Read Online Oblivion by Arnaldur Indridason - Free Book Online

apologetically as she came back, nodding towards the girl who appeared to Erlendur to be already casting around for a new victim.
    ‘Yes, she’s quite something,’ said Marion. ‘We’ve talked to your brother’s neighbours. They speak well of him. Say he was quiet. They weren’t aware of many visitors. There was an elderly man living opposite him on the third floor –’
    ‘Yes, Jóhann,’ said Nanna.
    ‘You know him?’
    ‘I’ve seen him about. Kristvin had a lot of time for him.’
    ‘Jóhann obviously felt the same. He told us your brother was very kind; used to carry his groceries upstairs for him and would always ask if he needed anything when he was going out to the shops himself. He mended the old man’s kitchen sink for him.’
    ‘They got on well. Kristvin told me Jóhann found it tough at times, living on the third floor.’
    ‘I take it your brother moved there when he came home from America?’
    Nanna nodded. ‘He stayed with me for a while to begin with, but then he found this flat on the top floor of a block without a lift, in the back of beyond. The cheapest place he could find. He took out a mortgage. Owed a lot on his student loan as well.’
    ‘But he had a good job,’ Erlendur chipped in.
    ‘Yes, he was on a decent wage once he started work at the airport.’
    ‘Was he involved in smuggling?’
    ‘Smuggling?’
    Nanna was momentarily flustered, but quickly realised that this was the intention.
    ‘We found various items in his flat that we have reason to believe came from the naval base,’ said Erlendur. ‘Cigarettes, beer and vodka.
    ‘Oh, that. I don’t know if any of it was smuggled – yes, probably. It was mostly for his own use but he sometimes gave me some. I asked him to buy me stuff from time to time – gave him the money. You can get it dirt cheap down there compared to the prices at the state off-licence, and of course you can’t get beer here.’
    ‘And the dope?’ said Marion.
    ‘Dope?’
    ‘We found cannabis in his flat. Marijuana.’
    ‘Oh, the grass,’ said Nanna. ‘Was it in the freezer?’
    ‘Was he dealing in drugs from his flat?’
    ‘No, he wasn’t. Not drugs. Occasionally beer and vodka. Jóhann bought some, for example. And one or two other people he knew.’
    ‘Any idea who they were?’ asked Marion.
    ‘Is it important?’
    ‘Could be.’
    ‘Were you aware he used drugs?’ asked Erlendur.
    ‘Yes, of course. We both did. Mostly me, though.’
    ‘You?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘What …?’
    ‘It helps with the pain.’
    ‘What pain?’ asked Erlendur.
    Nanna looked at them searchingly.
    ‘You must have noticed the wig.’
    They didn’t react.
    ‘This here.’ She pointed to her head. ‘Do you think I wear it for fun?’
    They still didn’t say anything.
    ‘I have cancer,’ said Nanna. ‘It’s not long since I finished the second lot of chemotherapy and they say it went well but they can’t promise anything. Just like the first time. Kristvin’s grass helped – it made me feel less sick during the treatment. When he was in America he’d read that marijuana can help cancer patients, so he thought it was worth giving it a try.’
    ‘Did he get it from the base?’ asked Marion.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Shouldn’t you have told us this yesterday?’
    ‘I was going to but then we … we went to the morgue … I thought I’d die before him, you know. Because of the cancer. Then … then I didn’t hear from him and suddenly … suddenly he’s dead. In this horrible way.’
    ‘You shouldn’t be at work,’ said Marion, taking Nanna’s hand. ‘Can’t we drive you home? You really shouldn’t be here. Isn’t there anyone who can come and keep you company?’
    The little girl was still wreaking havoc. This time she destroyed a sandcastle that two other children had taken great pains over, and they burst into tears. Another helper ran over and grabbed the girl by the scruff of her neck when she tried to make off. Nanna went to comfort the