The Darkness Knows
- Автор: Indridason Arnaldur
- Серия: Detective Konrad #1
- Год: 2021
- Язык: английский
- Год: Harvill Secker/Penguin Random House UK
- ISBN: 978-1-78730-232-7
- Переводчик: Victoria Cribb
- Жанр: Криминальные детективы
Электронная книга - «The Darkness Knows». Краткое содержание книги:
The case: impossible to solve. Until now.
A frozen body is discovered in the icy depths of Langjökull glacier, apparently that of a businessman who disappeared thirty years before. At the time, an extensive search and police investigation yielded no results-one of the missing man’s business associates was briefly held in custody, but there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him.
Now the associate is arrested again and Konrád, the retired policeman who originally investigated the disappearance, is called back to reopen the case that has weighed on his mind for decades.
When a woman approaches him with new information that she obtained from her deceased brother, progress can finally be made in solving this long-cold case.
‘Oh, yes, the accident, of course.’
‘I understand you were with him at the time.’
The woman was staring vacantly at the mounds of rubbish.
‘Would you like me to talk to social services for you?’ Konrád asked after a while. He had the feeling that Jóhanna wasn’t quite with it. ‘Do you need help?’
‘What? Oh, no, I can manage fine. I just need to tidy up a bit.’
‘Were you surprised when Bernhard went into rehab?’
‘Not given the way he used to hit the bottle. But the decision did come a bit out of the blue.’
‘His decision to dry out?’
‘Yes, it was all very sudden.’
‘Bernhard says he doesn’t know anything about an accident,’ Konrád said, ‘and he didn’t get in touch with the police at the time, when they were appealing for witnesses. But he was spotted in the area that night. He claims you were with him.’
‘Yes.’
‘You don’t know anything about an accident?’
‘No.’
‘Has Bernhard lived alone since then? Since your divorce?’
‘Yes.’
‘Do you have any contact with him?’
‘No. None. I’ve hardly seen him... since... After all, we’ve got nothing to say to each other. We didn’t have any kids.’
‘Did he ever talk to you about his time in the Scouts?’
‘The Scouts? No. He sometimes went on call-outs but...’
‘Call-outs?’
‘When they rang.’
‘Who?’
‘Those search and rescue people...’
‘Was he in a search and rescue team?’
‘Yes, but then he quit.’
‘What about Sigurvin? Did Bernhard ever mention a man by that name?’
‘Sigurvin?’
‘The name’s been in the news. His body was found recently on Langjökull.’
Jóhanna couldn’t have looked more astonished if Konrád had slapped her across the face.
‘Him...? Did Bernhard know him?’
‘They were in the Scouts together as boys,’ Konrád said. ‘Briefly.’
‘Really? I never knew that.’
‘Bernhard never mentioned it to you?’
‘No. How strange. I never had a clue.’
‘Was Bernhard comfortably off when you were married?’
‘Comfortably off?’
‘Did he have enough money?’
‘He was unbelievably stingy. That was one problem. But no, he didn’t have much at all. I mean, he had that scrapyard but business was so-so. He used to repair cars too. All cash in hand, of course. He did quite well out of that — much better than from selling parts.’
Jóhanna had been gazing unseeingly at a pile of clothes on the floor, but now she raised her eyes to Konrád with a questioning look. ‘Was he involved?’
‘In what?’
‘Sigurvin and all that?’
Konrád shook his head. ‘I wouldn’t know.’
‘Why did you ask me if he was comfortably off? Where was Bernhard supposed to lay his hands on any kind of money?’
‘It’s just a routine question,’ Konrád said to pacify her.
‘Excuse the mess,’ the woman said again after a pause. ‘I need to tidy up in here. It’s just... I never seem to find the time.’
‘Maybe I could come and chat to you another day,’ Konrád said. He didn’t want to linger too long in the woman’s flat. She needed time to process this unexpected visit and then maybe something would come back to her that might be of use to Konrád.
‘Does Bernhard have many friends?’ he asked, preparing to leave.
‘No, he hardly had any friends worth the name. Just a handful of people who came to our wedding, but then we didn’t have a ceremony. We just got married in front of a magistrate. And his family’s very small. The only time he ever got together with anyone was when he went to a school reunion and met up with his old classmates. I had a few friends myself but he wasn’t interested in getting to know them.’
Konrád began backing away in the direction of the door. Jóhanna noticed his eagerness to leave.
‘You don’t want to ask about the girlfriend?’ she said.
‘What girlfriend?’
‘His, of course.’
‘Did Bernhard have an affair?’
‘I always suspected him of it,’ Jóhanna said.
‘Really?’
‘I asked him about it. Loads of times. But he always denied it.’
‘Why did you think he was cheating on you?’
‘A woman knows,’ Jóhanna said. ‘It’s just an instinct.’
‘Did he drop any hints?’
‘No, he never said anything. But there was always something weighing on him that I couldn’t understand. He was always so down, always so mean to me.’
‘You asked him about it?’
‘Yes, I did. He just told me to shut up. So I abandoned the struggle and left him. He was useless. Bloody useless.’
‘You have no idea who he was seeing?’
‘There were always bitches ringing him. He claimed it was business, to do with the scrapyard. But I reckon it all started after that reunion.’
‘Do you know who they were?’
‘No, he didn’t introduce them to me, of course. Maybe you don’t believe me?’
‘Sure I do,’ Konrád said. ‘These things happen.’
‘These things? What do you mean?’
‘People cheat on their partners,’ Konrád said.
‘Yes, it... she was... one time some cow rang his mobile and hung up the moment I answered, but I... but he had a number display, you know, so I typed the number into the computer. I asked him who the bitch was. He just claimed it was about selling spare parts.’
‘Can you remember her name?’
‘Her name?’
‘The woman who rang Bernhard.’
‘No. I used to... I remembered it once... It was... what was she called? Something out of the Bible. I do remember that. A Bible name.’
50
Dusk was falling as Konrád parked his car at a discreet distance from Bernhard’s scrapyard. Few people seemed to have any business there. In the two hours he spent watching the place, he saw just three customers go in and only one emerge with the part he’d been looking for. People could save themselves a fortune if a scrapyard had the part they needed, as Konrád had discovered when some completely unnecessary sensor had stopped working in his four-wheel drive and the dealership was charging the earth for a replacement. Konrád wouldn’t have bothered to buy another if it hadn’t been for the warning light that kept flashing on his dashboard. He had rung round the scrapyards and eventually found the part he wanted for a fraction of the cost. So Bernhard was offering a much-needed service, though he didn’t seem to be making much of a profit from it.
Once, Bernhard stepped into the doorway to smoke a cigarette and drink from a plastic cup. Konrád watched. The man’s overalls looked as if they had never been near a washing machine. Towards closing time, the lights went out one by one in the workshop and Bernhard emerged, locking the door carefully behind him. He was carrying a thermos and a lunchbox. He walked over to his car, got in and drove off. Konrád set out after him, careful to stay well back.
Bernhard drove straight home to his terraced house without noticing that he was being followed, and Konrád again parked a little way off and waited in his car, not knowing exactly what for. He wondered if Bernhard had shut up shop unusually early, since it wasn’t yet six. Perhaps he’d thought there were unlikely to be any further customers that day. Konrád turned on the radio and listened to an unbelievably boring cultural programme on the National Broadcasting Service, before giving up and searching the airwaves for some Icelandic music instead. He sat there for a long while, watching Bernhard’s house, before deciding he’d had enough for one evening.
On the way home, he drove past Bernhard’s old school, which Jóhanna had mentioned in connection with his class reunion, and saw that all the lights were on. The surrounding streets were full of parked cars and adults were streaming in through the main entrance. Konrád guessed it must be some sort of parent — teacher evening and decided to seize the chance to have a nose around.