Oblivion by Arnaldur Indridason Read Free Book Online Page B

Naturally they tried to track the boy down and asked around about him, but he never came forward. So I don’t know if there was any truth to the story. They questioned the residents of the camp and searched some of the huts – there were a lot of lowlifes living there, as you’d expect. But nothing came out of it.’
    ‘Was she seeing any other boys?’ asked Erlendur.
    ‘No – if you mean boyfriends, we didn’t know of any and neither did her friends. We thought this girl had probably misunderstood or misheard something Dagbjört said about a boy from Camp Knox. But maybe you should talk to her yourself.’
    Erlendur nodded. ‘I was planning to. Was Dagbjört actively scared of walking through the camp then?’
    ‘Well, she wasn’t keen on it and I know Helga warned her not to go there – she’d heard tales about drunkenness and so on. There were single mothers with three or four kids, some of the poorest people in Reykjavík, and men in all kinds of states trying to crawl into their huts at night. I remember her telling us – one of the mothers we met when we were looking for Dagbjört. She was complaining about it to the policemen with us. Asked why it was that louts and thugs were allowed to run riot in the camp and nothing was done about it. Those poor women and their children had a very raw deal. The kids were bullied at school too. One of the other mothers told us her two daughters had been driven out of school by a gang of boys and said they were never going back. I seem to recall one of them was actually beaten up. That sort of thing was bound to make the camp children stick together.’
    Svava looked Erlendur in the eye and spoke firmly.
    ‘I’m aware I might be prejudiced,’ she said, ‘and it can’t be helped, but I don’t believe Dagbjört had met a boy from the camp. I think it’s quite out of the question. I just can’t picture it. Can’t picture it at all.’
    ‘Because …?’
    ‘Because she had her head screwed on,’ said Svava. ‘That’s why. I know I shouldn’t talk like this but it’s a fact. It’s what I feel and I should be allowed to speak my mind. I don’t believe she was seeing a boy from the camp, and anyway it was never proved. No one in the huts was aware of any relationship or recognised Dagbjört.’
    ‘Couldn’t she have been seeing this boy anyway, in spite of the fact no one saw them together?’
    ‘We went over it endlessly day in, day out,’ said Svava. ‘Did he exist? If so, who was he? Did he know what happened? Did she meet him that morning?’
    ‘But you don’t think he existed?’
    ‘No, I don’t. Though my brother disagreed. All I can say is that if there was a boy, he never gave himself up. He knew we were looking for Dagbjört. He’d have heard about our search and would have told us if he knew anything.’
    ‘Unless he was involved?’ said Erlendur. ‘Since he didn’t come forward, doesn’t that point to a guilty conscience?’
    ‘Of course, if you look at it that way,’ said Svava. ‘My brother talked a lot along those lines; Helga too. They were sure this mystery boy must have played some part in her disappearance. Convinced of it.’
    ‘The police put out an appeal in the camp for him or any witnesses who might know something about Dagbjört’s movements or their relationship to come forward.’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘But nothing came of it.’
    ‘No. Nothing. Apart from two or three false leads the police followed up that turned out to have nothing to do with her disappearance. That was all.’

11
    KRISTVIN’S FLAT WAS a typical bachelor pad, located on the top floor of a four-storey block in the Upper Breidholt district, with a fine view north to Mount Esja. The small kitchen had a table with two chairs, a large fridge, a few plates and glasses in the cupboards. There was little to eat apart from bread that was going mouldy and a few bumper packs of chocolate that looked to Marion as if they came from the base, and some Rio Coffee