House of Evidence(56)
“Well, we suspected so. Some of the British officers carried guns like that, and they lost a few, but it was impossible to lay hands on suitable ammunition after the British army left.”
“So you never found a gun like it at all?”
“Yes, a couple, but they had no ammunition, proving they were not involved. One was broken, and the other belonged to a member of parliament who shall remain nameless.” Andrés helped himself to some more snuff. “I really hope it can be sorted now,” he added. “This case has often kept me awake at night.”
Diary V
January 9, 1919. Wrote to my parents with the news of my engagement. They will probably be very surprised, as they still don’t know that I am now in England…
January 12, 1919. I rented a room in a decent house on Halford Street. It is within easy walking distance of the Chatfield family home…
January 15, 1919. With the help of Mr. Chatfield, I am now employed by Mr. James Leslie’s engineering firm here in the city. Mr. Leslie specializes in civil engineering, so I shall not be involved in railway engineering in the immediate future. This will, however, be good experience, since it is by no means certain that I shall always be able to find work building railroads in Iceland, and it will then be good to be able to work on other projects…
January 17, 1919. Elizabeth and I take long walks round the city, when the weather allows. This morning she showed me Jewry Wall, which was built by the Romans. We have also looked at St. Martin’s Cathedral, where we are planning to get married this coming summer…
March 5, 1919. Had a long talk with Mr. Chatfield about my and Elizabeth’s financial arrangements. He will provide a dowry in the form of a trust fund that will be available to us subject to specific conditions. In return he wants me to take out a life insurance policy for myself…
March 6, 1919. Mr. Leslie has been instructing me on how to design drainage systems. He is a clever engineer and a good teacher, but what a tedious subject this is…
March 23, 1919. Went to meet the agent at the life insurance company. He said that the medical had gone well, and that I have a clean bill of health. He read to me the whole of the life insurance policy document, and gravely reminded me that the policy would be invalid if I were to take my own life. I promised to remember this. There is a lot of money at stake…
April 4, 1919. Had a letter from my parents. They will be attending the wedding this summer…
It was nearing six o’clock when the investigative team convened at the Borgartún headquarters.
“This country would be in far better shape if we had a king. Then there’d be someone to look up to,” Egill said, in regards to the magazine article Hrefna had found about the German royal candidate and was passing around.
Nobody else seemed to agree with his comment, and Halldór moved on to the more pressing point. “We must check Matthías’s reaction to these allegations; they might be relevant to the case.” Then he peered beseechingly at Hrefna and asked, “Would you be prepared to go and talk to him right away?”
Hrefna agreed, despite the late hour. She was keen to get to know Matthías Kieler firsthand anyway.
“We also need to speak to this historian tomorrow,” he continued. “He has shown a lot of interest in all this.” Hrefna understood that she was to take this on as well.
Jóhann had found the teenage girl who delivered Morgunbladid to Birkihlíd; she had not noticed anything unusual when she delivered the paper there on Thursday morning. Her winter boots had fit perfectly into the plastic cast Jóhann had made of the footprints in the snow.
Egill and Marteinn had not yet found the left-handed guitarist, but they planned on continuing the search that evening.
Diary V
June 15, 1919. Today is our wedding day. The ceremony at St. Martin’s was very well conducted. Afterwards our photograph was taken before the church doors. There was a large reception at the Chatfield family home…My father made an admirable best man, and my mother had tears in her eyes. Elizabeth and I are on our way to London for our honeymoon…
July 1, 1919. Elizabeth and I moved into a small apartment on Elmfield Avenue. We shall be living here for the coming year, but have decided to move to Iceland next summer…
July 23, 1919. Mr. Chatfield wants to lend Elizabeth and me his new automobile in order for us to travel during our summer holiday…
August 2, 1919. Drove through Dorset in the late afternoon and arrived at the hotel at five o’clock. We rested until supper time…
August 4, 1919. This morning Elizabeth and I climbed Bulbarrow Hill. The view from there is wonderful. There are countless variations of green as far as the eye can see, small meadows broken up between windbreaks…