Thin Ice: An Inspector Gunna Mystery (Gunnhildur Mystery Book 5) (24 page)

Erna scowled and nodded, her eyes narrowed with anger in the half-light.

‘So. We go in. We get a table and we eat. Like I said, one big happy family, and I’m fucking starving.’

As Ívar Laxdal spoke easily to the camera, Gunna envied his confidence and wished there had at least been a chance to brush her hair.

‘We are naturally devoting every available resource to this,’ she heard him say in urbane, measured tones. ‘This is certainly a complex investigation that’s going to require a great deal of manpower to ensure that we reach the right conclusions and apprehend those responsible,’ he said and paused. ‘Will that do?’

‘Perfectly, thanks,’ replied the sharp-faced television presenter wearing a skirt and heels that were as far from practical for the terrain as could be imagined, and turned to Gunna. ‘You’re next. I’ll do a quick piece to camera and then ask a couple of questions. OK? You want to mention a suspect, right?’

‘That was the whole point of dragging you up here,’ Gunna said. ‘The man’s armed and it’s important that people know about him.’

‘Good, good,’ the presenter said absently, touching up her lipstick and checking her face in a compact. She looked at the cameraman, swathed in a bulky parka. ‘Ready?’

‘Ready when you are,’ he said, head cocked on one side as he looked down at the camera’s screen and gave her a thumbs up.

Gunna noticed that a few yards away Ívar Laxdal was giving a second, virtually identical interview to a rival TV station’s cameras.

‘I’m standing in front of Hotel Hraun, a well-known name for the lavish parties, weddings and music events held here over the years, but today this household name for wholesome enjoyment has been tarnished by a series of brutal crimes that have taken place here while the hotel was closed for the winter,’ she said as the cameraman panned away from the presenter to the building in the distance, with the line of police vehicles parked outside.

‘I’m speaking to detective chief inspector Gunnhildur Gísladóttir who is in charge of the investigation here today,’ she said, and Gunna wondered whether or not to correct the presenter, before deciding that she liked the promotion, even if it was a fictional one. ‘Can you confirm that the incident you’re investigating here today is linked to the disappearance last week of Erna Björg Brandsen and Tinna Lind Bogadóttir?’

‘I can confirm that there are links between their disappearance and what has happened here,’ Gunna said stiffly.

‘And that a body has been found here? Have you found Erna Björg Brandsen?’

‘All I can say is that the body of an adult has been located. I can’t confirm anything about the person’s identity or the cause of death until the forensic investigation has been completed and relatives have been informed.’

‘Was this person the victim of a crime?’

‘As I said, I can’t comment at this point and this part of the investigation is at a very sensitive stage. However, we are anxious to trace a particular individual in connection with the investigation. He is Össur Óskarsson, forty-six years of age, one seventy-four in height, short greying hair, slim build. We ask members of the public to report any sightings of him on four-four-four-one-thousand, and not to approach or challenge him. We believe he may have a firearm in his possession.’

‘Gunnhildur Gísladóttir, thank you. This is Arna Perla Arnarsdóttir reporting from Hotel Hraun,’ she finished.

‘Can you get that out on tonight’s news?’ Gunna asked.

‘Yep, should be able to, the presenter said. ‘If we get back in time we might make the seven o’clock news, otherwise definitely the bulletin at ten, and the radio news desk will get it as well.’ She jerked her head to the other news team at work not far away. ‘A shame they had to be here as well.’

‘Maybe, but we need to reach as many people as possible with this. D’you need a mugshot of Össur Óskarsson?’

‘We could use one, I suppose.’

‘This guy has a gun in his pocket. Believe me, people have a right to know what he looks like. If you call the station as soon as you’re in phone range, ask for the duty inspector at communications. Tell him I asked you to call and he’ll email you our bad guy’s mugshot. All right?’ Gunna said, looking impatiently at the scene in the hotel yard. ‘I’m sorry, but I have to go.’

Erna ate with her knife held in her hand like a pen and stacked everything on the back of her fork. She was still only halfway through her steak when Magni pushed his plate away with satisfaction and belched. Tinna Lind smiled at him fondly and dug him in the ribs with her elbow.

‘I thought you said not to attract attention,’ she said.

They sat close together on one side of the table while Össur and Erna sat opposite them and as far away from each other as possible.

‘Shit,’ Magni said, looking over the top of Erna’s head.

‘What?’

‘Look at the TV.’

They craned their necks to see the screen high on the wall and a woman wearing a police uniform and a grim expression talking to the camera with Hotel Hraun in the background behind her. Magni strained to hear what was being said but the sound was just a low mutter that he couldn’t make out. A police mugshot appeared suddenly on the screen and Össur jerked his head as if someone had hit him. He looked around the room and was relieved to see that none of the few diners appeared to be taking any notice of it. Only a bored young man at the counter appeared to be watching the TV in between checking his phone.

‘That’s you, man,’ Magni said as the picture of a younger, slimmer and meaner-looking Össur left the screen to be replaced by a young woman holding a microphone in her hand and saying something serious – if the expression on her face were anything to go by – before a phone number flashed up across the bottom edge of the screen.

‘Fucking hell,’ Össur said savagely. ‘Fucking bastard hell.’

‘It’s getting on for eight o’clock now,’ Magni said. ‘It was still just about daylight in that interview, so they must have got there before four. It looks like we moved out just in time.’

‘There’ll be cops everywhere now.’

‘I’m not so sure. I reckon they expect us to have gone to Reykjavík, not up here.’

‘Yeah. But they’ll still be checking. What now?’ Össur asked. He looked despondent, while Erna had the most cheerful expression Magni had yet seen on her face; not quite a smile, he decided, but close.

‘We have enough fuel now to get pretty much all the way to Akureyri, I reckon.’

‘So we go all the way now?’

Magni glanced at Erna, and Össur quickly shut his mouth. ‘I don’t think so. I think our best option’s to hunker down somewhere for the night and get moving early when things are quiet.’

‘Where?’

‘No idea yet, but at this time of year there must be plenty of empty summerhouses and chalets. It shouldn’t be hard to borrow one for the night, and it’ll probably be months before anyone notices we’ve been there.’

Erna’s slightly more cheerful expression vanished. ‘I need the bathroom,’ she said, her voice flat.

Magni and Össur looked at each other.

‘Go on,’ Magni said, nodding at the door. ‘Don’t be long.’

‘We need to get out of here,’ Össur said, fretting and looking around, imagining people recognizing him from the few seconds that his picture had been on the screen. He pushed away his plate, his burger only half-eaten and his appetite gone.

‘Sit still, will you?’ Magni told him. ‘Nobody’s looking at you. Nobody’s noticed you. Anyway, I’m going to get a coffee.’

He took his time, poured himself a coffee at the counter and picked up a newspaper discarded on another table. He sat down and sipped his coffee, the newspaper open in front of him.

‘Good likeness. Very smart,’ he said, finding a page with a picture of Erna looking glamorous. ‘“Missing women still unaccounted for,”’ he read out. ‘“Erna Björg Brandsen and Tinna Lind Bogadóttir were last seen leaving the Smáralind car park on Thursday last week. In spite of an intensive search, there has been no sign of them. A search has been carried out in an area where their mobile phones are believed to last have been identified. Police have confirmed that Erna Björg Brandsen’s white Ford Explorer has been located and they are seeking several individuals in connection with the disappearance.” That’s us, I suppose. Or rather, that’s you, Össi.’

Össur looked up from his fingernails and glared at the toilet door. ‘If she doesn’t get back in here quick, I’m going to go and get her,’ he rasped.

Tinna Lind stood up. ‘I’ll go,’ she said, and was gone before Össur had a chance to say anything.

Gunna remembered that her phone had buzzed in her pocket while she’d been trying to look serious and authoritative for the TV camera, and she squinted at its screen. The forensic team had finished sweeping the ground floor of the hotel, so she and Eiríkur gingerly made their way through the kitchen and lounge to the restaurant.

‘That’s why nobody saw a car from the air,’ Eiríkur said, waving at the tyre tracks across the restaurant floor. ‘They’ve made a proper mess of the place.’

‘Shit, hell and damnation,’ Gunna cursed and Eiríkur looked over at her in surprise.

‘Anything the matter?’

‘No, just that I forgot to let Laufey know I wouldn’t be able to pick her up.’

She read the message on her phone a second time.

‘
Hæ, Mum. Saw you on the TV so I guess you must be busy. Got a ride home with Gísli. PS. You really should go and see him. xL’

‘Anything serious?’ Eiríkur asked.

‘Not really. She got a lift home with her brother, so nothing to panic over. I should have remembered, but we were in something of a hurry to get up here.’

Tinna Lind’s voice echoed among the empty stalls.

‘Where are you?’

She checked every one, pushing open the doors and finding nothing. Sighing, she made use of one of them herself, flushed and was washing her hands when she started.

‘Tinna Lind!’

‘What? Where are you?’

Erna stood behind her, eyes full of doubt and distrust. ‘Are you coming with me?’

‘Where to?’

‘Anywhere. Out of here. Home.’

Tinna Lind dried her hands. ‘No. I’m going with Magni.’

‘Why? What for?’

‘Do I need to tell you?’

Erna’s blank gaze illustrated her disbelief. ‘You’re really going with these lowlifes?’

‘Össur’s a lowlife, I’ll grant you that, but Magni is a good guy.’

‘For God’s sake, girl. He’s a criminal,’ Erna hissed.

‘All right, he’s been down on his luck. But he’s no more of a criminal than I am. He’s a far more decent guy than any of those braindead cockblankets in cheap suits that you keep trying to pair me off with.’

‘Don’t you speak to me like that.’

‘Are you coming back out there with me?’

‘No, no. Tell them I’ve escaped. Tell them I crawled out through a window, or something. I don’t care. I can just imagine what your poor father’s going through. I can’t stand this any longer, Tinna Lind. I tell you that horrible man is going to drive me to distraction and one of us is going to kill the other.’

‘And he’s the one with the gun, for the moment.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Nothing,’ Tinna Lind said, looking around. ‘There isn’t a window in here. Look, come with me, before Össur comes in here looking for us. Mum, if anything happens, you want it to be in front of witnesses, not hidden away in here. Listen, I’m going with them and don’t try to persuade me not to. But I’ll be back soon. Can you at least give me and Magni a headstart? I promise we’ll dump Össur in the deepest shit we can find. All right?’

‘No, it’s not all right. You should come with me.’

‘Sorry. Mind’s made up,’ Tinna Lind said, moving awkwardly towards Erna and extending her arms. ‘Are you going to give me a hug before I tell the boys we need to get out of here quick?’

Össur glared as Erna and Tinna Lind returned, sensing that something had changed as they sat down. Erna’s lips were pursed.

‘You took your time.’

‘Girl talk,’ Tinna Lind said. ‘Listen, boys. We have to go, and my mum’s not coming with us.’

‘What the fuck?’

‘Shut up, will you, Össi?’ Magni snapped. ‘We have company.’

‘What’s going on?’ Össur grated, staring at Erna, who met his eyes without flinching. ‘What’s all this about.’

‘I’m staying here,’ Erna said. ‘Try and force me, and I’ll howl the place down. There’s a police station round the corner so you won’t get far.’

Össur’s eyes flashed from Erna to Tinna Lind and back to Magni. ‘What does the hired help reckon? You cooked this up between you, did you?’

‘Not at all,’ Magni told him. ‘We were going to drop the lady off somewhere safe anyway.’

‘She’s not going to call the law the moment our backs are turned?’

‘Not while I’m with you,’ Tinna Lind said. ‘We have a head start.’

‘When you’re out of here, I’m going to have another cup of coffee,’ Erna said, ignoring Össur and addressing Tinna Lind. ‘Then I’ll get someone to call your father and ask him to come and get me. Tomorrow morning I’ll ask him to call the police and let them know I’m safe. I just wish you weren’t going with these—’ Her voice cracked. ‘With these lowlifes.’

Tinna Lind squeezed Erna’s hand. ‘I’ll be fine, Mum. Don’t you worry.’ She pushed her chair back. ‘Come on, boys. It’s late and we’d better go.’

The forensic team had done its work and returned to Reykjavík, leaving Gunna and her team with Ívar Laxdal at the hotel. Two uniformed officers from the Selfoss force remained outside with their cars and had gently fended off a number of interested visitors from the surrounding countryside who had found reasons to be passing. Lárus Erlendsson had gone back to Selfoss with his other officers and a hearse had braved the long drive to collect Brandur Geirsson’s remains to be taken to the National Hospital in Reykjavík.

‘We have a ton of prints everywhere,’ Gunna said, yawning. ‘There are Össur’s, Erna’s and Tinna Lind’s prints all over the place, plus the mystery man who doesn’t have a record, and a few more that are presumably staff, which we’ll have to eliminate. We’ll get a lot more from forensics tomorrow, I hope, once they’ve started going through everything properly, but it seems that Össur was living in the bridal suite upstairs and it’s a proper pigsty, with roach ends everywhere and I don’t know what. Helgi, did you get hold of the owner?’