Part 28 (1/2)

'To be straight with you, I'm not entirely sure myself,' Gunna told him. 'In any case, there's only so much I can tell you. But this address has come up in connection with an investigation and I need to decide whether or not it has anything to do with you, or maybe whoever lived here before you. How long have you been here?'

'About a year. Just over. We moved in a few days before Christmas last year.'

'And who lived here before you?'

Petur smiled grimly. 'Hard to tell. The place had been empty for about two years. It was owned by a big shot at one of the banks, who was going to tear the place down and have a summer house built on the site. But he didn't get planning permission and by the time it looked like he might, the bank had gone t.i.ts-up and the gentleman in question left the country in a hurry.'

'So who's the owner now?'

'It went to one of the pension funds in the fallout. One of Hekla's uncles is involved with the bank's winding-up committee and he put in a word. We can stay until it sells, however long that takes.'

'So there's been n.o.body here but you?'

'I don't really know. There's a scout troop that camps on the meadow in the summer, and there were some squatters here for a while when the big shot owned the place, but that was before our time. I gather he got them out pretty quick. It was something of a pigsty when we moved in. Part of our agreement with the winding-up committee is that we fix the place up and make it habitable, not that there was much that needed doing. The house itself was fine. It just needed a ma.s.sive amount of cleaning.'

'So you fell on your feet. Your wife at home, is she?'

'She has a day's work today.'

'What does she do?'

Petur smiled fondly. 'She trained as an actress, but times are tight these days. Mostly she does voice-overs and things like that. She's reading something for a radio ad today, as far as I know.'

Gunna nodded. 'Mind if I take a look around?'

Petur looked surprised. 'Sure. Anything in particular you're looking for?' he asked, suspicion etched across his face.

'I don't know, to be quite honest. But as this address has come up as part of the investigation, I'd like to get a feel for the place and an idea of the layout in case things go any further.'

'And you can't tell me what all this is about?'

'I'm afraid not,' Gunna smiled, seeing the disappointment on his face as Petur made for the workshop door, swinging his stiff right leg with each step.

The house was small but warm, she thought, imagining what it had been like after a few empty years. Petur had sanded and varnished the floor of the living room and a large window provided a view over the sea, with Reykjavik in the distance across the bay. Unconsciously, Gunna compared the warmth of what was clearly an old building against her own modern concrete terraced house. Somehow wood gave a house a friendly feeling, she thought, scanning a line of pictures on the living-room wall and stopping herself from doing a double take.

'Is that your daughter?' Gunna asked, pointing to a teenage girl in a low-key monochrome print, who looked to be hiding behind long dark hair that covered half of her face as she sat cross-legged, flanked by a gap-toothed, light-haired boy and girl.

'That's my Sif with the twins,' Petur told her, pride unmistakable in his gruff voice.

'And you and your wife behind them?' Gunna asked, leaning forward to peer at the print and the slightly out-of-focus background figures. 'Any idea when she'll be back?'

'This evening sometime, I expect.'

'Do you know where she's doing this reading?'

'Nope. There are a couple of studios where they do that kind of thing. I don't bother asking which one any more.'

Baddo swore and dropped the phone on the car seat. Fatigue was starting to catch up with him and the painkillers were making him drowsy. It was taking every ounce of his mental energy to concentrate on the road and he desperately wanted to close his eyes and rest for a few hours. He felt exhausted, staring at the road in front of him without knowing quite where he was going, but certain that if he were to relax for a second, the car would be off the road. He was also sure that the police would be looking for the mud-coloured Hyundai by now, so it would have to be either dumped or disguised somehow.

He stopped just as it was becoming fully dark. The wind had dropped and it looked like it would be a cold night with no low cloud to help keep the day's warmth close to the ground. An endless stream of cars and trucks swished past in the growing darkness and Baddo squinted at his phone to punch in the numbers.

It rang only once before it was answered, and there was a moment's silence before anyone spoke.

'h.e.l.lo?'

'Joel Ingi? This is Jon and we need to speak. I have something you want but it's going to cost you.'

There was a moment's silence as the pa.s.sing traffic roared in his ears and rocked the car.

'What for? Why are you calling me?'

'I know Sonja and I can retrieve what you're looking for at a price.'

'How do I know you're not stringing me along? How do I know this isn't bulls.h.i.+t?'

Baddo sighed. 'I know about Sonja, and I know about personal.is. Hinrik contracted me to do some investigation on your behalf, but you can forget Hinrik. I'm the professional; you deal with me now.'

'But I'd already paid Hinrik,' Joel Ingi protested, a plaintive tone in his voice.

Baddo wanted to laugh. 'That's between you and Hinrik, but I have a feeling Hinrik will be busy elsewhere for a while.'

'What do you want?'

'I want five million, right now.'

'Cash? I can't get that much money in cash.'

'You can get it in euros, so do it. Five million is thirty-two thousand euros. Let's call it thirty thousand for cash, shall we?'

'Twenty thousand is the best I can do. But you have the . . . ?' Joel Ingi asked and Baddo wanted to punch the air with glee.

'Make it twenty-five thousand and I'll make sure that what you don't want seen doesn't see the light of day. Understood?'

There was another long silence as the roar of the wind died down.

'You have the computer, then? I want that laptop handed back to me.'

Baddo thought fast and wondered what was so special about the computer. 'It stays with me. You pay for it to stay safe and for me to stay safe as well. You s.h.i.+t on me and I'll do the same to you. It works both ways.'

'I'll need to get the money together. I can't do it straight away. And I need to see the laptop.'

'Of course,' Baddo said coldly. 'You wouldn't want anyone to rip you off, would you? Give me an hour. Call me on this number then,' Baddo ordered, and stabbed the red b.u.t.ton.

ivar Laxdal seemed to fill the whole of the detectives' coffee room. Gunna, Eirikur and Helgi sat around the table as ivar waited expectantly.

'Gisladottir, Eirikur and Helgi. Well, Gunnhildur?' he invited.

'The woman who was pulling the stunts at the Gullfoss and a few other hotels is Hekla Elin Hauksdottir. She calls herself Sonja as her business name and advertises on personal.is and a few other places, as far as I've been able to find out, such as cla.s.sified ads in the press. She's thirty-three years old and lives out at Kjalarnes with her husband and three children. One's his, the younger two are theirs. She's an actress, it seems, or was. Until a year or so ago they were living in Akranes; they lost their house when the bank foreclosed and managed to swing this old place instead. The husband is a decent enough character, a good bit older, disabled in an accident a few years ago when he lost his job.'

ivar Laxdal nodded. 'And she's in an interview room right now, is she?'