‘A link between a thief and a fence?’ Eiríkur mused. ‘What could be more convenient? Guess where our Orri works?’
Green Bay Dispatch was quiet on the outside, while once inside the big sliding doors Gunna could feel the tension. An elderly man with a scarf around his neck yelled from the seat of the forklift at two men stacking boxes onto a pallet and a thickset girl in a high-viz vest over a bulky fleece marched past Gunna into the building and offered a curt greeting on her way.
‘G’day,’ she said and made for the forklift.
‘Hey,’ Gunna called after her. ‘You work here?’ she asked as the woman turned.
‘Just for today. Why?’
‘I’m looking for the manager. Any idea where he is?’
‘That’s who I’m looking for as well. You’re agency?’
‘Not quite,’ she said as the elderly man jumped down from the forklift and hurried over to them.
‘I’m Dóri. Looking for me, are you?’
‘It seems we’re both looking for you,’ Gunna said.
Dóri dug in his pocket and handed the muscular girl a set of keys. ‘Ragga, isn’t it? You’ve been here before, so you can take the flatbed. It’s loaded and fuelled, and the key is in the cab. We’ll sort out the paperwork afterwards,’ he said in a rush.
He turned his gaze on Gunna and wiped a bead of perspiration from his forehead. ‘And what’s your name, sweetheart?’
‘I’m Gunnhildur.’
‘All right. We’re a van down today so I’ll have to give you the lunchbox instead.’
‘Lunchbox?’
He jerked a thumb at a small, square van outside. ‘We’ll have to use that one. Just be careful not to overload it. We can do without any attention from the police.’
‘In that case, I’d better let you know that I’m not here as a relief driver. I’m from the police.’
Dóri looked her up and down, noticing the uniform trousers and deflating as his shoulders sagged.
‘Hell. Just what I need. What can I do for you, in that case?’ he asked with exaggerated courtesy. ‘Two of my guys haven’t showed up this morning and it’s bloody bedlam, in case you haven’t noticed.’
‘Hence the agency driver, I presume? Well, this may take a while, but it’s because of your missing guys that I’m here.’
‘Mind your backs!’ a voice yelled and Dóri stepped smartly to one side. A forklift whizzed past, missing Gunna by inches.
Her eyes narrowed. ‘And I suggest that you tell that clown to slow down; I’ll have his licence off him if he comes that close again,’ Gunna snapped. ‘Now, where can we go that’s quiet?’
She followed Dóri past the closed office door and into the canteen, where paperwork was spread over one table and cups and plates were strewn over the other.
‘What does this company do?’
Dóri sat at the table that served as a desk and glared at her with suspicion. ‘We move stuff.’
‘Tell me more, will you?’
Dóri sighed and pushed aside a stack of computer printouts. ‘We have two lines of work. One, we transport fish. That goes by air and it’s simple. We turn up at a factory, the boxes are loaded and we take them to the airport in a refrigerated truck where they go onto a plane and go to somewhere in Europe, normally Belgium or Germany.’
‘And the other line of business?’
‘That’s general cargo. If somebody wants something moved, then we move it. It could be a spare part for some machine that has to go to Kópasker, or it can be the entire contents of someone’s house that has to be moved abroad. There’s been a lot of that these last few years with the middle classes deserting the sinking ship,’ he added.
‘You do everything?’
‘We can. If necessary we can turn up and pack up a whole house into boxes, put it all in a container and have it shipped to wherever. But most people just get a container parked outside their house and load it themselves.’
‘It’s your staff I’m interested in, especially Alex and Orri. I believe they both work here. They haven’t turned up today?’
‘Orri has yet another of his frequent appointments with the dentist this morning, As for Alex, well. .’
‘Let’s start with Orri, shall we? How long has he worked here?’
‘Longer than I have. Five, six years. Something like that.’
‘You get on with him? What sort of a character is he?’
‘He’s all right. We get on fine because normally he’s reliable. There’s an occasional lapse, but not often,’ Dóri said and sat back. ‘He keeps to himself and doesn’t say a lot.’
‘You mean he’s unfriendly?’
‘No. I mean maybe he values his privacy. He keeps to himself and isn’t chattering all day long like some I could mention.’
‘How about his private life?’
‘It’s just that,’ Dóri said shortly. ‘Private. It’s none of my business and I don’t ask. I know he has a girlfriend although I’ve never met her. I know he had a difficult relationship with his family, but I don’t know any details. That’s just what I’ve put together over the last few years from odd remarks, and to be honest, I’m not comfortable sharing this stuff with the police.’
‘Does he strike you as being short of money? Has he ever said anything about that?’
‘No. Not that I recall. Look, what’s all this about? I’m answering all your questions and maybe I deserve a little information in return?’
Gunna sat back as Dóri folded his arms, elbows on the desk as he rested his weight on them.
‘I can’t tell you much. It’s not that this is classified stuff, but I’m hunting for information. All I can say is that both their names have come up in connection with investigations.’
‘Separate investigations?’
‘No comment.’ Gunna smiled without getting one in return. ‘Now tell me about Alex. Where’s he from?’
‘Latvia.’
‘He has an identity number?’
Dóri extracted a sheet of paper from the pile on the table, turned it over and pushed it in front of Gunna. ‘They’re all legal here. Nothing on the black.’
‘Pleased to hear it,’ she said, jotting down Alex’s number and noting that the flat where the attack had taken place was his legal residence. ‘He’s a good worker?’
Dóri grimaced. ‘He’s all right. He’s not punctual. He’s a cocky little bastard, to tell the truth.’
‘And he keeps his job in spite of that?’
‘Arrogance is not a sacking offence.’
‘But not showing up for work on time can be if you do it often enough.’
‘Maybe, but that’s not my decision.’
‘Maris Leinasars. Does that name mean anything to you?’
Dóri shook his head. ‘That’s not a familiar name,’ he said after a moment’s thought.
‘And where’s Alex today? At the dentist as well?’
‘Who knows? He’s not here and that’s all I can tell you.’
‘You’re the manager here?’
‘I’m the foreman. If I was a manager, I’d have an office and wouldn’t have paperwork all over the canteen would I? If you can’t tell me what these two jokers have been up to, you could at least let me know if they’re likely to be at work tomorrow, or are you determined to lock the pair of them up?’
For a quiet, exclusive street, Kópavogsbakki hummed with unaccustomed noise and activity. Men in blue overalls and carpenter’s tool belts swarmed over one house while a concrete truck was parked at the side of the other site further along, its drum revolving while its driver stood next to it, eyes hidden behind sunglasses and his jaw rolling a piece of gum in time with the concrete drum’s slow revolutions.
Gunna squeezed the car past the vans parked by the road and stopped further along where things were quieter.
Bára answered Sunna María’s door.
‘Morning,’ Gunna greeted her. ‘How’s her ladyship?’
Bára wrinkled her nose. ‘She’s all right. Confused and worried.’