‘But dogs? They must have been used. Didn’t they find any trail?’
‘Yes, but it didn’t lead anywhere. The trail ended at Straumur Street, which is north of the Ártúnsbrekka area. There’s a large petrol station a short distance away and there was a huge amount of traffic heading out of town at the time. From what I understood, the exhaust from the cars ruined the scent for the tracker dogs. And it didn’t help that it started pouring with rain that evening.’
‘Could he have been kidnapped? If there was a lot of traffic it’s conceivable that he was grabbed by someone in a car. At the petrol station, perhaps.’
‘It’s not impossible, but that was also investigated in depth. There are numerous CCTV cameras at the petrol station and none of them showed anything suspicious. Of course they don’t cover the entire area, but they almost do, and they did show every single car that drove out of the station. The licence-plate numbers of all the cars that passed through there from approximately the time that Benni disappeared were taken down and their owners were contacted, but it led to nothing, just like everything else.’
Dagný looked at Freyr thoughtfully. ‘But he could still be alive. Couldn’t he?’
Freyr paused for a moment before answering. He knew that her intentions were good; to awaken some hope in his heart. But the reality was another thing. The most appalling scenario he could imagine was that his son was still alive in the hands of some monster, because no normal person would have taken an unknown child like that. Freyr had had enormous trouble accepting the most reasonable yet most unbearable conclusion – that Benni was dead. His ex-wife, Sara, was still struggling to accept their child’s fate, and was slowly but surely sinking deeper into a psychological quagmire. ‘No. He’s dead. Benni had congenital diabetes, type one. He couldn’t have survived for long without receiving insulin, since he was due to have an injection around an hour after he went missing. During the investigation they checked on whether any abnormal purchases of insulin had taken place. All the doctors and pharmacies were on alert, so I’m fairly certain that it was checked thoroughly, and nothing unusual came to light. The disease probably played a part in what happened; if Benni suffered insulin shock in his hiding place, down at the seaside or wherever he was, there’s no question of what the outcome would have been. Without any hope of assistance, he’d have gone into a coma.’ Freyr smiled dully at Dagný. ‘Although it might sound silly, that possibility gives me a tiny bit of consolation. It would have been a completely painless way to die.’
‘I understand.’ Dagný crossed her legs. ‘It’s devastating and you have my condolences. I’ve always meant to tell you that, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to. It’s not something I have any experience of – fortunately, I know.’
‘Thank you,’ Freyr replied sincerely. Sara felt that other people’s empathy was superficial, that no one could put themselves in her shoes and understand her feelings. Freyr was of a different opinion. For him, you didn’t need to go through hell yourself in order to sympathize with those who ended up there. ‘It’s all so terrible, but it’s getting better. The worst is behind me.’
‘Was the questioning a hard thing to go through?’ Dagný’s cheeks flushed and she added hurriedly: ‘I mean, was it more difficult for you than it needed to be? I’ve often wondered how people experience the police, whether we come across as colder than we really are.’
Freyr took a moment to think this over, since he’d never considered it. ‘God, I don’t know. I suppose the hardest thing to swallow was the fact that me and Sara, Benni’s mother, were the first suspects. Of course I understood that they couldn’t rule out any possibilities, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was incredibly painful while the investigation was going on.’
Dagný frowned. ‘It couldn’t have gone on for long. Did it?’
Freyr shook his head. ‘No, not really. I could prove that I’d been down at the hospital getting Benni’s medicine and running some errands, and Sara’s sister had been visiting her since that morning, helping to prepare a birthday party for their mother. Our stories were corroborated and we were treated much more kindly once we were no longer under suspicion.’ He smiled to show that he bore no ill will towards the police.
He didn’t know whether it was because she thought it inappropriate, but she didn’t return his smile before speaking again. ‘I suppose I should get to the business at hand.’ She placed a little salmon-coloured cardboard box on the table. ‘I’ve gathered evidence from the break-in at the preschool, and I’d appreciate it if you would look it over. I know I didn’t take it particularly well when you suggested looking into the older break-in at the primary school, but I changed my mind and had the old reports dug out.’ She cleared her throat, but politely. ‘There are striking similarities between the events, but you’ll see that yourself when you take a look at this. My supervisor has authorized me to hand over the files to you, considering that the break-in appears to display some kind of mental disturbance and wasn’t carried out for financial gain. Most of the material is photocopied, but of course you’ll make sure that it doesn’t get around.’
Freyr stared at the pink box. The colour seemed garishly at odds with the contents and he wondered who had chosen it. A large white sticky label had been fixed to the lid; it was crooked but its message was clear: The contents of this box are the possession of the Ísafjörður Police. Confidential. ‘What are you expecting from me? Am I meant to solve the case?’
Dagný huffed. ‘Not exactly.’ She looked down. ‘There’s more in the box. Evidence concerning Halla, the woman who committed suicide in Súðavík.’
‘Oh?’ Freyr pulled the box towards him. ‘Has anything come to light in her case? Do you think it’s possible it wasn’t suicide?’
‘No, there’s nothing to suggest that. But there are other things that raise questions.’
‘Questions are an inevitable by-product of suicides, but there are seldom any answers. For example, it surprised me that she chose the church in Súðavík and not a closer one, but I couldn’t work out why. I read on the Internet that the church was moved there from Hesteyri when the village was deserted, despite significant opposition from its former residents. It crossed my mind that those objections might have played a part in Halla’s choice of location, but we’ll never know one way or the other. Maybe she had some entirely different connection to Súðavík. Or possibly Hesteyri.’
Dagný said nothing and stared at the box. ‘That isn’t what was bothering me.’ Then she looked up and into his eyes. ‘Did this woman know you?’
‘What?’ Freyr hadn’t expected this and couldn’t hide his surprise. ‘Do you mean, was she a patient of mine? I would have said so when this came up.’
‘I didn’t necessarily mean that, but was she possibly connected to you or your ex-wife – was she related to you or something of that sort?’
‘No.’ Freyr knew that Dagný would eventually tell him what she was getting at, but nonetheless he couldn’t hide his impatience. ‘I’d never heard of this woman until the day before yesterday. Did her husband suggest otherwise? He didn’t mention a word of it to me.’
‘No, he says the same thing as you; he doesn’t think there’s any connection. I called him before coming here.’ She waited for Freyr to say something before continuing: ‘These two cases – the break-in and the suicide – also appear to be connected. However, it’s impossible for me to determine the connection. I want to say as little as possible, so I don’t negatively influence your own reading of the evidence.’