Outrage (23 page)

‘I don’t remember that at all.’

‘She was a student at the college.’

Edvard offered no response.

‘Lilja disappeared on a Friday, a day when you got off early and drove back to Reykjavik. You finished at midday, apparently. You weren’t asked at the time - but
did
you go straight back to Reykjavik? That lunchtime?’

‘Are you alleging that I killed both that girl
and
Runolfur? What’s the matter with you?’

‘I’m not alleging anything,’ Elinborg replied. ‘Answer the question, please.’

‘I don’t see why I should answer such ridiculous questions,’ Edvard retorted. He was pulling himself together, trying to show that he would not be bullied.

‘That’s up to you. I have to ask these questions. You can answer now, or you can answer later. Did you see Lilja in Akranes that Friday, when you left for Reykjavik?’

‘No.’

‘Did you offer her a lift to town?’

‘No.’

‘Do you know anything about Lilja’s movements that Friday?’

‘No. Please leave now. I’ve no more to say to you. I don’t know why you won’t leave me in peace. I knew Runolfur, that’s all. He was a good friend of mine. Does that make me a guilty party in all these cases of yours?’

‘You made contact with a known drug dealer and bought drugs for Runolfur.’

‘So what? Does that make me a killer?’

‘That’s your word, not mine.’

‘Why do you keep coming here? It’s not my word at all!’

‘I haven’t said anything about you harming either of them,’ said Elinborg. ‘You’re the one who keeps going on about it. I’m simply asking you whether you gave Lilja a lift into Reykjavik on the day she disappeared. Nothing else. You had a car. You commuted by car. You knew who Lilja was, having taught her. Are my questions at all unreasonable?’

Edvard did not answer.

Elinborg stood up and put her phone away in her pocket. Edvard was not going to be a problem. He seemed more taken aback than anything else, and came across as edgy and neurotic by nature. Elinborg could not decide whether he was lying.

‘Lilja may well have gone to Reykjavik that day, and disappeared there,’ she said. ‘That’s one possibility. I thought you might know something about her movements. I haven’t been implying anything about your role in her disappearance. You’ve drawn your own inferences.’

‘You’re just trying to confuse me.’

‘You taught Lilja science - you said she wasn’t an outstanding student.’

‘That’s right.’

‘Her mother says that she was especially good at science, and that maths was her favourite subject.’

‘Is this relevant?’

‘If she was a good student, then you might have noticed.’

Edvard was silent.

‘But you kept quiet after she disappeared - you probably didn’t want to attract attention from the police.’

‘Leave me alone,’ said Edvard.

‘Thank you for your help,’ said Elinborg.

‘Leave me alone,’ repeated Edvard. ‘Just leave me alone.’

24

Formal questioning of Konrad and Nina began early the following morning.

Elinborg was in charge. Nina was brought first into the interview room where the detective was waiting. Her father would be questioned afterwards. The young woman appeared composed when she greeted Elinborg. She had been to the rape-trauma centre for tests and had been offered counselling.

‘Did you manage to sleep?’ asked Elinborg.

‘Yes, a bit. The first time for days,’ answered Nina, who was accompanied by her lawyer, a middle-aged man. ‘How about you? How did you sleep?’ she asked sarcastically. ‘My father didn’t do anything wrong, you know. He just came to help me. He’s innocent.’

‘I hope so,’ replied Elinborg. She did not add that she had indeed slept well, having taken a sleeping pill. She did so very rarely, and only as a last resort since she disliked using any kind of medication. But she had slept badly for several nights in a row and had been struggling to work on minimal rest. She knew that she could not go on like that, so when she lay down in bed she had placed a little tablet under her tongue - and slept blissfully until morning.

As before, Elinborg started by taking Nina through the events leading up to her encounter with Runolfur. Nina’s account was entirely consistent with what she had said previously. She spoke clearly and confidently, as if she was finally prepared to deal with everything that had happened, her present situation, and the court case that lay ahead. She seemed less depressed than the day before, as if the half-remembered nightmare, the denial and the fear had given way at last to a reality that had to be confronted.

‘When your father - Konrad - came to help you, as you said, how did he get into the flat?’ asked Elinborg.

‘I don’t know. I think the door was open, or unlocked. He just appeared.’

‘You didn’t let him in?’

‘No, I didn’t. I don’t think so. I don’t remember. I was caught up in this horrific experience. I’m sure he can tell you how he got in.’

Elinborg nodded. According to Konrad, the door had been ajar when he arrived. ‘Perhaps you’d got out of bed before he arrived, and opened it?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘Maybe you intended to run away, and changed your mind when you got to the door?’

‘It’s possible. I remember I found my mobile and rang Dad.’

‘Do you think it was Runolfur who opened the door?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Nina, raising her voice. ‘I swear, I can hardly remember anything that happened. He’d drugged me - with a drug that affects the memory. What do you want me to say? I can’t remember anything!’

‘Do you think you might have managed to ring your father before Runolfur was dead? Perhaps your father defended you by attacking Runolfur?’

‘No.’

‘How can you be sure?’

‘I told you: I woke up alone in the flat, and went into the other room, and there was Runolfur lying on the floor. That’s when I rang Dad. Why won’t you believe me? That’s all I remember. I must have attacked Runolfur and …’

‘There’s not much evidence of a struggle in the flat,’ Elinborg pointed out. ‘The murder was neat and tidy, so to speak - except for all the blood, of course. So you would have had to creep up on him and slash his throat quite skilfully. Do you think you’d have been capable of that?’

‘Maybe. If I’d had no alternative, if I’d had to defend myself. If I’d been drugged.’

‘But there was no blood on you, according to your mother.’

‘I don’t remember anything about that. I took a shower when we got home, although that’s not clear in my mind either.’

‘After you got to Runolfur’s place, did you see him drink anything - or take any pills?’

‘I seem to be saying the same thing over and over again. I don’t remember arriving there. I remember a little bit about walking home with him, and my next memory is of coming to in his bed.’

‘Did you give him Rohypnol before he died? So that it would be easier to kill him?’

Nina shook her head in confusion, as if she did not understand the question.

‘Did I give him …?’

‘We know that before he died he’d taken the same drug he used on you. The Rohypnol would have made him incapable of defending himself. So there’s something you’re not telling us. Something you’re still concealing. Maybe you’re covering for your father - or perhaps for someone else? But you’re still hiding behind your parents and playing games with us. I think you’re covering for your father. Am I right?’

‘I didn’t drug that man. I’m not covering for anyone.’

‘When you came out of the bedroom and saw Runolfur’s body you didn’t call the police. Why not?’

‘I told you.’

‘Was it to conceal what your father had done?’

‘No. There’s nothing to conceal. He didn’t do anything.’

‘But …’

‘You can’t think that Dad killed him,’ Nina protested anxiously. ‘Dad could never do a thing like that. Never. You don’t know him, what he’s been through, ever since he was a boy.’

‘You mean the polio?’

Nina nodded. Elinborg remained silent.

‘I shouldn’t have rung him,’ said Nina. ‘If I’d known he would be a suspect, I never would have.’

‘So can you explain to me more clearly why you and your father didn’t call the police?’

‘I was ashamed,’ Nina said. ‘Ashamed of being there. Of having gone there, having no memory of it, and waking up naked in a strange bed. Of being raped. I knew at once what he’d done to me. I felt … I felt humiliated. I didn’t want anyone to know. It was just so disgusting. I saw the condom on the floor, imagined what people might say. What if I’d come on to him? Was it somehow all my fault? Had I brought this on myself, brought it on my family? When I saw him dead on the floor, I think I went mad for a moment. I don’t know that I can describe it any better than that. I was scared - scared of what I had seen, and scared of the shame. I could hardly force myself to tell my own father what I was doing there, alone and naked with a complete stranger. How could I tell the police?’

‘There’s no shame in being raped. It’s the rapist who is shamed,’ said Elinborg.

‘I understand them better now,’ mumbled Nina. ‘God, how well I understand them.’

‘Them?’

‘The victims. I think I appreciate now what they go through. You hear about these rapes but there are so many horrors on the news that you tune them out, including the rapes. Now I know that behind every news story about rape there’s a revolting experience like mine. They’re women like me, women who’ve suffered horrific violence. And those men! What kind of beasts are they? I …’

‘What?’

‘I know I shouldn’t be saying this, and especially not to you. Especially not here, in this place. But I don’t care. When I think of what he did to me, it just makes me so angry. How he treated me. Drugged me and then raped me!’

‘What is it that you’re trying to say?’

‘And the sentences they’re given! It’s an outrage. The legal system doesn’t punish the bastards - it pats them on the back.’ Nina took a deep breath. ‘Sometimes …’ She struggled to suppress her tears. ‘There are times when I’d like to remember cutting his throat.’

About an hour later it was Konrad’s turn. Like his daughter, he was calm to start with, sitting in the interview room with his lawyer. He was tired, remarking that he had not slept at all. His wife had taken on the unenviable task of telling their son in San Francisco about the misfortunes that had overtaken his family. Konrad was worried about his daughter.

‘How is Nina?’ were the first words out of his mouth.

‘She’s not happy, of course,’ said Elinborg. ‘We want to get this over with as quickly as possible.’

‘I don’t understand how you could possibly think I was involved in the man’s death. I know I said that I would rather it had been me and not my daughter that killed him. But any father in my position would say that. I imagine you’d say the same yourself.’

‘This isn’t about me,’ Elinborg replied.

‘I hope you’re not taking what I said as some kind of confession.’

‘Why didn’t you call the police when you saw what had happened at Runolfur’s home?’

‘It was a mistake,’ said Konrad. ‘I know that. We could never have gone on concealing the truth. We realised that almost at once. I know it’s hard for you to understand, but put yourself in our shoes. I felt that Nina had been through enough, and I thought it would be all right so long as you - the police - didn’t know about her. They’d met at a bar that evening. She hadn’t told anyone where she was or who she was with. I did my best to take all her things away but I missed the shawl.’

‘Can we discuss how you got into Runolfur’s flat? I’m not clear about that.’

‘I simply walked in. The door was not quite closed. Nina probably opened the door - she was expecting me. We might have talked about it on the phone as I made my way over - how I was to get in. I’m not quite sure.’

‘She doesn’t remember, either.’

‘Well, the state she was in - and I wasn’t much better myself. I had the impression he’d been burning something, that man. I noticed a smell like that.’

‘Burning?’

‘Or … do you know if he had any paraffin around the place?’

‘Paraffin?’

‘You didn’t find any paraffin there?’

‘No. Nothing like that.’

‘Didn’t anyone notice a smell? A sort of paraffin smell?’

‘We didn’t find any paraffin,’ said Elinborg. ‘There was nothing of that sort in the flat.’

‘Well, there was a smell of paraffin when I got there,’ said Konrad.

‘There was nothing to indicate that he’d been burning anything except for some tea-light candles, that was all. What did you and your daughter do with the knife?’

‘What knife?’

‘The one your daughter used to kill Runolfur.’

‘She didn’t have any knife when I arrived. I gave no thought to it. She must have got rid of it somehow, during all the commotion.’

‘How do you shave? What do you use? An electric shaver? Safety razor? Straight razor?’

‘I use a safety razor.’

‘Do you own a straight razor?’

‘No.’

‘Have you ever owned one?’

Konrad thought about it.

‘We’ve got a warrant to search your home,’ said Elinborg. ‘And your daughter’s.’

‘I’ve never owned a straight razor,’ said Konrad. ‘I don’t even know how to use one. Is that what was used to kill him? A razor?’

‘There’s another thing that puzzles us,’ said Elinborg. ‘Your daughter, Nina, claims to have attacked Runolfur, although she has no memory of doing so. She says it’s the only possible explanation. So far as she knows, the two of them were alone in the flat. Do you think she could subdue a man like Runolfur on her own? Especially if he’d drugged her, and she was incapacitated?’

Konrad considered the question. ‘I’m well aware of the state she was in,’ he said.

‘She might have been capable of it, if she was in fact fully conscious and acted quickly and quietly, and took Runolfur by surprise,’ said Elinborg. ‘But first she would have had to get hold of the weapon. She had to be prepared.’

‘I suppose.’

‘Was she?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Was she prepared, when she went home with Runolfur?’

‘How could she have been prepared? She didn’t know the man. What are you talking about?’