66° North

by Michael Ridpath

  Björn shook his head.

  ‘So Frikki was right. One more to go?’

  Björn didn’t answer.

  A tear leaked from Harpa’s eye. ‘I don’t understand you, Björn. I mean Sindri, I do understand. He has always said he believes in violence. He’s deluded himself into practising what he preaches. But you? You are one of the most practical men I know.’

  ‘That’s what I thought,’ said Björn. ‘But I’ve learned a lot over the last year.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘Such as that people like my father and Sindri are right. They always said that capitalism hurts real people, people who work and save. It’s a tool for the rich to screw the rest of us. I can see now how that is blindingly obvious. But I never listened to my father. I thought he was a dinosaur from the wrong side in the Cold War. I believed in the Independence Party, that capitalism meant people like me could work hard to build a business. Boy was I wrong. But at least I realize it now. At least I am going to do something about it.’

  ‘Like kill some people?’

  ‘Harpa.’ Björn reached across the table for Harpa’s hand. She drew back from him. ‘Harpa, you’ve suffered almost as badly. You lost your job. Your father lost his savings. Gabríel Örn treated you badly, as did Óskar. Don’t you see we’re the good guys here?’

  ‘You are a murderer, Björn. OK, you didn’t pull the trigger yourself, but you are a murderer.’ Her eyes widened. ‘Wait a minute! Did you pick Óskar because of me? Did you know he was Markús’s father?’

  ‘The police only told me that on Sunday. But yes, when we were talking about which bank boss to go for, Ódinsbanki seemed a good choice to me.’

  ‘So you killed him on my account?’

  ‘Yours, mine and every other ordinary person in Iceland.’

  Harpa pursed her lips. Anger flared through the couple of tears that had gathered in tiny pools around her eyes. ‘So what are you doing with me? Holding me prisoner?’

  ‘I’d like you to stay here for the next twenty-four hours.’

  ‘Until the next guy on the list is shot?’

  Björn shrugged.

  ‘And what happens after that?’

  Björn sighed. ‘I think it’s inevitable they catch us. The others think there’s going to be a revolution, but I don’t know. It’s just not the way the Icelanders do things. So I guess I’m going to jail.’

  For a moment Harpa almost felt sorry for him. But only for a moment. ‘You deserve to,’ she said.

  ‘Maybe. Perhaps I should pay for what I’ve done; I knew the consequences when I did it. I will just have to accept them.’ His voice was calm.

  ‘Perhaps you should.’

  ‘One more day, and then it won’t matter. The others think they’ve still got a chance. I’d like you to keep quiet for a couple of days, until the police have caught us. Then you can say what you like. I’ll make sure you aren’t implicated in any of this.’

  ‘You’re mad if you think I would go along with that.’

  ‘Please, Harpa,’ Björn said. ‘For my sake.’

  Harpa glared at him. ‘You make me sick,’ she said. ‘Now give me my phone and let me make a call.’

  ‘No,’ said Björn.

  ‘In that case, I’m leaving now,’ Harpa said, pulling herself to her feet.

  ‘You have to stay in the hut,’ said Björn. ‘No, I don’t,’ said Harpa. ‘Are you going to stop me?’

  She walked a couple of paces towards the door. Björn leapt to his feet, grabbed her from behind, twisted her around and pinned her to the floor. Harpa screamed and kicked. Björn stretched out and grabbed the length of rope that was lying on a chair.

  He wrapped it around her body, pinning her arms to her sides, and tied a firm knot. Harpa screamed louder as she writhed against the rope. Björn left her on the floor and stood by the cooker watching her.

  ‘I hate you, Björn!’ Harpa yelled. ‘I hate you!’

  The screams were muffled by the walls of the hut and the mist outside, so by the time they reached the rocky slopes of the valley they were scarcely powerful enough to create an echo.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  MAGNUS WOKE UP thinking about Ingileif. Or rather he didn’t know what to think about Ingileif.

  Her accusation that he was jealous of her, that he suspected her of seeing other men, was ironic. In Magnus’s previous relationship, with Colby, the lawyer in Boston, he was always the one who was being controlled. Colby wanted to regularize the relationship, to get married, to send Magnus off to law school. He was relieved to get away from that, and indeed that was one of the many things that attracted him to Ingileif. She was independent, she did what she wanted, and she allowed him to be the same way.

  So if she went off to parties with her beautiful friends, what business was that of his?

  Except he didn’t like the idea of her sleeping with other men. And he wasn’t even sure whether her anger with him was because she did occasionally do that and she thought it none of his business, or because he didn’t know her well enough to trust her to stay away from other men.

  Which all showed she had a point. He didn’t really know her.

  She wanted to go to Germany. He was likely to be sent back to the States. It was fun while it lasted, but it was over. Face it. Move on.

  But rather than be braced by this thought, it depressed him.

  Ingileif was part of the life he was building in Iceland. Unpredictable, beautiful, untameable.

  Mind you, he had been right to be angry at her. A defence lawyer in the States would run rings around a prosecution if they ever found out what she had done. Iceland had a less adversarial system, it would be a judge who would question the evidence and how it had been obtained. But if the whole case collapsed because of Ingileif’s activities, Magnus would be buying a one-way ticket back to Boston.

  Yet she had found out something. There was to be another victim: Ingólfur Arnarson.

  There was a slight chance that this might be the target’s real name, a very slight chance. Much more likely it was a codename.

  Ingólfur Arnarson was famous as the first settler in Iceland. He had sailed there from Norway in 874, and as he approached the island he had cast his wooden ‘home pillars’ into the sea, vowing to settle wherever they washed up. It took three years for his slaves to find them, but eventually they were discovered in a smoky bay, Reykjavík: reykur meaning smoke and vík bay. A fine statue of the Viking stood on a mound downtown.

  The question was, who did the name Ingólfur Arnarson represent in the twenty-first century?

  There were a number of obvious candidates. The young men who had built up business empires overseas in the previous decade were known in Iceland as útrásarvíkingar – literally ‘Outvasion Vikings’. They recalled the great Vikings who had set forth from Norway a thousand years before to use their youth, vitality and aggression to make their fortunes. Men like Ingólfur Arnarson.

  And like Óskar Gunnarsson. As he himself had recognized by commissioning the sculpture of a Viking riding a Harley Davidson in the lobby of his family office.

  The trouble was there were several other candidates for Ingólfur. But which one did Sindri have in mind?

  People would have to be warned, which meant that Magnus was going to have to admit how he came upon the information. He could imagine Baldur’s ridicule, quite justified, of Magnus’s investigative techniques. For a moment Magnus thought about claiming that the information came from a confidential informant. But that wouldn’t wash.

  He made himself a cup of coffee and called Vigdís at the station. She had just got in. He told her what Ingileif had been up to the previous night.

  ‘Impressive work,’ said Vigdís. ‘Unconventional.’

  ‘Damn stupid, if you ask me,’ said Magnus.

  ‘And probably if you ask Baldur,’ said Vigdís. ‘But at least we know for sure Sindri is involved.’

  ‘Any ideas who Ingólfur Arnarson might be?’ Magnus asked
. He outlined his own view that it might be one of the Outvaders.

  ‘I think you are right,’ said Vigdís. ‘I don’t know whether one of them is more like Ingólfur than any of the others. I don’t know them well enough, they all seem like a bunch of greedy fat cats to me. The Special Prosecutor might have an idea.’

  ‘Yes, I remember him talking to me about them. Or there’s Óskar’s sister Emilía,’ said Magnus. ‘She probably knows them all personally. Find out what she thinks.’

  ‘OK. We should also go through the phone book, just in case. There are bound to be some people whose real name is Ingólfur Arnarson.’

  ‘Worth checking. And you could ask Frikki when you speak to him again this morning. Let’s hope he’s more talkative after his night in the cells.’

  ‘We’re going to have to tell Baldur,’ said Vigdís. ‘These people are in danger. Or at least one of them is. And we don’t know which one.’

  ‘Leave it with me,’ said Magnus.

  ‘Before you go, I saw Björn’s brother yesterday. He was in Tenerife for a week with his girlfriend, came back Monday. Iceland Express confirms it. They both flew out, they both flew back.’

  ‘Well, that pretty much rules him out,’ said Magnus. ‘Speak to you later.’

  He took a deep breath and called Baldur. He told him about Ingileif, Sindri and Ingólfur Arnarson. He got the ridicule he expected, but not for the reason he expected it.

  ‘Do you really think I’m going to take any notice of this information?’ Baldur asked.

  ‘Well, yes,’ said Magnus. ‘We need to warn all the Outvaders we can find. Their lives might be in danger.’

  ‘These are still some of the most important people in the country. And you want me to put them on high alert on the basis of the ravings of a drunken fantasist trying to get a woman into bed?’

  ‘He’s not necessarily a fantasist,’ said Magnus.

  ‘Oh yes he is,’ said Baldur. ‘We’ve been watching Sindri on and off for at least a decade. He talks big, but he doesn’t do anything. People like Sindri never do anything. And when they get drunk they just talk bigger.’

  ‘So you think that Sindri was just boasting?’

  ‘Show me evidence that he wasn’t.’

  ‘We saw him with Björn and Harpa at the demonstrations in January.’

  ‘Which proves nothing.’

  ‘All right,’ said Magnus. He had been reluctant to make the phone call in the first place. If Baldur didn’t want to respond to it, there was nothing much more Magnus could do.

  Perhaps Vigdís would get something out of the kid.

  Sophie sat at the back of the small lecture theatre. European Human Rights. She had no idea what the lecturer was saying, her concentration had wandered within the first minute.

  The seat next to her was empty. It was usually where Zak sat, but Zak was… Zak was where, exactly? She had no idea.

  She had scarcely slept all night. She had called his mobile and texted him at regular intervals without reply, and then, first thing in the morning, she had called his home number.

  His mother had answered. To the polite question ‘how are you?’ the woman had answered, ‘fine’. She wasn’t supposed to be fine, she was supposed to be dying, but maybe she was just being polite in return. But when Sophie had asked to speak to Ísak, she was told he had disappeared on a camping trip.

  Then his mother had asked whether there was anything wrong with Ísak, and Sophie had answered, truthfully, ‘I don’t know.’

  Sophie was worried about what Josh had said the night before about Zak asking about Julian Lister’s holiday arrangements. That was very strange: she could think of no plausible explanation. She knew that Zak hadn’t actually shot the ex-Chancellor himself, he was at home in London on Sunday. Although he had gone to church that day. And Sophie knew for a fact that Zak didn’t believe in God.

  Something was up. All her instincts were screaming at her that something was up.

  But what? Sophie couldn’t really believe that Zak was a terrorist, or part of a conspiracy of terrorists. In which case why not call the police with her suspicions? Let them clear him. She had the card that the policewoman had left Zak in her jeans pocket.

  Because it would be disloyal, that was why. She would never be able to look Zak in the eye again.

  Josh was sitting at the front of the lecture theatre, typing away on his laptop. Really taking notes, probably, he didn’t look like a Facebook surfing type.

  He was a bright guy, if a little overenthusiastic. Sophie scarcely knew him – she remembered some perceptive questions he had asked in that class, and some that were a little out there.

  She had an idea.

  When, finally, the lecture finished, Sophie was one of the first through the exit, which was at the back of the theatre by her seat. She loitered, waiting to pounce. Josh was the third to last out.

  ‘Josh!’

  ‘Oh, hi. Sophie, isn’t it?’ He shrank back a little.

  ‘Can I have a quick chat about something?’

  ‘If it’s about what I said about your boyfriend last night, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. I’m sure I was wrong.’

  ‘It is about that,’ said Sophie. ‘And quite frankly I don’t know whether you are wrong or right. But, well, if Zak really did ask you the questions you say he did about Lister, then I think you should tell the police.’

  ‘I’m sure he didn’t mean anything,’ said Josh.

  ‘Listen to me, Josh,’ Sophie said, looking straight into his eyes. ‘I’m not at all sure of that. Do you understand me? You might be right, I just don’t know. Here’s the number of a policewoman who interviewed Zak a couple of days ago. If you’re still suspicious, call her. OK?’

  ‘OK,’ said Josh, staring at the card Sophie had handed him.

  He let her go first, and then ambled into Clare Market in the heart of the tight cluster of buildings that made up the London School of Economics, pulled out his phone and dialled the number. Detective Sergeant Piper didn’t answer, but he left a message.

  Josh was always having outlandish theories but none of them ever turned out to be true. Could that really be about to change?

  Magnus walked the short distance to Ingileif’s gallery. It was on Skólavördustígur, a short road that led up the hill from Laugavegur directly to the scaffolding-clad sweeping spire of the Hallgrímskirkja. The street was lined with galleries and art shops, although since the arrival of the kreppa quite a few had closed. Ingileif’s gallery had survived, just. She owned it with five partners, all female artists of one kind or another. They sold paintings, jewellery, some furniture, fish-skin bags designed by Ingileif herself, lava candle-holders and some small items of furniture. All high-end expensive stuff.

  As Magnus walked past the window, he saw her staring outside, an empty expression on her face. Even though she was looking straight at him, she didn’t seem to see him. It was only when he walked through the door that she noticed him.

  She smiled quickly and briefly. He held her. After a few seconds they broke apart. She turned away from him, moving towards the back of the gallery, putting a little distance between them.

  ‘I’m sorry I stormed out on you last night,’ Ingileif said. ‘I was pretty drunk.’

  ‘I could tell.’

  ‘But why don’t you trust me, Magnús?’

  ‘I do.’

  ‘No, you don’t,’ Ingileif said. Pink spots appeared on her pale cheeks, a sure sign that she was either angry or embarrassed. Magnus guessed angry. ‘Admit it, you don’t trust me.’

  ‘I do,’ Magnus said. ‘I didn’t last night, but I do now.’

  ‘Why now? What’s changed? Magnús, I did it all for you, don’t you see that? Do you think I enjoyed listening to that fat old man droning on for hours on end? Do you think I actually wanted to sleep with him? I was trying to help you out. I thought you’d be pleased with me, instead of which you are upset because I didn’t stick to the rules and you think I enjoy seducing
old men. I’m sorry, but if you think that, there isn’t much of a future for us.’

  Magnus sighed. ‘I don’t think that, Ingileif. You’re right, I got the wrong end of the stick. I didn’t understand what you were doing. And it’s true I don’t completely understand you. That’s one of the reasons why I love you.’

  Ingileif’s grey eyes searched Magnus’s. He didn’t know whether they found what they were looking for.

  ‘I think I’m going to go to Germany, Magnús.’

  Magnus was about to say, ‘don’t do that,’ when he stopped himself. He couldn’t stop her: she could do what she wanted. ‘That would be a shame.’

  ‘You said there’s a good chance you’ll be going back to the States. Why should I stay for you if you won’t stay for me?’

  Magnus nodded. ‘That’s true.’

  ‘Well, then?’ Ingileif’s expression softened. ‘It’s not just you, Magnús. I should go. It would be a good opportunity for me. And it would be good to get away from this country for a bit. That stuff earlier this year with Agnar’s murder, all the things I learned about my father, my brother, I need to put that behind me.’

  ‘I thought I helped you with that,’ Magnus said.

  ‘I thought so too. But part of me holds you responsible for it. It’s not fair, but it’s true. I need to leave, Magnús.’

  Magnus looked at Ingileif. The familiar grey eyes, the little nick above her left eyebrow, the smaller scar on her cheek. He had been lucky to know her, to love her even. But he couldn’t control her. He couldn’t keep her, he shouldn’t keep her. Why should someone like her stay just for him?

  ‘Do what you have to do,’ he said. And he turned and left the gallery.

  Ísak walked out of the small shop with a plastic bag full of half a dozen items: bits and pieces of fishing tackle and a sharp knife that one could use for gutting a fish.

  Or for something else.

  The other items were just cover: to make it less likely that the shopkeeper would take note of a stranger coming into town to buy a knife, and just a knife.

  His phone beeped. He pulled it out. A text message from Sophie asking where he was. He had no intention of replying. A shame about Sophie. She was cute but that relationship had no future. She would figure out eventually what he was up to, and she was too much of a good girl not to tell someone.