“Sit down, please, Högni,” Gunna said quietly, speaking for the first time and looking squarely into his eyes. Högni gradually became less agitated and sank back into the chair as the officer at the door and the lawyer both visibly relaxed.
“I didn’t know it was you,” Högni mumbled.
“What do you mean?” Gunna asked.
“I didn’t know it was you there talking to that bastard Jónas Valur,” he repeated. “Otherwise I’d never have …” His voice tailed off as the lower half of his face disappeared into his chest and fat tears rolled down his cheeks. “I never hurt Svana. I just found her there and she wouldn’t wake up.”
• • •
HELGI AND GUNNA walked to the canteen and sat in silence in the deserted room over mugs that steamed in front of them.
“That was an ordeal, wasn’t it?” Helgi said eventually, breaking the silence.
“Right enough.”
“D’you think he did his sister in?”
Gunna shook her head. “No.”
“So who was it? Gulli Ólafs, maybe? I have to admit I can’t understand where these people get the energy for all that sex. That Svana must have been like a machine,” Helgi said appreciatively.
“Not Gulli Ólafs. He didn’t have enough of a motive. Svana would really have been more use to him alive. I’ll bet you any money he was the one on her tail. We’ll see what the search at his home and office turn up. If there’s a phone with a number that ties up with the SMS messages that Svana, Bjarki and anyone else had been receiving, then we have him bang to rights,” Gunna said with a yawn.
“So who was it? It could have been any of the Svana Syndicate apart from Bjartmar.”
“We’ll see,” Gunna said and pulled herself upright. “Will you carry on with Högni? I have to go over to the hospital.”
THE SAME DOCTOR who had attended to Gunna’s bruises a few days earlier was on duty.
“Basically the man’s had a nervous breakdown,” he said laconically, stretching his legs out in front of him during what was clearly a long-awaited opportunity to sit down. “It’s a combination of stress, acute anxiety and depression. He needs some long-term recuperation and that’s not going to happen here, I’m afraid.”
“No?”
“We don’t have the resources these days. Endless cutbacks being pushed through right now. You’re a public servant. Surely you’re seeing all this as well?”
“Hell, yes. There’s a block on recruitment unless it’s absolutely essential, and even then you have to fight tooth and nail. As for equipment, it’s a nightmare. Anyway, Bjarki Steinsson. What’s his condition?”
“Physically he’s as fine as a non-smoking middle-aged man who takes minimal exercise is likely to be. Mentally it’s hard to say, and I’m not a specialist.”
“I really need to speak to him.”
The doctor looked pensive and wrinkled his nose doubtfully. “I’d prefer it if he could be left in peace to recuperate for a few days.”
“This isn’t something trivial, I’m afraid. This is a murder case. Two people dead and another victim in here as well.”
“Good grief, who’s that?” the doctor asked with a sharp intake of breath.
“Hallur Hallbjörnsson.”
“What? The MP who tried to commit suicide?”
“That’s him, only it seems it wasn’t suicide and I need Bjarki Steinsson to shed some light on it.”
The doctor tapped the top of the cluttered coffee table. “All right, but I think it would be best if I could sit in. I’ll have to call a halt if he gets overstressed.”
The corridors were quiet, and music played softly somewhere distant as they walked towards Bjarki’s room.
“His wife’s been with him,” the doctor said. “She’s been there practically since he was brought in.”
“And I don’t suppose she’s helping much towards his recovery.”
“Really? Why’s that?”
“She’s not the most pleasant of people,” Gunna said as the doctor knocked and eased the door open.
“Bjarki, a visitor for you,” he said, a kindly bedside manner clicking into place automatically.
“Who is it?” Gunna heard Kristrún’s frosty voice ask. “The police again,” she said in a flat tone, answering her own question as she caught sight of Gunna.
“Hello, Bjarki,” Gunna said gently. “Feeling any better? I need a quiet chat if you don’t mind.”
“I really think—” Kristrún began.
“If you’d like to leave us for a quarter of an hour, I’d appreciate it,” Gunna said firmly.
“I don’t think—”
“Fifteen minutes will be enough.”
Kristrún stalked from the room and Bjarki looked gratefully up at Gunna from the deep chair where he sat swathed in a blanket.
“I really need you to tell me the rest of the story, Bjarki,” Gunna said, keeping her voice soft and taking a seat next to him. She saw with alarm how wretched he looked and watched as he twisted his fingers constantly. “What really happened at that meeting the three of you had the night before Svana died?”
“We had an argument,” Bjarki said eventually. “It wasn’t very pleasant.”
He fell silent and looked down at his fingers, pale against the dark wool blanket. “Svana wanted to end it. Jónas Valur and Bjartmar didn’t care.”
“The meeting?” Gunna prodded.
“We had all been getting these threats and demands. I don’t know how whoever it was knew who we were. But it was worst for me and for Hallur. We both had so much to lose, especially Hallur with his career in Parliament just starting.”
His hands trembled and his eyes stared out at her. “I’m sure you couldn’t understand how distressing it all was. Jónas Valur is a hard man. He said he didn’t care about publicity, but if we were concerned, then we should do something about it. He called Bjartmar in the States and told him what he’d told us, that it was our problem, mine and Hallur’s. Jónas Valur is divorced. Bjartmar was estranged from his wife anyway. Such a shame, a lovely young woman.” His dry voice fell silent as he reached for a glass of water that shook and threatened to spill as he lifted it to his lips and sipped.
“So Jónas Valur said that it was your problem—yours and Hallur’s?”
“Yes. That was it.”
“What did you decide to do?”
A look of discomfort passed over Bjarki’s face, and Gunna wondered if he was going to cry again.
“Hallur said he would talk to Svana.”
“To reach a settlement?”
“Yes,” he whispered. “Hallur thought the demands were coming from Svana and some journalist he said had been sniffing around her. I told him I didn’t believe it.”
“When was this?”
“I saw him.”
“You saw Hallur when?”
Bjarki gulped and his eyes misted over.
“The day she died,” he said with an effort. “It was the day she died. I was there in the morning to …”
He paused and swallowed, reaching for the water glass again. “I was there in the morning. I never stayed overnight with Svana. We met mostly during the day. Often we’d meet at her flat in the mornings for a few hours, when it was easiest for me to get away from the office. We’d have breakfast and then …”
“And the day she died?”
“I left her flat around eleven. She was still in bed and said she was going to sleep for another hour before going back to the gym. I went to the bakery on the corner to get some pastries to take back to the office, and I saw Hallur go into the building.”
His eyes focused on something far distant, outside the little room. “Did Hallur tell you what happened?”
Bjarki Steinsson snapped back to reality and he looked up at Gunna with desperation in his eyes. “He told me that they’d argued. Svana denied anything to do with trying to blackmail anyone. He said they had a furious argument … That’s all he’d say.”