The Viking Witch Mysteries: Books 4-6

Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I listened to the sounds of Sigvin getting back into her winter things. I was waiting to hear the sound of the door closing behind her before asking Thorbjorn what he thought of her story, but I didn't get my chance. I heard the door open, but then there was a murmur of voices. Sigvin was talking to someone who had been standing outside my door.

I went into the hallway and saw Roarr halfway up my front walk, his wool hat in his hands as he looked up at Sigvin. Her back was rigid, and her gloved hands were in fists.

"Is everything all right?" I asked.

"I was just expressing my condolences to Sigvin here," Roarr said. "I have, of course, heard the news."

"What good to me are your condolences?" she spat at him.

"Sigvin!" I gasped. I rushed to her side to put a hand on her arm before she did anything violent. I had never seen her angry before, not even annoyed. But now she was incandescent with sudden rage.

"It is all I have to offer you," Roarr said, shifting from foot to foot.

"You never loved my sister," she said, blinking furiously.

"No, I did not," he admitted. "I told her as much over and over again. I'm sorry that she could never hear it. But I know what it's like to lose someone you love, to lose them suddenly, to be unmoored. I am sorry for your pain. Yours and your parents'."

Then all the tension washed out of Sigvin's body in a rush, and I put a hand on her elbow to keep her from collapsing to the floor.

"I'm the one who's sorry," she said. "You're right. You never led my sister on. She just never heard you, or me either, for that matter. Thank you for your kind words. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really should get back to my parents."

He nodded, stepping aside so she could walk down the steps to the garden path without physically brushing past him.

"Let me know if you need anything from me," I called after her. "Anything at all."

"I will," she promised before letting herself out of the garden gate.

Then she was gone, and it was just me and Roarr.

"Come in," I said to him, suddenly very tired. I doubted today I would have any time for naps.

I led Roarr into the kitchen where Thorbjorn had already poured him a cup of coffee. The smell perked me up, if only a little, and I slid back into my own seat and took a sip from the mug Thorbjorn must've freshened up while I was in the front hall.

"You don't honestly believe I had anything to do with this," Roarr said, leaning forward over the table to be sure I would meet his eyes.

"I don't want to," I admitted. "But we'd still like to hear your version of the events of last night."

"In as much detail as you can recall," Thorbjorn said as he took his seat beside me.

Roarr nodded and took another sip of coffee. "My parents are at our hunting lodge, so I'm home alone at the moment. When they are gone, I generally prefer to eat out rather than fix meals for just me. And Ullr has the best meatballs in Villmark, so I tend to dine there."

"This was true the other night as well," I guessed.

"Yeah. What did you think, that I go out just to get swarmed by desperate women?" He scoffed a humorless laugh at his own expense.

"Well," I drawled. He scowled at me. "Normally I'd suspect it, but clearly that's not who you are. We've covered this territory before, you and I."

"I should say we have," he said.

"So you were eating alone. And early, I take it?" I asked.

"After Loke had to save me the night you were there, it seemed better to eat early and leave before the place got crowded," he said. "I would've made it earlier still if I knew who was going to show up for an early supper of their own."

"You were avoiding Nefja?" I guessed.

"As much as I can," he admitted. "She's a lovely young woman, really, but lately she's been trying to put more and more pressure on me. I don't want to be rude to her, but she doesn't hear me when I'm polite, I guess."

"She's not the only one who's been trying to get your attention," I said.

"Well, no," he said. "But most women are subtler about it. They don't stop by my house with baskets of things I don't need, or sneak personal messages into my very bedroom when I'm not there, or try to win my mother over to their side."

"Was Nefja doing that?" Thorbjorn asked, clearly horrified.

"Yeah," Roarr said, peering into his coffee mug before taking another swallow.

"That's... wow," Thorbjorn said, shaking his head. "Maybe you should spend more time with me and my brothers."

"Maybe," Roarr said with half a smile. "I notice none of you are married, and yet none of you have this hangers-on problem."

"It's complicated," Thorbjorn said.

"And perhaps a bit off topic?" I interjected. Because it was, but because there was no way I could listen to that conversation, not knowing that Thorbjorn at least did have someone pining for him. Just because he hadn't noticed her didn't mean she wasn't there.

And I kind of suspected that was true of his brothers as well. All of them were excessively easy on the eyes.

"Right," Roarr said. "So Sigvin and Nefja came in when I was still the only one there, but then Nilda and Kara came in right after. Usually the three of them, Sigvin plus the Mikkelsen sisters, are enough to keep Nefja in check, so I didn't panic. I intended to quietly finish my meal and then make myself scarce, hopefully after the hall had started to fill up when my escape might go unnoticed.

"But that's not what happened. Sigvin seemed distracted, constantly looking towards the door like she was waiting for someone, and when she wasn't looking Nefja was downing ales like she was in a drinking contest. She was putting away a lot more than her sister noticed, that's for sure. Then Kara and Nilda left, but Sigvin and Nefja didn't. I have no idea why. But Nefja had a very aggressive energy, even for her."

"In what way?" Thorbjorn asked.

"Oh, just looks and I guess flirting or whatever," Roarr said. "I ignored her, but ignoring her just seemed to wind her up more. I admit I was a little worried that the point of all that ale was to give her a little liquid courage."

"To go talk to you?" I asked.

"But she was already direct with you, right?" Thorbjorn said. "No liquid courage required."

"I know," Roarr said. "It was more like she was building to a final showdown. And I lingered, because while half of me wanted to run away, the other half just wanted to get it all over with. I confess I knew harsh words would likely be necessary, but I hoped whatever I said she wouldn't remember exactly later. I mean, I hoped she remembered the thrust of my words. That she would finally give up pursuing me."

"But you didn't approach her to say any of this," I said.

"No, because of that other half of me that still wanted to run away," he said. His cheeks colored just a little. "And then the isolationists came in. You know who I mean. The Aldís crowd."

"Specifically who?" Thorbjorn asked.

"Oh, the usual ones. Báfurr for sure. A few others from his particular group. Raggi. I think Skefill. But they favor cloaks with deep hoods that they keep over their faces, you know?"

"Indeed," Thorbjorn agreed.

"Nefja was talking too loudly by that point, pretending to talk about the inadequacies of men in general but clearly speaking to me," Roarr said. "But then Báfurr crossed the room to sit beside her. I didn't hear what he said to her, but we all heard her reject him."

"And how did he take it?" I asked.

"Given her words, which were unnecessarily harsh, better than I would've thought," Roarr said. "He just slinked back to his friends and resumed drinking with them. But Nefja was even more charged up than before now, and she came over to me. She just plopped herself down on my lap. And I was just frozen. I wanted her off of me, but I really didn't want to have to touch her. I was hoping Sigvin would intervene, but she didn't."

"You were embarrassed," I said.

"Well, yeah," he admitted. "But then Loke came in and saw at once what was going on. He pulled Nefja off of my lap and kept her distracted while the server, that tiny girl, helped me sneak out through the kitchen. Now I owe him one."

"Because he saved you?" I asked.

"At risk to himself, you know," Roarr said. "I could already see Sigvin closing in on him. She might carry herself with more dignity than her sister, but she's still deeply smitten with Loke and not afraid to show it."

"I've seen how he runs from that," I said. Although I wasn't sure why. It always felt a touch extreme. Sigvin would never do anything to embarrass him. Why flee from a little quiet admiration?

"So you went straight home?" Thorbjorn asked.

"Not right away," Roarr said. "I needed a walk to clear my head. I hadn't said any of the words I had been prepared to say, and I needed to decide what I was going to do about that. Because ignoring her was clearly no longer going to work."

"How long were you walking?" I asked. "Through what parts of town?"

"Through all the parts," he said. "And I was still out walking when I heard that scream." He shuddered. "It was so shrill, but ended so abruptly. It was absolutely chilling."

"You heard Nefja scream?" I asked. "I thought only I had heard that."

"It carried through the streets, but I couldn't tell from where. I kept walking, hoping I'd hear something more, but I never figured out where it was coming from until I came upon the crowd gathered around the well."

"That was some time later," I said.

"It was," he nodded. "I went up and down a lot of streets looking for signs of trouble."

"Did you see any?" Thorbjorn asked.

"Not a one."

"Did you see anyone else out on the streets?" I asked.

"No."

"Did you hear anyone else? Like footsteps walking or running?"

"Not a thing," he said. "I know that means I have no alibi. But I've told you everything. I know you'll never stop until you find the truth, and I have faith in that. Because I know you know I'd never harm anyone for the lowly crime of embarrassing me."

Thorbjorn shifted in his seat, covering his face with his hand and half-looking away, and I realized those last words had been directed more at him than me. As if Roarr had read his mind and knew he had been thinking of just such a motive.

"You are correct that I will do all I can to solve this crime," I said.

"I want to help in any way I can," he said. "I know I still have work to do to redeem myself in the eyes of others and even being a witness, let alone a suspect to this, isn't going to help."

"I understand," I said, glancing over at Thorbjorn. He looked back at me, clearly communicating that he wasn't going to be shamed for suspecting Roarr.

Then I turned back to Roarr. "There is something you can do for me," I said.

"Anything," he said, getting to his feet as if to prove how swiftly he would undertake any task.

"I need someone to go to Haraldr's house and explain that I won't be there for my lesson this morning," I said. "I need to follow up on a few more things before I can get back to my studies. I hope he'll understand."

"I'll see that he does," Roarr said. The look on his face was so earnest I almost wished I could've given him some noble quest to carry out instead.

But calling in sick for me was the most I had for him to do.