him? Have you arrested him?’
Magnus realized that Harpa didn’t know what had happened to her boyfriend. She had to know; he may as well be the one to tell her.
‘Yeah, I found him. He had been stabbed. By Isak.’
‘Oh, my God!’ Harpa put her hand to her mouth. ‘Is he all right?’
‘He was in a bad way when I left him to go after you. A chest wound.’
‘You left him?’
‘Yes. With another police officer. He was going to call an ambulance.’
‘Do you know how he is?’
Magnus raised an eyebrow at the uniformed policeman who had finished on the radio. ‘I’ll check,’ the constable said.
He left the car door open as he called Pall on the radio. Magnus considered asking Harpa to step back, but there wasn’t much point. She would want to know.
‘Do you have Bjorn Helgason there?’ the officer asked.
‘Yes.’ Magnus heard Pall’s voice. From his tone, he knew what was coming next. ‘But he’s dead at the scene.’
Magnus heard a short gasp from Harpa. He took the radio mike from the constable. ‘Pall, it’s Magnus. Did you get a chance to ask him any questions?’
‘No. He lost consciousness as soon as I got to him.’
‘Damn!’ Magnus was focused on the next victim. Ingolfur Arnarson, whoever that was, did not have long to live, unless they figured something out. He had an idea. ‘Pall?’
‘Yes?’
‘See if you can find Bjorn’s phone. Then check “last number called”.’
‘Roger.’
Magnus straightened up as he waited for Pall to get back to him. The colour had drained from Harpa’s face, but her eyes were dry.
‘I’m sorry,’ Magnus said.
‘I’m OK,’ Harpa said. ‘It will probably hit me soon. But in the hut back there I realized what Bjorn was doing was wrong. He killed other people. He brought this on himself.’
The radio crackled into life. ‘Magnus?’
‘Yes?’
‘I tried redial. It didn’t just have the number it had the name of the contact.’
‘And who was it?’
‘Einar.’
Behind Magnus, Harpa let out a cry. ‘No! No, no, no, no, no!’ There was pain and desperation in her voice. ‘Don’t believe him, Magnus. He must have made a mistake!’
But Magnus knew Pall had got it right. And so, he thought, did Harpa.
CHAPTER FORTY
ARNI WAS DRIVING back to Reykjavik from Hafnarfjordur, having spoken to both of Isak’s parents and learned nothing. They were as mystified as the police as to their son’s whereabouts. The mother especially had sensed that something was seriously wrong, but Isak had been totally uncommunicative.
Arni was almost back at police headquarters on Hverfisgata when his phone rang. It was Baldur. ‘Arni, get over to Seltjarnarnes right away. We know who the assassin is. Harpa’s father. Einar.’
‘I’m on my way.’
‘OK. Don’t make an arrest until the uniformed back-up is there.’
‘What am I arresting him for?’
‘The murder of Oskar Gunnarsson. We’ll start with that and work up from there.’
Blue-light time. It took Arni longer than he would have liked to fix it to the roof of his unmarked Skoda, but then he was off. He put his foot down and sped through the Reykjavik traffic, a tense grin on his face. He swerved as he almost caught a motorbike he hadn’t seen in the oncoming lane. He checked the mirror. The guy had come to a stop but hadn’t actually fallen off.
He slowed down as he approached the Bakkavor turn-off. It was lucky he did, because he caught sight of Einar stepping out of his Freelander and going into his house.
Arni slowed to a stop, just as two patrol cars swerved into the road behind him, sirens off, fortunately. Arni waved them down.
‘The suspect has just gone into his house! Come on!’
‘Hold on a moment.’ One of the officers was on the radio. ‘They want us to hold off. They think he’s armed. We wait for the Viking Squad.’
So Arni waited in his car fifty metres along from Einar’s house. He had the front door covered: there was no way Einar could leave without Arni spotting him. The two patrol cars were joined by another one, and they retreated around the corner to lurk.
Everyone was waiting for the Viking Squad, Reykjavik’s SWAT team made up of volunteer officers from across the Metropolitan Police. Arni was disappointed not to make the arrest himself, but it would be cool to see the SWAT team in action.
Then his phone rang. It was Baldur. ‘Arni? I want you back at the station.’
‘But Einar-’
‘The Viking Squad will arrest him as soon as they get there. I want you back here now. We need to figure out who the next target is. Robert will relieve you.’
Arni saw his colleague approaching in another unmarked Skoda. Reluctantly, Arni turned his own car around and headed back to the station.
They had almost reached Helgafell when Magnus’s phone rang. Baldur.
‘Arni has spotted Einar. He has just returned home.’
‘Has he arrested him?’
‘We’re calling in the Viking Squad. Einar is probably armed.’
‘Now you’re talking,’ said Magnus. ‘I could have used some of their help an hour ago.’
‘Any luck on the next victim?’
Magnus glanced at the woman next to him. She was staring out of the window at the little hill of Helgafell coming ever closer, her hand to her mouth, her face stricken with anguish.
‘Harpa doesn’t know. Isak is still unconscious so he hasn’t talked.’ Magnus was about to add that they wouldn’t hear anything more from Bjorn, but with Harpa listening he decided not to.
‘Is Isak going to make it?’
‘You never know with head injuries, do you?’
‘Well, at least we know where Einar is. He’s unlikely to do much damage while he is at home, and we’ll grab him as soon as he tries to leave.’
‘If he’s the only other conspirator,’ said Magnus.
‘Do you think there’s another one?’ said Baldur.
‘I don’t know. We mustn’t assume that there isn’t. Let me know when you have arrested Einar.’
Magnus thought through the possibility. Had it been Einar who had shot Oskar and Julian Lister? Or someone else?
‘Harpa?’
‘Yes?’
‘Does your father speak English?’
‘Not really. Just a few words. Why?’
So that meant he wouldn’t be able to make his own preparations for the shootings in France or England.
‘Has he been away over the last couple of weeks?’ Magnus asked, as gently as he could.
