It was over, finished.
He took another swig from the bottle, almost draining it. He would have to get more.
He wanted to talk to the policeman again, to unburden himself. Not to run away. This time he would try not to run away.
36
There was no answer from Ebeneser when Sigurdur Óli rang the bell, then rapped on his door. He tried calling his name, to no avail, though Ebeneser’s jeep was parked in front of the house and Sigurdur Óli felt instinctively that he was at home. Next he tried the windows, peering first into the kitchen, which needed tidying, then going round the back of the house to the sitting-room window and squinting inside. Only after straining his eyes could he make out a man’s leg, then a head under a blanket. He banged on the windowpane till it rattled and saw Ebeneser stir, only to turn onto his side. The coffee table was littered with bottles and beer cans: Ebbi had been drowning his sorrows.
Sigurdur Óli banged on the glass again and shouted at Ebeneser, who regained consciousness by slow degrees. He struggled to work out where the noise was coming from but eventually he caught sight of the obnoxious policeman outside the window and sat up on the sofa. Sigurdur Óli went round to wait at the door of the house. Nothing happened. He lost patience, assuming that Ebeneser must have fallen asleep again, and started ringing the bell and thumping on the door.
After a considerable delay Ebeneser appeared, looking extremely rough.
‘What’s all this noise in aid of?’ he asked huskily.
‘Do you mind if I come in for a minute?’ said Sigurdur Óli. ‘It won’t take long.’
Ebeneser screwed up his eyes against the sunlight which was still bright, though it was getting late. He glanced at his watch, then back at Sigurdur Óli before inviting him in. Sigurdur Óli followed him into the sitting room where they both sat down.
‘Just look at this mess,’ Ebeneser remarked. ‘I haven’t …’ He searched for something to say that would justify the disorder and his own dishevelled state, but finding nothing satisfactory, he gave up the attempt. ‘I saw on the news that you’ve caught him,’ he said instead.
‘Yes, we’ve arrested the assailant,’ said Sigurdur Óli. ‘He gave us a motive but we can’t be certain what’s true and what’s not at this stage. That’s why I’m after additional information.’
‘What motive?’
‘The motive for his attack on Lína,’ Sigurdur Óli explained.
‘Oh. Who is he?’ Ebeneser was still half asleep.
‘His name’s Thórarinn. We know it was him who attacked her.’
‘She didn’t know anyone called Thórarinn,’ said Ebbi, picking up a can and giving it a hopeful shake. It was empty.
‘No, they didn’t know each other.’
Sigurdur Óli did not want to disclose too much about the investigation at this stage, so he gave him a brief summary of the latest developments, describing the circumstances in which Toggi had been located and stressing that, now that questioning was under way, it would be a good time to go over a few details. Ebeneser did not appear to be listening.
‘Perhaps you need more time to wake up,’ prompted Sigurdur Óli.
‘No,’ Ebbi replied. ‘It’s all right.’
‘It won’t take a moment,’ said Sigurdur Óli, hoping this was not too wide of the mark.
Ebeneser looked tired and haggard; his air of heavy numbness went beyond a simple hangover. It occurred to Sigurdur Óli that he might have been mistaken; that Lína’s death might in fact have had a much more serious impact on Ebbi than he had imagined, so he resolved to be polite and tactful, though neither was his forte. And it did not help that he had taken a dislike to the man, being unable to forget what Patrekur had said about Ebbi and Lína’s demented threats of exposure in the gutter press and on the Internet.
‘So what was his motive?’ asked Ebeneser. ‘The man you’re holding, I mean.’
‘A drugs debt,’ answered Sigurdur Óli. ‘I’ve been informed by other sources that you do drugs — that you and Lína were regular users — so, in our view, a drugs debt doesn’t seem implausible.’
Ebeneser eyed Sigurdur Óli.
‘We didn’t owe anyone,’ he said at last.
‘Thórarinn both deals and collects debts, though he’s managed to avoid any trouble with the law. He’s careful to keep a low profile and works as a van driver. What motive could a guy like that have for attacking Lína unless you owed him money? You tell me.’
Ebeneser sat in silence, mulling over the question.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I … Lína and I were recreational users, if I’m being honest, but we both worked hard and had the money for it. I don’t know this Thórarinn at all and I don’t believe Lína did either. I couldn’t say why he attacked her.’
‘All right,’ said Sigurdur Óli. ‘Say it’s not drugs, say it’s something else. What could it be? What else were you and Lína up to apart from taking drugs and blackmailing people?’
Ebeneser did not answer.
‘It’s obvious that you got on the wrong side of somebody. Who could it have been?’
Still nothing.
‘What are you scared of? Or should I say who are you scared of? Were you trying to blackmail someone else?’
‘Those pictures,’ said Ebeneser, after long reflection. ‘We hadn’t done anything like that before. Lína wanted to try it, to see what would happen. If it worked, we’d make a bit of money; if it didn’t, there’d be no harm done. I’m not trying to shift the blame on to her but the fact is that it was her idea and she was much more gung-ho than me. In the end, though, we didn’t make any use of the photos until the other day, when Lína saw her on TV.’
‘Hermann’s wife?’
‘Yes.’
‘So you sent them the photo?’ prompted Sigurdur Óli. This was the first time Ebeneser had admitted their involvement in blackmail.
‘Yes. Lína said she was going to be a big deal in politics, so she wanted to try it — just for a laugh.’
‘For a laugh? You’ve ruined the lives of two families! Lína got killed!’
Sigurdur Óli had spoken harshly, in anger, and realised too late that it was not his place to lose his temper. Finnur had warned him that there was no way he could remain detached.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said more gently. ‘But aren’t you just trying to pass the buck?’
‘Not at all,’ replied Ebeneser. ‘Lína was always coming up with wild ideas.’
‘What kind of ideas? Blackmail?’
‘No, just all kinds of insane ideas. But she never followed them through, except this one time.’
‘You’d know, would you?’
‘Yes, I’d know.’
‘You didn’t mind her sleeping with other men?’
‘It’s the way we wanted it,’ said Ebeneser. ‘She wasn’t bothered if I slept with other women. That’s just the way it was.’
‘And the wife-swapping?’
‘We’ve been doing that since we were at college. That’s when it started — when we got together. Somehow we just carried on.’
‘Did she tell you about the men she slept with?’
‘Sometimes, yes. Usually, I think.’
‘Did she sleep with anyone at work?’
‘Not as far as I know.’
‘Did you go with her on those corporate trips to the highlands?’
‘Usually. Lína persuaded her company to hire me to organise them. They knew I was a guide and arranged that sort of excursion, so when Lína said I could take care of the whole thing for them, they jumped at the chance. They were very satisfied with the results — the tours were a big success.’
‘Did you know the people who went?’
‘No, never.’
‘Were they bankers? Engineers? Foreign investors?’
‘Yes, that sort of type. Quite a few foreigners.’
‘I gather there was an accident,’ Sigurdur Óli said. ‘Someone went missing and wasn’t found for months. Do you recall anything about that?’