The Darkness Knows

‘Is this about my visit to the hospital?’ she asked, before he even had time to say hello.

Konrád nodded.

‘I heard you’d retired.’

‘I have,’ Konrád said, ‘but there are some things you can’t let go of so easily.’

Linda looked at him. ‘No, I suppose not,’ she said. ‘Come in.’

The house was homely and welcoming, with beautiful objects arranged on the surfaces and paintings hung on the walls. From the windows, the city could be glimpsed in the distance, blazing with light through the drizzle, and closer at hand was the illuminated golf course. He wondered if she played golf, given that the course was so conveniently close by, and asked her.

‘No, I don’t,’ she said. ‘My husband does. He’s in Scotland,’ she added, as if to explain his absence. ‘On business.’

She’d got remarried fairly recently to a man who ran a small import company based in Kópavogur. She herself was a pharmacist. Before that she had lived alone for many years with her and Sigurvin’s daughter. The daughter had later studied technology in Denmark before moving back to Iceland, and was now married with two children of her own. Following his disappearance, Sigurvin’s share in his business had been sold for a considerable profit, providing mother and daughter with a tidy sum of money that Linda had invested wisely. Her daughter had been able to use the legacy to pay off her study loan and put down a deposit on a flat, and there had still been enough left over for mother and daughter to live in comfort, with no financial worries.

‘I gather golf’s a popular sport with couples,’ Konrád said, without actually meaning to pry into the state of her marriage.

‘Not in our case,’ Linda replied. ‘I’ve never had the slightest interest myself but Teitur’s crazy about it.’

She offered him coffee or another drink of some kind and he accepted a ginger beer. They sat down in the sitting room, each determined not to make the encounter any more awkward than necessary. Linda was in her fifties, blonde, with pretty features in an oval face, her slightly plump figure dressed in a comfortable at-home outfit of loose trousers and shirt, and no jewellery of any kind.

‘Your friend came to see me earlier today,’ Linda said, sipping her ginger beer, to which she had added a splash of vodka. Konrád had declined, saying he was driving.

‘Marta, yes.’

‘She can’t have been satisfied with the answers she got if she’s sent you along.’

‘As a matter of fact, I’m here on private business,’ Konrád said.

He proceeded to explain about Herdís and the mystery of her brother Villi’s death.

‘Marta mentioned a new witness,’ Linda said. ‘I wasn’t aware. But people have said so many things over the years. There have been so many claims by so-called witnesses.’

‘The difference is that this guy’s story rings true,’ Konrád said.

‘I don’t doubt it.’

‘Also, the police asked for my help after they arrested Hjaltalín and I regard that deal as still valid.’ He smiled.

‘All right, what do you want to know?’

‘Why did you go to see Hjaltalín?’

‘I’ve already told your friend. I went to ask if he had anything he wanted to get off his chest before he died. He didn’t. And that was that. I only stayed with him a few minutes.’

‘You wanted to know if he’d killed Sigurvin?’

‘Isn’t that obvious?’

‘And he denied it, as always.’

‘Yes.’

‘Wasn’t he surprised to see you?’

‘Surprised? Maybe. A bit. I suppose it was... well... it was a bit unexpected.’

‘You went to a lot of trouble to avoid being recognised.’

‘You can hardly be surprised about that, in the circumstances.’

‘Of course not,’ Konrád said. ‘I’m far more surprised by the fact you went to see him at all.’

‘Well, I was just seized by this... this need. I don’t know what it was. I needed to see him before... before...’

‘Did you have any other contact with him before he died? Before visiting him in hospital?’

‘No, none.’

‘You never heard from him?’

‘No. Then one day I learnt that he was dying.’

‘As you’re well aware, and as Marta no doubt reminded you, Hjaltalín didn’t have a confirmed alibi for the evening of Sigurvin’s disappearance. He claimed to have been with a woman whose name he couldn’t reveal because she was married and he wasn’t prepared to expose her. He stuck to that story all these years, right up until he died. I went to see him after Sigurvin was found in the ice and he was still protesting his innocence, still trotting out the same feeble alibi. To tell the truth, I almost began to believe him.’

Linda took another sip of ginger beer.

‘It wasn’t until I saw the CCTV footage from the hospital that it dawned on me,’ Konrád went on. ‘It had never occurred to me before and I can understand why. Because it’s not immediately obvious.’