The Dead & The Drowning

by Cameron Bell

  “What happened then?”

  “She asked me to see her to her hotel and we caught a taxi. She invited me to her room, and we slept together. In the morning she said she was going on a trip around the Ring Road and I asked to go with her.”

  If you believed she was telling you lies why did you go with her?”

  “It was exciting, she was exciting – I packed a bag and left my judgement at the hotel.”

  “Do you know why Antonia is in Iceland?”

  “Now if you have found the gold then you'll believe me, if you haven't you won't.”

  I looked for a sign of acknowledgement and face is like a glacier, which indicated to me that they had found it.

  “She came here to find Gorm's Gold ... Viking gold buried a thousand years ago; however, she didn't tell me this until I found her in Isafjordur. Up until then she said she was on a holiday like me.”

  “I don't want to get too far ahead. What happened on the trip?”

  “Marcus and Adam run us off the road in a Land Rover Defender. They attacked us with baseball bats, snatched Toni and left me beaten on a ledge. There is a police report on it.”

  “Yes, I've read it.”

  “How do you think they found you?”

  “Toni, I mean Antonia told me that Marcus had placed a tracking app on her phone. They were after the brooch.”

  “The brooch, what brooch?”

  “The brooch Antonia had … it is the key to locating the gold. Antonia's father Jim served in the United States Navy and for a few years was based at Keflavik. In his spare time Jim liked to explore the country and treasure hunt with a metal detector. This is how he met Jon Einarsson and became friends with him. Anyhow, on one of his trips he found this Viking brooch. The brooch remained just a brooch for over thirty years until Jon had an idea that it might be a key to finding Gorm's Gold. That is what she told me anyway.”

  “So how does the brooch work as a key?”

  “The broach is a picture of two curling peaks with a cross made of amber. You look through the brooch and align the peaks, then the position of the cross tells you where the treasure is buried. Of course, you must know where these peaks are, and Jon did. The plan was that Toni would meet Jon in Isafjordur and together they would locate the gold.”

  “Okay we'll come back to that. We know that you left Borgarnes Police Station at 8pm on Saturday what did you do then?” asks Karlsdottir.

  “Got the bus back to Reykjavik and slept at my hotel. Then the next morning I decided to look for her myself. I caught a plane from the city airport and flew to Isafjordur. I made some enquiries around town and identified that it was Jon Einarsson that I was after. The American lady at the café knew Jon well and told me where he lived. I went to the house and discovered that it had been broken into via the back door. I entered, searched the house and found Toni taped to a chair in the basement. Marcus, Adam and Marcus's new girlfriend Marta had stolen the brooch off Toni and kidnapped Jon. It was then that Toni told me about the brooch and Viking gold.”

  “Anything else happen at the house?” interjects Gudjohnsen, providing what I think is a cue to mention Adam. It could be a genuine unknowing question, a trap or a helping hand. One lie however could sour the whole pot.

  “Adam came back with a knife in his hand. He was going to the basement to kill Toni and I confronted him on the stairs. He stabbed me in the shin, and I hit him with a spade ... he fell down the stairs. I then went outside, and this Marta was behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi Warrior. She saw me and drove off at speed.”

  “What happened to Adam?”

  “He was able to get to the hospital.”

  Karlsdottir looks at Gudjohnsen and he makes a note.

  “At that point you should have phoned the police; in fact, you should have phoned them as soon as you discovered that the house had been invaded … don't you think?” says Karlsdottir leaving the point of the question lingering at my throat.

  This was when I veered off track into unexplainable territory – a course of action I couldn't justify taking - the moment the Rubicon was crossed.

  “Yes, I should have phoned the police.”

  “Then why didn't you Will?” the question pressing like a knife.

  “I had a good life full of love and purpose and now it is an empty, sad mess. I am struggling, adrift, losing sight of the shore and she throws me a lifeline ... heh some lifeline more like a bag of bricks. Look I'm wrong. I can blame her for putting ideas into my head, but I agreed to go after the gold for self gain. I thought it would be a springboard to a new start, although truthfully it was not so much about the money, it was about her and the adventure.”

  “So, you did not inform the police because you both wanted to profit from finding the gold. And the involvement of the police would prevent that happening?” summarised Karlsdottir.

  “Partly.”

  “The gold coins are of historic and cultural value and belong to the people of Iceland. It is a crime to find treasure and not notify the government … to keep the treasure and sell for profit.”

  This confirmed that they had recovered the gold – they wouldn't be talking about a crime if they did not have evidence of one committed. I see an out – a way to wriggle off the hook.

  “Yes, I figured that, however at that point I only agreed to help her find it. Smuggling it, selling it ... I did not commit to. There is always a reward for found treasure and in my mind that would be the best option.”

  Karlsdottir consults her notes.

  “What happened next?”

  “Toni had overheard where they were heading, and we took the Ford Ranger to go after them.”

  “Where were they heading?”

  “South to Pingeyri, then west along the peninsula. The route is called … Sva … something. It is circular and goes past a lighthouse.”

  “Svalvogar?” offers Gudjohnsen.

  “Yeah, that’s the one. We drove along that route, along the coastline and just after … there is a gap in the slope of the mountain which you can drive through. Their car was parked the other side. We stopped and climbed a sheep track onto the mountain. I used binoculars and saw Marcus, Marta and Jon hiking up the slope of a mountain with twin curling peaks. Toni and I flanked them,” and I draw a curved line with my forefinger.

  “Toni and I ambushed them and there was a standoff. Marcus struck Jon on the right side of his temple and knocked him out. He then held a spade over his head. I charged Marcus and put him down. There was a fight and Marcus and Marta got the worst of it and retreated. My face is evidence that it was a tough fight.”

  “Continue,” encourages Karlsdottir.

  “The brooch finds the spot and the metal detector pinpoints it. Toni and Jon dig and hit a big silver vase. I open the lid and it is full to the brim with shiny gold coins. We pull the vase out and count six hundred and twenty-four of these coins named Solidus of Irene. I mean I don't know what they are, but Jon does, and he is ecstatic. He starts saying that all the academics that doubted him would be proved wrong. He uses my phone to take pictures and gets me to video him explaining the discovery. Jon tells us that a government agency: one responsible for heritage and history would give a ten percent reward between the three of us. This works out to be a lot of money, one hundred and eighty thousand dollars of clean, legal money. I'm good with this and Antonia doesn't argue - so I think we are set to hand it over.”

  “Let me stop you a minute,” says Karlsdottir.

  “We have checked your phone and there are no pictures or videos of finding the gold.”

  “Antonia deleted them; I'll explain further on if I can.”

  Karlsdottir nods and I continue with my account.

  “We load the gold coins onto the Ranger and head back to Isafjordur. On the way stop at the petrol station at Pingeyri to have some food and coffee. We order hot dogs and Jon tells us that he has a severe nut allergy, and he has almost died a couple times because of it. Antonia says she remembers her father
talking about it. Jon then leaves us to go to the toilet, and immediately Toni complains that the reward money is going to be much lower and that she wants to take the coins - she wants real money for a new life. I tell her no and we quarrel. Jon comes back, then because Marcus had taken her phone Toni asks to use mine to phone her sick father. I ask Jon when he is going to inform the government of the find and he says first thing in the morning.”

  I finish the remains of my coffee and it has become tepid and barely drinkable from the time spent talking.

  “We drive back to Jon's house, Toni tells me I'm right about the gold and I relax. We get in have some Black Death to drink and Toni goes upstairs to have a shower. Jon tells me some things about Toni's past that are different to what she told me, and I wonder what if anything she has told me is true. After her shower Toni comes down and says that she has run me a bath with salts. I go up and get in and Toni brings me a whisky from the bottle that is in my bag. I drink it, then in a moment of suspicion check the call log of my phone. I see the number that Toni had called earlier, and I put it into Google. The number belongs to K.B. Aviation: a small private charter company owned by pilot Kyle Banks. I phone the number and a guy answers and he must believe that I'm Toni because he calls me babe. He tells me the plane is being refuelled at Bildudalur, that he's hired a car, will be here in twenty minutes and is everything going according to plan.”

  “So, what did you think was going on?” asks Gudjohnsen shifting forward in the seat, his hands a steeple to his chin.

  “That she was screwing Jon and I over and something bad was going to happen, which it did. I got out of the bath and felt light headed, which became much worse as I dried and dressed. The room was spinning, and I had to hold onto the wall to stand. I realized I had been drugged. I slid down the stairs and was all over the place. I'm in the hallway trying to get up when I see Jon at the living room door with his face all swollen and struggling to breathe. Toni sat him down and was talking to us. I can't remember much of what she said except her calmly saying I've put GHB in your drink Will. Then she pushed me over and kept Jon in the room until he died and kept me on the floor until I passed out,” I recount, the last words loaded with rancour.

  “So, are you saying that Antonia caused Jon Einarsson death?”

  “Yes, I think she bought a bag of peanuts at the petrol station and knowing that he would go into Anaphylactic shock rubbed some on his glass. She pretended to help him, but she'd hidden his Epipens and phone; the lifelines that could have saved him. From there she just had to manage him as he grew weaker straining for breath, crawling along the floor, to die on his knees.”

  “Interesting,” comments Karlsdottir, and in a reflective pause I see her compute what I have said with what they have found.

  “Though you admit that you were drunk and drugged when this happened; your faculties very impaired.”

  “Yes, but I know what she did to Jon and what she then did to me.”

  “Then did to you. After this what did she do to you?”

  “Kyle and Toni dragged me to a small wood above Isafjordur, hanged me by the neck from a tree and left me for dead. Toni then sent a suicide message to my children off my phone. I am woken by my daughter Annabel phoning me at half past four this morning.”

  “If you were hanged how did you survive?” queries Gudjohnsen.

  “Luck ... the branch broke. I took pictures of the scene.”

  “Your phone is protected with a swipe code is it not? how was Toni able to access your phone when it is coded?” challenges Karlsdottir.

  “Because when I gave Toni my phone at the petrol station I swiped it in front of her. She must have watched and remembered the swipe pattern.”

  “Explain what happened next?

  “Getting out of the wood I saw that I was close to Jon's house, so I went back to see if he was alive. Toni and the gold had gone, and Jon was dead on the floor.”

  “How could you be sure, why didn't you phone for an ambulance, and again not notify the police?” prods Karlsdottir the glacier facade replaced with a hard edge of disapproval.

  “I know dead when I see it; he was long gone. I know how this looks, but if I hadn't stopped them taking the gold I'd be in a worse position than I am in now. I would have a ropey story with no proof.”

  “So, you stole Jon Einarsson’s Ford Ranger and drove to Bildudalur, where you used it to ram the plane off the runway almost killing the occupants?”

  She has worked up a head of steam and I am getting it.

  “I hit them at thirty miles per hour: enough to cancel the flight, not enough to kill them. Yes, I fully admit ramming the plane and I'd do it again to apprehend a murderer; lawful use of force Inspector to prevent escape.”

  “I think you forget that you are not a policeman here,” is her riposte.

  “You then drag the pilot from the plane and assault him isn't that true?”

  “He tried to run. I prevented him from escaping too.”

  I am tiring from an already tired start. The warmth of the room is wilting, the toxic hangover brutal and unforgiving. Their questions and the effort of my answers wearing. All of them chisels, chipping away at what little there is left.

  Chapter 30

  “We've interviewed Antonia ...”

  “Then you have a heap of lies to expose Inspector.”

  “She said she found the gold with Jon Einarsson and together they came up with the plan to fly it out of the country. Once they had got to the United States Jon was going to travel over and they would find a buyer for the coins. She agrees she met you at the Gaukurinn and after walking to your hotel, paid for a taxi to the Leifur Eiriksson where the two of you spent the night. In the morning she said you pressed to go on the road trip to Isafjordur with her, and reluctantly she agreed. During the journey to use her words, you became creepy and made her feel uncomfortable. She told you that she was going to drop you off at the next settlement. She then said you went crazy and grabbed the steering wheel causing the car to hit another vehicle and leave the road. According to her she was wearing a seatbelt and except for bruising her stomach she didn't get hurt, but you were not and banged your head badly against the dashboard knocking yourself out. Terrified she ran back to the road where a passing motorist picked her up. She phoned the police reporting the theft of the RAV4, then backed out because it would have been a distraction to finding the gold.”

  “Bravo ... but bullshit!”

  The bullets so far are flying wide of the mark. She had taken what she couldn't avoid yet is evading everything else with a devious aplomb.

  “What about Marcus and Adam?” I say feeling my anger being lit.

  “She did not mention them, other than to say she told you at the Gaukurinn about her troubles with them back home,” adds Gudjohnsen.

  “Mr. Cutter I put it to you that you are infatuated with Antonia Brookes and you followed her to Isafjordur where using your policing skills you tracked Jon Einarsson down. You broke into his house, beat him and held him captive until he told you where Antonia was. You then suffocated him and stole his car. You faked your own hanging as well as police reports to cover your crimes of violence. If you confess now we can offer you a reduction in sentence.”

  My chest convulses with involuntary and muted laughter. I shake my head incredulous of what I had just heard and rush to pull it to pieces. It is a preposterous scenario and yet it fits, if you accept the premise of a man pushed to derangement by grief, stress and alcohol abuse. Could such a man, a man already predisposed to violence snap and go haywire – yes I suppose he could. If a man has lost the plot, then the plot no longer needed to make any sense.

  “Mr. Cutter what do you say to that?” says Karlsdottir her tone sharpening.

  “No, you are barking up the wrong tree Inspector. I'm the wrong man.”

  “No, we have the right man for some crimes, how many is the question?” Karlsdottir retorts.

  And she is certainly a better adversary than Alexand
er Pritchard-Hayes.

  ◆◆◆

  Right, it is time to unload everything.

  “Point one: speak to the waitress at the gas station diner at Pingeyri, she served three people: Jon, Toni and I at about 3:30 yesterday afternoon. Also speak to the cashier there because Toni bought chewing gum and I bet some type of nuts. And of course, there could be CCTV which will prove she is lying.”

  “Point two: the baseball bat and the cuts to my scalp. The handle of the bat that was seized will have my blood on it. It is evidence that there was a fight after the crash with Marcus and Adam.”

  “Point three: check the local hospitals for an American named Adam. He'll have a broken left arm and jaw. I caused those injuries at Jon's house and he stabbed me in the shin, unless you insist that I done that too.”

  “Point four: back triangulate the signal from my phone and it will show that I was in Svalvogar yesterday and travelled back to Isafjordur like I said.”

  “Point five: examine Kyle Banks's phone it will have my number in the call log. Called once by Toni and once by myself. If you believe Toni's story then there should be no call history between Kyle's phone and mine.”

  “Point six: get your pathologist to check for Anaphylaxis as a cause of Jon Einarsson’s death.”

  “Point seven: Just ask yourselves who has the clear motive to kill Jon Einarsson: killing someone who I didn't know to find someone who I barely know or killing someone and attempting to kill another who stood in the way of five and a half million dollars ... think on it detectives.”

  Chapter 31

  The interview had concluded shortly after issuing them the investigative plan. The way I had laid it out to them had bordered on impudence. Even so, in the summation of things it didn’t matter, with my liberty in the balance it was not a time to pussy-foot around, and I cared not whether I offended or pleased. Before being returned to the cell a Doctor had taken a blood sample and I was permitted another phone call. I tried to contact Nathan, however he must have been on an exercise because his phone went straight to voicemail. I leave a message, which delivered off the cuff became awkward and rambling.