Thin Ice: An Inspector Gunna Mystery (Gunnhildur Mystery Book 5)

by Quentin Bates

  ‘If you wanted to hide a car, where would you go, Eiríkur?’

  ‘In Hafnarfjördur? I wouldn’t bother. The place is too small. Unless you have a garage where you can park it out of sight, it’s not going to be all that easy.’

  ‘Yeah, but where would you go?’

  ‘One of the quiet streets up the top there, or else around the harbour, I reckon, but you’d still struggle to hide it away somewhere.’

  ‘Either they’ve been lucky and slipped past, or else we’ve missed them,’ Gunna decided.

  Eiríkur looked glum. ‘You’re probably right. They could have gone along the coast road to Álftanes and gone towards Reykjavík that way, or they might have gone up Flatarhraun and got on to Reykjanesbraut. Or they might be driving around right behind us. But they probably aren’t aware that we tumbled them so quickly.’

  ‘What I’m wondering is why Tinna Lind’s phone popped up for such a short time. It was fourteen minutes from being logged on to being switched off, but no calls or texts.’

  ‘Internet? Checking email?’

  ‘Checking something. But what?’

  ‘And was it Tinna Lind or someone else using her phone?’

  ‘Exactly. If there had been a call or a text we’d at least have something to go on. Instead, all we know is that Tinna Lind’s phone was in Hafnarfjördur half an hour ago, with or without her. Brilliant.’

  ‘Gunna?’ Eiríkur said. ‘Have you noticed how many bikers there are about?’

  ‘Are you feeling suspicious, Eiríkur?’ Gunna asked. ‘You reckon we’re not the only ones looking for Össur?’

  Magni laughed uncontrollably as he pulled the Skoda off the main road and onto the winding side road leading to the summer house. He was sweating and could feel his heart pound as he parked the car in the shadow of the chalet. He lay back in his seat as he switched off the engine. Tinna Lind put a hand on his arm and patted it.

  ‘It’s all right. A few hours to kill and we’re out of here,’ she said in a soft voice.

  ‘Pull yourself together will you?’ Össur snapped, sitting still in the back seat and taking care not to get out of the car until Tinna Lind swung her door open and stepped out.

  Össur sat on a hard chair by the kitchen table and flicked his zippo to light a cigarette. Tinna Lind watched him and noticed that since the passports had been handed over the night before, Össur had been nervously on his guard, watching them both and taking care to keep something between himself and Magni.

  Magni filled the coffee maker, switched it on and collapsed on the sofa with his eyes closed. He took deep breaths and tried to think of something relaxing and far away. A vision of the sun glittering on the water of the harbour at Heimaey came vividly to mind, small boys with their first fishing rods laughing and triumphant with a small pollock wriggling on the end of a line.

  ‘All right?’ Tinna Lind sat next to him and he put an arm around her as she nestled against him. Össur blew moody smoke towards the ceiling. Normally Magni would have told him to go outside, but it seemed more trouble than it was worth to start another argument that would never be resolved. ‘Nervous?’

  ‘You’re not?’

  ‘Maybe I don’t show it,’ she said with a fond smile. ‘We have a couple of hours to kill, so I’m going to have a shower and get myself fixed up. Do you want to go and shut your eyes for an hour? It’s going to be a long day.’

  Magni opened his eyes, rubbed them and wondered if the blonde goddess wrapped in a towel and smiling at him were real or part of a dream he hadn’t woken up from. It took him a moment to remember that he was in the bedroom of the Seamen’s Union’s chalet and the goddess was Tinna Lind with newly dyed hair.

  ‘You like it?’

  ‘Wow. Just a bit.’

  She towelled her hair gently. ‘It’s a little darker than I wanted it to be, but it’ll wash out in a couple of weeks.’

  ‘I think you should keep it like that,’ he said. ‘For a while, anyway.’

  ‘Maybe. We’ll see.’

  Magni yawned and sat up. ‘What’s Össur doing?’

  ‘He was outside just now, probably just having a spliff and planning how to spend all his money.’

  ‘We’re going to have to be careful.’

  ‘You don’t trust him?’

  ‘Not an inch.’

  A sly smile ran around Tinna Lind’s face. ‘And I don’t suppose he trusts us either.’

  ‘Probably not. It’s hardly in his nature.’

  She sat on the bed next to him, leaned forward to let her hair fall forward and then swung her head up and back to send it in a blonde arc back over her shoulders.

  ‘How long have I been asleep?’

  ‘About an hour.’

  ‘So what’s the time?’

  ‘About eleven.’ She shrugged the towel off and swung her legs onto the bed to lie next to him. ‘We have a good half hour, if that’s what you’re thinking.’

  ‘That’s good, because that’s exactly what I was thinking.’

  ‘They say gentlemen prefer blondes, so you can tell me afterwards if it makes any difference. I’ve never been blonde before, so it’ll be a new experience.’

  Their half hour together had been intense, tender and raw by turns.

  Össur was nowhere to be seen when Magni pushed opened the bedroom door and went to the bathroom to splash his face with cold water. He looked out of the window and checked the car was still there, although he knew the key was still in the pocket of his jeans on the bedroom floor, where Tinna Lind had dropped them after pulling them off him.

  Back in the bedroom he found Tinna Lind pulling a shirt over her head, her newly blonde locks dropping a couple of inches below the collarline and contrasting with the black fabric.

  ‘I can’t see Össur anywhere.’

  ‘He can’t have gone far,’ she said, pulling a hooded sweater over the black shirt and shaking her still damp hair out over it.

  ‘I hope he hasn’t run for it.’

  ‘Where could he have run to? It’s a long walk to anywhere from here.’

  Magni opened the door and looked out over the couple of hundred metres of lava overgrown with patches of heather between the chalet and the sea.

  ‘You’ve finished then?’ Össur asked and Magni saw him sitting at a picnic table with a cigarette between his fingers. A carrier bag with its plastic handles tied together had been placed on the table.

  ‘What have you got there?’

  ‘Never you mind. Something I need to drop off to a friend before my flight.’

  ‘What? You should have said something before. We need to be out of here pretty soon if you’re going to catch your flight.’

  ‘Then maybe you should have kept your dick in your trousers,’ Össur snapped. ‘Anyone would think you’d never seen pussy before the way you’ve been at it.’ He ground out the stub of his cigarette on one of the planks of the table. ‘Come on, then. If we need to be going, we’d best be off.’

  ‘Where do you want to drop that off?’ Magni asked suspiciously.

  ‘Don’t worry, it’s only in Hafnarfjördur. Ten minutes there and ten minutes back. Now get on with it, will you?’

  ‘We really shouldn’t be going back to Hafnarfjördur if half the police force is looking for us,’ Tinna Lind said as Magni took the Skoda nervously down the slope towards the town centre. There was plenty of traffic and the place was busy.

  ‘That way,’ Össur ordered, pointing to a side street. Off the main road the place appeared deserted. There was no traffic here and with a steady drizzle coming down, there was nobody to be seen on foot.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Magni asked.

  ‘That way.’ There was a harsh determination in Össur’s voice.

  ‘You’re not going to Alli’s place again, are you?’

  ‘Got it in one, clever boy,’ Össur said and Magni saw his brown teeth appear in the mirror in a humourless smile.

  ‘For fuck’s sake, Össi? Are you out o
f your tiny mind?’

  ‘Don’t argue. I know what I’m doing.’

  Össur took the Baikal from his pocket and clicked the safety catch. Tinna Lind expected him to jam it into her ribs between the seats again, but instead he lifted the pistol and held it to Magni’s neck.

  ‘Not another word. Understand?’ he hissed. ‘Drive slowly long the street and stop outside Alli’s cornershop.’

  With the muzzle of the pistol pressed against the back of his head, Magni felt his fingertips going numb. He brought the car to a gentle halt outside Alli’s place.

  ‘Look,’ he croaked, nodding at a black van squatting on the other side of the street. ‘That’s Rafn’s truck, isn’t it?’

  ‘So much the better. Leave the engine running because we’re going to have to be out of here sharpish. Now get out of the car, both of you, and walk towards Alli’s place.’

  ‘Össi, come on. We can be out of here right now and no harm done.’

  The impact of the Baikal’s barrel on the back of his head was sharp enough to make his eyes water instantly and he held his breath, waiting for the crack of the shot that would be the last thing he would hear.

  ‘Do as I say or one of you gets it,’ Össur said in a low voice, heavy with a determination that was more chilling than his usual angry tone.

  They got slowly out of the car, Össur first with the pistol in his hand, which was now dropped down to his waist. He leaned into the car and retrieved the carrier bag.

  ‘In front of me,’ he said, and handed the bag to Tinna Lind. ‘You can take that.’

  In the middle of the deserted street, with rain dripping down his face, Magni wondered what was happening as Össur dug into his other pocket and pulled out his lighter.

  ‘Open the bag, darling,’ he ordered. ‘Carefully,’ he added as Tinna Lind put it down and untied the handles.

  ‘What . . .?’

  The reek of petrol from the two bottles was unmistakeable, not least as the rags stuffed into the top of each one had also been soaked in it. He handed her the lighter, then transferred the pistol to his left hand.

  ‘Keep back, Magni. Don’t try to do anything stupid. I can shoot with either hand easily enough,’ Össur warned.

  ‘Give me a light, girl,’ Össur ordered and Tinna Lind watched in fascination as the petrol-soaked rag in the top of the bottle caught and burned fiercely. Össur threw the bottle in a long arc towards the black van and it hit the ground by the driver’s door. The sudden rush of heat as the glass broke and the fuel caught fire was more than Tinna Lind had expected and she instinctively cowered down while Magni watched in dismay as the flames licked at the van’s sides.

  ‘Again,’ Össur yelled, pointing the pistol at her. ‘Come on you stupid bitch, pick that one up and light it!’

  Tinna Lind felt the scorching heat of the fire as the van was practically engulfed and stared at the second bottle of petrol.

  ‘There,’ Össur shouted at her over the roar of the burning van, the pistol back in his good hand, aiming it at the pink house. Tinna Lind sensed the double crack of the pistol as a window at the front of the house disintegrated. ‘Throw it. That window there. Now!’

  She picked up the bottle with shaking hands and glanced at Magni, catching his eye.

  ‘Hey, Össi,’ she called to him, tossing the bottle of petrol high in the air towards him. ‘Catch.’

  Össur stared at her in a moment’s furious astonishment, which turned to a roar of fury as he fumbled to catch the bottle as it fell towards him, his attention diverted and the pistol forgotten in his hand. Just as the bottle slipped through his fingers and shattered on the ground, Magni lunged at Össur. Magni’s shoulder drove into Össur’s back and sent him flying, leaving him lying with his legs in the spreading pool of petrol. The Baikal dropped from his hand and Magni kicked it hard, watching it skitter across the road, bounce off the kerb and come to rest in a puddle of grey water.

  Magni watched in shock as Tinna Lind dropped the still flaming lighter into the petrol on the road and it ignited with a rush, the flames snatching at Össur’s legs. He screeched with fear and rolled away, beating at his trousers. Magni vaguely registered people in the distance as if they were in slow motion. As Össur slapped at the flames, Tinna Lind snatched at the jacket that Össur had left unzipped, ripping one arm free.

  ‘Quick, pull it off him,’ Tinna Lind gasped, tugging at Össur’s jacket as he screeched and rolled over again on the wet road, trying to extinguish the flames. The black jacket came away in Magni’s hands and he was surprised at how heavy it felt. ‘Go,’ Tinna Lind gasped, snatching at his arm, and looking over her shoulder to see Rafn and an older man appear with fury and disbelief on their faces.

  ‘But Össi?’

  ‘Fuck him,’ Tinna Lind swore as a distant siren wailed. She glared at Össur lying on the ground in front of her and aimed a deliberate sharp kick that connected with his groin. Össur rolled over with a howl, his hands reaching for his testicles, and Magni took Tinna Lind’s arm. ‘That’s for Erna,’ she snarled at him as Magni pulled her away before she could deliver a second kick.

  ‘Tinna, come on.’

  ‘Fuck him, he was going to rip us off anyway. Let’s get out of here.’

  The search for the mysterious grey car had been stood down. Gunna and Eiríkur held a quick debrief over coffee and doughnuts, which she knew she should really avoid, at the Hafnarfjördur police station, a few hundred yards from where one of the motorcycle officers had spent an hour in the rain hoping to identify three people in a stolen Skoda. Gunna was on her second much-needed cup of coffee when the F1 call buzzed over her communicator, but it was the address that had her sprinting for the door, with Eiríkur at her heels and the two motorcycle officers pulling on their helmets.

  Outside the rain had faded away to a slow drizzle, as if the air was so saturated with water that it had started to ooze from the atmosphere. Eiríkur’s long legs quickly outstripped her and he already had the Golf started by the time she jumped into the passenger seat, and it was moving before she’d pulled the door shut.

  The wail of a siren could already be heard and the smell of burning was borne on the wind.

  ‘Control, ninety-five-fifty,’ Gunna said in a curt voice into her communicator. ‘What’s the story?’

  ‘Ninety-five-fifty, control. Reports of a vehicle on fire and at least two gunshots.’

  ‘Any casualties?’

  ‘One reported. There’s a car ahead of you and the Special Unit has been alerted.’

  ‘Any fatalities?’

  ‘None confirmed.’

  ‘Thanks, control.’

  The scene that greeted her was one of barely contained chaos, and she immediately thought a war zone had unfolded in suburban Hafnarfjördur as she scanned the scene and recognized Alli standing by the door of his house, his face showing shocked disbelief. Eiríkur firmly but insistently pushed the gathering crowd of bystanders back, and the first motorcycle officer parked his bike with its lights flashing to block the road.

  An ambulance rolled to a halt and three green-overalled medics jumped out, one taking in the scene as a whole and two going directly to where a figure sat in the middle of the road with its head slumped down over its chest. Gunna crouched by the figure with the two medics and recognized Össur’s face as he lifted it to look at them, a dazed expression on his face. She could see that much of his hair had been singed down to the scalp.

  ‘Who are you?’ he slurred, his eyes blank and jaw slack.

  ‘Don’t worry, pal, we’re here to look after you,’ one of the medics said. ‘What’s your name?’

  ‘Össi.’

  ‘OK, Össi. I’m Lóa. Now just sit still there and you’ll be fine,’ she said, putting a blanket around him.

  ‘Lóa,’ Össur repeated. ‘That’s a lovely name,’ he said and closed his eyes as he took shuddering breaths.

  ‘Badly hurt?’ Gunna asked.

  ‘Not good, but he’ll live,’ the me
dic replied, looking up. ‘Some burns but mostly shock. Any other casualties?’

  ‘It doesn’t look like it,’ Gunna said, getting to her feet and looking around to see that in a matter of minutes the street had been cleared and sealed off.

  The Skoda bounced down the street that Magni realized he and Össur had run down only a few days before with Alli the Cornershop’s money. At the intersection at the bottom he stopped and waited patiently as a police car turned up the road and shot towards the scene. His fingers were still numb with excitement and he wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.

  ‘Go that way,’ Tinna Lind ordered, going through the pockets of Össur’s jacket as she ripped the lining inside out. The wad of notes was surprisingly modest when she found it wrapped in a fat envelope. She patted the jacket, exploring it for tell-tale bulges, and clawed at the lining on the other side. She whooped as she extracted a second bundle of smaller notes.

  ‘Got it, Magni. The whole lot. A quarter of a million euros!’

  ‘All of it?’

  ‘Didn’t you see Össur was constantly patting his pockets? Why do you think he never took his jacket off?’

  Two more police cars sped along the road towards them and swept past in a blaze of flashing lights and sirens, an ambulance following behind them.

  ‘You reckon Össur will be all right?’ Magni said.

  ‘Why are you asking? He was going to do the same to us.’ She opened the window and bundled the ragged remains of Össur’s jacket through it, watching it twist briefly in the car’s slipstream before it hit the road. ‘I’d bet you anything you like he was going to rob us before he got to the airport.’

  ‘Won’t there be an alarm when he doesn’t turn up for his flight?’

  ‘Don’t worry about it. People miss flights all the time. In any case, I didn’t book his flight.’

  ‘What?’ Magni looked sideways at her in amazement. ‘You had this planned?’

  ‘Of course not. How could I have planned anything like this? But I knew something was going to happen,’ she said. ‘Listen, we need to drop out of sight and lose this car. We daren’t turn up at the airport in it.’