Meltwater (Fire and Ice)

Hallgrímur,’ said Hildur. ‘An unpleasant boy. He was our neighbour when we were at Hraun. He and your father were the best of friends when they were little,
they used to play together all the time, but then they grew apart. Which pleased me. Your father was a good boy, and Hallgrímur wasn’t. He was stupid and he used to try to bully
Benni.’
    She sighed. ‘After your grandfather died, it was hard work on the farm. In the end we sold up and moved here. You remember the shop that your grandmother ran?’
    ‘Oh, yes,’ said Jóhannes. The shop itself hadn’t interested him much, his grandmother sold and mended women’s clothes, but he had enjoyed the warm atmosphere that
his grandmother and her friends who staffed the shop gave the place. ‘And what was Hallgrímur like as an adult?’
    ‘He didn’t really grow up well. He was notorious for his bad temper. His wife and children were scared of him. I tried to avoid him; in fact I haven’t seen him for many years.
But he is a good farmer, I’ll give him that, and they say that his son is just as good. Bjarnarhöfn has always been a prosperous place.’
    ‘I’ve read Moor and the Man and I’ve heard the rumours that the novel implied Hallgrímur’s father killed my grandfather because he slept with
Hallgrímur’s mother.’
    ‘Oh, those,’ said Hildur. ‘There’s no stopping gossip.’
    ‘Do you think they were true?’
    ‘Oh, I don’t know, dear. People had all sorts of strange ideas about Father’s disappearance. That he went to America. Most people think he must have fallen into the fjord and
been swept out to sea. The truth is no one knows.’
    Jóhannes persevered. ‘Is that really the truth?’
    Unnur glanced at their aunt. Jóhannes knew she wasn’t telling him something.
    ‘Did my father ever talk to you about it?’ Jóhannes asked.
    ‘No,’ said the old woman. ‘Not in so many words. But when I read that book, it explained a lot.’ Hildur smiled at her nephew. ‘Benedikt was always an honest boy. I
think that was his way of telling the truth.’
    ‘I see,’ said Jóhannes. ‘The groom at Búdir mentioned another story that my father wrote just before he died. He suggested that that might be why
Hallgrímur was so upset with him. I think that story might have been “The Slip” . It’s about a boy who kills the man he accused of raping his sister by pushing him
off a cliff.’
    ‘I think I remember that one,’ said Hildur.
    ‘Is there any chance that Benedikt might have pushed Hallgrímur’s father off a cliff?’
    ‘No!’ said Hildur. ‘Absolutely no chance at all. I think you are on quite the wrong track. I was Benedikt’s sister. I think I would have noticed if someone had raped
me.’
    ‘Yes, of course, sorry,’ said Jóhannes. ‘I meant it was revenge for the murder of your father, not rape.’
    ‘I think you are getting yourself confused, dear.’
    ‘Well, perhaps you could you put me back on the right track?’
    ‘I don’t know, dear. It’s all a long time ago. Won’t you have some more coffee?’ The old lady refilled Jóhannes’s cup. ‘Unnur, would you like
some more? And tell me, Jóhannes, how is your sister? It’s years since I have seen her either, and of course I never go to Akureyri. And your little brother?’
    Jóhannes got the message. After half an hour of family chat, he got up to leave. Unnur saw him out of the door and walked him to his car.
    ‘I’m not confused,’ Jóhannes said. ‘She knows perfectly well what I was getting at.’
    ‘I think she’s torn, you know,’ Unnur said. ‘On the one hand she feels she must keep her brother’s secrets; on the other, she really does believe that he was trying
to tell the truth.’
    ‘And you?’ Jóhannes asked. ‘Do you know anything about “The Slip” ?’
    ‘I have read the story,’ Unnur said. ‘And I can tell you how Hallgrímur’s father Gunnar died.’
    ‘Please do.’
    ‘It was in 1940. Gunnar was riding out to Ólafsvík around Búland’s Head. I don’t know if you remember but the cliff path used to be very narrow
there.’
    ‘I know Búland’s Head.’ It was a dramatic headland that reared out of the sea near the fishing village of Ólafsvík further along the coast to the west.
    ‘Well, Gunnar’s horse slipped and he fell into the sea.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Yes. Really. And your father Benedikt was coming back from Ólafsvík that same day. Around Búland’s Head. He told everyone he