Read Online Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Arnaldur Indriðason
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anything in the soil to suggest what happened or who is buried there. They think they'll have dug down to the torso late tomorrow afternoon or evening, but that doesn't mean we'll get any neat answers about who it is. Naturally, we'll have to search elsewhere for those."
"I've been looking up statistics on missing persons in the Reykjavik area," Sigurdur Óli said. "There are more than 40 disappearances from the '30s and '40s which remain unsolved to this day, and it's probably one of those. I've sorted the files by sex and age and I'm just waiting for the pathologist's report on the bones."
"Do you mean someone from the hill disappeared?" Erlendur asked.
"Not according to the addresses on the police reports," Sigurdur Óli said, "though I haven't been through them all. Some place names I don't recognise. When we've excavated the skeleton and got an accurate age, size and sex from the pathologist we can surely narrow the group down quite a bit. I expect it's someone from Reykjavik. Isn't that a reasonable assumption?"
"Where's the pathologist?" Erlendur asked. "The one pathologist we have."
"He's on holiday," Elínborg said. "In Spain."
"Did you check whether there was ever a house by those bushes?" Erlendur asked her.
"What house?" Sigurdur Óli asked.
"No, I haven't got round to it," Elínborg said. She looked at Sigurdur Óli. "Erlendur reckons there were houses on the north side of the hill and the British or American military had a base on the south side. He wants us to talk to everyone who owns a chalet in the area down from Reynisvatn and their grandmothers too and then I'm supposed to go to a seance and have a word with Churchill."
"And that's just for starters," Erlendur said. "What are your theories about the skeleton?"
"Isn't it obviously a murder?" Sigurdur Óli said. "Committed half a century ago or more. Hidden in the ground all that time and no one knows a thing."
"He, or rather, this person," Elínborg corrected herself, "was clearly buried to conceal a crime. I think we can take that as read."
"It's not true that no one knows a thing," Erlendur said. "There's always someone who knows something."
"We know the ribs are broken," Elínborg said. "That has to be a sign of a struggle."
"Does it?" Sigurdur Óli said.
"Well, doesn't it?"
"Can't being in the ground cause that?" Sigurdur Óli said. "The weight of the soil. Even temperature change. The freeze-thaw effect. I talked to that geologist you called in and he said something about that."
"There must have been a struggle because someone's been buried. That's obvious, isn't it?" Elínborg looked at Erlendur and saw that his thoughts were miles away. "Erlendur?" she said. "Don't you agree?"
"If it is a murder," said Erlendur, coming back to earth.
"If it's a murder?" Elínborg asked.
"We know nothing about that," Erlendur said. "Maybe it's an old family burial plot. Maybe they couldn't afford a funeral. Maybe it's the bones of some old bloke who popped off and was buried there with everyone's knowledge. Maybe the body was put there a hundred years ago. Maybe 50. What we still need is a decent lead. Then we can waffle as much as we like."
"Isn't it the law that you have to bury people in hallowed ground?" Sigurdur Óli said.
"I think you can have yourself buried where you please," Erlendur said, "if someone's prepared to have you in their garden."
"What about the hand sticking up out of the ground?" Elínborg said. "Isn't that a sign of a struggle?"
"It seems to be," Erlendur said, "I think something's been kept secret all these years. Someone was hustled away and never supposed to be found. But then Reykjavík caught up with him and now it's up to us to find out what happened."
"If he . . . let's just say him, the Millennium Man . . ." Sigurdur Óli said, "if he was murdered all those years ago, isn't it a pretty safe bet that the murderer has died of old age by now? And if he's not dead already he'll have one foot in the grave, so it's ridiculous to track him down
"I've been looking up statistics on missing persons in the Reykjavik area," Sigurdur Óli said. "There are more than 40 disappearances from the '30s and '40s which remain unsolved to this day, and it's probably one of those. I've sorted the files by sex and age and I'm just waiting for the pathologist's report on the bones."
"Do you mean someone from the hill disappeared?" Erlendur asked.
"Not according to the addresses on the police reports," Sigurdur Óli said, "though I haven't been through them all. Some place names I don't recognise. When we've excavated the skeleton and got an accurate age, size and sex from the pathologist we can surely narrow the group down quite a bit. I expect it's someone from Reykjavik. Isn't that a reasonable assumption?"
"Where's the pathologist?" Erlendur asked. "The one pathologist we have."
"He's on holiday," Elínborg said. "In Spain."
"Did you check whether there was ever a house by those bushes?" Erlendur asked her.
"What house?" Sigurdur Óli asked.
"No, I haven't got round to it," Elínborg said. She looked at Sigurdur Óli. "Erlendur reckons there were houses on the north side of the hill and the British or American military had a base on the south side. He wants us to talk to everyone who owns a chalet in the area down from Reynisvatn and their grandmothers too and then I'm supposed to go to a seance and have a word with Churchill."
"And that's just for starters," Erlendur said. "What are your theories about the skeleton?"
"Isn't it obviously a murder?" Sigurdur Óli said. "Committed half a century ago or more. Hidden in the ground all that time and no one knows a thing."
"He, or rather, this person," Elínborg corrected herself, "was clearly buried to conceal a crime. I think we can take that as read."
"It's not true that no one knows a thing," Erlendur said. "There's always someone who knows something."
"We know the ribs are broken," Elínborg said. "That has to be a sign of a struggle."
"Does it?" Sigurdur Óli said.
"Well, doesn't it?"
"Can't being in the ground cause that?" Sigurdur Óli said. "The weight of the soil. Even temperature change. The freeze-thaw effect. I talked to that geologist you called in and he said something about that."
"There must have been a struggle because someone's been buried. That's obvious, isn't it?" Elínborg looked at Erlendur and saw that his thoughts were miles away. "Erlendur?" she said. "Don't you agree?"
"If it is a murder," said Erlendur, coming back to earth.
"If it's a murder?" Elínborg asked.
"We know nothing about that," Erlendur said. "Maybe it's an old family burial plot. Maybe they couldn't afford a funeral. Maybe it's the bones of some old bloke who popped off and was buried there with everyone's knowledge. Maybe the body was put there a hundred years ago. Maybe 50. What we still need is a decent lead. Then we can waffle as much as we like."
"Isn't it the law that you have to bury people in hallowed ground?" Sigurdur Óli said.
"I think you can have yourself buried where you please," Erlendur said, "if someone's prepared to have you in their garden."
"What about the hand sticking up out of the ground?" Elínborg said. "Isn't that a sign of a struggle?"
"It seems to be," Erlendur said, "I think something's been kept secret all these years. Someone was hustled away and never supposed to be found. But then Reykjavík caught up with him and now it's up to us to find out what happened."
"If he . . . let's just say him, the Millennium Man . . ." Sigurdur Óli said, "if he was murdered all those years ago, isn't it a pretty safe bet that the murderer has died of old age by now? And if he's not dead already he'll have one foot in the grave, so it's ridiculous to track him down
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