KRAKATOA: Check in when you get to Panama. And good luck!
Krakatoa hadn’t expected Dubbelosix to flake. They had been over the scramble scenario countless times. If either Dubbelosix or Lindenbrook was arrested it would be bad. They might talk, eventually; tell the FBI who he was.
There were a lot of people who worked for Thomocoin all over the world. The cops would have a very hard time tracking any of them down. And even if they did, none of them knew who Krakatoa was, beyond the fact that he was Canadian. Which he wasn’t.
But there were one or two of his most loyal employees that Krakatoa wanted to give a heads-up to.
KRAKATOA: Hey Tubs.
TUBBYMAN: Hey Krak.
KRAKATOA: You know you asked me about the FBI yesterday?
TUBBYMAN: Yeah. And you said it was just a rumour.
KRAKATOA: Turns out it was more than a rumour. They are planning to make some arrests tomorrow.
TUBBYMAN: Are they arresting you?
KRAKATOA: They’ll never find me.
TUBBYMAN: What about me?
KRAKATOA: They won’t find you either. I’m the only one who knows who you are or where you live, and they won’t find me. But I thought I should warn you just in case.
TUBBYMAN: Thanks. I’m worried.
KRAKATOA: Don’t be.
TUBBYMAN: What about the investors?
KRAKATOA: Their loss, I’m afraid. Give them a good last price today and then go dark.
TUBBYMAN: $400?
KRAKATOA: Why not give them $500? Your choice.
TUBBYMAN: What do I do if the police do knock at the door?
KRAKATOA: Hit your kill switch. And don’t admit anything. Get a lawyer if you have to. You’ll be fine.
TUBBYMAN: And you? You know the Mounties always get their man?
KRAKATOA: Not this one. Bye Tubs.
TUBBYMAN: Bye Krak.
Krakatoa had his own situation all worked out. But that had assumed he had twenty million dollars in bitcoin squirrelled away.
Someone had dug up his acorns.
Dísa.
He needed them back.
KRAKATOA: Are you still in Iceland?
TECUMSEH: Yes.
KRAKATOA: Good. Reykjavík?
TECUMSEH: Yes.
KRAKATOA: I may have something for you. Same rates as before.
TECUMSEH: Eighty thousand. Half now, half within forty-eight hours of success.
KRAKATOA: But that’s twenty thousand more than last time!
TECUMSEH: And that’s because it’s twenty thousand more dangerous. Follow-ups are more dangerous by definition.
KRAKATOA: All right. I’ll give you instructions tomorrow.
TECUMSEH: I’ll be ready.
Krakatoa fought to control his anger. If he kept a clear head, this should all work out OK.
Dísa was sensible. Krakatoa had to create a situation where the only sensible thing for Dísa to do was to give Krakatoa his bitcoin back.
He could do that.
Thirty-Two
Magnus returned to the station after seeing Ómar. What had he learned?
There was something very dodgy about Thomocoin. Regulators all over the world should have nipped it in the bud and not allowed it to take in millions from gullible investors. That certainly applied to Iceland. But Magnus wasn’t sure that he had uncovered enough evidence to give investigators something to prosecute. Especially if those investigators were determined to look the other way.
He hadn’t really learned anything that would help Dísa either. It was likely that Gunni’s doubts about Thomocoin had played a big part in his decision to murder Helga. To put it another way, if Thomocoin hadn’t existed, Helga would almost certainly still be alive today. But there was no sign that Sharp or Fjóla or anyone else at Thomocoin had assisted in any way in the murder, or that they bore any legal responsibility.
Gunni had decided to kill Helga of his own free will. That wasn’t Thomocoin’s fault.
Ómar was undoubtedly an investor in Thomocoin and had a relationship with Sharp going back years. But Magnus doubted he was involved directly in his ex-wife’s murder. Ómar had mentioned that Eggert had had dealings with Sharp in the past. But Eggert was hardly a major investor in Thomocoin. Enough to be upset, not enough to kill.
Sharp had put on a brave face, but from what Magnus could tell, Thomocoin’s days were numbered. And with it the savings of dozens, probably hundreds of Icelanders.
There might be some vengeance for Dísa in that. But as far as Magnus was concerned, the loss of all those people’s savings was bad news.
It meant a scandal was brewing. If Thomocoin did blow up, the regulators would have to turn around and look at the mess on their own doorstep.
Thelma had anticipated all this. Magnus realized that his interviews with Fjóla, Ómar and Sharp would come to light.
Magnus decided to prepare himself for that. He wrote up his interview notes carefully. He called Sigurjón in Financial Crimes to warn him that the shit was likely to hit the fan. He knew Thelma would not be at all happy with any of this when she found out, and she would find out.
Tough.
Then Magnus called Árni to fill him in on what he had learned and to find out how the investigation was going in Dalvík.
Gunni was still stewing in solitary at Hólmsheidi. The police were having trouble gathering further evidence against him. Ólafur was still confident of a conviction: it was certainly Helga’s blood on the knife found in Gunni’s shed, there was a motive in all the money Gunni thought Helga had lost him, and Gunni just about had the opportunity.
And that was it.
Magnus was about to finish the call when Árni dropped his voice to a whisper. ‘Magnús?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’m not sure Gunni is our man.’
Magnus prepared himself for one of Árni’s half-baked ideas. ‘Why not?’
‘It doesn’t feel right.’
‘And why is that?’
‘Gunni strikes me as a smart man. A competent guy who doesn’t screw up.’
‘I’d agree with that.’
‘So why didn’t he get rid of the knife?’
‘He did. He hid it.’
‘Yes. But somewhere we were bound to find it.’
‘Only if we were looking for it.’
‘Yes,’ said Árni. ‘But if he did kill Helga, he must have assumed that at some point we would search his property.’
Árni had a point. ‘Maybe he was hiding it before he got rid of it?’
‘OK. Then why didn’t he wipe it clean? Or wash it? It would have been dead easy to wash off that blood. He didn’t even try.’
‘Maybe he panicked. I’ve seen plenty of murderers panic and do dumb things in my time in Boston.’
‘Yes. But Gunni doesn’t seem like a panicker.’
Magnus was silent.
‘Does he?’ said Árni. ‘He spent all those years captaining trawlers in the North Atlantic. Guys like that are good under pressure.’
‘OK. He doesn’t seem like a panicker. But if Gunni didn’t kill Helga, someone must have planted the knife. Who?’
‘The murderer. Maybe it was the guy seen hiking on the mountain with a backpack.’
‘Seen by Gunni.’
‘Yes. Seen by Gunni. Magnús, I don’t know what to do.’
Magnus thought. Did Árni have a point? Maybe. Maybe there was some doubt.
‘Have you spoken to Ólafur?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
‘And?’
‘He called me an idiot. He said I was supposed to be helping the prosecution and not the defence. He told me not to mention my misgivings to anyone. He’d certainly be unhappy if he knew I was talking to you.’
It was Ólafur who was the idiot. Policemen who thought it was more important to secure a conviction than to convict the right man were all idiots who didn’t understand their job. Árni might be wrong, but he had a legitimate question, and it needed to be answered, not squashed.