Thóra had thought the same thing. ‘According to her mother, Karítas herself suggested she ring me. I don’t know why but we’ll soon find out. Perhaps she needs a lawyer. If she does, it’ll be a wasted journey because I can’t act for her while Ægir’s parents are my clients.’
‘I’m coming with you. You don’t know how to handle a chav like her.’
‘She’s hardly a “chav”,’ protested Thóra. In all the photos Karítas had looked extremely glamorous; a little plastic, admittedly, but hardly a chav.
‘That’s what you think. I’m coming anyway.’ Bella rushed into reception to fetch her coat.
‘Really? I don’t remember you at all.’ Karítas stared at Bella, stretching her big blue eyes as wide as they would go. It didn’t suit her. Instead of the little-girl effect she was aiming for, she came across as a simpleton. She was draped across the sofa in her mother’s sitting room, her long legs taking up the entire seat so that Thóra, Bella and Begga had to make do with chairs. ‘You weren’t in my class, were you?’
‘No.’ Bella was sitting bolt upright, making no attempt to appear at all girlish. When Karítas’s mother had introduced her as an old schoolmate, Bella had looked uncomfortable; obviously she hadn’t wanted this information revealed straight away. Yet she had clearly taken umbrage at Karítas’s failure to remember her, so it was hard to work out what she did want.
‘Amazing.’ Karítas gave Bella a conspiratorial smile, apparently oblivious to the animosity sparking off her. ‘That’s, like, so weird. Did you used to be skinnier back then? Not so… you know?’
Thóra hastily interrupted to prevent violence from breaking out. ‘When did you get back to the country?’
‘I only just got here.’
Karítas’s mother broke in. Her eyes were red and swollen, her cheeriness forced. ‘I don’t understand how you can look so well, darling, after such an awful journey. All the way from Brazil. We wouldn’t look so fresh after such a long flight, would we?’ She addressed her words to Bella who stiffened even more.
‘Did you come via the States?’ Thóra noticed how oddly Karítas had reacted to her mother’s words, as if she would have liked to smash the nearby crystal vase over her head.
‘No.’ She did not elaborate but twined her fingers into a lattice, enlivened by slightly chipped hot-pink nail varnish. ‘Look, I didn’t get you round to talk about boring things like flights.’ She untwined her fingers and rested her hands demurely on the cushions on either side of her. The hot pink clashed violently with the crimson velvet. ‘You’re working on the yacht, aren’t you?’
‘Not directly.’ Out of the corner of her eye, Thóra noticed that Karítas’s mother was looking embarrassed; presumably she had already told her daughter this. ‘I’m acting for the parents of one of the men who went missing. So my case is only indirectly linked to the yacht.’
‘Have you been on board?’ Karítas stretched, then tucked her legs under her as Thóra nodded. ‘Isn’t she to die for?’
‘Well, my reason for going on board was rather grim, so I didn’t really stop to think about it.’ A shadow fell over Karítas’s face and Thóra saw that she had better praise the boat quickly if she wanted to stay on the right side of her. ‘But, of course, she’s… to die for.’ She tried to sound enthusiastic. ‘Amazing.’
‘Yes, well.’ Karítas had apparently seen through her pretence. ‘Obviously you’ve never been on board a yacht before but believe me, Lady K is totally fabulous.’ If Karítas realised how boastful she sounded, she didn’t seem to care. ‘She’s the reason I wanted to see you. The thing is, I need to go on board. You could fix that for me, couldn’t you? I don’t want to bother the police.’
‘The police wouldn’t be able to help you anyway. They’ve concluded their examination, so I don’t even know if they have the keys any more. The resolution committee is responsible for her now, so you should really talk to them.’
‘That’s too much hassle.’ Angry red spots formed on Karítas’s cheeks. ‘It would be much better if you could let me in. It’s not as if I’m going to do any damage.’
‘May I ask why you want to go on board?’
‘I’ve still got a lot of personal belongings there and I want them back. Clothes and so on. I didn’t manage to fetch them before the yacht left Europe, though I had a perfect right to. I just didn’t have time.’
Thóra resisted the impulse to point out that Iceland was part of Europe. ‘I thought you’d gone to Lisbon to do precisely that. To remove your personal property. Was that a misunderstanding?’
‘Yes. I mean no. I was going to but I didn’t have a chance.’
‘You mean you didn’t have a chance to fetch your stuff or you didn’t make it to Lisbon?’
‘You know, I really can’t remember. I travel so much.’ Karítas avoided Thóra’s eye. Her words hung in the air during the ensuing silence. The lie was so blatant that in the end she added awkwardly: ‘Actually, I think I did. I went there but the yacht had already left or something. At least, I didn’t manage to get on board.’
‘Oh?’ Thóra felt as if she were negotiating a minefield. If she put a foot wrong there was a risk they would be shown the door. It wasn’t the choice of words that was difficult so much as the effort to make one’s questions and comments sound innocuous. ‘I must have misunderstood, because when I looked in the closets I thought one of the dresses had been removed. At least, there was an empty hanger. I know so little about this whole business that I just assumed you must have taken it and left the rest because they’d gone out of fashion.’
‘Clothes like that never go out of fashion. They’re haute couture.’ Karítas’s pronunciation owed more to Akureyri than to France. ‘But the fact is, I haven’t had a chance to fetch anything and that’s why I wanted to speak to you. To get you to help me gain access. I won’t need long.’ She spoke like a woman used to having her slightest whim obeyed.
‘Is it possible that your PA, Aldís, went on board, either at your request or on her own initiative? When the crew arrived to bring the yacht home the seal over the door had been broken. The person who did it must have had keys as there was no sign of a break-in. And if it had been an ordinary burglar, you’d have thought something would have been stolen. There were enough valuables on board.’
‘I haven’t a clue what Aldís did or didn’t get up to. She doesn’t work for me any more.’
‘Did you give her the sack or was it just that you couldn’t afford to pay her any longer?’ Bella’s sudden entry into the conversation came as a relief to Thóra. She could be a loose cannon but it was good to have a moment’s respite from her thinly disguised interrogation.
Karítas rounded on Bella. ‘I can afford staff perfectly well.’ She flicked her hair back with a quick movement of her head. ‘If you really want to know, I fired her.’
‘Why?’ Bella certainly didn’t beat about the bush.
‘Why?’ said Karítas. ‘Why wouldn’t I? She was lazy and she was nicking my stuff.’ She was beginning to look distinctly tight-lipped.
‘One question, Karítas.’ Thóra smiled pleasantly. ‘Were you by any chance in contact with a man called Ægir, from the resolution committee? Your phone number was found among his papers. Did you approach him about granting you access to the yacht, as you’re approaching me?’
‘Ægir, you say?’ Karítas was a terrible actress; it was plain to everyone in the room that she wasn’t racking her brains to remember. ‘Yes, that sounds vaguely familiar.’
‘He was on board the yacht with his family. I’m representing his parents. His wife and two small daughters are missing as well. It could be significant if you spoke to him. The police will probably be in touch to discuss it. I know they want to talk to you.’