‘You asked me whether Thomocoin is a fraud,’ said Magnus. ‘Do you think it is?’
‘I think it may be,’ said Gunni with defiance.
‘Why?’
Gunni described his growing suspicions that the promised exchange on which it would be possible to sell all the Thomocoin he had accumulated might never be set up, how he had discussed these fears with Helga, and how she had spoken to her ex-husband about it.
‘So let me get this straight,’ said Magnus calmly. ‘You lend Helga twenty million krónur that she’s going to repay once she has sold her Thomocoin. On her advice, you invest a further three hundred million krónur in Thomocoin yourself. And then you discover that all this Thomocoin might be worthless. Which means not only is Helga unable to pay you back, but you have lost it all.’
‘That’s about right,’ said Gunni. ‘And I want it back. If not from Helga, then from her estate.’ His eyes were burning.
‘I bet you do. In fact, I bet you were pretty angry with Helga.’
‘I was.’
Magnus stared at him in silence. He was pleased that Ólafur was content to watch, at least for now.
‘Sure, I was angry with her,’ said Gunni, realizing where Magnus was going. ‘But I didn’t kill her.’
‘Tell me about your relationship with Helga.’
‘She was a neighbour. I’ve known her all her life, since she was a little girl.’
‘A little girl? How much older than Helga were you, Gunni?’
‘About ten years, I think.’
‘I see. But Helga was more than a neighbour, wasn’t she?’
Gunni hesitated. ‘Yes. She was a friend. I’ve stabled a horse at Blábrekka for years. We used to go riding together.’
‘Riding?’ interrupted Ólafur with a sneer. ‘And what kind of riding was that?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean were you riding her or was she riding you? Or a bit of both?’
Magnus had to hand it to Ólafur; he did know how to be annoying.
And Gunni was annoyed. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he growled through clenched teeth.
‘Hah!’ said Ólafur with an unpleasant grin. ‘You bet you do. You were screwing each other.’
‘What?’
‘I mean you and she used to have sex together. In Reykjavík when you were a member of parliament down there, and then back here in Dalvík.’
‘What makes you think that?’
‘She confided in someone,’ said Magnus. ‘In 2015 or 2016, when she was trying to decide whether to break up with you.’
‘You and she had an affair over many years,’ said Ólafur. ‘And then she broke it off. And you were angry with her. And then the Thomocoin that she told you to buy became worthless and you were even angrier with her. Weren’t you?’
For a moment, Magnus thought Gunni was going to leap over the table, grab Ólafur and pummel him. But Gunni took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. ‘All right. I did have an affair with Helga when she lived in Reykjavík. And then again when she came back north. But I was the one who called it off.’
‘So you say,’ said Ólafur.
Actually, it fitted with what Helga had told Eggert, Magnus remembered.
‘So I say,’ said Gunni. ‘My wife was suspicious. In a small town like Dalvík it’s impossible to keep these things quiet. She guessed I was having a bit on the side, although she didn’t know who with. She told me I had to stop or she would leave. So I promised I’d end it, and I did.’
‘You promised you would end it,’ said Ólafur in disbelief.
‘Yes,’ said Gunni, meeting the detective’s eyes. ‘Helga didn’t like that. She was angry with me, rather than the other way around. But after a frosty few months, we managed to treat each other as friends again.’ He paused. ‘I admit I did feel guilty about it. And that may have been why I lent her the money. I liked her. I like her parents. I like Blábrekka. I didn’t want them to lose it.’
‘When was the last time you had sex with Helga?’ Ólafur barked.
Gunni looked at Ólafur steadily. ‘Four years ago,’ he replied. ‘Not since then.’
‘I don’t believe you!’ said Ólafur, slamming his palm down on the table.
Gunni wasn’t intimidated. He shrugged, his blue eyes firm. ‘It’s true.’
He shook his head. ‘I am angry I lost money because of her. But I’m devastated she died. Devastated. Her poor daughters.’ He looked from Magnus to Ólafur, doubt in his eyes now. ‘I’m angry that someone killed her. In a way, I’m angry with her for being killed. I know that doesn’t make much sense, but I think it’s true. I’ll miss her. I’ll miss her a lot.’
Magnus paused to see if Ólafur would push it further, but the other detective fell silent and nodded to Magnus to continue.
‘All right,’ said Magnus. ‘Take us through again what you did on Saturday morning from when you woke up.’
There was a window when Gunni could just possibly have killed Helga. He had said he had taken his dog for a walk before driving out to Blábrekka; that was when he had claimed to have seen the lone hiker on the mountain. Magnus had begun probing exact timings when there was a knock at the door.
It was Árni. He signalled he wanted to speak to both detectives and he looked excited.
‘What have you got?’ Ólafur asked him in the corridor.
‘A fishing knife. With blood on it. We found it in a kayak in Gunnar’s shed.’
‘Human blood?’
‘Don’t know. I’m getting it checked now. But if it was fish blood on that blade, why would the knife be hidden in a kayak?’
Part Three
Twenty
LINDENBROOK: Hi Krak.
KRAKATOA: Hi.
LINDENBROOK: Did you see what the British FCA put up on their website this morning? ‘Investors are warned that they may lose the entire value of their investment if they buy Thomocoin.’
KRAKATOA: I saw that. It’s just the UK. And the FCA always says things like that. Have you had any pushback?
LINDENBROOK: Yeah. There’s pushback. We’ve got a ton of UK investors.
KRAKATOA: Tell them the usual. It’s dinosaurs and haters.
LINDENBROOK: I can do that. But we need an exchange. At the very least we need approval for an exchange.
KRAKATOA: We’ll get it. Iceland is the place. All we need for now is an indication from some regulator, any regulator, that they are looking at it seriously.
LINDENBROOK: We’re working on that. But people want to see an actual functioning exchange.
KRAKATOA: It’s ready to go. Tested. Bugs ironed out. All we need is approval and we can flick the switch. And once it’s going in one country, then everyone will be happy to wait. I tell you, Iceland’s the key.
LINDENBROOK: All right. I’ll fend them off. Have you heard anything about the FBI investigation?
KRAKATOA: They’ve gone quiet. Now they’ve shut us down in the US, they’ve lost interest. We’re not their problem any more.
LINDENBROOK: Let’s hope the UK don’t start investigating.
KRAKATOA: Yeah. Are you ready to scramble?
LINDENBROOK: Do you think I’ll have to?
KRAKATOA: No. But things can change. And with COVID it’s a lot harder to travel. If you’re going to Panama, you need to plan to avoid the US. No Miami stopover.
LINDENBROOK: I’ve got it all worked out. Madrid is the key. They still have flights to Panama.
KRAKATOA: OK. Good.
LINDENBROOK: It’s bad about Helga. Do they know who killed her?