Today's Reading
The moment he got a good look at the man, Helgi recognized him. They had sometimes worked the same shifts in the Reykjavík police last year, though they didn't actually know each other that well.
'The name's Reimar,' the officer said. 'Were you just temping with us over the summer or were you with us for longer?'
'That's right, I temped for a bit after finishing my police training,' Helgi replied. 'Then I went on to do a post-grad degree in criminology.'
'Oh, yes, that was it,' Reimar said. 'I seem to remember someone telling me. In the UK, wasn't it? I've often thought about it myself, you know—continuing my education.'
Helgi nodded. He was still standing at his ease in the doorway, as if he were the one in charge. 'Strictly speaking, I'm still a student. I just need to finish my dissertation, but it made more sense for us to move back to Iceland. My partner got offered a good job, you see.' Helgi smiled.
'Nice to run into you again,' Reimar said. 'Well, not in the most desirable circumstances, obviously. So you're having problems with your neighbour, are you?'
'Yes, you can say that again. The man's a bloody idiot. It's only a rented flat, though, so we'll be moving sooner or later.'
'He heard a disturbance,' the younger officer said slowly.
'That's right, my partner and I had a bit of a disagreement, but nothing to call the police about. Like I said, you can hardly turn up the TV without the neighbour appearing on our doorstep. Sound carries terribly easily in these old houses.'
'Tell me about it,' Reimar said. 'I live in a place like that in the west end.'
'I'm sorry you were put to the trouble of coming out here,' Helgi went on, adding, after a short pause: 'Would you like to speak to my partner? To check that everything's OK? She's asleep, as a matter of fact, but I can always wake her.'
Reimar smiled. 'That won't be necessary.'
His colleague seemed on the point of saying something. Helgi looked at him, and it was as if his silence stifled the young man's words.
After a moment, Reimar spoke up again. 'Well, sorry to disturb you, Helgi. I hope we didn't wake you.'
'That's absolutely fine. I was just reading.'
'Will you be joining us in the police again after you finish your studies?'
'That's currently being worked out. I'm in talks with Reykjavík CID about maybe joining them later this year. It would be my dream job, actually.'
'Great, then hopefully we'll see you again soon.' Reimar held out his hand and Helgi shook it before closing the door.
He drew a deep breath. That had gone as well as he could have hoped. He hadn't expected the prick upstairs to call the police, but he supposed it was understandable, given the amount of noise they'd been making.
He could feel his heart thudding uncomfortably fast but was pleased at how unruffled he had managed to appear in his conversation with the two officers. His police training had come in useful, ironically enough.
It was probably pointless having another go at getting into the detective story he had been reading, but he decided to try. He didn't want the bloody neighbour to ruin the rest of his evening. Although he was working flat out on his dissertation, he had to take time off sometimes, and there was nowhere he relaxed better than on the sofa with a good whodunnit.
His late father, who had run an antiquarian bookshop up north, had been a keen collector of translated detective novels and had encouraged his son to read them from an early age. After he died, Helgi had inherited his fine old library, and it meant a lot to him. He had read many though not all of the books before and was now working his way through the lot, bit by bit, enjoying the chance to reacquaint himself with stories he had first read in his teens.
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