House of Evidence(52)
December 26, 1918. O’Hara was kind enough to come in to the office and take over my assignments. I had finished briefing him on all matters by noon, and set off immediately for New York…
December 27, 1918. I bought a ticket on the first sailing to England. It is the Mauretania, leaving tomorrow morning. The ship is engaged in transporting American soldiers home from Europe, but they take civilian passengers on the return trip…
December 28, 1918. When Mauretania set off from harbor this morning, I realized that I was exhausted. I have not slept at all since I got the letter from Annie, but now I can relax. I am on my way to Southampton, and can rest in the knowledge that the ship will carry me safely and at full speed across the ocean…
December 29, 1918. Slept for the best part of the day…
December 30, 1918. Mauretania is 31,938 tons, 232 meters in length, and achieves a maximum speed of 25 knots, one of the fastest ships now sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. Launched on September 20, 1906, it is the sister ship of Lusitania, which perished in the war…
December 31, 1918. A new year is beginning. The passengers were not able to agree on which time zone to use for midnight, so we raised glasses to the New Year every hour all evening. My feeling is that this year will bring good fortune…
Hrefna climbed the stairs, heading straight for Jacob Junior’s office, according to the plan of the house they obtained for their investigations. She sat down at the desk and considered the neat rows of ring binders on the shelves, their contents labeled in block capitals:
FINANCE, ACCOUNTS
ACCOUNTS AND SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS 1972
ACCOUNTS AND SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS 1973
OTHER DATA
She pulled the records down and began leafing through the pages of the Finance, Accounts binder. Jacob Junior had kept very accurate books of the domestic finances, all double entry in separate debit and credit columns, and all written in pen with blue ink.
Expenses were divided into a number of categories: domestic running costs, house maintenance, food, clothing, entertainment, and so on. Income was split into two columns: salary and other income. Each page covered one month, and at the end of the month the columns were totaled and the balances carried forward to the next. Hrefna noted that Sveinborg’s name was a separate item, and that each month a sum was entered for her wages under “domestic running costs”; there were no entries, however, to indicate that she had been paid.
The debt was quite large by now, and it seemed that Sveinborg had not received any wages for nearly three years. Jacob’s salary from the bank was paltry; Hrefna would not have felt able to run her own home on that amount, and indeed it seemed to her that the expense items in Jacob Junior’s accounts were considerably higher than his salary. The difference was explained by the “creditors” category, which showed that a considerable debt had been accumulated. Who these creditors were was not specified.
She closed the accounts binder and opened the one labeled “Other Data,” which seemed to contain mainly letters and copies of letters. On top was a copy, made with blue carbon paper, of a typewritten letter to the mayor.
To: The Mayor, City of Reykjavik
Reykjavik, November 10, 1971
Sir,
With reference to our conversation in your office on last Tuesday, I am very keen for the City of Reykjavik to acquire the property Birkihlíd complete with all its contents. The objective would be to establish a museum of the life of a family of Reykjavik townsfolk during the first half of the century. I should like to invite you to send your representative to meet me and examine the house and to discuss the implementation of this arrangement.
Respectfully yours, Jacob Kieler Jr.
There followed another letter to the mayor:
Reykjavik, March 12, 1972
Sir,
Thank you for sending your representative from the city curator’s office to meet me and examine the property Birkihlíd and its contents, and to evaluate its conservation status. As he is able to testify, the house is already in a state fit for showing.
I appreciate fully that it is not easy to finance such an investment, but we owners will most certainly be agreeable in any negotiations. I am working toward an understanding that we offer you the house without payment of consideration, in return for the city assuming any unpaid current debts.
I am, subsequently, prepared to work in the museum as consultant in return for a small fee.
The present owners’ conditions for handing over the house would be as follows:
1. The City of Reykjavik will establish a museum to commemorate engineer Jacob Kieler, and operate it for a minimum of 99 years.
2. The museum shall be named “Engineer Jacob Kieler Museum.”