‘Why do you think that?’

‘I just got that impression.’

‘So her suicide was…?’

‘Her search for answers. I think. I know I shouldn’t talk like this but from my knowledge of her over the last few years I could well believe that she was quite simply searching for answers.’

When Erlendur was back in his car, driving away from the church, his mobile phone rang. It was Sigurdur Óli. Erlendur had asked him to run a check on María’s mobile phone and Baldvin had willingly given his consent. In the days leading up to her death she had been in contact with people about her academic work, with Karen about the holiday cottage and with her husband, both at the hospital and on his mobile.

‘Her last call from the mobile was made the evening she hanged herself,’ Sigurdur Óli said, without beating about the bush.

‘What time was that?’

‘At twenty to nine.’

‘So she must have been alive then?’

‘Apparently. The call lasted ten minutes.’

‘Her husband said she called him from the cottage that evening.’

‘What are you thinking?’ Sigurdur Óli asked.

‘What do you mean?’

‘What is it with this case? The woman killed herself; is there any more to it than that?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Do you realise you’re investigating it as if it was murder?’

‘No, I’m not,’ Erlendur said. ‘I don’t think she was murdered. I want to know why she committed suicide, that’s all there is to it.’

‘What’s it to you?’

‘Nothing,’ Erlendur said. ‘Absolutely nothing.’

‘I thought you were only interested in missing-person cases.’

‘Suicide is a missing-person case too,’ Erlendur said and hung up on him.

The medium greeted María at the door and invited her in, They had a lengthy chat before the seance proper began, Magdalena made a good impression on María, She was warm and understanding and solicitous, just as Andersen had been, but María found it different talking to a woman, She wasn’t as shy with Magdalena, And it seemed that Magdalena’s psychic powers were stronger, She was more receptive, knew more, could see more and further than Andersen.

They sat down in the living room and Magdalena gradually eased them into the seance proper, María took in little of the flat or its furnishings, Baldvin had obtained the number from his colleague at the hospital and she had immediately called Magdalena who said she could meet her straight away, María received the impression that the psychic lived alone.

‘I sense a strong presence,’ Magdalena said, She closed her eyes and opened them again, ‘A woman has made contact,’ she continued, ‘Ingibjörg, Does that sound familiar?’

‘My grandmother’s name was Ingibjörg,’ María said, ‘She died a long time ago.’

‘She’s very distant. You weren’t close.’

‘No, I hardly knew her, She was my father’s mother.’

‘She’s terribly sad.’

‘Yes.’

‘She says it wasn’t your fault what happened.’

‘No.’

‘She’s talking about an accident,’ Magdalena said.

‘Yes.’

‘There’s water, Someone who drowned.’

‘Yes.’

‘A tragic accident, the old woman says.’

‘Yes.’

‘Are you familiar with… There’s a painting, is it a painting of water? It’s a picture of Lake Thingvallavatn, Does that sound familiar?’

‘Yes.’

‘Thank you, There’s… there’s a man who… It’s unclear, a picture or painting… There’s a woman who calls herself Lovísa, does that ring any bells?’

‘Yes.’

‘She’s related to you.’

‘Yes.’

‘Thank you, She’s young… I… hardly more than twenty.’

‘Yes.’

‘She’s smiling. There’s so much light around her. There’s a radiance around her. She’s smiling. She says that Leonóra’s with her and is content.’

‘Yes.’

‘She says you’re not to worry… She says Leonóra’s feeling wonderful, She says…’

‘Yes?’

‘She says she’s looking forward to seeing you again.’

‘Yes.’

‘She wants you to know that she’s happy, It’ll be wonderful when you come, Wonderful.’

‘Yes?’

‘She says you mustn’t be afraid, She says you’re not to worry, Everything will be fine, Whatever you do, She says that whatever you decide to do… it’ll… she says it’ll turn out well, You mustn’t worry, Everything will turn out fine.’

‘Yes.’

‘There’s a beautiful aura around this woman, She… There’s a radiance coming from her… She’s telling you… are you familiar with… there’s a writer?’

‘Yes.’

‘A French writer?’

‘Yes.’

‘She’s smiling, It’s… the woman with her… she’s… she says she’s feeling better now, All the… all the pain…’

Magdalena squeezed her eyes shut.

‘They’re fading… ’

She opened her eyes but it took her a while to recover her bearings.

‘Was… was that all right?’ she asked.

María nodded.

‘Yes,’ she said quietly, ‘Thank you.’

When María got home she told Baldvin what had happened at the seance, She was in an emotional state, declaring that she had not expected such unequivocal messages and was surprised at who had made contact during the seance, She hadn’t thought about her maternal grandmother since she was a little girl and she had only ever heard people talk about her great-aunt Lovísa, She was her maternal grandmother’s sister, who had died young of typhoid fever.

María had difficulty getting to sleep that night, She was alone in the house because Baldvin had had to pop down to the hospital and the autumn wind was howling outside.

Finally she managed to drop off.

She started awake a moment later at the sound of the garden gate banging against the fence, It was pouring with rain, She listened to the banging of the gate and knew it would keep her awake.

Getting out of bed, she put on her dressing gown and slippers and went into the kitchen, There was a back door to the garden that opened on to the sun deck they’d added on a few years ago, She tied the belt of her dressing gown tightly around her and opened the door, As she did so she smelled a strong smell of cigar smoke in the air.

She stepped cautiously on to the sun deck, feeling the cold rain stinging her face.

Has Baldvin been smoking? she wondered.

She saw the gate banging but instead of hurrying to close it and running back inside she stood as if frozen to the spot, staring into the darkness of the garden, She saw a man standing there, drenched from head to foot: a heavily built figure with a paunch and a deathly white face, The water was pouring off him and he opened his mouth and closed it several times as if trying to gasp for air before shouting at her:

‘Be careful!… You don’t know what you’re doing!’

22

The medium Andersen was suspicious and unwilling to disclose any information over the phone, refusing even to believe that Erlendur was from the police. Erlendur recognised his voice immediately from the recording. The man said that if Erlendur wanted to talk to him he would have to make an appointment like anyone else. Erlendur objected that his business wouldn’t take long and wasn’t anything very important, but the man would not budge.

‘Are you going to charge me?’ Erlendur asked at the end of the phone call.

‘We’ll see,’ the man said.

One evening not long afterwards Erlendur rang a bell on the entryphone panel of a block of flats in the Vogar neighbourhood and asked to speak to Andersen.

The medium buzzed him in and Erlendur climbed slowly up to the second-floor landing where Andersen was waiting. They shook hands and the man showed him into the sitting room. As he entered the flat Erlendur was met by the faint aroma of incense and by soothing music flowing from invisible speakers.

Erlendur had postponed this visit until he felt it could no longer be avoided. He had no particular interest in the work of psychics or their ability to make contact with the dead, and was afraid this might lead to unpleasantness. He was determined to behave himself, however, and hoped that the medium Andersen would do the same.