‘I have a question for you,’ said Tryggvi Thór. ‘I asked you earlier about motive. If they were both fakes, would that give anyone a motive to kill Carlotta? If Carlotta was threatening to expose them somehow?’
‘Possibly,’ said Magnus. ‘It would turn the TV documentary into a disaster. Eygló would look like a fool. As would Einar. And Suzy Henshaw, the producer. But we have no evidence that Carlotta was threatening anybody.’
‘You mean you don’t have any evidence yet,’ said Tryggvi Thór.
‘So you think there might be something in the archaeology after all?’
Tryggvi Thór snorted. ‘I don’t know. That’s for you to decide. Want another beer?’
Magnus grinned as Tryggvi Thór went back inside. He was nowhere near cracking the case. Talking it through with Tryggvi Thór, he realized that the most likely motive for the murder was something to do with a love triangle gone wrong in a way he hadn’t yet figured out. But the archaeological angle was worth pursuing; if the wampum and the Columbus letter were fake, that might change things.
Or not.
Tryggvi Thór had just returned with the beers when a woman’s voice shouted a greeting from within the house.
‘That’s Sóley,’ Tryggvi Thór said. ‘She will claim she was just passing, but she’s checking on me. No one “just passes” Álftanes. Out here!’ he shouted.
Sóley emerged from the back door of the house, but her smile disappeared when she saw Magnus, who had got to his feet. ‘What’s he doing here?’
‘Meet my new lodger, Magnús,’ Tryggvi Thór said with a note of triumph. ‘You said it would be good if someone was living here with me.’
‘But he’s a policeman!’
‘He is. Just like I was.’
‘I hope you’re charging him rent?’
‘So do I.’ He turned to Magnus. ‘We need to discuss the rent.’
‘That’s fine with me,’ Magnus said.
Sóley’s cheeks were pink as she looked at the two men. She really didn’t like policemen. ‘Why don’t you have your own home?’ she said. ‘Has your wife thrown you out?’
‘I don’t have a wife,’ said Magnus calmly.
‘Then why do you want to stay with my father all of a sudden? And why are you letting him, Dad?’
‘Magnús has just arrived in Iceland from America,’ Tryggvi Thór said. ‘It’s true he worked here before for a few years, but only since, what, 2007?’
‘Two thousand and nine,’ said Magnus.
‘And you think that makes a difference?’ Sóley said.
‘Yes, I do, actually,’ said Tryggvi Thór, who was still in his seat.
‘What is it I don’t know?’ said Magnus, wondering why it should matter so much to both of them that he knew nothing about the Metropolitan Police before 2009.
‘Don’t you know it?’ Sóley spat back.
There was silence as they both looked at him. He didn’t know what the hell they were talking about. ‘No. Will you tell me?’
‘If you’re such an ace detective, you should be able to work it out for yourself,’ said Sóley.
‘I could use a little help,’ said Magnus.
‘Let’s just say that it’s obvious that the attack on Tuesday wasn’t random. It was a warning.’
‘Sóley!’ Tryggvi Thór barked.
‘Dad, how can you keep it quiet from the police when the police are obviously involved?’
‘She is letting her imagination run away with her,’ said Tryggvi Thór.
‘Oh, Dad!’ Sóley’s face was still flushed and the anger still suffused her words, but her eyes were moist with tears. ‘Why couldn’t you just stay in Africa?’
‘This is my home, Sóley.’
‘Yes, but... Can’t you be more careful, for God’s sake?’
‘I’ll be all right.’
‘No you won’t!’ The tears were flowing now. ‘I’m going. And you...’ she faced Magnus. ‘Mr Policeman. Just make sure my father doesn’t get hurt.’
With that, she was gone.
Tryggvi Thór blew air through his cheeks. ‘Before you ask, Magnús, I’m not going to tell you anything. Nothing, do you understand?’
‘Wait a moment,’ said Magnus. ‘There’s something going on here, and I need to know what it is.’
‘No you don’t. You really don’t. And if you want to stay here, then no questions. It’s really that simple.’
Magnus shrugged. ‘OK. But I’m holding out for just one more. Do you have another beer?’
Twenty-Nine
Magnus got into work early the next morning to find an email from Computer Forensics with early extracts from Einar’s laptop, in particular email traffic with Carlotta. The amount of data on personal devices had increased exponentially in recent years to a point where it would take humans months to read it all, so extracting relevant information had become an art involving keywords and algorithms. Email correspondence with Carlotta was an obvious place to start.
Magnus skimmed it. The tone on Einar’s part was businesslike, whereas Carlotta’s was much lighter, with flashes of wit and hints of flirtation. The subject matter was almost entirely the Columbus letter and the efforts of Carlotta and Einar to authenticate it. Carlotta repeated her discussions with Federico Trapanese and the Vatican, and her successful attempt to get Professor Beccari involved.
Carlotta had suggested twice meeting up to discuss things in Reykjavík or London or Paris, both times being gently rebuffed by Einar, who said it wasn’t necessary. The second suggestion had been made only a month before, and after Einar’s rejection of the idea, Carlotta had said she would come to Iceland anyway and would call him.
Magnus cross-referenced Einar’s call records and saw that Carlotta had indeed done so on the same day that she had sent the email, speaking to him for thirteen minutes.
Einar addressed Carlotta ‘Hi Carlotta’ and signed off ‘Cheers’. Carlotta greeted Einar with ‘Hey’ and signed off ‘Love’. Although they were both fluent in English, it was a second language for both of them, so Magnus was wary of reading too much into that. It was clear that there was no steamy relationship being conducted between the two of them, although there were hints that Carlotta might have wanted one.
All of which corroborated what Einar had said.
Although Einar used text repeatedly with lots of his contacts, there was no texting between him and Carlotta. Probably because that was how Rósa had discovered their relationship back in 2012.
The computer guys were unlikely to be in yet — they had clearly been working late, so Magnus sent them an email thanking them for what they had got so far, and asking them to search for correspondence between Einar and his wife, especially any messages mentioning Carlotta. Those could be interesting.
‘How was your night on Álftanes, Magnús?’ Magnus looked up to see Vigdís dropping her bag behind her desk.
‘Good. It’s a nice place. Great view of the sea.’
‘Has the old guy kicked you out yet?’
‘Actually, he seems to like me. Unlike his daughter.’
‘Coffee?’
‘Yes, please.’
Vigdís returned a couple of minutes later with two steaming cups and handed one to Magnus.
‘So?’
‘So what?’
‘So what did you think of your son? That was the first time you met him, right?’
Magnus stared at Vigdís.
‘Oh, Magnús! Don’t tell me you didn’t realize?’
‘What? You mean Ingileif’s kid? Ási? Why do you think he’s my son?’
‘Because he looks just like you, dummy. Same red hair. Same blue eyes. Same bruiser’s jaw. I can’t believe you didn’t get that! That’s why Ingileif was so hesitant.’
Magnus shook his head. ‘He can’t be my son. She would have told me.’