Read Online Tainted Blood by Arnaldur Indridason - Free Book Online Page B

her inside. He didn't know whether she was sleeping or stoned. He lay her down on the sofa in the sitting room. Her breathing was regular. Her pulse seemed normal. He looked at her for a good while and wondered what to do. Most of all he wanted to put her in the bath. She gave off a stench, her hands were dirty and her hair matted with filth.
    "Where have you been?" Erlendur whispered to himself.
    He sat down in the chair beside her, still wearing his hat and coat, and thought about his daughter until he fell into a deep sleep.
    He didn't want to wake up when Eva Lind shook him the next morning. Tried to hold on to the snatches of dreams that aroused the same discomfort within him as the one of the night before. He knew this was the same dream, but couldn't manage to fix it in his mind any more than last time, couldn't get a handle on it. All that remained was a lingering discomfort.
    It was not yet 8 a.m. and it was still pitch dark outside. As far as Erlendur could tell the rain and autumn winds still hadn't let up. To his astonishment he smelled coffee from the kitchen and steam as if someone had been in the bath. He noticed Eva Lind was wearing one of his shirts and some old jeans that she tied tight around her thin waist with a belt. She was barefoot and clean.
    "You were on good form last night," he said, and immediately regretted it. Then he thought that he should have given up being considerate towards her long ago.
    "I've made a decision," Eva Lind said, walking into the kitchen. "I'm going to make you a grandfather. Grandad Erlendur."
    "So were you having your final fling last night, or what?"
    "Is it okay for me to stay here for a while, just until I find somewhere new?"
    "For all I care."
    He sat down at the kitchen table with her and sipped the coffee that she'd poured into a cup for him.
    "And how did you reach this conclusion?"
    "Just did."
    "Just did?"
    "Can I stay with you or not?"
    "As long as you want. You know that."
    "Will you stop asking me questions? Stop those interrogations of yours. It's like you're always at work."
    "I am always at work."
    "Have you found the girl from Gardabaer?"
    "No. It's not a priority case. I talked to her husband yesterday. He doesn't know anything. The girl left a note saying 'He's a monster what have I done?'"
    "Someone must have been dissing her at the party."
    "Dissing?" said Erlendur. "Is that a word?"
    "What can you do to a bride at a wedding to make her do a runner?"
    "I don't know," Erlendur said without interest. "My hunch is that the groom was touching up the bridesmaids and she saw him. I'm glad you're going to have the baby. Maybe it'll help you out of this vicious circle. It's about time."
    He paused. "Strange how perky you are after the state you were in yesterday," he said eventually.
    He phrased this as cautiously as he could, but he also knew that, under normal circumstances, Eva Lind shouldn't be shining like a summer's day, fresh out of the bath, making coffee and acting as if she'd never done anything but look after her father. She looked at him and he saw her weighing up the options and waited for her speech, waited for her to leap to her feet and give him a piece of her mind. She didn't.
    "I brought some pills with me," she said very calmly. "It doesn't happen of its own accord. And not overnight. It happens slowly, over a long time, but it's the way I want to do it."
    "And the baby?"
    "It won't be harmed by what I use. I don't plan to harm the baby. I'm going to have it."
    "What do you know about the effect that dope has on an embryo?"
    "I know."
    "Have it your own way. Take something, bring yourself down or whatever you call it, stay here in the flat, have a good think about yourself. I can ..."
    "No," Eva Lind said. "Don't you do anything. You go on with your life and stop spying on me. Don't think about what I'm doing. If I'm not here when you come home, it doesn't matter. If I come home late or don't come back to the flat at all, then don't interfere.