“I really need you to tell me the rest of the story, Bjarki,” Gunna said, keeping her voice soft and taking a seat next to him. She saw with alarm how wretched he looked and watched as he twisted his fingers constantly. “What really happened at that meeting the three of you had the night before Svana died?”
“We had an argument,” Bjarki said eventually. “It wasn’t very pleasant.”
He fell silent and looked down at his fingers, pale against the dark wool blanket. “Svana wanted to end it. Jónas Valur and Bjartmar didn’t care.”
“The meeting?” Gunna prodded.
“We had all been getting these threats and demands. I don’t know how whoever it was knew who we were. But it was worst for me and for Hallur. We both had so much to lose, especially Hallur with his career in Parliament just starting.”
His hands trembled and his eyes stared out at her. “I’m sure you couldn’t understand how distressing it all was. Jónas Valur is a hard man. He said he didn’t care about publicity, but if we were concerned, then we should do something about it. He called Bjartmar in the States and told him what he’d told us, that it was our problem, mine and Hallur’s. Jónas Valur is divorced. Bjartmar was estranged from his wife anyway. Such a shame, a lovely young woman.” His dry voice fell silent as he reached for a glass of water that shook and threatened to spill as he lifted it to his lips and sipped.
“So Jónas Valur said that it was your problem-yours and Hallur’s?”
“Yes. That was it.”
“What did you decide to do?”
A look of discomfort passed over Bjarki’s face, and Gunna wondered if he was going to cry again.
“Hallur said he would talk to Svana.”
“To reach a settlement?”
“Yes,” he whispered. “Hallur thought the demands were coming from Svana and some journalist he said had been sniffing around her. I told him I didn’t believe it.”
“When was this?”
“I saw him.”
“You saw Hallur when?”
Bjarki gulped and his eyes misted over.
“The day she died,” he said with an effort. “It was the day she died. I was there in the morning to …”
He paused and swallowed, reaching for the water glass again. “I was there in the morning. I never stayed overnight with Svana. We met mostly during the day. Often we’d meet at her flat in the mornings for a few hours, when it was easiest for me to get away from the office. We’d have breakfast and then …”
“And the day she died?”
“I left her flat around eleven. She was still in bed and said she was going to sleep for another hour before going back to the gym. I went to the bakery on the corner to get some pastries to take back to the office, and I saw Hallur go into the building.”
His eyes focused on something far distant, outside the little room. “Did Hallur tell you what happened?”
Bjarki Steinsson snapped back to reality and he looked up at Gunna with desperation in his eyes. “He told me that they’d argued. Svana denied anything to do with trying to blackmail anyone. He said they had a furious argument … That’s all he’d say.”
His voice tailed off and he twisted the fingers of one hand frantically in the other as the doctor looked at Gunna and pursed his lips in concern.
“And what happened?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I can’t be sure. But Hallur can have a terrible temper sometimes.” He paused. “I think it was Hallur. I know it was. He lost his temper and I think he hit her without knowing what he was doing.” He lapsed into silence. After a few moments his shoulders began to shake until he finally drew breath and leaned back to stare at the ceiling.
“I think that’s going to have to be enough,” the doctor decided, pressing a button on the wall to summon a nurse.
“Gunnhildur. I came to see you a couple of times before. Do you remember?”
They were outside in the hospital’s grounds, enjoying some unexpected sunshine that had finally bullied its way through the last of the inkblot clouds. Hallur stared down at his hands, which were fiddling with a tattered magazine. Gunna could see a deep frown furrowing his brow. His face cleared and he shook his head as if trying to dislodge something stuck in his mind.
“I’m not sure, but I think so …”
“I want to ask you about a friend of yours. Her name’s Svana. What can you tell me about her?”
This time Hallur’s face lit up, then rapidly darkened. “Svana …”
“When did you last see Svana?”
“I don’t remember,” he said finally. “Before I came here.”
“Do you recall going to her flat?”
Hallur nodded slowly with a thoughtful look on his face.
“I used to visit her sometimes,” he said, and grinned to himself.
“But you don’t remember having an argument with her?”
He looked blankly back at Gunna. “With Svana? No. I don’t think so.”
“What did you do when you went to visit Svana?”
“We had a lot of fun.”
“What sort of fun?”
“You know,” he replied with a sly smile. “Bedroom fun.”
Gunna took a few paces forward and Hallur followed. “I want you to think back very carefully. Do you remember anything of the day you were injured?”
“I was at home and then I was here.”
“Do you remember what you were doing that day?”
“Stuff at home, I think. Nothing special.”