Someone to Watch Over Me by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir Read Free Book Online Page A

afford it.’ In other words, when he found a job he planned to celebrate by going on holiday.
    Thóra smiled back at him, trying to put her heart into it despite her mixed feelings. ‘And even if it doesn’t happen and you’re with us the whole time, that’s fine. Of course you’re welcome to stay.’ She decided that for now she’d stop nagging them about making a payment on the mortgage. There would be plenty of time for that. ‘It gets quieter every other weekend, when the kids go to their father, so there will be more room for us.’ As she said this she realized how much she’d miss the few days a month she spent alone with Matthew. She certainly wasn’t looking forward to breaking the news to him.
    Bella barged into the office, and Thóra wondered, not for the first time, whether it wouldn’t be wiser to lock the door when she had clients or visitors. She always came to the same conclusion – that Bella probably wouldn’t let it stop her.
    ‘Have you taken my stapler?’ Bella planted her hands on her hefty hips, glaring at Thóra.
    ‘No, Bella, I haven’t,’ replied Thóra calmly. ‘Why would I do that?’
    ‘It’s been stolen, and you’re the most likely culprit.’
    ‘Well, legally you can’t steal your own possessions. I own this firm, which means I can’t
steal
anything here.’ Thóra met Bella’s narrowed eyes levelly. ‘Please knock before entering next time, and shut the door behind you when you leave. Now.’ Thóra hoped the girl would leave before she spotted the stapler on Thóra’s desk. She had borrowed it that morning before her secretary arrived and forgotten to return it, though she had no intention of admitting this.
    Bella turned on her heel without another word, but left the door open behind her by way of getting in the last punch. Thóra’s parents had watched the whole thing open-mouthed, and when the secretary had stomped out of earshot her mother whispered, ‘Can’t you get rid of that girl? She’s terribly rude.’
    Thóra shook her head. ‘It’s complicated.’ The firm was stuck with Bella because she was the landlord’s daughter and her employment had been part of the terms of the lease.
    ‘That’s most unfortunate,’ tutted her mother, picking up her handbag and holding it tightly as if Bella might sneak up and pluck it off the back of her chair.
    ‘Well, Thóra, we can’t stay.’ Her father stood up. ‘You’ve probably got enough to do and we’ve got to get over to the estate agent to finalize the paperwork on the offer.’
    Thóra gulped. ‘Of course.’ She followed them out and said goodbye, and when they were gone she hurried back to her office to call Matthew and tell him about the latest additions to their household. He would be so pleased. As she was dialling, her mobile beeped, indicating she’d received a text. Curious, Thóra hung up the landline and reached for her mobile. The message was from the Internet message service
ja.is
, so it could be from anyone. She opened it, thinking either the contents or the sign-off would identify the sender, but the one-word message didn’t make any sense to her; perhaps it had come to the wrong number?
    Pregnant
    She felt a sudden surge of panic. Was Gylfi’s girlfriend pregnant again? She hurriedly called her son, who thankfully had no clue what was going on and reassured her that Sigga was neither pregnant nor planning to be. Thóra was relieved, but something about the mysterious text still made her uneasy.

Chapter 3
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
    It was no wonder the briefcase Jakob’s mother had left was falling to bits. One more Post-it note would probably have finished it off, it was so full. Thóra would probably need to transfer the contents to a new case when she returned them to Grímheiður; it would be easier than stuffing all the files back into this one. But for the moment it was empty, the papers that had previously stretched it to bursting point scattered across the desk. Thóra