‘You’re welcome.’ Matthew took the empty wrappers from him and threw them in a rubbish bin by the sink, then sat back down. ‘How are you feeling, apart from hungry?’
‘Bad. I’m itchy but I can’t scratch because there are ban-dages in the way.’
Thóra pointed to the television remote. ‘Would you mind turning down the volume or turning it off, just while we’re here? Then we can hear you better.’ The actors in the film had suddenly burst into song.
Jakob looked at the screen and spent a few moments making up his mind. In the end he reached for the remote and turned off the TV. ‘I’ve seen this movie anyway.’
‘Thanks, that’s much better.’ Thóra smiled at him again. ‘Has your mother been able to visit you?’
‘Yes. She was here before.’ Jakob selected another chocolate. ‘She’s going to come back later. I can see our house from here, so she can see me too. We live on the third floor and if I’m not home, Mummy needs to carry the food all the way up the stairs on her own.’ He pointed towards the window with his right hand, which was also wrapped in bandages.
‘I’m sure you’ve been a great help to her.’ Thóra looked out of the window but couldn’t see the house he meant. ‘Hopefully you’ll be able to go and help her again. But first you’ve got to get better, and then a few other things have to happen. But let’s not worry about those things now.’
‘No.’ Jakob closed the box. ‘We can talk about all sorts of other things. Like my eye.’ He placed his hand on the part of his glasses that lay over the bandages.
‘How did this happen? Do you think you’re up to telling us about the attack?’ said Matthew.
‘It was bad. I was eating and then all of a sudden… just really bad.’
Matthew nodded sympathetically. ‘Was he sitting next to you?’
‘Yeah. He was having some fish and then he suddenly stood up and just… just really bad.’
‘So you didn’t punch him, even as a joke, or anything like that?’ asked Thóra.
‘Nah. I was eating my fish. We were supposed to get rice pudding if we finished it all.’ His expression turned sad. ‘I never got any.’
‘I’m sure they’ll give you some.’ Thóra resolved to remember to ask the nurse in reception whether it would be possible to bring Jakob a bowl of rice pudding. ‘Has he ever tried to hurt you before? Maybe he was stopped by the staff?’
‘No, never. He’s always good. Except now. Maybe he didn’t like the fish.’
‘Maybe. Did he say anything when he attacked you, or just before?’
Jakob stared at Matthew thoughtfully, his mouth wide open. ‘Yes, he did. It was really strange.’
‘Do you remember what it was?’ Thóra leaned closer.
‘He said that it would be better for me to be in Reykjavík. I remember because I was so happy and I was going to say that I thought that too but I couldn’t say anything because… all of a sudden everything hurt so much and I couldn’t see anything.’
Thóra’s stomach lurched at the thought of someone with a fork in their eye, and she felt like she had to interrupt Jakob in order to block out the image. ‘Maybe we should talk about something else, something more fun. I’m sure you’ll have to discuss this with the police and various other people, which is why it’s probably not a good idea to be talking about it too much now.’ Suddenly her recent conversation with Jósteinn popped into her mind. Again she interrupted Jakob, who looked as if he were about to say something. ‘Did he say better? That it would be better if you were in Reykjavík?’
‘Yes.’ Jakob nodded so eagerly that his glasses slipped again. ‘That’s what he said.’
Thóra tried not to seem surprised. ‘He didn’t say anything else?’
‘He did, he said one more thing. He said that I should be good and talk to you. But then he started to cut my ear and jab my eye so I screamed and I didn’t hear him after that. Maybe he said something else.’
Thóra doubted it. What Jósteinn had said completely explained the attack. He believed Thóra’s investigation would make better progress if she had easier access to Jakob.
Thóra didn’t tell Matthew about her suspicions until they’d left the hospital. ‘Are you serious?’ Matthew stopped, seeming upset. He was always direct and to the point about everything, and for him not to have told her about the bank’s offer was the closest he’d ever come to scheming. To manipulate events in the way Thóra believed Jósteinn had done was so alien to him that all he could do was gawp at her.
‘I can’t prove anything, or confirm it without asking him directly, but it completely fits with what we discussed.’
Matthew shook his head irritably. ‘I don’t know which is crazier – to attack someone like that unprovoked, or to injure them for a specific purpose.’
‘No question – it’s crazier to do it for a purpose.’ Thóra breathed in the cool air. ‘He’s not a normal man, remember. He’s capable of anything.’ She looked up along the building and saw Jakob’s face in the window. He wasn’t watching them leave, he was just peering out over the hospital grounds, in the direction of his mother’s house. She turned back to Matthew. ‘If I’m right, there’s no question that Jósteinn wants to keep the case going.’ She pointed at the sad sight framed in the window. ‘If so, then I’ll keep investigating. That’s all there is to it.’
Matthew said nothing.
CHAPTER 22
Sunday, 17 January 2010
The jogger was flagging, but he focused on his goal. He chose a car parked up ahead in the distance and thought only of getting that far. Then and only then would he slow down. This way he hoped to be able to resist the temptation to stop, put his hands on his knees and breathe as deeply as his lungs could tolerate. Last autumn he had run this same circuit without breathing through his nose, but after being largely sedentary during the winter he had expected too much of himself on this first warm, ice-free day of the new year. He was alone, which would no longer be the case as spring approached, when he would hardly be able to go ten yards without meeting other joggers. Then they would feel exactly like he did now, whereas he would be one of the few in shape. For a moment he managed to forget his fatigue as he imagined himself in the spring sunshine, straight-backed, going at an even pace, passing one red-faced, sweaty runner after another.
At the moment when he was feeling best about himself, his body decided that it had had enough. Suddenly he couldn’t take another step; the burning in his lungs became unbearable, his heart pounded, he tasted blood and his legs were on fire. He stood panting on the pavement and it crossed his mind to take a taxi home. It was a long trip back and there were few things more embarrassing than staggering along in your running gear. However, his taxi plan fell apart because he had neither a phone nor money on him; there was no one out and about in the area, even though he was only a short distance from the popular Nauthólsvík Beach. He sighed heavily. It was then that he spotted the bench. He could rest there and massage the worst of the pain from his legs. Then he would have some hope of making it home free of shame – albeit not very quickly.
The surface of the bench was cold but he got used to it immediately, as if his body had reached its maximum level of pain. The bench was neither warm nor comfortable, but he couldn’t recall ever having been so glad to sit down. Slowly but surely the pain receded, but now he was aware that his body temperature was dropping rapidly; he was dressed lightly, since he hadn’t been planning to sit outside, not moving, in these tight, thin clothes. The wind that had felt so agreeable such a short time ago was now cold and biting, and his sweaty body quickly became chilled. He really ought to keep moving, but he couldn’t get himself to stand up immediately. He hammered his folded arms against his chest, as his grandfather had taught him when he was a small boy. It helped.