Frozen Assets

‘Which means,’ he continued in what he hoped was a tone of voice that would spin the conversation around, ‘that as a skilled investigator, if you were to put in an application for a vacancy in detection, there is every possibility that you would be successful.’

Gunna sat in amazed silence for a moment.

‘Does this take you by surprise?’

‘It does,’ she was forced to admit.

‘It would mean stepping up a grade, as the post carries an inspector’s rank.’

‘And what’s the catch?’

Vilhjálmur looked pained. ‘Catch? What do you mean?’

‘I’m sorry. I’ve never believed in free lunches. So, being an experienced investigator, I’m naturally always looking for what’s underneath. Force of habit.’

He cleared his throat, looked upwards and Gunna thought again of how a laurel wreath would suit him, nestling around those grey waves.

‘New grade effective from the first of October, you’d take over your new post on the first of December and you would have two months’ leave after stepping down at Hvalvík to relocate.’

‘Aha. Where to?’

‘There would be a reasonable relocation grant. The post is with the Egilstadir force, based in Seydisfjördur.’

‘So there is a catch,’ Gunna said with satisfaction.

‘It depends how you wish to look at it. Some officers would see it as an opportunity. A small force, fairly quiet, a chance to make an impression with the switch to plain clothes. You aren’t tempted?’

She thought quickly. The east coast, deep fjords and high mountains, virtually as far away from Hvalvík and Vilhjálmur Traustason as could physically be possible without leaving the country. A pay grade up in salary wouldn’t be unwelcome, though.

‘I’m wondering what I’ve done, or haven’t done, to deserve this. To be honest, it’s rather unexpected. Have I upset someone, or what?’

‘Not at all,’ he purred. ‘There’s a changing demographic in the east, a large immigrant population, and a major narcotics problem with smuggling that urgently needs to be addressed, so the Egilstadir Sheriff’s Office has put together an action plan with funding for additional officers to bolster their efforts on narcotics in particular.’

‘How long do I have to think about it?’

‘Not long. There are other candidates in the running.’

‘All right. I’ll think it over. Anyway, is that all?’

The man’s face was grey with fatigue, even under the orange cast of the lights in the interview room at Reykjavík’s Hverfisgata police station. All the pride had disappeared from Gústi the Gob as he leaned forward on the table, stubbled head in his hands.

‘Look. I’ve told you. I saw him that night in the bogs, told him and that other bloke to shut it or fuck off out. That’s it. End of story.’

Sævaldur sat back in his chair as Gunna stood uncomfortably by the door.

‘Come on, Gústi,’ Sævaldur said in a patient voice. ‘You’ve got plenty of form. You and your mates turned the guy over and dumped him out of town when it went wrong. Come on, come clean.’

‘No. No. No.’

‘Gústi, we’ve been here all day yesterday and all day today and we’ve got all night and all day tomorrow. And all day the next day.’

‘It wasn’t me.’ A hint of desperation crept into his voice as this time he smacked the table between them with the flat of one vast hand. ‘I’m telling you, it was nothing to do with me.’

Sævaldur’s voice hardened. ‘So where did the cash come from?’

‘Savings,’ Gústi mumbled. ‘I saved it all up.’

‘You mean you had a spending spree on Einar Eyjólfur’s credit card? Come on, Gústi. We found the receipts in your flat. We know it was you.’

‘’No. It wasn’t me did him in. I want a lawyer, now.’

Sævaldur tried to outstare him but failed.

‘All right,’ he admitted. ‘All right. We’ll get your legal eagle in. But it doesn’t look good for you, Gústi. You could get ten years for this. You did five years before, so you know what it’s like.’

‘It wasn’t me. I found the wallet in the bogs after we closed. All right, the old woman bought a few things with the bloke’s card, but that’s all.’

‘OK, so that’s your story.’

Sævaldur stood up, reached for the tape recorder and switched it off.

‘Now I’m going outside for a smoke and you’re staying here,’ he sneered, shoving his chair back. ‘D’you want to take over?’

Gunna shook her head. ‘I’d like a word outside. Can Viggó sit in for ten minutes?’

Sævaldur knocked on the door and it whispered open.

‘Viggó, would you?’ Gunna asked the thickset officer outside as he waddled into the room and sat down with the air of a man ready for the long haul.

‘Well, Gústi. Haven’t seen you for a while. How’s tricks, then?’ he asked as Gunna and Sævaldur left the room.

At the back of the building, Sævaldur and Gunna lit up. Although she had been inside the bowels of the building since the middle of the day, she was still surprised to see that night had fallen. It had started to rain and fat drops pattered around them.

‘I don’t like it,’ Gunna said. ‘It stinks.’

‘Come on. We have a crim with form and a link to the dead guy.’

‘Did you search his place yesterday?’