‘That’s right.’
‘Well done. I hope they lock him up for a good long time. I hate the way Iceland lets murderers out after ten years.’
‘Do you know him?’
‘Not really. I think I met him a couple of times when he was an MP in Reykjavík. I haven’t seen him since he made his investment in Thomocoin.’
‘Did you know he was having an affair with Helga?’
‘Really? No, I had no idea.’
‘Does it surprise you?’
‘How can I answer that? Helga was divorced. She never spoke to me about her love life after Ómar and she split up. So I suppose not. Is he married?’
‘Yes.’ Magnus nodded. ‘How much is Ómar involved in Thomocoin?’
‘Not much,’ said Sharp. ‘He made a small investment when it was launched, so he will have made a profit on that. I suppose the biggest thing he did was introduce his daughter Dísa and through her Helga. Helga brought in a lot of investors.’
‘Quite a catch,’ said Magnus. ‘Can you tell me something about Krakatoa?’
‘Krakatoa? What’s he got to do with this?’
‘Isn’t he the online boss of Thomocoin?’
‘Who told you that? I’m the boss of Thomocoin. Krakatoa works for me.’
‘Have you ever met him?’
‘No.’
‘Do you know his real name?’
‘No. He operates online. Thomocoin is a virtual company. We employ people with computer skills throughout the world. Krakatoa is one of those.’
‘How do you pay him?’
‘Bitcoin.’
‘Not Thomocoin?’
Sharp smiled. ‘No. He prefers bitcoin.’
‘Is he an Icelander?’
‘No,’ said Sharp. ‘I think he’s Canadian.’
‘It’s strange you know so little about such an important employee.’
‘Oh, I know a lot about Krakatoa,’ said Sharp. ‘In the online world. He’s good; he has a great reputation. He always delivers. Who he is or what he does in the real world is irrelevant.’
‘Really?’
‘Yeah, really.’
‘Are you Krakatoa?’ Magnus didn’t expect a straight answer from Sharp, but he was watching his reaction closely.
‘Hah! Where did you get that idea?’
Not an immediate denial, Magnus noticed, but a deflection.
‘I have a witness who is convinced Krakatoa is an Icelander, that Krakatoa is you.’
‘Who is this witness?’
‘Who is Krakatoa?’
‘I’ve told you: I don’t know who Krakatoa is.’
‘And I don’t believe you.’
The two men stared at each other, Sharp’s bright blue eyes unwavering. Had Sharp been unnecessarily evasive when refusing to respond to Magnus’s question with a simple ‘no’? Magnus wasn’t sure.
Sharp leaned back. ‘Can I ask you something?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did Gunnar kill Helga because of Thomocoin? Or was it the affair?’
‘We don’t know yet. Dísa thinks it’s Thomocoin.’
‘She’s a smart girl, Dísa.’
‘Why do you ask?’
Sharp took a sip of his beer. ‘I genuinely believe Thomocoin is going to work. But if it turned out it was the reason why Helga died... Well, I’d feel bad.’
‘Dísa thinks you should feel bad.’
‘Does she? Poor girl. I didn’t really get a chance to speak to her at the funeral. I spoke to Helga’s brother, who was upset with me, but I think I squared him.’
‘You know, Sharp,’ said Magnus, looking him directly in the eyes. ‘I don’t think you really believe Thomocoin is worth anything either.’
Sharp sighed. ‘It was a bad day today. The meeting with the Central Bank really didn’t go well. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my career, it’s not to give up. And I’m not giving up.’ He glanced quickly at his phone. ‘Look, I’ve got to go.’
‘All right. Here’s my card if you have any further information for me,’ said Magnus, handing it to him. ‘When are you flying back to London?’
‘Tomorrow.’
‘Can I get in touch with you there if I need to?’ said Magnus.
‘I suppose so,’ said Sharp grudgingly. ‘I’ll be in England for a while. Travel is getting more difficult again, with the virus numbers ticking up everywhere. I’ve just heard the Brits have added Iceland to their quarantine list as from next Saturday.’
With that, he left the hotel bar and went out into the Reykjavík evening.
On the way back to Eygló’s apartment, Magnus called Agent Malley in New York and told him of Sharp’s travel plans. He also said that it looked as if Sharp’s discussions with the Icelandic authorities hadn’t gone well. Malley promised to get in touch with Magnus as soon as the red notice was issued.
‘Where were you?’ said Eygló when he arrived at her flat.
‘At 101 hotel,’ said Magnus. ‘Interviewing a witness.’ He hadn’t told Eygló he was meeting Ási and Ingileif. Why, he wasn’t sure.
Well, maybe he was sure, he just didn’t want to admit it to himself.
‘At 101 hotel?’ Eygló repeated. ‘Very fancy. What was she like, this witness?’
‘It was a he,’ said Magnus, irritably. ‘An ex-banker called Sharp. It’s to do with the Dalvík case.’
‘You look so guilty,’ said Eygló, her tone teasing.
Magnus felt the guilt erupt within him. He ignored her and picked up his iPad, ostensibly to check the Red Sox results.
‘You do look guilty,’ Eygló repeated, all playfulness gone.
Twenty-Nine
Krakatoa stared across the water towards the mountains. It was a clear, breezy day out there, whitecaps skipping across the sea, which was, for the moment at least, blue.
He was going to have to pull the plug soon. There was no escaping it. Although, remarkably, Thomocoin was still pulling in money from China, Eastern Europe and Africa, the groundswell of disgruntlement was growing. The decision to abandon America had been a good one. But the European regulators were beginning to ask questions, and one of Thomocoin’s investors in the Netherlands had received a visit from the police.
If they could have announced an exchange in Iceland, that might have turned things around, but the Central Bank had put paid to that. It wasn’t going to happen.
They could maybe hang on for a few more days, maybe even a couple of weeks, all the while gathering in more money, but on balance, Krakatoa believed it was better to quit a few days early than a few days late.
Thomocoin had done what it was supposed to: lure investors in. When he had been working on the concept, Krakatoa had given it the name FOMOcoin, for ‘Fear Of Missing Out’. The idea was always to play on the fear of missing out on an easy fortune. That they had done, successfully. But FOMOcoin was not the ideal name for a hot new investment. Thomocoin was much better, especially if some made-up kid with leukaemia was thrown into the mix.
Whether Thomocoin would ever mature into a serious cryptocurrency had never been the main issue for Krakatoa. He hoped it would. He always spoke as if it would. He had successfully convinced his team that it would. But if it fizzled out in a digital puff of crypto-smoke, that was fine too. He had a plan.
Goodmanhunting had just warned him that the FBI hadn’t dropped their investigation after all. Krakatoa had hoped that the agency would lose interest, once Thomocoin stopped selling in the USA.
Clearly not.
Krakatoa decided it was time to secure his bitcoin. He had balances in hot wallets with four exchanges. Time to transfer them to his cold wallet. This was held on a specialized USB stick, with a paper back-up tucked away in a remote part of Iceland where no one would ever think of looking.