Thingholt is the old district of Reykjavík where Kristín and Steve go to find Sarah Steinkamp, widow of Leo Stiller, in the hope that she can clarify Stiller’s theories. The approach to her house turns a quiet residential setting into a threshold between the fugitives’ uncertain escape and a possible new source of information.

Setting and House

Sarah lives on the ground floor of a small, dilapidated two-storey wooden house. Its corrugated-iron cladding has rusted away where it meets the ground, and its small windows are only single-glazed. The front door was once green, but most of its paint has flaked off. In the small garden, a large fir stands among the remains of a wooden fence, whose palings have rotted and largely fallen down. These details make the house feel exposed and neglected rather than securely private.

The Search for Sarah

Michael Thompson gave Kristín and Steve Sarah’s Reykjavík address because she might shed light on Stiller’s theories. He said he knew little about her circumstances and described her as angry, bitter, and depressive; he visited only every few years, out of regard for his former commanding officer, and never stayed long. His account gives the address a human context before the pair reach it, but offers no assurance that Sarah will welcome them or speak to them.

Kristín and Steve arrive cautiously, still watching for pursuers despite their confidence that they escaped unseen from the base. It is about seven in the morning, and an icy wind catches their faces as they step into the weak light above Sarah’s door. A small copper nameplate is almost illegible, but Kristín thinks she can make out Sarah Steinkamp’s name. The upstairs apartment appears unoccupied: its dark windows look down on them, and no light shows inside.

A Threshold of Uncertainty

Steve rings repeatedly. At first, neither the bell nor his attempt to listen at the door reveals any sign of life. After a fourth ring, just as the pair are turning away, a ground-floor window opens and a tremulous woman’s voice asks what is going on. The district’s introduction is therefore bound to delay and uncertainty: the house first presents itself as silent and nearly abandoned, then answers from within. That shift marks the beginning of the encounter for which Kristín and Steve have come to Thingholt.