‘The farm was Alfabrekka?’
‘That’s right. There were two farmers there, a father and a son, and they both came back with me to look for Asgrimur, while the farmer’s wife called mountain rescue. By the time we got to your father, he was dead.’ The pastor shook his head. ‘When the rescue team eventually arrived they said he had been dead for a while, but I still wish I hadn’t got myself lost in the storm.’
‘Did the police find any evidence that the doctor’s death wasn’t accidental?’ Magnus asked.
‘Of course not!’ the pastor protested, his voice booming. ‘You can check on the file. There was never any doubt about that.’ The pastor glared at Magnus, commanding him to accept his assertion. Magnus didn’t flinch. He would make up his own mind.
He was beginning to understand what Ingileif had meant when she said the pastor was creepy. The man had an aura of power about him that reached out towards Magnus, urging him to bend to his will.
It was a power that Magnus was determined to resist.
‘Did you continue looking for the ring after my father’s death?’ Ingileif asked.
The pastor turned to her and relaxed slightly. ‘No. I let all that drop. I must confess it was fun working on the puzzle with your father, but once he had died then I lost all interest in the ring. Or the saga.’
Magnus glanced at the walls. There were three different prints of a volcano erupting. Hekla. ‘So how do you explain those?’
‘I have made quite a study of the role of the devil in Icelandic ecclesiastical history,’ said Hakon. ‘Hekla was known throughout Europe as the mouth of hell. That, as you can imagine, intrigues me.’
He paused. ‘I must admit that from that point of view, Gaukur’s Saga is very interesting. As far as I am aware it is the earliest mention of Hekla in that role. And also the first recorded ascent of the mountain. Until now we thought that no one dared climb Hekla until 1750. But of course Isildur and Gaukur were climbing it before the big eruption of 1104, so perhaps it wasn’t quite so frightening then.’
‘You spoke to my colleague a few days ago about a visit here by Professor Agnar Haraldsson,’ Magnus said.
‘That’s true.’
‘And what did you tell her he wanted to speak to you about?’
The pastor smiled, a mass of wrinkles appearing around his eyes. ‘Ah, I wasn’t entirely honest with your colleague. I take the confidences of my parishioners very seriously.’ He looked pointedly at Ingileif.
‘So what did Agnar really talk to you about?’
‘ Gaukur’s Saga, of course. And the ring.’ The pastor pulled at his beard. ‘He told me that Ingileif had asked him to act for the family in the sale of the saga.’ He frowned at Ingileif. ‘I must admit that I was quite shocked by this. After all the years that the family had successfully kept the saga a secret. Centuries even.’
Ingileif reddened at the admonition from her pastor.
‘I hardly think that’s for you to judge,’ said Magnus. ‘In fact, you should have told my colleague the truth first time around. It would have saved a lot of people a lot of time.’
‘Asgrimur was a very good friend of mine,’ said Hakon sternly. ‘I know what he would have wanted me to do.’
‘What you did was obstruct a murder inquiry,’ said Magnus. ‘Now. Did Agnar have something specific to ask you?’
‘Ingileif had just discovered the letter to her grandfather from Tolkien which referred to the discovery of the ring. Agnar came straight here and asked me much the same questions as you did just now. I gained the very strong impression that he wanted to try to find the ring himself. Of course, I couldn’t help him.’
‘How did he behave?’ Magnus asked.
‘Agitated. Excited. Aggressive in his questioning.’
‘Did you tell him anything you didn’t tell us?’ Magnus asked.
‘Absolutely not.’
Magnus paused, examining the pastor. But the man wasn’t about to say any more. ‘See, the day after he saw you, Agnar sent a message which implied that he knew where the ring was.’
‘Well, he certainly didn’t seem to know when I saw him.’
‘Did you tell him where you looked for it that day in 1992?’
‘No. He asked, but I told him I couldn’t remember. But of course I can.’
Ingileif showed the pastor the map that she had found among her father’s papers. ‘Is that the place?’
Hakon peered over. ‘Yes, that’s it. And there’s the farm, Alfa-brekka. I suppose I could have told Agnar where it was, wasted his time. I’m sure the ring is not there. At least it wasn’t there seventeen years ago, and I doubt it could have got there since.’
‘Are you certain it wasn’t there?’ Magnus asked. ‘I wonder if Agnar discovered clues to the location somewhere else and found something you missed.’
‘I’m absolutely certain,’ said Hakon. ‘Believe me, Asgrimur and I scraped every inch of the cave, and it wasn’t very big.’
‘Did your son know anything about this?’ Magnus asked.
‘Tomas? I don’t think so. He was, what, thirteen at the time? I didn’t tell him about the saga or the ring either then or afterwards. Did you, Ingileif?’
‘No,’ said Ingileif.
‘Then why was he speaking to Agnar the day he died?’ Magnus asked.
Hakon shook his head. ‘I don’t know. I had no idea they knew each other.’
‘Interesting coincidence, don’t you think?’
Hakon shrugged. ‘Maybe. I suppose so.’ Then he leaned forward, his eyes boring into Magnus. ‘My son is not a killer, young man. Remember that.’
‘God that man gives me the creeps,’ Ingileif said as they drove back towards Reykjavik.
‘Was he always like that?’
‘He was always weird. We didn’t go to church much, but when we did his sermons always used to scare the wits out of me. Lots of fire and brimstone, the devil behind every rock. As you can imagine, hearing that sort of thing while you are actually sitting in Hruni church is pretty frightening for a kid.’
She laughed to herself. ‘I remember one Monday morning, after one of his services, I gave back the hair clip I had “borrowed” from the girl I sat next to in class. I was so scared I was going to be swallowed up by the earth or struck by a bolt of lightning.’
‘I can imagine that.’
‘So, Mr Detective, was he telling the truth?’
‘I don’t think so. We know he lied to Vigdis about Agnar. I’m pretty sure he was lying about Tomas. He must have told him about the saga and the ring; why else would Tomas be talking to Agnar? It’s good I got him to deny that. Bad decision on his part.’
‘Why’s that?’
‘Because when I get Tomas to admit that he heard about the saga from his father, we will have caught Hakon out in another lie. From then on he’ll be struggling to keep his story straight. What did you think?’
‘I think he killed my father. And I think he’s got the ring. Couldn’t you search his house?’
‘We’d need a search warrant.’
‘Are you going to get one?’
‘Possibly.’ Magnus would have loved to do that. But he would have to persuade Baldur, and that would not be easy. Not until he had broken Tomas’s story. He was looking forward to getting back to police headquarters to interview him.
‘Can we drop by that farm that Reverend Hakon went to for help?’ Ingileif asked. ‘Someone there might remember something.’
‘I’d like to get back as soon as possible to interview Tomas.’
‘I understand. But it might shed some light on my father’s death.’
Magnus hesitated.
‘Please, Magnus. You know how important it is to me.’
‘What was the name of the farm? Alfabrekka. He showed us on that map.’
‘That’s right. We’d have to go up Thjorsardalur.’
‘But that would be fifty kilometres out of our way, there and back.’
‘At least.’
Magnus knew he should tell Baldur about his interview with Hakon as soon as possible. And he wanted to do that in person rather than over the phone so he would be able to confront Tomas himself.