Frozen Assets

‘Sorry. It’s force of habit, not being able to eat slowly. It’s all those years of having half an hour to wake up, eat your dinner, drink a cup of coffee and be out on deck on time.’

Gunna smiled wryly. ‘Don’t think I don’t know. My dad and my brothers are just the same and Raggi always finished before me as well.’

Steini nodded. ‘How are your kids? Your lad’s at sea, isn’t he?’

‘Yup. Deckhand on Snæfugl.’

‘Not a bad berth. Has he been there long?’

‘Since January. He tried college but couldn’t get on with it. Then one of his uncles, you must know him, Stefán Jónsson, had a word and got him a berth to see how he’d like it. Gísli took to it straight away. I wouldn’t be surprised if he applies for navigation college in a year or two.’

‘Send him to me if he needs any coaching,’ Steini smiled.

‘I might do just that. But we’ll see,’ Gunna replied absently. She shook herself quickly, realizing that her thoughts were drifting unconsciously back to Matti and whether or not to try and hunt him down in the morning.

She looked up to see Steini gazing quizzically at her.

‘Sorry. Miles away,’ she said, irritated with herself.

‘Work on your mind?’ Steini asked gently.

‘Unfortunately,’ she admitted, wondering at the same time if she should mention the offered promotion that would also entail moving to the other side of the country. ‘Until this is sorted out, I’m afraid it’s going to be on my mind. But I ought to be on my way home soon. Laufey’s gone riding and I’d better cook a meal for us this evening for once.’

Steini waved for the bill until the waitress placed it in front of him and sauntered away.

Gunna reached for it. ‘My turn.’

‘No, come on. I invited you.’

‘I know, but you paid last time,’ Gunna said firmly and Steini shrugged. Gunna stood up to walk over to the bar. She rested her elbows on the counter and dug through her purse, lifting one foot to place it on the brass rail that ran along the foot of the bar. Steini smiled quietly to himself as he admired Gunna’s figure in the loose cheesecloth trousers that he felt did her so many more favours than uniform.

‘Ready?’ she smiled, returning to the table. Steini stood up and followed her outside.

‘Well, thank you for a pleasant lunch,’ Gunna said as she dug in her pocket for the Range Rover’s key and dangled it from a finger.

‘Yours?’ Steini asked, patting the big car’s bonnet.

‘No,’ Gunna said, laughing. ‘It’s Gísli’s. He’s wanted one of these since he was about five. So as soon as he’d saved up enough, that’s what he bought. The insurance was costing him a fortune considering he’s at sea four weeks in five, so now he splits the insurance with his old mum and I use it as well when he’s away.’

‘That’s very generous of him,’ Steini said and Gunna had a sudden image of a tongue-tied teenager in front of her. ‘You know, Gunna, you’re a highly attractive lady and I’d like to see more of you,’ he said quickly.

Taken by surprise, Gunna took a few seconds to reply.

‘That’s very kind of you to say so, Steini. I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit more of you as well, but I’ve a lot on my plate right this minute and I don’t know. .’ She took a gulp of air. ‘I’m sorry, you’ve caught me on the hop.’

Steini smiled slowly. ‘I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you. I’ll give you a call in the week if that’s all right?’

His face was one big question as Gunna nodded.

‘Do that. I’m going to be busy, but give me a call when you have time,’ she said firmly.

He hesitated for a moment and finally leaned forward to peck her on the cheek.

‘See you soon, then,’ he said and strode away to the van that Gunna recognized from the day they had spoken on the dock at Sandeyri.

Gunna sat in the Range Rover’s driving seat and waited for her stomach to settle.

‘Good grief,’ she grumbled to herself. ‘I should be past all this stuff by now. Like a lovesick bloody teenager.’

24

Monday, 22 September

The second-best Volvo hummed through Hafnarfjördur in the morning sunshine, with the faintest dusting of white on Esja’s slopes in the distance above Reykjavík a reminder that the short days of winter weren’t far away. Gunna had always had misgivings about what she saw as the mountain’s brooding hulk and had never understood the fondness people born in its shadow always professed for it. Gunna found Esja less than impressive compared to the dramatic sheer slopes of her childhood home.

She toured a few of the taxi ranks at Grensás and Lækjargata, near the shopping centres and the big hotels, and cruised slowly down Raudarárstígur to the Hlemmur bus station and across past the police station to the main road into the town centre, looking out for Matti’s green Mercedes, wondering as she did so if this was the right thing to be doing.