‘It was clever of her to find that woman, that Joan, so quickly,’ said Marion. ‘She’s done us a good turn. We should try and keep her happy. Try not to quarrel with her unnecessarily.’
‘Of course. I did try not to, but she’s got quite a temper on her and knows her own mind. I’m hoping she’s going to check a name for us — the man Joan mentioned, who was at the Animal Locker with Kristvin. Well, I say “name” — Kristvin referred to him as “W”.’
‘Dubya?’
‘That’s all we’ve got,’ said Erlendur. ‘Caroline said it wasn’t much to go on, but the odds are that he’s a member of the Defense Force, or at least associated with it.’
‘And Joan’s husband wasn’t in the country?’
‘So she claims. Caroline was going to check up on that too. His name’s Earl Jones, and if Joan’s to be believed, he doesn’t pay her much attention. She’s pretty outspoken.’
‘Like a lot of Americans,’ said Marion.
‘Probably a racist too, judging by the way she went for Caroline,’ said Erlendur.
‘Oh?’
‘They almost came to blows. Joan thought she was talking down to her.’
‘Caroline must have had her hands full with you two,’ said Marion. ‘I feel quite sorry for her.’
‘Hmm. So, do you reckon Kristvin was already being watched on the base? That people were aware of his movements? Knew about Joan?’
‘I’ve been thinking about what that freak Rúdólf told us. What if Kristvin had uncovered evidence relating to arms shipments in that hangar? Something earth-shattering that would really cause a stir if it leaked out. What if he drew attention to himself by asking questions? Could information about the shipments be so sensitive that they’d actually be prepared to kill Kristvin to shut him up?’
‘It’s like a whole different country out there on Midnesheidi,’ said Erlendur. ‘What do we know about how they do things? Look at Vietnam. Or Watergate. What are we supposed to think?’
‘Do you drink port, by the way? It’s all I have,’ said Marion, pouring another glass.
‘No, thanks.’
‘They put a man on the moon,’ Marion pointed out.
‘Sure, I’m not knocking their achievements.’
Erlendur had a lot of time for Marion, though he never admitted as much. Since joining CID he had been given a completely free hand, though Marion kept an eye on what he was doing and at times criticised his work in a manner that Erlendur found pedantic, even downright harsh. So it was a surprise to find himself sitting in Marion’s living room all of a sudden. He didn’t know what he’d done to earn this honour and didn’t enquire.
‘How’s your other case progressing?’ asked Marion.
‘Dagbjört, you mean?’
‘Yes.’
Erlendur delved in his pocket for the pages he had found in the girl’s bedroom and handed them over.
‘I found these hidden in her room. The house is for sale and they let me look round. The neighbour she appears to be referring to still lives next door. Bit of an oddball. Grew up alone with his mother — Mrs Kruse, as he calls her.’
Marion read the pages twice.
‘Was he the peeping Tom?’
‘I asked him straight out,’ said Erlendur, ‘and he shut the door in my face. Name’s Rasmus. Rasmus Kruse. Mother was Danish. He doesn’t have a police record, not that that tells us much. I want to give him time to think it over before I pay him another visit.’
‘She was scared of him,’ said Marion, looking at the pages, ‘but didn’t want to tell anyone.’
‘She must have been embarrassed.’
‘She was obviously pretty innocent. She sounds so bewildered.’
‘Yes. She doesn’t understand what he’s up to. Mind you, a brief comment like that’s not much to go on.’
‘So no one knew? That this man was spying on her?’
‘No, I doubt it,’ said Erlendur. ‘I’m guessing Dagbjört never let on to her parents or friends. And the man’s name doesn’t crop up anywhere in the case files. No one seems to have interviewed him or, if they did, there’s no note of it.’
‘Of course you can never interview everyone.’
‘No, true.’
‘This is quite a significant discovery,’ said Marion, handing back the pages. ‘Have you told her aunt?’
‘No, not yet. I want to look into it a bit more before I start raising any false hopes.’
‘You’re right,’ said Marion, eyes resting meditatively on the little figurines on the bookshelves. ‘It’s not fair to go around raising false hopes.’
30
There seemed no point in detaining Ellert and Vignir any longer. Despite their continued denials of any wrongdoing, they were going to be charged, so there were no further grounds for keeping them locked up. They would be placed under a travel ban until their case came to court. They smirked at Erlendur as they walked out of Sídumúli Prison, as if they had won a major victory against the police. Erlendur was only too glad to see the back of them.
When he returned to Kópavogur, there was a message for him to call Caroline. He knew the number of her workplace but didn’t recognise the one she had given this time. It turned out to be her home phone. She answered after one ring.
‘What the hell have you gotten me into?’ she said the moment she heard Erlendur’s voice.
‘Why, what’s the matter?’
‘I need to see you. Not here on the base. Down in the village.’
‘The village? You mean Keflavík?’
‘Yeah, Keflavík. Know the place?’
‘Not very well,’ Erlendur admitted.
‘Meet me by the soccer field,’ said Caroline. ‘In the parking lot. You ought to be able to find that. Get going. Now!’
She hung up and Erlendur was left staring at the receiver, not knowing what had hit him. Caroline had sounded in a real state, spitting out the words in a frantic whisper. He thought he had detected genuine fear in her voice.
This was the day after his visit to Marion, who still didn’t feel up to coming into the office, so Erlendur drove out to Keflavík alone, ignoring the speed limit. He hadn’t been lying when he said he didn’t know the town, so after driving aimlessly up and down the main street, he stopped a pedestrian who directed him to the football ground. When he arrived, there were only a handful of vehicles in the car park and he saw Caroline step out of one and walk towards him. She jerked open the passenger door and got in.
‘Drive somewhere out of town,’ she said.
‘What’s wrong? What are you afraid of?’
‘Just drive!’
Caroline was wearing an army jacket with the hood up. It had a fur ruff that almost completely hid her face. Neither said a word while Erlendur found his way to a road leading west out of town and eventually came to a sign pointing to Sandgerdi and Gardur. He opted for Gardur and they drove in tense silence until finally he pulled up beside the Gardskagi lighthouse. Beyond it, foaming white breakers were crashing onto the rocks and they could hear the booming as the waves rolled up the shore.
‘Is everything all right?’ asked Erlendur warily, once he had switched off the engine.
‘I should never have gotten involved,’ said Caroline.
‘With what?’
‘Your case — what do you think? I should have left well alone.’
‘What’s going on?’
‘The shit’s hit the fan, that’s what,’ said Caroline, twisting in her seat to look through the back windscreen in case they’d been followed. She’d done this several times on the way. ‘I have a friend in Military Intelligence in Washington,’ she explained. ‘I called him up because he’s an old boyfriend of mine and I trust him, and anyhow I didn’t think the information I was requesting was anything special. But he got real jumpy and started demanding to know why I was calling him from Iceland to ask about an airline called Northern Cargo Transport. He wanted to know where I’d come across the name, why I was asking about it, what I intended to do with the information and whether my superior officers knew about my enquiries. My superior officers! And he’s my friend! I asked if he was going to report me. That stopped him in his tracks.’