The Shadow Killer by Indriðason Arnaldur

Author:Indriðason, Arnaldur [Indriðason, Arnaldur]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Crime, Historical, thriller
ISBN: 9781432852467
Amazon: 1432852469
Goodreads: 39208415
Publisher: Thorndike Press Large Print
Published: 2015-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

29

One of the girls was a lot tougher than the other and made it plain that she had no intention of going home. She refused to give Thorson her address and complained that he had spoiled their fun. At first she claimed not to have any family at all, but in the end she admitted that she’d left home – and nothing would make her go back. The other girl wasn’t nearly so angry and seemed, if anything, grateful to him for rescuing them from the bowels of the ship. She lived with her father and two brothers near Camp Tripoli and wouldn’t mind if Thorson gave her a lift home, so long as he let her out at a safe distance, because her father hated the soldiers and had repeatedly forbidden her to fraternise with them. Thorson didn’t ask why she had defied her father. No doubt she had her reasons, and anyway he was tired. He said nothing more about it but did as she asked and let her out by Vatnsmýri, an expanse of marshland near the airfield, once she had wiped most of the make-up off her face and promised Thorson that she would never go on board a naval vessel again, and that she would stay away from soldiers.

She and her friend said goodbye to each other, and Thorson watched the girl stumbling home over the tussocky ground. He wondered if he should have handed her over to the Icelandic authorities. She had said her father would kill her if he discovered that she’d been fooling around with soldiers. He’d thrashed her for much less – her brothers too – when he’d been drinking. And he drank most of the time. Thorson told her in parting that if she ever needed his help, she shouldn’t hesitate to ask for him at the military police headquarters.

The tougher girl asked him twice if he had any cigarettes and informed him that she’d already run away from the reform school the Morality Committee had packed her off to. She knew she’d be sent back the moment they caught her, but she’d only run away again. When it dawned on her that Thorson was going to keep his promise and drop her off where she wanted to go, her hostility faded. Up to that point she had responded to all his questions with insults, but now she relented and admitted that she had an older sister she could stay with. She told Thorson the name of the street. Although she claimed to be eighteen, he guessed she was fifteen at most. He tried to tell her that although many of the sailors and soldiers in the town were good guys, there was always the odd rotten apple. Women had to be very careful, and kids like her should steer clear of them altogether.

She protested that she’d never had any trouble. All the guys she knew were good to her and gave her money, cigarettes and sweets. He tried to

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.