Frozen Assets

‘I hear the police are asking questions again.’

‘I see.’

‘I thought I could trust you after Horst said that you could fix anything?’

Hardy wondered how many drinks Sigurjóna had already had at this early hour of the afternoon. He felt that drinking while concentration was required was the sure sign of an amateur, or someone in deeper than they could cope with.

‘Some tasks take longer than others, I’m afraid. But the important work is progressing well. I understand that Horst is satisfied with progress at the site in Hvalvík and that the Lagoon site is also coming along well.’

‘Yeah. That’s all on schedule. I have well-paid staff to look after the details, so they do just that,’ Sigurjóna said. ‘Now, I’m wondering if you’re going to finish the little job I asked you to do before?’

‘It’s in hand,’ Hardy assured her. ‘It’s not often that something like this can be done overnight. But I have to ask for your help with another matter as well.’

Sigurjóna smiled a touch more broadly than she would have done without access to the vodka bottle in the cabinet. ‘In that case we’ll help each other out. But why do you need help with anything from us?’

‘I need to locate someone and, as I don’t have local knowledge, I need assistance from someone who does.’

‘I’m sure one of my people can help. But what about the driver who was fixing stuff for you? Can’t he help you with whatever you’re on the lookout for?’

‘That’s the person I need to locate.’

Without looking away from Hardy’s face, Sigurjóna pressed a button on the intercom console on the desk in front of her. ‘Dísa, would you ask Jón Oddur to come and have a word with us, please?’

She released the intercom button. ‘By the way, Mr Hardy, what are you doing on Friday night?’

25

Tuesday, 23 September

‘You’re on your own again, Haddi. Anything you need?’

Gunna leaned over the desk and peered at the monitor as Haddi appeared in the doorway. ‘Keflavík again?’ he asked. ‘Taking Snorri as well?’

‘I’m afraid so. I hope this isn’t going to take too long, but it is something a bit out of the ordinary,’ she added as the computer chimed to indicate new messages.

‘Bloody hope not,’ Haddi grumbled. ‘I’ve got enough on my plate as it is with all this traffic and whatnot going through the place. As for paperwork. .’

His voice dropped to a mutter when he realized Gunna’s attention was on the computer as she quickly scrolled through her messages, deleting as she went.

Hi Gunna,

The article’s almost finished and I have just a couple of points I’d like to go over with you before I hand it over to the editor. Can we meet in the next few days? By the way, I’ve attached a few of Lára’s photos that we’d like to use with the feature. Can you let me know if these are OK? If there’s any you really hate, I’ll make sure they’re left out.

Thanks, regards, Skúli.

‘Hey, Haddi,’ Gunna called. ‘Come and have a look. We’re going to be famous,’ she said, clicking on the icons one at a time to open the picture files.

Haddi bustled in and stood behind her as she ran through the photos of the station, Haddi and Snorri sitting at their desks, both of them being briefed, Snorri manning a speed camera with Gunna scowling behind him.

‘Good grief, Gunna, my girl, you look like you’ve had a bag of sour lemons for breakfast there.’ Haddi guffawed.

‘And you look like one of the Keystone Kops.’

‘That’s a good one.’

‘I like that, the way they’ve got the whole village in the background.’

‘She’s bloody good with a camera, that girl is,’ Haddi had to admit.

Gunna clicked on the final picture and brought up an image of herself taken during the march on the InterAlu compound, from a low viewpoint and with the hills and some of the marchers reflected in her mirror sunglasses.

‘So’s that. Makes me look like a proper mean old cow. I hope they use that one.’

Haddi took off his glasses, polished them on his tie, put them back on and peered at the screen.

‘I’ve seen that bloke,’ he said, pointing to a man among the crowd behind Gunna’s shoulder in the picture, who was staring directly at the camera. She peered at the screen and found herself looking into the eyes of a man she had last seen on a car park surveillance camera.

‘Him?’ she asked, pointing.

‘That’s him. Fair-haired feller, the one in the pale leather jacket.’

‘All right. When did you see him?’

‘Saturday morning, I think. He was down at Hafnarkaffi, getting out of a taxi with a big fat bloke.’

‘Any reason you noticed him?’

Haddi scratched his head. ‘Not really. You don’t often see a Reykjavík taxi round here, that’s all, and the driver looked a right shady sort of character, didn’t like the look of him at all. I was going to check his tyres, but I’d just been down the quay and it would have made me late for coffee here. So I didn’t bother.’

‘A Reykjavík taxi? Did you get a number?’ Gunna asked sharply.

‘No. Didn’t bother. They were probably going to the aluminium place and stopped off to get petrol or something.’

‘What sort of car was it?’