House of Evidence(28)

“What?” the old man said.

“Familiar and not familiar,” the woman said. “The Kielers don’t pretend to be familiar with just anybody. Who is dead?”

“His name is Jacob Kieler.”

“What?” the old man said.

“Well,” said the woman, “that’s good news.”

“Excuse me?” Egill said. “That’s good news?”

“Yes, he was a stuck-up so-and-so.”

“Had you any complaints about him?”

“What?” said the old man, turning to the woman. “What’s that man saying?”

“Might it be a good idea to turn down the radio?” Egill asked.

“Complaints about him!” the woman said, ignoring both the old man and the radio. “He’s done nothing but grouch, ever since he was a boy. He says that trash comes blowing over from our garden, but he burns scrap wood in the fireplace and doesn’t give a damn about the smoke drifting over our way. He was on the roof the day before yesterday, pretending to fix the chimney.”

“What, doing what?” asked the old man.

Egill tried to write but couldn’t see anything in the gloom.

“He also complains about our tenants. Says they park in the spot in front of his house,” the old woman continued. “It’s not as if he even owns a car himself.”

“Would it be possible to put the light on in here?” Egill asked.

The woman pretended not to hear, and continued, “That lot thought highly enough of themselves, and then the master himself ends up shot like a dog.”

“How do you know he was shot?” Egill asked suspiciously.

“Yes, well, they thought they could keep things under wraps, but there’s more to life than meets the eye.”

Egill wasn’t sure what to make of this reply; he found it difficult to think in this darkness and noise, so he just wrote SUSPICIOUS in large letters in his notebook.

“Did you see anyone out and about near Birkihlíd last night? At around midnight, say?” he asked.

“Around midnight? No, we go to bed at nine thirty on the dot. We won’t have any noise in the house after that,” the old woman said.

Egill gave up, but he underlined SUSPICIOUS twice, and he and the policeman took their leave.

“What did that man want?” he heard the old man say as the door closed behind them.

The top-floor apartment was accessed from inside the house. They were received by a man in his fifties who did not invite them in, but came out onto the landing and closed the door behind him. He wore a thick sweater with a jacket on top, and Egill noticed that he was not wearing shoes, just socks with a hole in one heel. He told the man who they were, and that they were investigating a death.

“Did you notice anything unusual last night?” he asked.

“Maybe, maybe not,” the man replied.

“Which means?” Egill asked, opening his notebook.

“What is unusual and what is not unusual?”

“Anything that’s not usual,” replied Egill impatiently.

“I see,” said the man.

“What happened yesterday that was unusual?” Egill said more firmly, moving to the side so that his uniformed colleague could be better seen.

“I went for a walk during the night, and the lights were on in the downstairs rooms in Birkihlíd.”

Egill brightened. “Is that unusual?”

“It is certainly not usual,” the man replied.

“Why were you going for a walk at that time?”

“I work as a night security guard at the docks. I sometimes find it difficult to get my sleep patterns back on my days off. So I go for walks.”

“How frequently does this happen?” Egill asked.

“It varies. Sometimes every night but then not for weeks. The landlady complains if I move about in the apartment at night.”

“So you noticed that the lights were on?”

“Yes, because it’s very rare that the lights are on in the reception rooms in that house. They seem to mainly live upstairs,” the man said.

“What time was this exactly?” Egill said.

“I walked round the neighborhood in a big loop, but returned home when it began snowing, just after one thirty. That’s when I saw the lights on.”

“Did you see anybody else during your walk?”

“Not here in the street, no.”

Very suspicious, Egill wrote in his notebook.



Diary III


July 25, 1914. The newspapers report disputes between the Austrians and the Serbs. People seem to think it will end in armed conflict. I am designing a 20-meter-long railroad bridge with two parallel tracks…


July 27, 1914. It is being reported that hostilities have broken out between Austria and Serbia. Kaiser Wilhelm is hurrying back to Germany from Norway. People here in Berlin are very worried about an impending war…