‘But what did she die from?’ Paneeraq wanted to know. ‘How did she die?’
‘I don’t know,’ Tupaarnaq said. ‘But she was dressed, and I don’t think that she had been beaten.’
Matthew glanced at Tupaarnaq.
Paneeraq slumped again. Her shoulders trembled. Tupaarnaq sat down next to her and pushed up her sleeves before putting her arms around Paneeraq.
Paneeraq looked up. ‘That jumper is far too big for you, child.’
Tupaarnaq smiled wistfully. ‘It’s Matthew’s—I borrowed it from him. My own clothes got wet.’
‘Oh, dear.’ Paneeraq straightened up and dried her eyes with her fingers. ‘Why don’t we go to my bedroom—I think I might have a jumper that would fit you.’
‘All right, let’s do that,’ Tupaarnaq said.
Matthew turned to Jakob. ‘Abelsen is finished. I have the notebook, the film reels and the fake expenses receipts, and then there’s Najak’s body.’
‘Did she really look the way you told Paneeraq?’
Matthew stared at the floor. ‘No.’
‘I didn’t think so.’
‘I hope they catch Abelsen and the Faroese who wants to kill you.’
‘All I ever did was hide the body, but he probably doesn’t care about that.’
‘It was Abelsen who said it. That he wanted to kill you.’
Jakob nodded and heaved a deep sigh. ‘We’ll have to wait and see.’ He looked up. ‘It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve sat waiting for an angry Faroese who wants me dead.’
‘No, but this time your odds are pretty poor.’ Matthew hesitated briefly. ‘Did you know that Karlo’s son lives here in Nuuk?’
Jakob looked at him in surprise. ‘No, I didn’t know that. I’m afraid Karlo himself is dead.’
‘Yes, but his son is a police officer. He’s the one who gave me your notebook.’
‘Aha—now I understand.’
‘I’ve been thinking that we should contact him and ask him to come over so he can hear everything firsthand.’
Jakob tapped the drum by the side of his armchair. ‘Karlo’s son. Yes… yes. Do it. Let’s do that.’
Matthew took out his mobile and texted Malik. He didn’t have Ottesen’s number, but asked Malik to contact Ottesen—and only him—and tell him that Matthew, Tupaarnaq and Jakob Pedersen were in Block 2 with Paneeraq and the notebook.
Malik replied immediately that he would get hold of Ottesen and tell him to come over.
‘There, that’s done,’ Matthew sighed. He slumped back on the sofa.
Tupaarnaq and Paneeraq returned to the living room. Tupaarnaq was now wearing full Greenlandic national costume.
‘Isn’t she beautiful?’ Paneeraq exclaimed in a bright and happy voice.
‘Oh, so that’s what you were up to,’ Jakob said.
‘I know it’s a bit too small,’ Paneeraq went on, ‘but when I showed Tupaarnaq my national costume, she said she’d never worn one.’
‘The boots are too tight,’ Tupaarnaq said shyly. ‘Apart from that, it’s all right, I think.’
‘You look amazing,’ Jakob said loudly. ‘Absolutely wonderful.’
Matthew stared at the young Inuit woman in the colourful, voluminous costume. The sturdy, beige leather boots with scalloped and patterned trimmings. The black sealskin trousers. The beautiful lilac shades of the cummerbund around the waist of her scarlet jacket. The glass bead shawl reaching from her neck down to her waist, covering her chest in a carpet of tiny beads sewn into fine, bright patterns.
His thoughts moved to her skin underneath it all. Her heavily tattooed body was now hidden beneath this explosion of colour and femininity. The contrast seemed infinite. If her hair had grown out in that very same moment, she would have looked like a completely different person. The costume reached up around her neck, where it ended in several overlapping collars. White, red and black.
‘I made it myself,’ Paneeraq said, still smiling. ‘And I’ve offered to make one for Tupaarnaq too, although it’ll be a West Greenland national costume for a girl from the east.’
‘But I can’t accept that,’ Tupaarnaq objected. ‘I told you, I know how expensive they are. So I’ve said no. Nor do I deserve it.’
‘Deserve it?’ Jakob exclaimed. ‘You deserve everything, child.’ He turned his attention to Matthew and pointed to a small, green-painted wooden box on the floor. ‘Please, would you take a look inside that chest?’
Matthew slid aside a small metal bolt and opened the lid. Lots of little stones, but also a few bigger ones, lay at the bottom. They looked like dusty red granite. Some were redder and shinier than others.
‘You can buy a lot of national costumes with that,’ Jakob said, grinning.
Matthew looked up at him. ‘Greenlandic rubies?’
‘Yes—I told you I collected rocks, didn’t I?’ He was still smiling from ear to ear. ‘In that chest you’ll find rubies and pink sapphires, my friend. I began collecting rocks up here long before everybody else. Mount Aappaluttoq. The name alone drew me to it—it means the red mountain.’
Matthew’s mobile buzzed in his pocket, so he closed the lid of the chest and took out his phone. It was a text message from Malik: I couldn’t get hold of Ottesen, but I got them to call him on the police radio, so now he knows to drive to your address.
Matthew shook his head, but before he could tell the others, there was a knock on the door. He jumped; he hadn’t had time to warn Tupaarnaq that Ottesen was coming. Now it was too late. Paneeraq was already making her way to the door, and Tupaarnaq was standing in the middle of the room, brightening it up in her national costume.
‘Tupaarnaq.’ Jakob’s voice cut through the chaos that was Matthew’s thoughts. ‘I’ve only ever had one friend I could trust, and today his son is a police officer here in Nuuk. I’ve asked him to come over because I want to tell him everything, and so that you and Matthew can be eliminated from this enquiry and left in peace. We have plenty to tell the police, and it will acquit you both of all charges. I hope you can find it in your heart to trust me today.’
She glowered at him, but then her gaze softened. ‘I’m not going back to prison.’
‘You won’t.’
At that moment they heard a scream from the front door, and then a bang as it was slammed shut. Another scream followed, but this time it was more strangled and suppressed.
Paneeraq was shoved into the living room. A hand holding a long knife was pressed up against her neck. The blade pushed so tightly against her throat that droplets of blood were running down the skin towards her collarbone.
‘Ulrik?’ Matthew exclaimed, staring at the angry young Greenlander. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’
‘Shut up,’ Ulrik hissed through white, strained lips. ‘I’ll cut her if you move.’ His gaze bored into Tupaarnaq, and he pulled out a bag of long, black strips from his pocket and tossed them onto the floor in front of Matthew. ‘Tie her hands behind her back.’
Matthew hesitated.
‘Fucking do it—or this old cow here is dead. Do you understand?’ He tightened his grip on the knife.
Paneeraq squirmed, but didn’t dare do anything other than whimper.
‘It’s all right,’ Tupaarnaq said. ‘Tie me up.’
Matthew moved towards her, and she placed her hands behind her back.
‘I want you to use three strips,’ Ulrik ordered him angrily. ‘Have you done it?’
Matthew tightened another two strips around Tupaarnaq’s wrists, then he nodded and straightened up.
In the meantime, Ulrik had tied a couple of strips around Paneeraq’s wrists. Now he pushed her towards the sofa and faced Matthew. ‘Turn around!’ Ulrik grabbed Matthew’s hands and had soon slipped a thin plastic strip so tightly around Matthew’s wrists that it cut into the skin. Then he turned his attention to Jakob. ‘Who are you?’