The ship had been ordered to go straight to Stykkisholmur to deliver the casket and then return to Flatey. The crew would then remain on standby to assist the inspectors whenever needed in the days ahead. The ship would also to be used as a communications center. Everyone on the island could eavesdrop on conversations that went through the regular radio channels, but the coast guard could send messages that the general public were unable to decipher, and the policemen therefore needed it to be able to communicate with their colleagues in Reykjavik where the investigation was also still being pursued.
Grimur and the policemen watched the coast guard ship sail off and then walked toward the village. Accommodation had been set up for the guests in the school.
Question twenty-five: What did Ivar lack? Second letter. Ivar the Boneless was king in England for a long time. He had no children because it was said that he lacked carnal desires, but he wasn’t short of cunning and cruelty. He died of old age in England and was buried there. The answer is “desires,” and the second letter is e.
CHAPTER 42
Tuesday, June 7, 1960
District Officer Grimur woke up early, despite the night watch, and was dressed by eight. Kjartan also descended from the loft and said good morning.
“Feeling better now, my friend?” Grimur asked.
“Yeah. I’m over it now, thanks. I’m sorry for dropping out like that.”
“It was a perfectly natural reaction. You’re a young man and you’re not used to that kind of horror.”
“Yeah, it’s also being in this position of authority. It doesn’t suit me. I should have turned down this job straightaway when the district magistrate sent me here. This isn’t the kind of job I moved west to do. It’ll turn me into a depressive because my nerves can’t take it.”
“What doesn’t kill a man makes him stronger.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Kjartan answered.
It was still raining, and the eastern winds had started to pick up again.
Grimur checked the weather. “The forecast is for more of the same,” he said dejectedly as Ingibjorg put on her rain clothes to go out to the shed. The district officer had to assist the policemen, so someone else had to take care of the cows.
At around eight, Grimur and Kjartan set off for the school with morning coffee in a flask and freshly baked bread for the overnight guests. On their way they picked up Benny in Radagerdi, gave him time to quickly dress, and took him along to the school. It was best to get started straightaway if they wanted to question all the adults on the island. Benny was undoubtedly the person who would have the most to say. He had followed the reporter around for almost two days.
The policemen were up. Hogni had heated up some shaving water in a washbasin on a primus stove, and they were finishing washing. Kjartan greeted them, introduced himself, and asked if they needed his help.
Thorolfur eyed the magistrate’s envoy with an inquisitive, slightly intrigued air. “No,” he said finally, “we’ll finish the questioning ourselves today, and the district officer can bring the people in for us. You can just take it easy until we call you in.”
“Call me in?” Kjartan asked, surprised.
“Yes. We’ll be taking statements from everyone who was on the island last night. Even the district administrative officer will have to account for his movements.”
“Yes, of course. I’m ready whenever,” said Kjartan, nodding good-bye before he disappeared outside.
The policemen sat down for a coffee and offered Benny a seat. Grimur and Hogni waited for further developments by the door, feeling uncertain about their exact role in these proceedings.
Four school desks had been pushed together, and the policemen sat on two sides, Thorolfur facing Benny. There was a long silence while the guests devoured several slices of bread. Benny lit himself a cigarette, and Hogni handed him an old saucer as an ashtray.
Thorolfur finally signaled Hogni to leave the room but invited Grimur to sit beside them. When the door closed, he turned to Benny and asked him for his name and age. The young man answered in a slightly tremulous voice.
The policeman peered into his eyes at length. “When did you see Bryngeir for the last time?” he abruptly asked.
Benny was quick to answer: “Sunday evening, at around eight.”
“Where?”
“In the shed at Thormodur Krakur’s place.”
“What did you do on Sunday, where did you go, whom did you talk with?”
This time Benny had to think a moment. “I met him twice. First at lunchtime. He came home to Radagerdi and scrounged a meal because Sigurbjorn in Svalbard threw him out in the middle of the night.”
“Why was he thrown out?”
“This Bryngeir guy was a bit of a stupid asshole. He told me there’d been some kind of misunderstanding. But then I heard that he’d tried to slip into bed with Hafdis when everyone was asleep. If I’d known he was like that, I would have just let him be and had nothing more to do with him. Hafdis is a good girl, and she’d never have allowed a guy like that to go near her.”
“What did you do at lunchtime?”
“I gave him the leftovers of some puffin soup at home in the kitchen and walked down to Eyjolfur’s pier with him to look at the people from the other islands who’d come over for the mass. I had other things to do then, so I didn’t see him again until the afternoon.”
“What did you have to do?” Thorolfur snapped.
Benny blushed. He inhaled his cigarette and exhaled through his nose. “I had to go to the church,” he said. “I sing in the choir. They needed a tenor this winter and Hogni asked me to join.”
“Where did you meet Bryngeir again?”
“In the island store after mass. He was talking to the storekeeper, Asmundur.”
“Wasn’t the store closed?”
Benny blushed and averted his gaze. “Asmundur keeps hooch in the store, which he’s willing lend to people for the same plus a half when they’re in need. District Officer Grimur doesn’t allow it, though. Bryngeir was trying to get Asmundur to lend him a bottle of hooch.”
“The same plus a half? What does that mean?”
“It means you pay him back a bottle and a half when it’s delivered to the post office.”
“Did he get a bottle from Asmundur?”
“Yeah, he got a bottle of rum, but not before I’d promised to cover the cost myself if Bryngeir failed to pay for it.”
“So you trusted him then?”
“Yes, I thought so. Or at least, he said he was expecting loads of money. I don’t know how that’ll work now that he’s dead. Maybe I’ll have to pay. I have to talk to Asmundur about it. I have a good seal fur that should be enough to cover the debt.”
“How come Bryngeir was expecting money?”
“When we got the bottle from Asmundur, we walked up to Thormodur Krakur’s yard. Bryngeir kept his stuff there. Then he told me that he had solved the mystery about that Danish guy. He was going to write about it in his paper, and no one was supposed to know how the case was solved until the paper came out. Not even the police. He said the paper would sell like hotcakes and that he’d get a percentage. I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone about it. He was going to visit someone and then try to get someone to take him to Stykkisholmur in the evening.”
“Who was he going to get to take him to Stykkisholmur?”
“Just someone with a boat.”
“Who was he going to visit?”
“He just said some friend. He was a bit secretive sometimes.”
“Did he know anyone on the island from before?”
“No…yeah, at least he knew who the magistrate’s assistant was, yeah, and Doctor Johanna. But I don’t know if he knew them really.”