‘These are the pics from the march. That was a pretty good day, I even sold some photos of it in Denmark and Sweden. Now, what was it you wanted to look at?’
Skuli turned his computer towards her and pointed to the man’s face behind Gunna’s shoulder.
‘Oh, that creep,’ Lara said.
‘You spoke to him?’
‘Briefly. He asked for my phone number and said we ought to meet for a drink sometime.’
Gunna was amused to see Skuli bridle visibly.
‘A bit too smooth, I thought,’ Lara continued.
‘Where did you think he was from?’
‘Not from here, at any rate. He spoke English, but he could be from anywhere. Not England, though. His English was too precise, too perfect. Y’know what I mean? Like he’d learned it at school.’
‘Lara knows. She studied in England,’ Skuli butted in.
‘What were you studying? Photography?’ Gunna asked.
‘No. Human resource management, actually.’
‘What?’
‘Well, I wanted to study abroad, but to get a student loan it had to be something that isn’t offered in Iceland. So I went for human resource management.’
‘And now you’re a photographer?’
‘That’s right. I trained to manage a big department, and now I work for myself. Good, isn’t it?’ Lara asked brightly.
‘OK, good. But if you’re sure this guy wasn’t a native English speaker, that helps. Now, any photos?’
‘Yeah, there are a few more of him somewhere. What’s he done?’
‘Not sure yet, and as it’s an ongoing inquiry, I couldn’t tell you anyway at the moment,’ Gunna grunted, hunched over the screen as Lara tapped the space bar to toggle between pictures.
‘There he is again, behind those guys who didn’t want to let anyone pass.’
‘That’s him,’ Gunna agreed. ‘Any more?’
They scrolled through the several hundred pictures and found half a dozen showing the man’s face, each time at the periphery of the march and never far from the police presence. Lara copied the picture files and handed them to Gunna on a disk.
‘Here you are.’
‘Thanks. It’s not a problem to let me have these? Journalistic integrity and all that?’
‘Hell, no,’ Lara replied. ‘As long as you’re not stopping me doing my job, it’s not a problem. I’m happy to help the police, and I’d be even happier if they found the bastard who burgled my flat.’
‘Where do you live?’
‘Breidholt.’
Gunna thought for a moment. ‘S?valdur Bogason’s patch, I think. I’ll remind him when I see him. Anyway, Skuli, I’m afraid I might have to ask you not to publish the photo of me with our man in the background, or at least to crop him out if that’s possible. If he is someone we’re looking for, then I’d prefer not to spook him. When does it all go to print?’
‘Week after next, I think.’
‘Right. I’ll let you know. Give me a day or two. Lara, thank you for your assistance, it all helps.’
26
Wednesday, 24 September
Although Gunna had seen the County Sheriff before, she had never had a reason to speak to him. Seated in the incident room in front of her and flanked by Vilhjalmur Traustason and Ivar Laxdal, he looked surprisingly youthful in faded jeans and an open-necked shirt instead of his usual office wear.
‘So, what do you want to tell me about?’ the Sheriff asked as Gunna stood up in front of the whole group. Bjossi, Bara and Snorri sat behind them and waited.
‘I have some information about the person who may have been in the vicinity when Einar Eyjolfur Einarsson was murdered—’
‘Allegedly,’ Vilhjalmur broke in.
‘Allegedly,’ Gunna repeated. ‘But I felt that in the light of what we’ve been told, I’d best call you all together to save myself from having to repeat this later.’
Vilhjalmur fidgeted while the Sheriff nodded. Gunna took a deep breath and thumbed copies of a series of pictures to the wall.
‘The team have been in touch with police forces in the UK, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Sweden came up trumps and this is the man we want to talk to.’
‘And he is?’ Vilhjalmur asked querulously.
‘Gunnar Strom. He’s been identified as having hired a car that appears to have been on the quay at Hvalvik the night Einar Eyjolfur died. He bears a striking resemblance to the person who stole the jeep that is likely to have been used to murder Egill Grimsson. We are absolutely certain he was present at the march on the InterAlu compound at Hvalvik.’
‘A lot of coincidences?’ Ivar Laxdal asked quietly.
‘Plenty of them,’ Gunna agreed, feeling her shirt start to stick to her back and wishing she had taken off her uniform tunic. ‘But considering this man’s background, I feel we need to concentrate on him.’
‘Go on,’ Ivar Laxdal prompted.
‘Not a pleasant character. Several sentences for violent crimes, involvement with narcotics, and a big car theft operation that exported stolen cars to West Africa from Scandinavia via various Baltic States. It seems he’s broken quite a few kneecaps in his time and he’s suspected of nastier things, including at least one disappearance and a very unpleasant incident with someone’s fingers and a hammer and chisel, but not much that can be proved. The man’s a pro.’
‘Is that all?’ Vilhjalmur asked, his face pale with horror.
‘His background is that he’s a Norwegian national, aged forty-two, naval PT and unarmed combat instructor until dishonourably discharged. Resident in Sweden since 1993, half a dozen stretches including a five-year sentence for grievous bodily harm, which was the hammer and chisel thing.’
‘Good God,’ Vilhjalmur whispered.
‘His real name’s Gunnar Harde, with a little circle over the A, so I suppose he might be related to the Prime Minister, but I doubt it somehow.’
‘A proper Norwegian conspiracy?’ Bjossi shot in. For form’s sake, Gunna frowned at him and smothered the urge to laugh.
‘Something like that. Anyway, our man’s been a good boy for the last few years, travels under his own name, listed in the Sodertalje phone book. But Special Branch in Sweden have been keeping an eye on him and he’s been back and forth to Estonia and Latvia quite a bit in the last few years. No idea what he’s been doing there, but he’s been declaring income from what’s described as work as a security consultant, and paying his taxes like a good boy. Still waiting to hear back from Oslo.’
‘Good. Did you run the Gunnar Strom name past them in Sweden?’
‘Yup. He’s used that name before, but a long time ago. Other names he’s used are Ekstrom and Angstrom. They’re checking with their passport office for any valid passports in those names that might fit our boy. But the fun part is that Sweden says our man is retained as a security consultant for InterAlu, which means he’s on our doorstep. He may well be in the country right now.’
Gunna surveyed the three men sitting in front of her in silence. Vilhjalmur looked aghast.
Ivar Laxdal’s expression was impassive and the County Sheriff looked thoughtful.
‘What do you need, Gunna?’ he asked quietly. ‘More people?’
‘Not right now. I need cooperation straight away from other forces and some quick backup when it’s needed. I may need to upset some people in high places, but I don’t reckon that’s something that can be avoided if we’re to
