A psychopathic sadist, Erlendur said to himself.
The warders took up positions by the door and Ellidi went over to the table where he sat facing Erlendur and Sigurdur Oli. He sized them up with his grey, dull eyes, totally uninterested.
"Did you know a man called Holberg?" Erlendur asked.
Ellidi showed no response. Pretended he hadn't heard the question. He looked at Erlendur and Sigurdur Oli in turn with the same dull eyes. The warders spoke together in quiet voices by the door. Shouting could be heard from somewhere in the building. A door being slammed. Erlendur repeated his question, his words echoing around the empty hall. "Holberg! Do you remember him?"
Still he got no response from Ellidi, who looked aimlessly around the room, as though they weren't there. Some time elapsed in silence. Erlendur and Sigurdur Oli looked at one another and Erlendur asked the question a third time. Had he known Holberg, what was their relationship? Holberg was dead. Found murdered.
Ellidi's interest was aroused on hearing the last word. He put his stout arms on the table, rattling the handcuffs, unable to conceal his surprise. He looked inquisitively at Erlendur.
"Holberg was murdered at his home last week end," Erlendur said. "We're talking to the people who knew him at various times and it seems the two of you were acquainted."
Ellidi had begun staring at Sigurdur Oli, who stared back. He didn't answer Erlendur.
"It's a routine …"
"I won't talk to you with these handcuffs on," Ellidi said suddenly, not taking his eyes off Sigurdur Oli. His voice was hoarse, rough and provocative. Erlendur thought for a moment, then stood up and went over to the two warders. He explained Ellidi's demand and asked whether his handcuffs could be removed. They hesitated, but then went over to him, undid the handcuffs and took up their posts at the door again.
"What can you tell us about Holberg?" Erlendur asked.
"They leave first," Ellidi said, nodding at the warders.
"Out of the question," Erlendur said.
"Are you a fucking poofter?" Ellidi asked, his gaze still fixed on Sigurdur Oli.
"Don't give us any of that crap," Erlendur said. Sigurdur Oli didn't answer him. They looked each other in the eye.
"Nothing's out of the question," Ellidi said. "Don't you go telling me anything's out of the question."
"They're not leaving," Erlendur said.
"Are you a poofter?" Ellidi said again, still staring at Sigurdur Oli, who showed no reaction.
They remained silent for a while. Eventually Erlendur stood up, went over to the two warders, repeated what Ellidi had said and asked if there was any chance of being left alone with him. The warders said that was impossible, they had orders not to leave the prisoner unattended. After some wrangling they let Erlendur talk to the governor over a two-way radio. Erlendur said it didn't make much difference which side of the door the warders stood, he and Sigurdur Oli had come all the way from Reykjavik and the prisoner was showing a degree of willingness to cooperate if certain conditions could be met. The governor talked to his men and said he'd take personal responsibility for the safety of the two detectives. The warders stepped outside and Erlendur went back to the table and sat down.
"Will you talk to us now?" he asked.
"I didn't know Holberg had been murdered," Ellidi said. "Those fascists put me in solitary for some shit I didn't do. How was he killed?" Ellidi was still glaring at Sigurdur Oli.
"None of your business," Erlendur said.
"My dad said I was the most curious bastard on earth. He was always saying that. None of your business. None of your business! He's dead. Was he stabbed? Was Holberg stabbed?"
"That's none of your business."
"None of my business!" Ellidi repeated and looked at Erlandur. "Fuck off then."
Erlendur thought for a moment. No-one outside the CID knew the details of the case. He was getting fed up with having to concede everything to this character.
"He was hit over the head. His skull was smashed. He died almost instantly."
"Was it a hammer?"
"An ashtray."
Ellidi slowly turned his gaze from Erlendur back to Sigurdur Oli.
"What kind of a wanker uses an ashtray?" he said. Erlendur noticed tiny beads of sweat forming on Sigurdur Oli's brow.
"That's what we're trying to find out," Erlendur said. "Have you been in touch with Holberg?"
"Did he suffer?"
"No."
"The jerk."
"Do you remember Gretar?" Erlendur asked. "He was with you and Holberg in Keflavik."
"Grear?"
"Do you remember him?"
"What are you asking about him for?" Ellidi said. "What about him?"
"I understand Gretar went missing many years ago," Erlendur said. "Do you know anything about his disappearance?"
"What should I know about it?" Ellidi said. "What makes you think I know anything about it?"
"What were the three of you — you, Gretar and Holberg — doing in Keflavik …"
"Gretar was nuts," Ellidi said, interrupting Erlendur.
"What were you doing in Kefiavik when …"
"… he raped that pussy?" Ellidi cut in.
"What did you say?" Erlendur asked.
"Is that what you came here for? To ask about that pussy from Keflavik?"
"So you remember it?"
"What's that got to do with it?"
"I never said …"
"Holberg liked talking about it. Boasted. Got away with it. He did her twice, did you know that?" Ellidi said this bluntly and looked at them in turn.
"Are you talking about the rape in Keflavik?"
"What colour panties are you wearing, sweetie?" Ellidi turned on Sigurdur Oli, staring at him again. Erlendur looked at his colleague, whose eyes remained fixed on Ellidi.
"You watch your bloody mouth," Erlendur said.
"He asked her. Holberg. Asked about her panties. He was even madder than me." Ellidi giggled. "And they send me to the nick!"
"Who did he ask about the panties?"
"The chick from Keflavik."
"Did he tell you about it?"
"All the details," Ellidi said. "He was always talking about it. Anyway, what are you asking about Keflavik for? What's Keflavik got to do with it? And why are you asking about Gritar now? I don't get it."
"Just our boring routine work," Erlendur said.
"Right, so what do I get out of it?"
"You've got everything you want. We're sitting alone here with you and your handcuffs are off. We have to listen to your filth. There's nothing else we can do for you. Either you answer the question now or we leave."
He couldn't resist the temptation. Reaching across the table he grabbed Ellidi's face in his strong hands and turned him towards him.
"Didn't your father ever tell you it's rude to stare?" he said. Sigurdur Oli looked at Erlendur.
"I can handle him. It's okay," he said.
Erlendur released his grip on Ellidi's face.
"How did you know Holberg?" he asked. Ellidi rubbed his jaw. He knew he'd just scored a minor victory. And he wasn't stopping there.
"Don't think I don't remember you," he said to Erlendur. "Don't think I don't know who you are. Don't think I don't know Eva."
Erlendur stared at the prisoner, thunderstruck. This wasn't the first time he'd heard this kind of thing from criminals, but he was never any less ill-prepared for it. He didn't know exactly who Eva Lind associated with but some of them were convicts, drug dealers, burglars, prostitutes, heavies. It was a long list. She'd been in trouble with the law herself. Once she was arrested after a tip-off from a parent for selling drugs at a school. She could easily know a man like Ellidi. A man like Ellidi could easily know her.
"How did you know Holberg?" Erlendur repeated.
"Eva's all right," Ellidi said. Erlendur could read countless meanings into his words.
"If you mention her again, we're gone," he said. "And then you won't have anyone to play
with."
"Cigarettes, a telly in the cell, no fucking slavery and no more fucking solitary. Is that asking too much? Can't two supercops set that up? And it'd be nice to get a tart in here once a month or so. His chick for example," he said, pointing at Sigurdur Oli
Erlendur stood up and Sigurdur Oli slowly rose to his feet. Ellidi started to laugh. A hoarse laugh that seethed inside him, progressed to a loud gurgling and culminated in him coughing up some yellow phlegm which he spat on the floor. They turned away from him and walked towards the door.
"He talked to me a lot about that rape in Keflavik!" he shouted after them. "Told me all about her. How that pussy squealed like a stuck pig and what he whispered in her ear while he waited to get it back up. Do you want to hear what that was? Do you want to hear what he said to her?! Fucking wankers! Do you want to hear what it was?!"
Erlendur and Sigurdur Oli stopped. They turned to see Ellidi shaking his head at them, foaming at the mouth and shrieking curses and oaths. He was on his feet, his hands on the table, leaning over it, stretching his big head in their direction and bellowing at them like a raging bull.
The hall door opened and the two warders stepped inside.
"He told her about the other one!" Ellidi screamed. "He told her what he did to the other fucking pussy he raped!"
14
When Ellidi saw the warders he went berserk. He leapt over the table, ran at the four men, screaming, and threw himself at them. He landed on top of Erlendur and Sigurdur Oli and they were both slammed to the ground before they could do a thing. He headbutted Sigurdur Oli, the blood spurted from both men's noses and his fist was raised to punch Erlendur's defenceless face when one of the warders took out a little black device and gave him an electric shock in his side. This slowed Ellidi down, but it didn't stop him. He raised his arm again. It was only when the other warder gave him a second electric shock that he slumped down and fell on top of Erlendur and Sigurdur Oli.
They crawled out from underneath him. Sigurdur Oli held a handkerchief to his nose to try to stop the bleeding. Ellidi was given a third electric shock and was finally still. The warders handcuffed him and, with great difficulty, lifted him up. They were going to take him out but Erlendur asked them to wait a moment. He went up to Ellidi.
"Which other one?" he asked.
Ellidi showed no reaction.
"Which other one that he raped?" Erlendur repeated.
Ellidi tried to smile, dazed by the electric shock, and a grimace moved across his face. Blood had run from his nose down into his mouth and his false teeth were bloody. Erlendur tried to conceal the eagerness in his voice, as if he couldn't care less what Ellidi knew. He tried not to make himself vulnerable. Tried not to show any expression. He knew that the slightest weakness made the heart of men like Ellidi pound, turned them into real men, gave them a purpose in their pitiful illusion of life. The slightest deviation would be enough. An eager tone in his voice, a sign in his eyes, a movement of his hands, a hint of impatience. Ellidi had managed to throw him off balance when he mentioned Eva Lind. Erlendur wasn't going to give him the pleasure of grovelling now.
They looked each other in the eye.
"Take him out," Erlendur said and turned away from Ellidi. The warders were about to lead the prisoner away but he stiffened and wouldn't budge when they tried to move him. He took a good, long look at Erlendur as if mulling something over, but eventually he gave in and allowed himself to be led from the room. Sigurdur Oli was still trying to stop the bleeding. His nose was swollen and his handkerchief was dripping with blood.
"That's a nasty nosebleed," Erlendur said and examined Sigurdur Oli's nose. "Nothing else though, nothing serious. There are no cuts and your nose isn't broken." He pinched it tight and Sigurdur Oli let out a shriek of pain.
"Oh, maybe it is broken, I'm no doctor," Erlendur said.
"That fucking bastard," Sigurdur Oli said. "That fucking bastard."
"Is he playing around with us or does he really know about another woman?" Erlendur said as they left the hall. "If there was one more perhaps there were others that Holberg raped who never came forward."
"There's no way to talk sense to that man," Sigurdur Oli said. "He was doing it for his own amusement, winding us up. He was playing with us. You can't trust a word he says. That jerk. That fucking jerk."
They went to the governor's office and gave him a brief report of what had happened. In their opinion, they said, the only place for Ellidi was a padded cell at a psychiatric ward. The governor agreed wearily, but said the only recourse available to the authorities was to keep him at Litla-Hraun. This wasn't the first time Ellidi had been confined to solitary for violence in the prison and it certainly wouldn't be the last.
They went out into the open air. As they were driving away from the prison and waiting for the big blue gate to the car park to open, Sigurdur Oli noticed a warder racing after them, waving to them to stop. They waited until he caught up with the car. Erlendur wound down the window. "He wants to talk to you," the warder said, panting from running.
"Who?" Erlendur asked.
"Ellidi. Ellidi wants to talk to you."
"We've talked to Ellidi," Erlendur said. "Tell him to forget it."
"He says he's going to give you the information you want."
"He's lying."
"That's what he said."
Erlendur looked at Sigurdur Oli, who shrugged. He thought about it for a moment.
"Okay. We'll come then," he said eventually.
"He just wants you, not him," said the warder, looking at Sigurdur Oli.
Ellidi wasn't let out of his solitary cell again, so Erlendur had to talk to him through a small hole in the door. It was opened by sliding a panel to one side. The cell was dark, so Erlendur could not see in. He could only hear Ellidi's voice, hoarse and gurgling. The warder had led Erlendur to the door and then left him alone.
"How's the poofter?" was the first thing Ellidi asked. Instead of standing up at the hole in the door, he had retreated inside. Maybe he was lying on the bed. Maybe he was sitting up against a wall. Erlendur felt as if the voice was coming from deep inside the darkness. He had obviously calmed down.
"This isn't a tea party," Erlendur replied. "You wanted to talk to me."
"Who do you reckon killed Holberg?"
"We don't know. What about Holberg?"
"Her name was Kolbrun, the chick he did in Keflavik. He often talked about it. Talked about how close he was to getting caught when that pussy was stupid enough to press charges. He described all the details. Do you want to hear what he said?"
"No," said Erlendur. "What was your relationship with him?"
"We met up now and again. I sold him booze and bought porn for him while I was on the ships. We met when we were working together for the Harbour and Lighthouse Authority. Before he started lorry driving. We went into the towns together. You never get a lost fuck back. That was the first thing he taught me. He knew how to talk. Impressive. Good at talking women round. A fun bloke."
"You went into the towns?"
"That's why we were in Keflavik. We were painting the Reykjanes lighthouse. Fucking awful ghosts there. Ever been there? Screeching and howling all night. Worse than this shithole. Holberg wasn't scared of ghosts. He wasn't scared of anything."
"And he told you straightaway how he'd assaulted Kolbrun, when he'd only just met you?"
"He winked at me when he followed her out of the party. I knew what that meant. He could be a charmer. He thought it was funny to get away with it. Laughed a lot at some cop the girl went to and ruined her case for her."
"Did they know each other, Holberg and this cop?"
"I don't know."
"Did he ever talk about the daughter Kolbrun gave birth to after the rape?"
"Daughter? No. Did he get her pregnant?"
"You know about another rape," Erlendur said without answering him. "Another woman he raped. Who was it? What was her name?"
"I don't know."
/> "So why did you call me back?"
"I don't know who it was but I know when it was and where she lived. More or less. That's enough for you to find her."
"When? And where?
"Yeah, right, what do I get?"
"You?"
"What can you do for me?"
"I can't do anything for you and I don't want to do anything for you."
"Sure you do. Then I'll tell you what I know."
Erlendur pondered.
"I can't promise anything," he said.
"I can't stand being in solitary."
"Was that why you called me back?"
"You don't know what it does to you. I'm going mad in this cell. They never put the light on. I don't know what day it is. You're kept here like an animal in a cage. They treat you like a beast."
"And what, you're the Count of Monte Cristo!" Erlendur said sarcastically. "You're a sadist, Ellidi.
The worst sort of psychopath and sadist there is. A dumb idiot who likes violence. A homophobe and a racist. You're the worst type of retard I know. I don't care if they keep you locked up in here for the rest of your life. I'm going upstairs to recommend just that."
"I'll tell you where she lived if you get me out of here."
"I can't get you out of here, you idiot. I don't have the authority to and, even if I did, I wouldn't. If you want to cut your solitary short perhaps you should stop attacking people."
"You could do a deal on it. Say you wound me up. Say that poofter started it. I was cooperative, but he was making smart-arse remarks. And I helped you with your enquiries. They'll listen to you. I know who you are. They'll listen to you."
"Did Holberg talk about any others apart from those two?"
"Are you going to do that for me?"
Erlendur thought about it. "I'll see what I can do. Did he talk about any others?"
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