Where the Shadows Lie (37 page)

Baldur had a point, of course. The reason that Magnus had waited until he returned to Reykjavík before telling him what Hákon had said was hardly noble. It was so that he and not Baldur would crack Tómas’s story.

Which he had done. He had solved the case. Discovered not only who had killed Agnar, but also what had happened to Ingileif’s father. The moment of victory had been sweet, but it had only lasted an hour.

There was a chance that Hákon had just driven out on an errand and he would be back in an hour or so. Or that he would
be caught by the police. He was an easy guy to spot, it was a small country, or at least the inhabited parts of it were. Magnus wondered whether Hákon would hide in the backcountry, like the outlaws in the sagas, living on berries while he dodged the law.

A possibility.

There was no doubt about it, Magnus had screwed up.

At least that meant that the National Police Commissioner wouldn’t demand that he stay in Iceland for the full two years that he had originally expected. They would be glad to be rid of him next week.

And he would be glad to go.

Wouldn’t he?

It was true what he had said to Ingileif, the memories of his early life in Iceland were painful, made more so by the chance meeting with his cousin. And clearly things were not going well with Baldur. But there were things he liked about his brief time in Iceland. He did have an affinity with the country. More than that – it was a loyalty, a sense of duty. The pride that Icelanders felt for their homeland, their determination to work their butts off to make the place function, was infectious.

The Commissioner’s idea to recruit someone like Magnus wasn’t a bad one. The police officers he had met were smart, honest, hard working. They were good guys, even Baldur. They just lacked experience in big-city crime and that was something he knew he could help them with.

And then there was Ingileif.

He had no desire to go back to Colby, and he was quite sure that she had no desire to go back to him.

But Ingileif.

He had really screwed that up. She had a point, their relationship was more than a quick roll in the hay. How much more, Magnus didn’t know, and neither did she, but that didn’t matter, he shouldn’t have made it matter.

He ordered another beer.

He would try again. Say he was sorry. He wanted to see her
again before he went home. She might just tell him to get lost, but it was worth the risk. There was nothing to lose.

He gulped down half his beer and left the bar.

Diego had found himself a good spot, in the smokers’ tent pitched outside in the front yard of the Grand Rokk. He had strolled in to get himself a beer at the bar, and had seen the big cop alone with his drink, absorbed in his own thoughts.

Perfect.

There was one problem; Diego’s car was still parked a couple of blocks from the bus station. He had followed Jonson on foot. There was no way that he was going to carry out the hit in daylight. He needed darkness to make good his escape.

But it was still light. He checked his watch. It was nearly nine-thirty. What was with this country? It was still only April, back home it would have gotten dark hours ago.

So he would follow Jonson. If he was still on the streets when darkness eventually fell he would do it then, otherwise he would follow him home and break in in the small hours of the morning.

Then he saw the big cop walk purposefully out of the bar, past the tent and out on to the street.

Diego followed.

Finally, it was getting dark, or at least dusk. Not quite dark enough. But if Jonson had a long walk before he got home, there might be a chance to do something. Diego would rather pump a couple of shots into Jonson’s head on a quiet street than lumber around in a strange house, with God knows who else there.

Magnus made his way to Ingileif’s house. There was a light on upstairs in her apartment. He hesitated. Would she listen to him?

There was only one way to find out.

He rang the bell at the side entrance of the house, which was where the stairs led up to her flat.

She answered the door. ‘Oh, it’s you.’

‘I’ve come to say I’m sorry,’ Magnus said. ‘I acted like a jerk.’

‘You did.’ Ingileif’s face was cool, almost expressionless. Not hostile, but certainly not pleased to see him.

‘May I come in?’ he asked.

‘No,’ said Ingileif. ‘You did act like a jerk. But your basic point was correct. You are leaving Iceland in a couple of days. It doesn’t make sense for us to get more emotionally involved with each other.’

Magnus blinked. ‘I understand that. It was what I told you, after all, but much less tactfully. But …?’

Ingileif raised her eyebrows. ‘But?’

Magnus wanted to tell her that he really liked her, that he wanted to get to know her better, that it might not make sense but that it was the right thing to do, he knew it was the right thing to do. But her grey eyes were cold. No, they said. No.

He sighed. ‘I’m very glad I met you, Ingileif,’ he said. He bent down, kissed her quickly on the cheek and turned into the gathering gloom.

Árni sat in his car, parked illegally just outside Eymundsson’s Bookshop in Austurstraeti, and called the station. Magnus had left for the evening. Then he called Magnus’s mobile number. No reply – the phone was switched off. So then he called his sister’s house.

‘Oh, hi Árni,’ Katrín said.

‘Have you seen Magnús?’

‘Not this evening. But he might be in. Let me check.’ Árni tapped his fingers on the dashboard while his sister looked in Magnus’s room. ‘No, he’s not here.’

‘Any idea where he might be?’

‘How the hell should I know?’ Katrín protested.

‘Please, Katrín. Where does he go in the evening, do you know?’

‘Not really. Wait, I think he goes to the Grand Rokk sometimes.’

‘Thanks.’ Árni hung up and drove rapidly up to the Grand Rokk. He was there in two minutes.

He had to speak to Magnus. He had checked. He
had
made a mistake. He knew who had killed Agnar.

He stopped the car in the street right outside the bar and ran in. He flashed his badge at the barman and asked if he had seen Magnus. He had. The big man had left fifteen minutes before.

Árni jumped back into his car and headed up the hill towards the Hallgrímskirkja. He stopped at a junction. A man crossed in front of him wearing a baggy hooded sweatshirt. The man was fairly tall, slim, with brown skin, walking determinedly. Árni knew him from somewhere.

He was the guy in the arrivals hall at Keflavík Airport. The American who had been met by the Lithuanian drug dealer.

It was a quiet road. The Hispanic guy had increased his pace to a brisk walk. He lifted up his hood.

As Árni crossed the junction heading uphill, he glimpsed Magnus shambling slowly further along the street, head down, deep in thought. Árni was tired. It took him a couple of seconds to realize what was happening. He braked, slammed the car into reverse, and sped backwards down the hill. He crashed into a parked car, threw open the door and jumped out.

‘Magnús!’ he shouted.

Magnus spun around when he heard the sound of smashing metal. So did the Hispanic guy.

The guy was only twenty metres away, maximum. He was gripping something in the front pocket of his sweatshirt.

Árni charged.

He saw the Hispanic’s eyes widen. He saw him pull the gun out of his pocket. Raise it.

Árni launched himself into mid air just as the gun went off.

Magnus saw Árni leap out of his vehicle, heard him shout, saw him run towards the tall figure in the grey hoodie.

He rushed forward just as Árni bowled the man over. He heard the sound of a gunshot, muffled by Árni’s body. The man rolled
away from Árni, and turned towards Magnus. Raised his gun from a prone position.

Magnus was about twenty feet away. No chance of reaching the man before he pulled the trigger.

There was a gap between two houses on his left. He jinked and dived through. Another gunshot and a ricochet of a bullet off metal siding.

Magnus found himself in a back yard, other back yards ahead and to one side. He turned right and leapt at a six-foot-high fence. Swung his body over just as another shot rang out.

But Magnus didn’t want to run away from this guy.

He wanted to nail him.

A floodlight burst into life, dazzling Magnus. This yard backed on to a more prosperous looking house. Magnus searched for somewhere to hide.

Before it had erupted, Magnus had noticed that the floodlight was a couple of feet forward from the fence bordering the next yard along. He ran directly towards it, reached the fence and crouched down. He was in deep shadow. No chance of the man seeing him through the dazzling light.

The man appeared on top of the fence and dropped down. He paused to listen. Silence.

Magnus was breathing hard. He swallowed, trying to control it, to make sure he didn’t make a sound.

The man stood stock still, peering around the garden. Magnus had realized he had made a mistake. The guy had heard the silence. Heard the lack of running footsteps.

He knew Magnus was in the yard.

Magnus’s plan had been to catch the guy as he ran through the yard, grabbing him from behind. That plan wasn’t going to work.

For a second the man looked straight at Magnus. Magnus stayed motionless, praying that his theory about the light would hold. It did.

Cautiously the man examined a shrub. Then another. Then he stood still again, listening.

The floodlight was motion-activated. No motion, no light. It went out.

Magnus knew he had a second or two before the man’s eyes adjusted to the darkness. He also knew that if he ran straight, the man would shoot at the sound and he would take a bullet. So he ran a couple of paces forward and jinked to the left, a fullback slicing through the defence.

A shot rang out, the flame from the barrel illuminating the man’s face for a fraction of a second.

The man moved his gun to the right, pointed it straight at Magnus, aiming high.

So Magnus dived low, a football tackle directly at the man’s knees. Another shot, just a little too high, and the man went down.

Magnus wriggled and lunged for the hand holding the gun. He grabbed the barrel, and twisted it up and towards the man. Another shot and the sound of broken glass from the house. A satisfying snap and a cry as a thumb broke, jammed in the trigger guard. The man’s free hand reached over Magnus’s face grappling for his eyes. Magnus bucked and wrenched the gun away, rolling back and on to his feet.

He jabbed the gun into the man’s face.

He wanted to pull the trigger; he wanted so badly to pull the trigger. But he knew it would lead to all kinds of problems.

‘Get up!’ he shouted in English. ‘Stand up, or I’ll blow your head off!’

The man slowly raised himself to his feet, his eyes on Magnus, breathing heavily.

‘Get your hands up! Move over here!’

Magnus could hear shouting in the house. ‘Call the police,’ he yelled in Icelandic.

He pushed the man along the side of the house and out on to the street, and shoved him against the wall, his face pressed against the corrugated metal. Now he had a problem. He wanted to tend to Árni, but he couldn’t risk leaving the man uncovered.

He considered once again blowing the guy’s brains out. He was tempted.

Bad idea.

‘Turn around,’ he said, and as the guy turned towards him, he transferred the gun to his left hand and whacked the man with a blow to the jaw with his right.

The pain shot through Magnus’s hand, but the man crumpled. Out cold.

Magnus knelt down beside Árni. He was still alive, his eyelids were fluttering and his breath was coming in short gasps. There was a hole in his chest, there was blood. But there wasn’t that horrible wheezing sound of a sucking chest wound.

‘It’s OK, Árni. You’ll be fine. Hang in there, buddy. You’re not hit too bad.’

Árni’s lips began to move.

‘Shh,’ said Magnus. ‘Quiet now. We’ll get an ambulance here in no time.’

Someone had called the police, he could hear the sirens coming closer.

But Árni’s lips continued to move. ‘Magnus. Listen,’ he whispered, in English.

Magnus moved his head close to Árni’s face, but he couldn’t quite make out what Árni was trying to say, just the last word, which was something like ‘Bye’.

‘Hey, no need to say goodbye now, Árni, you’re gonna make it, you’re the Terminator, remember?’

Árni moved his head from side to side and tried to speak again. It was too much for him. The eyes closed. The lips stopped moving.

M
AGNUS JUMPED INTO
the police car that led the ambulance to the National Hospital, lights flashing, sirens blaring. It took less than five minutes. He was elbowed away by paramedics pushing Árni through corridors and double hospital doors. The last Magnus saw of his partner was his feet speeding towards the operating room at the stern of the gurney.