Frozen Out

by Quentin Bates

  ‘Of course, now you’d never say anything as disgusting as that, would you, Jonni?’

  ‘Well, not in print, anyway. Hello,’ he said, looking up. ‘Got to run, Gunna, looks like something’s happening.’

  With a speed that surprised Gunna, Jonni was out of the car and at the forefront of the scrum that formed around the door as Jón Oddur, red-faced and sweating, appeared to face a barrage of questions.

  Gunna and Bára stood at the back of the group to listen as Jón Oddur floundered.

  ‘Quiet, please. Quiet,’ he pleaded with the crowd of microphones in his face and the staccato rattle of questions being fired at him. He pulled a sheet of paper from the inside pocket of his jacket and unfolded it, blinking as flashes went off in his face.

  ‘I have a prepared statement to read. I am not authorized to answer any questions afterwards. I will read this only once.’

  He looked around him at the microphones, raised the sheet of paper and read in halting, careful English: ‘Spearpoint values its ongoing business relationship with InterAlu and is fully confident that this is set to continue to our mutual benefit. We are at present engaged in cooperative negotiations with InterAlu and its partners to extend and expand our current partnerships across the business environment.’

  Jón Oddur paused and looked up at the expectant faces around him before taking a deep breath. ‘Spearpoint’s senior management has built up a positive working relationship with the heads of InterAlu’s European business development division and we fully expect this to continue. Speculation of a rift between Spearpoint subsidiaries ESC and Bay Metals, and InterAlu is completely unfounded and has no basis in actuality. As media professionals ourselves, we are fully aware of the need to respond to unfounded rumours and we would ask our colleagues at the front line of news reporting for a level of circumspection in reporting unverified and unverifiable hearsay. Message ends. Thank you.’

  ‘Jón Oddur, what’s InterAlu’s take on all this?’

  ‘Is Sigurjóna going to make a statement herself?’

  ‘How many jobs are going to be lost when InterAlu pull out?’

  ‘How much money does Sigurjóna personally stand to lose on this?’

  The questions came thick and fast, while Jón Oddur slowly turned and began to make his way back to the door, carefully avoiding eye contact with anyone in his way.

  ‘Jón Oddur, what are the implications for the Minister’s position? Will he have to resign?’

  ‘What about the allegations of intimidation and bribery? What’s Spearpoint’s response?’

  The barrage fell silent as the glass door swung shut behind him, and Jón Oddur could feel rivulets of sweat running down his back as he made for the lift at the trot.

  ‘Bullshit,’ Jonni Kristinns announced with delight as he returned to his car. ‘Bullshit from start to finish.’

  ‘Why do you say that?’ Bára asked.

  ‘What else could they say? He didn’t say anything at all that says anything. No facts, no information, just business as usual. I reckon it’s a smokescreen to keep the lid on things while they salvage what they can from the wreck,’ he said with satisfaction.

  Gunna nodded and looked up at Spearpoint’s windows high above. ‘It doesn’t sound right, does it? Is denying everything flatly like that normal practice, Jonni?’

  ‘Yeah. It’s the normal bullshit. This has to be a face-saving exercise while they try to keep the stock exchange happy. Spearpoint is privately owned, but I’ll bet you a shag to a bag of shit that ESC’s share value is going to plummet.’

  ‘Er. No thanks, Jonni. Maybe later, all right?’ she said as he launched himself into his car and beat the unwilling engine into life. ‘Jæja, Bára. Maybe we should have brought Snorri along as well. He would have enjoyed all that. Come on, let’s see if we can track down Sigurjóna.’

  Ósk Líndal was more imposing than Snorri’s description of her had even hinted. She stood two metres tall in flat shoes, looking down at Gunna and Bára. Her arms were folded underneath a bosom that jutted alarmingly into free space. Robustly built herself, Gunna felt pleasantly petite standing opposite her and Bára’s slight frame was little more than a wisp alongside the two of them.

  ‘Sigurjóna is not available,’ Ósk announced sternly. ‘I thought your officers had already been given all the available information they asked for yesterday.’

  ‘They were,’ Gunna replied equally sternly. ‘But we have some more questions for Sigurjóna.’

  ‘I’m here in her place while she’s out of the office. You can ask me anything relevant to the company.’

  ‘What exactly is your role here?’ Gunna asked.

  ‘I am the operations manager. I handle the day-to-day running of the company. If you have questions, I can do my best to help,’ she barked, looking anything but helpful.

  ‘Where is your boss right now?’

  ‘She’s not here.’

  ‘I wasn’t asking where she isn’t.’

  ‘I’m not at liberty to divulge her whereabouts.’

  ‘You would be if I come back with a warrant.’

  ‘In that case, our lawyers will be waiting for you.’

  ‘If that’s the way you want to play it, that’s fine with me. Now, I want to speak to some of your staff.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘To begin with, I want to talk to that boy with the red face who was outside just now.’

  ‘We don’t have a meeting room available right now.’

  ‘In that case he can come down to Hverfisgata and we can talk there, and you can send the rest of them down at thirty-minute intervals.’

  Gunna lifted herself to her maximum height, bringing the top of her head level with Ósk’s nose.

  ‘It’s past five o’clock. People will be going home shortly,’ she protested.

  ‘Then you’ll just have to tell them that they can’t.’

  ‘All right. You can use the canteen if you must. I’ll ask the receptionist to clear it for you and make sure nobody disturbs you.’

  ‘Is that Dísa?’

  ‘Dísa? No, she left. Ill health, depression.’

  Jón Oddur had not recovered from his ordeal outside. The office lights weren’t doing him any favours, she noticed. The man’s skin looked blotchy and there were bags under his eyes.

  ‘Tell me about the party,’ Gunna prompted.

  ‘What about it?’

  ‘Who was there. What went on.’

  He groaned and slouched back in his chair. ‘All right. It was the PR Practitioners’ Awards night. Sigurjóna was slated for an award, so we needed a presence.’

  ‘So this is a PR company, right?’ Bára asked. ‘How come Spearpoint is involved in managing a construction site?’

  ‘It basically evolved into a project management operation. Sigurjóna had been doing PR work for a long time and when she got involved with InterAlu, she was asked to lay on fixers and interpreters. It all snowballed from there and the company has been growing really fast over the last year and a half.’

  ‘All work with InterAlu?’

  ‘Yeah, and ESC, and more foreign companies are coming to us all the time now.’

  ‘ESC and Spearpoint aren’t the same thing?’

  ‘The offices of both are here. But Spearpoint is privately owned and ESC is a limited company.’

  ‘Owned by?’ Bára asked.

  ‘Sigurjóna, her husband, a few other people, and InterAlu.’

  ‘And if InterAlu pull out, Spearpoint loses its biggest customer?’ Bára asked and Jón Oddur nodded again.

  ‘And ESC becomes worthless. Worse than worthless, actually,’ he said, squirming in his seat.

  ‘Look,’ he groaned finally. ‘You didn’t hear this from me, but you’ll hear it soon enough anyway. On Friday Glitnir Bank will inform the Central Bank that it’s unable to service its debts. It’s not ESC’s bank, but that one isn’t in any better position. It’s just a case of when.’

  Startled, Gunna wo
ndered what to say, but settled for glaring into Jón Oddur’s face.

  ‘They probably won’t announce it until after the weekend, but just wait and see. Everyone knows something big’s about to happen after the currency’s been on the slide for months. It’s only a few of us know what’s really happening.’

  ‘And this affects ESC?’

  ‘Of course it does!’ Jón Oddur yelped. ‘It affects every business in the country! But ESC is due to be financed for the big phase of the Hvalvík Lagoon project by the bank, and some of us know that the bank doesn’t have anything left to lend.’

  Gunna drew a deep breath. ‘Well, young man. I hope you’re wrong.’

  ‘So do I. But this isn’t just happening in Iceland. This is all over the world. I tell you, Iceland is looking at unemployment and inflation, big time,’ he added gloomily.

  ‘In that case, I’m sure that the police force will be able to fill a few vacancies,’ Gunna said tartly, shocked at Jón Oddur’s prediction and forcing herself to keep her mind on the job. ‘Now, the awards night.’

  Jón Oddur deflated and slumped in the chair. ‘OK. There were half a dozen of us from here went to the ceremony. We booked rooms at the hotel and there was a party afterwards in Sigurjóna’s suite.’

  ‘Who attended?’

  ‘Er, me, Sigurjóna. Ósk was there but she left early. Sigurjóna’s sister was there as well and a few other guests,’ he gabbled as Bára scribbled down names in her folder.

  ‘And the one you haven’t mentioned?’ Gunna said gently.

  Jón Oddur was suddenly on the defensive. ‘Who’s that?’

  ‘This guy.’

  Gunna placed the printout of the pages from Hot Chat on the table. Jón Oddur looked up and then down again in surprise at seeing the photo of himself.

  ‘Oh, him. Yeah, he was there as well. Sigurjóna invited him. This is … where did you get it from?’

  ‘You didn’t mention him. Why?’ Gunna demanded, ignoring Jón Oddur’s question.

  ‘I don’t know. Just forgot. We don’t normally have anything to do with him anyway.’

  ‘Tell me about this man. Do you know where he lives?’ Gunna probed.

  ‘No. We don’t know anything about him, really. I know he’s one of the InterAlu people but he reports direct to the boss.’

  ‘Hverfisgata? Above Sindra Foto?’

  ‘Oh. That place. Look, I pay the guy every month and he keeps the flat free for whoever we need to put in there. I suppose Sigurjóna must have told him to stay there,’ he said quickly.

  ‘I don’t believe you. I think you knew very well that he was staying there. What happened at this ceremony? Where did he go afterwards?’

  ‘Why? What’s he wanted for?’

  ‘Can’t discuss it. All I can say is that it’s a major investigation.’

  ‘I’m not sure where he went. Erna was all over him and I think they disappeared about the same time. They were both there at the awards but I don’t remember seeing either of them at the party in the suite upstairs.’

  ‘What time did the party begin?’

  Jón Oddur hung his head and twisted his fingers in circles. ‘I don’t know. I was quite wrecked, just like everyone else there. Two, maybe. Something like that. Look, haven’t I told you enough yet?’

  ‘Not until you’ve told us everything,’ Gunna said sharply.

  Jón Oddur rested the back of his head in his hands as he looked up at the ceiling. ‘All right. The awards were OK, just what everyone expected. Sigurjóna got her award, made a speech, blah, blah, got her glass thing and that was that. More awards, lots of speeches. So, by midnight everyone’s pretty fucked up. Sigurjóna dropped her glass award and she was furious, accused me and then Ósk of breaking it. Anyway, it calmed down and there was some crappy seventies band on that only the old people wanted to dance to. Then we all went up to the suite and we had a little party there, about ten people, something like that. It’s a bit hazy,’ he admitted with a nervous smile.

  ‘All people from Spearpoint?’

  ‘Yeah. No, well, mostly I think. There were some women there I didn’t recognize. Foreign. And there were quite a few people who came and went.’

  ‘Then what?’

  ‘Hell, I don’t know. I woke up in my room at about six in the morning next to Sigurjóna. I still had my tux on. She’d lost her dress somewhere, though. I don’t remember anything between the party and waking up. That’s it. Then you banging on the door’s the next thing I knew.’

  Gunna tapped the picture on the table in front of her. ‘When was the last time you saw him?’

  Jón Oddur’s brow furrowed as he fought to remember. ‘It’s all really hazy, y’know. I reckon at the end of the dance in the ballroom. The last I saw of him was at the table, I suppose. I don’t think he drinks. But Erna can really put it away and she’d draped herself all over the poor guy.’

  ‘Are you saying that they might have left together?’

  ‘Could have. Don’t know.’

  ‘All right, Jón Oddur. That’ll do. Now, where’s Sigurjóna today?’

  Jón Oddur shrugged. ‘She’s not here today, which is fine with all of us. We get a lot more work done when she’s out of the office.’

  ‘So she’s where?’

  ‘No idea. At home, maybe? Ósk always knows where she is.’

  ‘Where’s Sigurjóna?’ Gunna growled.

  Ósk began to rise to her feet but stopped halfway at the sight of the expression on Gunna’s face. ‘She’s not here today.’

  ‘Phone number? Address?’

  ‘I’m not at liberty to divulge that,’ she repeated angrily. Gunna could see the blood rising across her neck and into her face.

  ‘You will be if I come back with a warrant.’

  ‘If you do, our legal team will be waiting for you.’

  ‘Look, I won’t come back with a search warrant, it’ll be a bloody arrest warrant.’

  ‘For what, may I ask?’

  ‘You may well ask, and it’ll be for possession of and intent to supply a class A drug, and I’ll alert every officer in the country to arrest her on the spot and haul your boss to the nearest police station until I get there. While you’re at it, I want her sister Erna’s address and phone numbers as well.’

  Ósk scribbled phone numbers and addresses on a slip of paper and passed it across.

  ‘You didn’t get that from me,’ she snarled, her face flushed and this time rising to her full imposing height.

  ‘We’ll see. I’m warning you not to let her know that we’re on the way. If she’s not at home, I’ll be back and you’ll be charged with obstructing a police investigation. Let’s go,’ Gunna snapped, striding to the door with Bára, fumbling to answer her phone, at her heels.

  ‘That was fantastic,’ Bára said in admiration once the door had slammed shut behind them.

  ‘Bloody woman,’ Gunna rumbled as she ignored the lift and took the stairs three at a time. ‘I’m going to drop you at the Gullfoss and I want you to go through the staff who were on duty on Friday night. Find out who was there, and especially when Hårde left, and if he left with Erna. Find out where they went. They must have got a taxi if Erna was as pissed as Jón Oddur reckons.’

  ‘Right,’ Bára puffed, wondering how someone built on generous lines could have so much energy.

  ‘Seven thirty tomorrow. Let me know then what you’ve found out.’

  32

  Tuesday, 30 September

  Birna Ólafsdóttir lay back as far as she could and closed her eyes, but she kept the seat fully upright out of consideration for the people in the row behind. The rest of the party were scattered around the aircraft, the price of having changed their arrangements at short notice. She was relieved to be seated between strangers, away from colleagues and their need to discuss work.

  She was not unhappy to have the trip to Berlin cut short, although she carefully made no outward show of it. A civil servant is just that, she felt, a servant with a ro
le to play during working hours. What her personal opinions were did not come into the equation and she also took a quiet pride in maintaining a distinct separation between her career and her personal life.

  The ministerial party had not been due to return to Reykjavík until Friday, with a morning flight after the obligatory cocktail party scheduled for Thursday evening and the formal dinner that followed. This was something that she would have been excused, leaving the Minister to consume rather too many liqueurs and smoke the cigars she knew his wife did not allow him at home. Birna had not scheduled anything for her Thursday evening in Berlin beyond a room service meal and an hour or two in front of the television after a long bath.

  But a walk along Kufürstendamm yesterday morning and coffee, as if by chance, with some old friends while the Minister was still clearing his head of the previous evening’s brandy had been enough of a pleasure to make the trip as a whole enjoyable.

  * * *

  A police car was already in the drive of Sigurjóna and Bjarni Jón’s discreet mansion in Seltjarnarnes when Gunna parked behind it. Gunna scowled to herself, wondering what was happening as she scrunched up the gravel path in the first frost of the autumn to ring the bell.

  A young policewoman answered the door. Gunna recognized her and racked her memory for the girl’s name.

  ‘Edda, isn’t it?’ she hazarded.

  ‘Yeah, I’m Edda Sif. And you’re from Hvalvík, aren’t you? Gunnhildur? What brings you here?’

  Gunna stepped back and motioned for Edda Sif to step outside as well.

  ‘What’s going on? This is Sigurjóna Huldudóttir’s place, isn’t it?’ she asked when they were out of earshot of the mansion’s gaping hallway.

  ‘That’s right. She’s inside with my partner. We had a report of a missing person and were sent here to get a statement straight away. It helps when your husband’s in the government,’ she added.