Summary

Chapter 1 begins with a mother and a medical student finding a human skeleton at a little boy’s birthday party. The book then goes to a flashback of a man and a woman having a violent conversation. The man hits her and accuses her of flirting with another man. The woman was a maid for a merchant and his wife and the man was a delivery person when they met. They were married soon after despite the fact that the woman’s daughter, Mikkelína, seemed terrified of him. The wife stopped working shortly after they were married and they moved to a new place.

Chapter 2 begins with Erlendur and his team assembling at the site where the bones were found. Elínborg is the one who receives the call about the bones. Sigurdur Óli and Erlendur are contacted soon after and told...