Someone to Watch Over Me Read online

  ‘Well, it would be good if you could try to remember,’ said Thóra, turning back to Lena. She had a feeling that she knew more about this Bjarki than she wanted to admit. Of course it was possible that she was genuinely unsure whether she’d met him and therefore wanted to say as little as possible. ‘Just keep thinking about it, would you? Sometimes once they’ve mulled it over, people remember a small detail.’

  Matthew spoke up for the first time since Lena had given up lying about what had happened at the residence when Friðleifur and Margeir were on duty. ‘How much did it cost per session?’ He shifted in his chair, which was far too small for a fully grown man.

  ‘I have no idea. They told me three thousand, but as I said to you just now, I didn’t know that it was something they did all the time. I actually thought it seemed a fair price. They could probably have charged much more – well, a bit more, anyway.’

  ‘And what exactly was included?’ It looked like Matthew hadn’t understood this fully, which was to be expected. Perhaps he thought he’d misheard – it wouldn’t have been the first time.

  ‘Well, I don’t know everything, of course – I can only say what they offered me and my friend.’

  ‘Which was?’ Matthew clearly wanted to get this sorted out.

  ‘She was given intravenous sugar water, on a drip. That, and oxygen.’

  ‘And she sobered up?’ Thóra asked, unable to hide her scepticism. Lena’s story was so different from everything she’d imagined that she found it nearly as difficult as Matthew to accept what the girl was saying.

  ‘Absolutely.’ Lena spread out her hands. ‘It was unbelievable, like magic. Maybe she didn’t sober up completely, but at least we could go downtown. She’d been totally wasted when we arrived and she certainly didn’t regret spending the money.’

  ‘So let me get this straight – you found out about this when Friðleifur mentioned it to you one morning?’

  ‘I might not have explained this well enough, but I used to sit with him in his office on Sunday mornings when Mum was with Tryggvi. When I asked him about the beer cans in the rubbish bin, he said he’d been helping a friend of his who’d needed to sober up. The guy who’d come with him had been drinking beer. Then he told me how he’d gone about helping him and invited me to drop by if I ever got into trouble. When my friend got completely smashed I decided to try it. Another friend of ours drove us.’ She seemed to be struggling to overcome her anger, but it still showed on her face. ‘That’s him in the photograph that was taken while my friend was on the oxygen, the one that ended up on Facebook. I still don’t understand how you found me there, because I untagged it.’ She saw that they weren’t going to answer this, so she continued: ‘It was a bit of a drag, because it took such a long time. Maybe that was why they didn’t charge more. He said he could also cure hangovers using the same method but he did that less often because they were only there during the night and early in the morning on the weekends. Most people are hungover when they wake up around noon, but maybe people needed to go to work in the morning or something.’

  ‘Where did this oxygen treatment take place, might I ask?’

  ‘Oh.’ Lena shut her eyes but opened them again immediately. Her face was scarlet. ‘God, I just wish I’d never gone there. And you know what the worst thing is in all of this? We’re not even friends any more. I’m in all this mess because of her.’

  Thóra and Matthew’s sympathy for the death of her friendship was limited. ‘Where did the oxygen treatment take place, Lena?’ repeated Thóra.

  The young woman’s cheeks turned even redder. She seemed to be aware that soon there would be no going back and she still believed she could persuade Thóra and Matthew to keep this information to themselves. ‘Inside one of the apartments, where there was an oxygen supply in the wall.’

  ‘An empty apartment?’

  ‘Uh … no. My …’ She looked angry again. ‘My ex friend went into Lísa’s apartment. I know because I saw Margeir go in with her and I knew exactly where each person lived.’

  ‘And Lísa had nothing to say about this, or what?’ Matthew didn’t know as much about the residents as Thóra did and he obviously didn’t remember what condition Lísa had been in.

  ‘She wasn’t conscious, so it didn’t matter to her.’ Lena didn’t look Thóra in the eye when she said this. ‘I don’t think.’

  ‘And did she sit in a chair during the treatment, this friend of yours?’ Thóra was virtually crossing her fingers in the hope that this had been the case.

  ‘I don’t know, but I would think so. I didn’t go in.’ The hot flush in Lena’s cheeks was nearly gone. ‘You’ve got to believe me that I regret this massively and I do know it wasn’t right. But it wasn’t me who was most in the wrong. It was Friðleifur and Margeir. It’s their fault.’

  ‘We’re not judging you, Lena. The only thing we’re interested in is whether Jakob is innocent. However, I must admit that I don’t quite understand why you wanted to meet Matthew and me. I’d have thought you’d want to avoid drawing attention to yourself.’

  Lena’s friends were closing their books and putting them into their rucksacks. Lena watched them but didn’t seem about to go anywhere. ‘I was hoping to find out how your investigation was going. Mum and Dad never tell me anything and I was afraid that you’d suspect Tryggvi; I actually just wanted to find out whether you thought he was in the frame. Then I was afraid that you’d found this out and that you’d make a big deal out of it. I just wanted to get an idea of what was going on.’

  ‘Why did you think that we would start suspecting Tryggvi?’ Thóra saw that Lena’s friends were just about to stand up; they turned round to try to make eye contact with her, but to no avail. ‘We don’t suspect any one person. Not yet.’

  ‘I was just worried. Maybe it wasn’t logical, but I was worried about Mum and Dad. They seemed really freaked out when this investigation started. I sort of confusedly connected it directly to Tryggvi; I got the feeling that they’d heard he was being investigated. I wanted to be involved and I thought I could get information from you. If I’ve wasted your time, I apologize. I wasn’t thinking clearly.’

  ‘You must have had some specific reason for believing your brother would end up under the microscope?’ As Thóra said this, Lena’s girlfriends stood up and appeared to be fussing about a bit with Lena’s stuff. Things were doubtless complicated by the fact that it wasn’t just her textbooks, but also a huge coat, a rucksack and a sports bag that she’d left with them. Thóra hoped that it would take them plenty of time to find what they were looking for so that she could get an answer to her question.

  Lena appeared to be thinking hard. ‘No, not really. As I said, it was my mum and dad’s reaction that stressed me out, not really anything to do with Tryggvi. They were acting so weirdly and I thought it was probably because of him. But now I think I know why they were behaving like that and it has nothing to do with Tryggvi or the fire.’

  ‘Might I ask what it does have to do with?’ Thóra spoke quickly because the girls had started to gather up Lena’s things. Lena’s expression grew fierce but her anger wasn’t directed at Thóra.

  ‘Yes, of course you can ask, it doesn’t matter to me,’ she said, although her expression suggested otherwise. ‘Dad has a mistress. Or at least I think he does.’

  ‘Oh?’ Thóra certainly hadn’t expected this. ‘I’m sorry to hear that, but it’s hardly relevant to the case, as you rightly said.’ She added cautiously: ‘Is he seeing a former employee of the residence, or someone at the Regional Office for the Disabled?’

  ‘No. A woman at work. She’s called Begga, I think.’

  So the woman whose formatting skills Einvarður missed was good at other things besides word processing. ‘How do you know this?’

  Only now did Lena appear to pay attention to her girlfriends, but she answered Thóra nonetheless. ‘I came across them arguing about her and they started acting all sad when they saw me.’ She did her best to appea
r detached and unconcerned about her parents’ marital troubles. Her friends, wide-eyed and curious, had nearly reached the table where they were sitting. Lena stopped talking and her friends stood awkwardly next to them.

  One of them said, ‘We didn’t know if you wanted this put in your folder, Lena, or just in the bag?’ She handed Thóra, who was between her and Lena, two sheets of paper stapled at the corner. It appeared to be an exam or some homework. On the front was a large red ‘9.7’, with a circle drawn around the score.

  Thóra held the papers out to Lena. As she did so she caught sight of the girl’s full name. ‘Is your full name Helena?’ She’d been an idiot. The cryptic text message she’d received before really had been meant for her: how did Helena get burned as a child?

  ‘Yes, why?’ Lena took the papers from Thóra’s hand.

  ‘I thought your name was Lena; I didn’t realize it was a nickname.’

  ‘No, no, my name is Helena, but I’ve always been called Lena.’ She stood up and her friend handed her her coat. ‘I’ve got to go now, I hope that you … you know, what I was talking about before. They don’t need to hear about this … you understand.’ These friends clearly weren’t her closest confidantes.

  ‘Could you possibly give us two minutes?’ Thóra directed her words at the two other girls who left immediately, telling Lena they were going out for a cigarette. Thóra turned back to Lena. ‘Do you have any scars? I know it might sound like a ridiculous question but someone told me you’d been burned, is that right?’

  Lena opened and shut her mouth like a dying fish on dry land.

  ‘What does that have to do with the case?’

  ‘Do you have any burn scars, Lena? It’s obvious what it has to do with the case.’

  ‘Who told you that? Whoever it was is a complete idiot. Okay, if you really want to know, I was burned on one leg.’ She lifted her trouser leg, revealing a shiny, whorled patch of skin that stretched up her calf and disappeared under the hem of the pulled-up fabric. Another customer’s eyes widened. Lena dropped the trouser leg down again irritably, unaware of his shock, although Thóra suspected that she wouldn’t have cared if she had seen him. ‘It happened when I was a kid, it’s not from starting the fire that night, if that’s what you’re thinking.’

  ‘What happened?’ asked Matthew calmly.

  ‘Tryggvi accidentally set some ornaments on fire one Christmas and I was too little and too stupid to get away when the fire spread.’ She turned angrily to Thóra. ‘Did you know that even Christmas ornaments can catch fire? I bet no one else who’s made that mistake is also suspected of having torched a community residence. But you can probably guess why I didn’t tell you about it. You would have jumped on Tryggvi even though he had nothing to do with the fire.’ She grabbed her bag and looked ready to storm out of the room, fire in her eyes. Thóra stood up quickly and took her by the shoulder.

  ‘Lena, trust me, the last thing we want is to free Jakob by pinning the guilt on another innocent person, alive or dead. Between you and me, I don’t believe that your brother did start this fire – in fact, I strongly suspect one of Margeir and Friðleifur’s night-time visitors. But I have to follow up on all leads, even though on closer inspection they might turn out to go nowhere.’

  Lena breathed deeply, looking very relieved. She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. ‘I understand. I’m just upset about this and about Mum and Dad. You touched a nerve. I hate my scar – I can never wear short dresses like other girls do and if I want to dress up it’s trousers or a long dress, which looks fucking lame. I do know it’s ridiculous to get so pissed off; I’ve seen enough serious injuries and disabilities to know that this is nothing.’

  Thóra squeezed Lena’s shoulder gently before letting go. ‘Do you know how I can get in touch with Margeir? The police need to speak to him regarding at least two serious matters, and I’m hoping he can shed some light on the cause of the fire at the same time. I have a hunch that he knows who started it.’

  ‘I have no idea where he is. I used to run into him in town sometimes after the fire but I haven’t seen him out for months. Maybe he’s left the country. Otherwise, someone told me he had a radio show, but I don’t know if that’s true or whether it’s still going. I think it was on a talk-radio station that I never listen to.’

  The police already had this information; she recalled them describing him as a radio host in their first enquiry. ‘I believe he did. OK, if you see him or hear from him, I advise you to behave as if everything is normal and then get away from him as quickly as possible. And you should inform the police about it immediately afterwards.’

  Lena frowned. ‘Why are the police looking for him?’

  ‘I promise to tell you once the police have completed their preliminary investigation. For now I don’t want to connect him to a case that might not have anything to do with him at all.’ Despite saying this, Thóra was convinced that Margeir had ties both to the death of the man at Nauthólsvík Beach and to the violence against Lísa and Ragna. Maybe he wasn’t the perpetrator, but he probably knew considerably more about these things than many others.

  During the news that same evening, Thóra’s mobile phone beeped. She grabbed it and saw that once again she’d received a message via ja.is. Instead of reading it immediately she called directory enquiries, requested the number at Sogn and then asked to be connected. Her call was answered on the fourth ring. Thóra asked the staff member to tell Jósteinn that she’d received his message. If he was uncertain about where Jósteinn might be, she considered it more than likely that he’d find him in the computer workshop. Then she hung up without giving the man an opportunity to ask any further questions about this peculiar errand. Thóra was pleased with herself, although her mother gave her a strange look, obviously feeling that she’d dealt rather rudely with a public institution. She read the message.

  Vesturlandsvegur Road, 8 December 2007

  Chapter 34

  Thursday, 21 January 2010

  ‘I don’t need a scientific explanation for how it works, Hannes, I just need to know whether there’s anything in it.’ Thóra rolled her eyes, safe in the knowledge that her ex-husband couldn’t see her on the other end of the line. She’d turned to him in his capacity as a doctor for clarification as to whether it were possible to reduce the effects of intoxication and hangovers through oxygen inhalation and intravenous nourishment. She found it all rather dubious and didn’t want to include it in her report if Lena’s claims turned out to be complete nonsense.

  ‘It does work, yes.’ Hannes sounded disappointed at not being allowed to continue bestowing on her the gift of his great wisdom. ‘Medical students do it sometimes, and other people who work in places with access to oxygen tanks. I don’t recommend it, especially if people have no idea what they’re doing.’

  ‘You knew about this when you were at medical school?’ Thóra couldn’t conceal her shock. ‘And you never said anything?’ If she hadn’t already been divorced from Hannes, she would have started divorce proceedings immediately. In the early years of their marriage, when they were both at university, she’d spent countless mornings wishing her head could be wrapped in cotton wool to alleviate her terrible hangovers.

  ‘Of course not. It never crossed my mind to do it. I was hardly going to drag you to a hospital and hide you in a linen cupboard with an IV stuck in one of your veins, hooked up to an oxygen tank. Very few people actually do this, and then hopefully only in moderation. It’s much healthier for the body to wrestle with the effects of alcohol on its own, be it intoxication or a hangover.’

  ‘You forgot to say that the healthiest thing of all is to drink sensibly.’ Thóra stopped the discussion by thanking him for the information and then briefly asking him about what they would do with the children during the imminent winter holiday. Neither of them had anything planned, so the only conclusion they came to was that they’d both have a think about it and discuss it some more later.

  Thóra was happy to h
ave got her facts straight. It looked as if her report would be finished shortly and it would be so watertight that it would be difficult for the Supreme Court to reject the petition. But she was still going to wait until the results of the DNA test on Bjarki Emil, the man who had been found at Nauthólsvík Beach, were made available, since she was certain that they would show in black and white that he’d been the one who’d abused Lísa. Ragna’s testimony was strong, but it would have to be verified nonetheless. Thóra’s happiness was slightly diluted by this: even if she managed to prove Bjarki Emil’s crime, it was unclear whether it would have any influence on the outcome of Jakob’s case. The relationship between the rapes and the fire was unclear. In order to succeed she would need to be able to demonstrate that Bjarki Emil or someone else had set the residence on fire, and explain why. This was easier said than done, however. Even before she had to divine their possible motives for starting the fire, there were very few potential suspects. She’d gone over the main files in the case once more, weighed up which of the individuals she’d had contact with were most likely to be guilty, but the result was always the same: none of them had had the opportunity to start the fire, unless the various people providing each individual’s alibi for the night in question were all lying.

  Einvarður and Fanndís had been at an annual ball in the countryside east of Reykjavík, along with a large crowd of fellow partygoers. Of course none of them had been questioned, but the idea that the couple could have lied about this had obviously been considered absurd. If it had transpired that nobody recalled seeing them during the relevant window of time, they could simply have claimed to have been in their hotel room. Could Einvarður’s peculiar behaviour be attributed to anxiety about concealing his part in the tragedy? For her part, Lena had been having a party at her place, and two stragglers – neither of whom had been named, but one male, one female – were both said to have been at Lena’s home when the police turned up later that night, and had verified the girl’s story.