‘What I’m looking for is a link to the killer, or killers, and I have to assess whether or not you are in danger yourself,’ Gunna said, looking at her over the rim of her coffee cup. ‘Do you feel you need protection? Have you upset people who might want to go to these extremes, or is there someone out there looking to settle a score? I gather there’s another partner in some of these businesses, Elvar Pálsson?’
‘Elvar ran Sólfell Investment. The rest of us were really just sleeping partners. But between them they must have upset lots of people, so I guess there are plenty to choose from.’ She smiled. ‘Jóhann and I came in as partners later, so maybe we haven’t pissed off quite so many people.’
‘Where is Elvar now?’
‘I don’t know,’ Sunna María almost snarled. ‘We’re old friends, but I don’t keep tabs on him.’
‘Who would bear a grudge against Vilhelm Thorleifsson?’
This time she rolled her eyes. ‘Look, Villi was a businessman. There must be hundreds of people who have been sticking pins in wax effigies of him over the years. Then there’s his wife, of course.’
‘Saga? Why do you say that?’
‘You’ve met her. Surely you can figure it out.’
‘I can. But I want to hear your take on it.’
Sunna María sighed. ‘Villi didn’t have a faithful bone in his body. He physically wasn’t capable of keeping his dick in his trousers, and a man with money to throw around doesn’t need to. He had a constant stream of mistresses and girlfriends.’
‘Does that include you?’
‘Please. .’
‘I can’t not ask. You must realize that.’
‘All right. Yes. But it was a very long time ago. When we were at university. Long before he met Saga and way before I met Jóhann. Does that answer your question?’
‘How come you and Jóhann came in as business partners?’
Sunna María sat back and dropped the roll she had buttered back on the plate. ‘I knew the boys because we were at college together. Jóhann had some money to invest back in 2003 or 2004 and we wanted to do more than just fix people’s teeth.’
‘Your husband’s a dentist?’ Gunna asked, although she had already found this out and had called the smart practice in the Kringlan shopping centre the day before to see if he might be there.
‘And a very good one. He bought a practice not long after he qualified, years ago — bought out an old boy who was ready to pack it in and retire to the golf course. Well, after a couple of years it turned out the building off Lindargata was worth a fortune, so he sold it to a developer who built a petrol station and a 10–11 store on the site. Jóhann banked the cash, got himself a smart financial adviser and rented a new place instead. That’s when he started investing here and there.’
‘And that’s where Vilhelm and Elvar came in?’
‘Something like that. By 2006 they had figured out which way things were going to go here, so they started moving their business out of the country. Nothing flashy, just buying up smallish companies that weren’t doing so well, putting in a project manager to split them up or turn them around, and once the books looked more positive, selling them on. It was good business. It still is. Elvar is still busy, but Villi had taken something of a back seat.’
‘And Jóhann and you?’
‘We still have a couple of companies that are active with Elvar and Villi.’
‘So what about Sólfell Investment? That didn’t do so well?’
Sunna María looked uncomfortable for the first time. ‘That didn’t go as successfully as it should have done. It was an investment vehicle with a few other partners to develop some real estate here in the city.’
‘What went wrong?’
‘I knew it was a mistake from the start and Elvar didn’t like it, said it was too risky. In 2007 we bought some land. That’s our other company, Sólfell Property, which has been doing rather well. .’ She looked up and smiled, waving across the room.
A slim young man in a silver jacket appeared by the table.
‘Why are you here, darling?’ he asked, almost pleading and staring at Gunna’s uniform in surprise. ‘This place is just so plastic.’
‘I know, Siddi. I’m so sorry, but I had some problems at home and had to move out for a few days while they’re sorted out.’
‘Plumbing again? I remember telling you there was something wrong with the water.’
‘Yes, Siddi, and you were quite right.’ She picked up her room key from the table and handed it to the young man. ‘I’m in three oh five. You just go up and wait for me, I won’t be long.’
‘Pedicure,’ Sunna María explained when Siddi had departed towards the lobby and the lifts. ‘Siddi works wonders.’
‘I’m going to need a list of companies, and a list of people.’
‘Suspects, you mean?’
‘People who could conceivably be suspects, and I’ll need it today.’
Sunna María looked horrified. ‘Today? My diary’s already full.’
‘In that case you’d best cancel a few things, because this isn’t going to wait,’ Gunna said. ‘You’ve time to get your feet scraped, but after that we need to go through the details and get all the names together. Unless you’re not concerned about us being able to figure out who murdered your friend, of course? You were talking about police protection just now.’
‘Well, yeah. Of course I’m worried,’ Sunna María said, a sulky look on her face. ‘And of course I want protection if I’m in danger.’
Orri had been bad-tempered all day and snapped at Lísa that morning, leaving the flat without a word. He came back from work to find that she had left him an unwelcome sinkful of washing up. He scowled, ignored the plates and cups, and made himself a couple of generous sandwiches.
Leaving the block of flats and still hungry, he was grateful for the darkness that matched his mood. Although it was cold and the days still felt short, there was an undeniable smell of spring on the chill air. A few more weeks and there would be real daylight well into the evenings, which would push his darkness break-ins into night-time proper and the occasional thrill of exploring houses while the owners slept, although that meant that the easy springtime crop of power tools from sheds and garages would become a larger part of his activity.
He drove past Sunna María Voss’s house. There were lights on in almost every room and a car in the drive, a black four-by-four Mercedes that gleamed in the light of the street lamps. He shook his head, trying to push her from his mind and telling himself to concentrate. The two houses he had in mind for that night both looked to be quiet as he drove past, turning at the next junction and parking the car in the street above.
Orri walked back, patting his pockets as a final check that he had everything before slipping quickly behind the large detached house further along, which he’d already identified as being rented. Situated where the street curved gently, the back of the building could not be seen from the neighbouring houses. Creeping silently and with all his senses alert, he was sure there was nobody inside as there was no sound to tell him of any occupants. Normally a burbling TV somewhere was enough to tell him someone was home, although it wasn’t an infallible rule. People made noise, or generally surrounded themselves with sound, and the deep silence around this house told him there was nobody home.
This time it was the garage door that let him in. Like every house in the street, there was an integral garage built into the basement, and this one had both an overhead door and an ordinary door next to it. He tried to slide his strip of plastic past the door jamb, but the fitting was too snug and he fell back on the set of tools from his wallet, starting with a lever in the keyhole to provide tension, then quickly raking the lock in the forlorn hope that it was cheap enough to give easily. When that didn’t work, Orri looked over his shoulder, the sweat starting to appear down his back in spite of it being a cool night. He selected a hook pick and inserted it, feeling the pins click one by one until the torsion lever turned the lock and the door swung open. Orri grinned to himself in triumph. Picking locks was a skill he had painstakingly taught himself.