‘I don’t know,’ the woman replied in Australian-accented English.
‘Have you seen him today?’
‘Yes. I told your colleague who was here earlier. He left a couple of hours ago.’
‘Did he say where he was going?’ Magnus snapped.
‘No.’ The woman looked as if she was about to burst into tears.
Vigdís interrupted. ‘My name’s Vigdís,’ she said in slow, clear Icelandic, avoiding speaking English. ‘Now why don’t we sit down and you can tell us what happened? What’s your name?’
The girl seemed to understand. ‘Petra.’
Vigdís sat on a sofa in the living room, and Petra sat opposite. Despite his impatience, Magnus knew Vigdís was right to take this slowly.
‘Why are you upset?’ Vigdís asked.
‘Can we do this in English?’ Petra said.
‘Sure,’ said Magnus gently. ‘You seem upset. My colleague was asking why.’
‘Is Jói in trouble?’
‘He may be.’
‘Oh, God.’ Tears leaked from Petra’s eyes.
‘Does the name Krakatoa mean anything to you?’
Petra glanced sharply at Magnus. Clearly, it did. But Magnus waited.
Petra nodded.
‘What?’
‘It’s Jói’s handle. When he’s online. When he’s running Thomocoin.’
‘Do you know about Thomocoin?’
‘Not much,’ said Petra. ‘Except Jói spends almost all his time on it. He pretends he’s working for some game-development company, but it’s Thomocoin, Thomocoin, Thomocoin all the time.’
‘Does he talk to you about it?’
‘No. He knows I know that’s what he’s doing but he prefers to keep me away from it. It’s taking over his life! He’s changing. Especially in the last couple of weeks.’
‘Since Dísa’s mother died?’
‘Maybe a bit before then.’
Magnus nodded. Vigdís was taking notes — he hoped her English was up to it. Magnus knew her understanding of the language was better than her speaking, and better than she admitted.
‘Petra. Do you know whether Jói had anything to do with Helga’s death?’
The woman sobbed.
‘Petra?’
‘I don’t know, no.’
‘What about Kata, Dísa’s friend?’
The sobs came louder. Magnus waited.
Petra recovered herself. ‘He didn’t kill them both, did he?’
‘I doubt he did. But he may have gotten someone else to do it.
‘Tecumseh.’
‘Tecumseh?’
‘Yeah. Sometimes I see Jói’s conversations over his shoulder. Normally I don’t pay any attention, Jói knows that, so he’s stopped worrying about it like he used to. But there was this one guy, Tecumseh. He sounded like a genuine bad guy. You know, like a hitman, or something. I assumed it was just someone Jói knew acting tough — some kind of joke. I didn’t think about it. But it scared me.’
‘What did this Tecumseh say?’
‘I don’t know. I tried to forget it. Tried to put it out of my mind.’
‘OK. I understand that. But try to remember now.’
‘It was something about a knife. Hiding a knife. It was the day after Helga was stabbed.’
‘Did you ask Jói about it?’
‘No. I couldn’t believe it really had anything to do with Helga’s death. And... well... I am beginning to get a bit scared of Jói. So I played dumb. He likes it when I play dumb.’
‘And you have no idea where he went? Or when he’ll be back?’
‘No. That’s what upset me. He had a bag with him. And he didn’t talk to me. He just blanked me.’ She sniffed. ‘I checked his stuff. He’s taken his passport with him. Two of his computers. And his favourite leather jacket.’ She looked at the two detectives. ‘Jói’s gone.’
‘Where’s his computer?’ Magnus asked.
‘He’s got three of them. He left one of them here. But it’s dead.’
‘Can I take a look?’
The computer was in the corner of a large bedroom, with a view over the sea. The bed was a mess, but the desk was tidy. There were two screens, keyboard, mouse, high-end Bose headphones and a weird-shaped pink USB stick jammed into a tower under the desk.
Magnus’s finger hovered over the keyboard, but he glanced at Vigdís, who shook her head. He knew she was right. Looking into Jói’s computer without a warrant would be asking for trouble if there was a trial. Magnus might have risked it if there had been a chance of finding information that could save Dísa, but if Petra was correct, the computer was dead anyway.
A pad of paper lay on the desk, half covered with jotted notes: some words, mostly numbers. Magnus took a picture with his phone.
‘What do you think that is?’ he asked Vigdís, pointing to the numerals 1450.
‘Could it be a time?’
‘That’s what I thought. A bus? Or a plane?’
‘Does Jói have a car?’ Vigdís asked Petra.
‘Yes. It’s a Nissan four-wheel-drive. Silver. But it’s gone, I checked.’
‘He doesn’t need a bus if he’s taken his car,’ said Vigdís.
‘A plane then?’ said Magnus. ‘He could have parked it at the airport. A plane to Akureyri, I’ll bet.’
Fifty-Two
Uncle Eggert met Dísa in the lobby of the town hall in Akureyri. She threw herself at him. He wrapped his long arms around her and squeezed.
‘Come up to my office,’ he said.
Fortunately, Eggert rated his own office, albeit a small one. It boasted a tiny meeting table, where Dísa dumped her backpack containing her computer, and half a view over the narrow fjord to the wooded mountain slopes on the other side.
‘You’ve just driven from Reykjavík, I take it?’ Eggert said.
‘Yes. I borrowed a friend’s car.’
‘Does anyone know you’re here?’ Eggert looked concerned.
‘I don’t think so. I don’t know what people know.’
‘Sit down and tell me what’s going on.’
So Dísa told Uncle Eggert as briefly and clearly as she could all about Thomocoin, Krakatoa’s threats and Kata’s death.
Eggert’s concern deepened. It became more than concern; it became fear.
‘Does this Krakatoa know anything about me?’ he asked.
Dísa shrugged. ‘He’ll know you’re an investor along with dozens of other Icelanders. He may know you are my uncle. But I don’t think he’ll guess I’ve come to see you. At least I hope not.’
‘So do I. Who do you think he is?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Dísa. ‘Sharp, maybe? You remember him from the Thomocoin videos. Maybe it’s someone else entirely. But he might be paying someone to do his dirty work.’
‘You mean a hired gun?’
‘Something like that. I don’t know, Uncle Eggert. I’m just trying to keep one step ahead of him. Have you seen anything suspicious? Anyone try to contact you?’
Eggert paused. ‘No. Nothing.’
‘Keep your eye out.’
‘Jói called me this morning. Asking how you were. He sounded worried about you.’
‘Yeah, I saw him yesterday. What did you say to him?’
‘Nothing. You asked me not to tell anyone you had been in touch. I didn’t know if that included Jói, so I kept quiet.’
‘Thank you,’ said Dísa. She smiled at her uncle; she was extremely grateful to him. ‘I might need his help later. But it’s probably best if as few people know what’s going on with all this as possible.’
For a moment she wondered why Jói had called Eggert, then she remembered she had asked him for Eggert’s number — Jói had always been much better at keeping track of numbers and addresses than she. She had no doubt her brother was concerned about her.
‘Can I use your table for an hour or so?’ she asked.