Reykjavik Nights Read Online Free

being accused of starting a fire, though he had stubbornly protested his innocence. Forced onto the streets, he had sought refuge in the casing around the heating pipeline. A slab of concrete had broken off in one place, leaving an opening large enough for him to crawl inside and warm himself against the hot-water pipes.
    It was to be Hannibal’s last home before his body was discovered in the flooded pit. He had slept there in the company of a few feral cats that were drawn to him much as the birds had once flocked to St Francis of Assisi.

4
    Erlendur was standing on the brink of the pool where Hannibal had met his end when a boy tore past him on a bicycle, spun round and rode back. Although a year had passed since they had last met, Erlendur recognised him immediately: he was one of the kids who had found the body.
    â€˜You’re a cop, aren’t you?’ said the boy, braking in front of him.
    â€˜Yes, hello again.’
    â€˜What are you doing here?’ asked the boy. He was as plucky and self-assured as Erlendur remembered; ginger hair, freckles, a look of mischief. But he had grown. In only a year he had gone from being a child to a teenager.
    â€˜Just taking a look around.’
    The boy had been the leader of the trio. They had all raced off to his house to inform his mother of their discovery. Realising they were in earnest, however far-fetched their tale, she had completely forgotten to scold them for coming home soaked again, and instead called the police straight away. The other boys had run home for a change of clothes, then they had all cycled back down to the diggings. By then two police cars and an ambulance had arrived. Hannibal’s body had been recovered from the pool and was lying on the ground, covered by a blanket.
    When the report came in, Erlendur had been on traffic duty on Miklabraut. As soon as he reached the scene, he had waded into the water and pulled the body ashore. Only then did he see it was Hannibal. It had given him a turn, yet Hannibal’s death had seemed strangely inevitable. The police had been shooing away the boys, along with the other onlookers who had gathered, when they piped up that they had found the body. After that they were taken to sit in one of the patrol cars and later questioned closely about their discovery.
    â€˜My dad says he drowned,’ the boy observed now, leaning on his handlebars and looking over at the place where Hannibal had lain suspended in the water.
    â€˜Yes,’ agreed Erlendur. ‘I expect he fell in and couldn’t save himself.’
    â€˜He was just an old alky.’
    â€˜It must have been a bit of a shock for you and your friends to find him like that.’
    â€˜Addi had nightmares,’ said the boy. ‘A doctor came round to his house and all. Me and Palli didn’t care.’
    â€˜Do you still play here on rafts?’
    â€˜Nah, not any more. That’s kids’ stuff.’
    â€˜Ah, right. Did you by any chance notice the man down by the pipeline last summer? That you can remember?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜Anyone else notice him?’
    â€˜No. We used to play there sometimes but I never saw him. Maybe he was only there at night.’
    â€˜Maybe. What were you doing up by the pipeline?’
    â€˜You know. Looking for golf balls.’
    â€˜Golf balls?’
    â€˜Yeah. There’s a bloke from those houses who’s always practising shots.’ The boy gestured to some rows of terraced houses on Hvassaleiti. Dad says there used to be a golf course by the pipeline, near Öskjuhlíd, and we sometimes find old balls.’
    â€˜I see. And what do you do with them when you find them?’
    â€˜Nothing.’ The boy prepared to pedal off. ‘Just chuck ’em in the water. I ain’t got any use for them.’
    â€˜â€œI haven’t got any use for them”.’
    â€˜Yeah, OK.’
    â€˜And “OK” isn’t good