‘Except that the cleaners found that someone had broken in and stumbled across more than he’d bargained for, you mean?’
‘That’s it.’
‘So who killed Vilhelm Thorleifsson? Where’s the missing dentist? Who murdered Alex? Fair enough, you’ve found a dope factory. Let’s hand that over to narcotics to deal with and concentrate on the two dead people and three missing ones, shall we?’
‘It all ties in together. If the drug squad bust them now then everything’s wide open and my guess is that we’ll never find the killers. In any case, there’s nothing to bust. The dope lab at Kópavogsbakki is gone. We might find a few traces if we strip the paint off the floor, but I wouldn’t bank on it, and the new lab they’re setting up under cover of the mink farm isn’t a speed factory yet.’
Ívar Laxdal rubbed his chin. The rhythmic rasp of the back of his hand against his chin was like sandpaper on a wooden floor. Gunna thought he looked deeply tired for the first time since they had started to work together almost three years ago.
‘All right, Gunnhildur. How do you want to do this?’
‘I don’t know,’ she fretted. ‘The last definite sighting we have of Alex was leaving his girlfriend’s house fairly early on Sunday morning. After that we have nothing to go on, and my best guess is that he was dumped in those foundations on Sunday night, as the construction team was there to start work early on Monday morning.’
‘Could he have been put in there on Monday?’ Ívar Laxdal asked.
‘No. They put a layer of concrete at the bottom of the trench on Monday.’
‘Without noticing the body at the bottom?’
‘It was dark at that time of the morning and I don’t suppose they make a habit of checking for corpses before they throw concrete down there. I suppose it wouldn’t have been that hard to hide the body with a layer of earth or gravel. No, Alex was murdered on Sunday, and he must have been disposed of by someone who knew the trench was going to be filled in the next morning.’
‘Sunna María?’
‘You see her with a cosh and a black mask? She wouldn’t do anything that might risk laddering her tights. I don’t get the feeling she’s exactly giving us bullshit, but she’s evading a lot of questions and there’s a whole load of stuff that she’s not telling us. I want to know why Alex? He was fencing stolen goods, almost as a hobby it seems, and he was a cog in the delivery part of the speed business. So why kill him?’
Gunna was out of her chair, smacking one fist into the palm of the other hand. Ívar Laxdal watched her pace to and fro while Eiríkur stood by the door.
‘Alex had made a mistake, maybe?’ Ívar Laxdal suggested.
‘More than likely, but what? And how do Sunna María and Jóhann slot into the puzzle? Why has Jóhann vanished? Is he dead as well? Who’s next on the list? What about this other joker who seems to have vanished off the face of the earth and who the combined police forces of northern Europe can’t find?’
‘Elvar?’
‘That’s him. Has someone already bumped him off, or is he the next body we’re going to stumble across?’
‘You think there’s more to come?’
‘Don’t you?’ Gunna shot back. ‘What’s going on here? Is this a turf war between Boris Vadluga’s Latvian operation and some local criminals? That doesn’t strike me as likely as we’d have heard the rumblings for a while by now. Or are we watching some old scores being settled?’ She stopped and her hands dropped to her sides. ‘On top of that we have Sævaldur’s burglar in another interview room, and I know perfectly well he’s involved in all this, but he’s keeping his trap firmly shut. Any ideas? Because I’m running out.’
‘Arrest everyone connected to this and bring them in?’ Eiríkur suggested.
‘We hold them for twenty-four hours and then let them go again? No, we may as well just tell them to hide every scrap of evidence and shred their bank statements right away. Ívar, you tell me. It’s your investigation,’ Gunna said. ‘Do you want to keep them under surveillance until the dope factory is up and running and then let narcotics grab the whole lot of them red-handed, assuming we haven’t scared them off already? That means a pat on the back all round. Or do you want to push these people hard right now and hope it leads to the killers before they kill someone else?’
Steini yawned and laid aside his book.
‘Any good?’ Gunna asked, looking up from the television.
‘Last year’s Arnaldur. Not bad at all.’
‘I thought you’d already read that one?’
‘That was the one before. This one’s better. You’ve had a tough day?’
‘Not the easiest day’s work I’ve ever had, but I’ll manage,’ Gunna said, lifting her feet onto the edge of the table and stretching. ‘How about you? A boiler suit in the washing basket tells me you’ve been doing something dirty.’
‘The perils of living with a detective. There’s not much gets past you, is there, Sherlock? We got the engine on the Ísborg running this afternoon, so Svenni’s a happy man now.’
‘How long has it taken? Three months?’
‘That’s what comes of having an antique engine. He had to get the spares from a scrap yard in Denmark.’
He hauled himself to his feet and padded to the kitchen, returning with two bowls.
‘As you’ve been busy, I thought I’d do you a little treat.’
‘You wouldn’t be after something, would you, young man?’
Steini laughed. ‘Young. I like that. No, pure altruism on my part.’
‘Just the goodness of your heart? What a man,’ Gunna said, taking the bowl and a spoonful of the fruit salad with a generous lump of ice cream on it. ‘Not good for the waistline, though.’
‘We can’t have you wasting away, can we?’
‘There’s no danger of that,’ Gunna grunted, dropping her feet to the floor and sitting up straight. ‘Steini, you picked up Gísli the other day. What did he have to say?’
‘He’s on your mind, isn’t he?’
‘Rather more than the case I’m working on,’ Gunna admitted. ‘I’m his mother. I can’t not be worried about him.’
‘You think I hadn’t noticed?’
‘Touché, Sherlock.’
Steini nibbled at a wafer. ‘He’s worried, as you can imagine. He did ask about you and I told him the truth.’
‘Which is?’
‘Like you said, you’re his mum. You can be as pissed off as hell with him, but you’re still his mum.’
‘I see.’
‘It’s about time you two made peace, don’t you think? I know you’re as hard-headed as each other, but it’s affecting everyone else. Laufey’s walking on eggshells because she doesn’t want to say the wrong thing and upset you, Gísli’s lost his way because you’re hardly speaking to him and Drífa’s nervous around you as well.’
‘And you?’
‘You’re not as much fun as you used to be, but I’m older and a little more patient than the youngsters, so I can recognize that we’ll have the Gunna we know and love back soon enough.’
‘Ever the optimist. Keep up the treats and she’ll be back before you know it, especially if we catch this devious bastard before too long.’
‘Difficult case?’
‘Horrible. Some very unpleasant people, as well as mister über-chauvinist chief inspector Sævaldur Bogason, who is in the running to be the least pleasant of the lot. I’ll call Gísli in the morning and see if we can meet in town for a change, away from the various girlfriends and offspring.’
Chapter Thirteen
Orri rubbed his eyes as Gunna flipped the peephole cover to wink at him. The warder opened the door.
‘You don’t need to lock us in,’ Gunna said as the door swung to behind her. ‘Orri’s not going to do anything stupid.’