2012
‘I’m sorry to disturb you, Helgi.’
The woman on the phone didn’t introduce herself, but he recognized the slightly arrogant ring to her voice. Yet, in spite of that, he instinctively warmed to Lovísa.
‘You’re not disturbing me,’ he replied, then waited, hoping that there had been a development at last. That the author had knocked on the door of her friend, completely unaware that anyone had been searching for her.
‘I have a question, nothing major, but I felt I ought to check with you first.’
‘Of course. Go ahead.’
‘I’m going to the party of a mutual friend of Elín’s and mine, a lawyer who’s celebrating his seventieth birthday. Inevitably, there will be other friends and acquaintances…’
‘And you want to know if it’s all right to talk about what’s happened.’
‘That Elín’s missing, yes. There are bound to be questions if she doesn’t show up. Well, when she doesn’t show up. I’m not getting my hopes up that she’ll take us all by surprise.’
The news of Elín’s disappearance still hadn’t got out. It could only be a matter of a few more days, though. Either the story would be leaked or Helgi’s superiors in the police would decide to appeal to the public for help.
‘Let’s hold off on that for a while,’ Helgi said. ‘Can’t you say she’s—’
Lovísa interrupted: ‘I’ll say she’s ill. That’s the only explanation that could possibly work. Elín would never normally miss a friend’s seventieth birthday.’
‘Whose birthday is it?’
‘A lawyer called Baldur Baldursson. You may have heard of him. He’s having a big bash at his house. His parties are famous.’
Helgi recognized the name. Baldur had earned a good reputation as a lawyer and defence counsel. A distinguished and honourable man. He was exactly the sort of person Helgi would have expected Elín and Lovísa to know.
‘I’m sorry to ask you to lie, but…’
‘Don’t worry, Helgi. It’s a white lie that won’t hurt anyone. The main thing is that Elín comes home safe. We’re putting our faith in you.’
They said goodbye, but no sooner had Helgi rung off than he remembered the birthday card and envelope he had come across at Elín’s house. The tickets to the football game.
Could they have been intended as a present for Baldur? The fact that his seventieth was imminent would have come as no surprise to his friends and he had presumably sent out the invitations well in advance.
Distinguished and honourable, yes, that’s how Helgi pictured the lawyer, and it now occurred to him that it might be safe to confide in him about what had happened.
It wouldn’t take long to find the address, and after that Helgi intended to invite himself to the birthday party, armed with a card and gift.
Baldur Baldursson lived in a handsome detached house in picturesque Thingholt, in the old part of the city.
It was surrounded by a large garden, the branches of the stately trees now laden with snow.
The noise of the party carried out to the pavement, a roar of conversation interspersed with music, and the house appeared to be full of people.
A few guests were even standing outside in the icy wind, smoking.
Although Helgi wasn’t wearing a suit, he was neatly dressed. He strode confidently towards the front door. The key to success as a gatecrasher was never to hesitate but to behave as though you belonged there. He nodded politely to the smokers and received a few smiles in return.
Once he got inside he had trouble squeezing through the throng, hardly knowing where he should be heading, such was the crush.
He recognized the odd face here and there, but none of these people were part of his own social circle.
They were prominent society or media figures, including a few people from the arts world.
He hoped he would bump into the host before he saw Lovísa, as he didn’t relish the thought of having to explain his presence to her.
Helgi could never hope to own a home like this.
The house was very large, an old, established villa, with elegant, stylish furniture and priceless art on the walls.
All of a sudden, someone tapped a glass and a sort of silence spread gradually through the crowd, though not everyone stopped their gossiping.
A woman who must have been around the same age as the host took the floor.
‘I know the speeches are over, but we’re all aware that Baldur’s a huge fan of the band the Studmenn, and we’ve managed to twist Jakob Frímann’s arm to come and play a few songs on the piano, which I know we’ll all enjoy. So please put your hands together to welcome him.’
The musician sat down at the grand piano to applause from the guests, and it was then that Helgi spotted the man whose birthday it was.
Baldur squeezed through the crowd and took up position by the piano, as if intending to sing along.
He didn’t, but Helgi resigned himself to having to listen to three well-known hits by a band that had been formed before he was born, and one encore, followed by the inevitable ‘Happy Birthday’ at the end.
Helgi felt he didn’t belong here, and indeed he didn’t. After this brief glimpse into the world of the rich and famous, he doubted he would be interested in getting to know it any better.
In that instant he caught sight of Lovísa and saw that she had clocked him too.
Unable to hide a look of astonishment, she made a beeline for him.
She was holding a glass of champagne and, to his surprise, she managed to navigate through the room without spilling so much as a drop on the other guests.
‘Helgi? What on earth are you doing here? Were you looking for me? Have you found Elín?’ she said in a rush before he had a chance to answer.
He shook his head.
‘No, I just wanted to meet Baldur.’
‘Oh? Why?’
‘I’ve got something for him. Are you and your friends in the habit of giving each other expensive presents?’
‘No, not at all. I only brought flowers. Why do you ask?’
‘Could you introduce me to him?’
Lovísa looked a little flustered. The former judge had seemed much more self-assured the first time they met.
‘Er, yes, of course.’
She scanned the room.
‘There he is. Come on.’ The firmness had returned to her voice. Helgi got the feeling yet again that Lovísa wasn’t the type to let herself be disconcerted for long.
Baldur was tall, with thick grey hair and unusually large glasses. He wore a pale grey suit that appeared to be bespoke, and a dark blue tie.
‘Baldur, do you have a moment? There’s someone I’d like you to meet.’
Baldur looked at Lovísa, then at Helgi, and for a second Helgi was afraid the lawyer would misinterpret the situation and think that Lovísa was bringing her new toyboy to meet him.
But Lovísa quickly prevented any misunderstanding.
‘This is Helgi Reykdal, from the police. He was hoping for a quick word with you.’
‘From the police? Has something happened?’ Baldur studied Helgi owlishly through his outsize glasses.
‘Nothing serious,’ Helgi assured him, though it was a claim he couldn’t really justify. ‘Is there somewhere we could maybe have a quiet chat, just for a couple of minutes?’
‘Yes, of course.’
Baldur showed him the way, and at first it looked as if Lovísa meant to come too, but then she changed her mind.
‘My study is in here,’ Baldur said, opening a door and switching on the light.
Yet again the setting was very different from what Helgi was used to.
His late father used to have a study at home in Akureyri.
It had been lined with books, like Baldur’s study, but here somehow the effect seemed more contrived.
The shelves were made of beautiful wood, most of the books were leatherbound, the lighting was perfect, there was a handsome armchair and an antique desk, all in the same style.
‘Obviously, I have only a limited amount of time. Helgi Reykdal, is that right?’
‘Yes. It relates to your friend, Elín.’
‘Elín? Has something happened? She’s at home ill; she couldn’t come to my party.’
‘That’s the point. She’s not at home ill. May I talk to you in confidence?’
‘I’m a lawyer, my friend. My entire life is spent talking to people in confidence.’
‘Elín is missing.’
‘Missing?’
‘No one’s heard from her for nearly two weeks.’
‘Good grief. Is this true?’
‘I’m afraid so, yes,’ Helgi said. ‘Have you heard from her at all?’
‘No, it’s been a while. Of course, I was expecting her to be here this evening. Are the police looking for her? She hasn’t been reported missing, has she?’
‘Not yet, no.’
‘My goodness, I can hardly take this in. Is there any way I can be of help? Naturally, I’ll do everything in my power…’
Helgi drew the birthday card from his pocket.
‘I believe she was intending to give this to you. She hadn’t written anything in the card, but it was accompanied by a present.’
‘Oh?’
Helgi handed him the card.
The lawyer opened it to reveal the tickets.
‘Is that your team, Arsenal?’
‘Yes, yes, that’s right.’
‘Two tickets for a game next year. Very expensive tickets, from what I can see. Were you in the habit of giving each other expensive gifts? Or was there something more behind this?’
‘Good God, no, nothing like that. You mustn’t misunderstand…
’ Baldur paused to take a deep breath, then continued: ‘It wasn’t like that at all.
Elín and I are just friends. I believe she has only ever had friendships.
But the thing is, well… I’ve handled various matters for her, legal business, you know the sort of thing.
She had her two friends from the legal world, me and Lovísa.
But since Lovísa was a judge for many years, she wasn’t in a position to assist Elín with her routine affairs.
Naturally, it never entered my head to take payment from Elín for this assistance.
I’m not exactly short of money…’ He surveyed his surroundings as if to demonstrate his affluence by drawing attention to the immaculate walnut shelves and the tooled leather bindings of the books.
‘But Elín used to give me generous gifts. I couldn’t stop her.
So it’s more than likely that the tickets and card were intended for me.
Perhaps she got in touch with my wife to work out a suitable date when she bought the tickets. ’
‘What kind of affairs?’
At first Baldur didn’t seem to understand Helgi’s question, but after a moment he replied: ‘Ah, I see. I read over her contracts with foreign publishers, or the most important ones, at least. Naturally she had agents working for her in those days, but she liked to have someone look over the documents for her when large sums were involved. I drew up a will for her as well, and other things like that.’
‘When did she make a will?’
Baldur hesitated before answering.
‘Naturally, this conversation is confidential, as you mentioned. In which case, I feel there’s no harm in your knowing that a will exists – most people make one, after all…’
This was yet another illustration of their difference in outlook.
Perhaps most people made a will in Baldur’s world, in which people owned large houses in the exclusive Thingholt district, but such a thing had never crossed Helgi’s mind.
His father hadn’t made a will either, but then he had only left behind conventional worldly goods, such as a modest property with a mortgage – in addition to the bookshop and its priceless contents, of course.
Baldur hadn’t finished: ‘However, I’m not sure if it would be appropriate for you to have any further information at this point.’
‘So you can’t tell me who the beneficiaries are? We must be talking about quite a substantial legacy.’
‘I don’t have much information about that side of things, though of course she sold an awful lot of books in those twenty years and is no doubt still receiving royalties.
But bear in mind that, to the best of our knowledge, Elín is still alive.
Which makes this conversation rather premature, don’t you think? ’
‘We’re concerned about Elín’s safety, which makes it vital to get hold of all the information we can. I hope you understand that? I need to have a sense of the bigger picture.’
‘Would you allow me a little time to think it over, Helgi? But right now I need to show my face at my own birthday party. The news you’ve brought me is deeply concerning and I hope to goodness Elín is all right.
Could we meet tomorrow afternoon? By then I’ll have had a chance to consult my partners at the practice about just how far we feel we can go. ’
‘Of course. Thank you for being kind enough to give me your time. I apologize for barging in uninvited like this.’
‘No problem at all. Stay on if you’d like; there’s more than enough food and champagne.’
‘Thank you, but I’m afraid I must run.’
‘Can I keep the tickets? To the game?’
‘Er, well… yes, I suppose so…’ Helgi said. ‘Let’s hope you’ll have an opportunity to thank Elín in person before too long.’
‘I sincerely hope so,’ Baldur said warmly. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Shall we say at three?’
‘Great.’
Helgi paused on his way out of the door and glanced back over his shoulder.
The lawyer was standing very still by his desk, deep in thought. He appeared to have aged considerably on his birthday.
‘No crime novels?’ Helgi asked with a smile.
‘I’m sorry?’
‘Don’t you have any crime novels in your library?’
Baldur paused, then cast a glance at the surrounding books.
‘I prefer to read legal texts, but yes, Elín’s books are here.
All ten of them. I had them bound in leather so they would fit in better with the rest of my library.
I like to have everything tidy around me; nothing too jarringly conspicuous.
It’s best to live one’s life like that, I find, to merge into the crowd. ’