woman steps out into the road and holds up the child so she won’t miss anything. As the procession drives past she sees a fat, round-faced figure with a peaked cap on his head, leaning forward in one of the cars. She beams and waves at him and he waves back, and their eyes meet for an instant before the column of cars crawls on down Laugavegur and vanishes from sight.