by Paty Jager
She laughed. “Of course, I didn’t tell her exactly where he was going. I wanted to get there first. They could work for their revenge. I just told her he was going to be the person your workshop tracked.” She licked her lips. “What she did with the information was up to her.”
“What did you get for the information? Billy said you offered to pay him more than Nonni planned to pay him.” He decided to let her know that Billy had spilled everything. See if that rattled her.
“Billy told you I offered him money?” She laughed. “He about wet his pants when Nonni fell into him. He’s the one who shoved Nonni into the mud pool and ran like a hrætt barn.”
“Scared baby,” Böðvarsson translated.
Ásta’s eyes glistened with excitement. “He’s the one who killed Nonni. How was I to pull him out?”
“You could have called for help,” Hawke stated.
She shook her head. “There’s limited reception. If anyone should be arrested for the murder, it’s Billy.” Ásta nodded her head solemnly.
The young woman was not only a keen manipulator, she was a good actress as well.
“Did the woman pay you for killing Nonni?” Hawke asked.
“I refused the money. I didn’t kill him. I told her to pay Billy.” She began fingering the cuff of her shirt, again.
Billy hadn’t said a thing about receiving any money. Hawke had a feeling Ásta had decided she’d get more as blackmail than for the killing.
“Did she and Billy meet?” Böðvarsson asked. It appeared he was as anxious to get Rowena connected to the murder as Hawke.
“I wouldn’t know. Billy said he didn’t want anything to do with me afterwards. I gave her his phone number, but what the two of them did or didn’t do, I have no idea.”
The door opened. A female officer entered. She placed a glass of water on the table and opened a DNA swab test kit. She said something in Icelandic and Ásta opened her mouth. The swab was rubbed around inside her mouth and the officer left the room with the sample.
Ásta picked up the glass of water and drank it down to half. “Any more questions? I’d like to catch up to my friends. We’re bar hopping tonight.”
Böðvarsson glanced at Hawke. “I’m sorry but your statement is enough for us to arrest you for assault and not reporting a murder.”
“I volunteered what I knew. I didn’t kill Nonni.” Ásta’s face grew redder as she glared at each of them.
“You struck him on the head with a rock and allowed Billy to push him into a boiling mud pot. Then you did nothing about it.” Hawke stood. “You will stand trial for that, if not for the murder of Jón Nonni Einarsson.”
The young woman started screaming and shoved her body and chair back from the table. “How dare you call me a murderer. I didn’t kill him. Billy did.”
The officer outside the door and the female officer who had swabbed Ásta’s mouth, burst into the room. They handcuffed her and led her from the room. Böðvarsson turned off the recorder then.
Hawke stared at the empty chair. “We need to talk to Billy again. And let him see how she threw him under the bus.”
Böðvarsson stared at him. “Under the bus?”
“It’s a term meaning she is trying to put the whole murder on Billy. She knew where to go, she hit Nonni on the head. I have no doubt if Billy hadn’t reacted like he did and the body hadn’t ended up in the mud pool, she would have found a way to get Nonni in it.”
“That I agree on. She is a sick young woman. I hope we can keep her in jail longer than for an assault.” Böðvarsson glanced at his watch. “It is past the evening meal. Do you wish to get something to eat?”
“No. Let’s get Billy in here and get this cleared up. I wish Ásta would have mentioned Rowena Albright. She’s keeping that to herself to blackmail the woman.”
“I agree. But if she did give Billy’s number to Mrs. Albright, we should be able to get her side of things.” Böðvarsson went to the door of the interview room and called out into the hall.
Five minutes later, a package of cookies and two coffees were brought to the room, and ten minutes later, Billy was escorted into the room.
His facial expression went blank when his gaze landed on them.
“Billy, we just finished talking to Ásta. She is saying you killed Nonni.” Hawke picked up his cup of coffee and sipped. The brown liquid had the punch of a triple espresso.
The young man shook his head. “It was all her idea. I thought we were just going to talk to him about money to stop the suit against him and his father. She hit him with the rock. You could tell she’d planned it all along. I wondered why she said, I should go talk to Nonni by myself and then she showed up behind him with that rock. I was just a distraction so she could hit him.”
“She admits she hit him. But that you threw him in the mud pool. By the way, the mud pool is what killed him. He drowned.” Hawke felt sympathetic to the man even though he had come to Iceland to betray his father and get money to start over. He’d also been duped by the young woman.
“It was just a reflex. When he fell toward me, I just shoved him away. I didn’t know he’d go in the mud.”
Böðvarsson pulled a small recorder out of his pocket. He set it on the table and clicked a button.
Chapter Thirty
Ásta’s laugh rang through the room. “Of course, I didn’t tell her exactly where he was going. I wanted to get there first. They could work for their revenge. I just told her he was going to be the person your workshop tracked.” A pause. “What she did with the information was up to her.”
“What did you get for the information? Billy said you offered to pay him more than Nonni planned to pay him.” Hawke’s voice.
He watched Billy’s reaction to the recording. The young man’s face grew red and his eyes narrowed.
“Billy told you I offered him money?” Ásta laughed again. “He about wet his pants when Nonni fell into him. He’s the one who shoved Nonni into the mud pool and ran like a hrætt barn.”
“Scared baby,” Böðvarsson’s voice.
“He’s the one who killed Nonni. How was I to pull him out?”
“You could have called for help,” Hawke stated.
“There’s limited reception. If anyone should be arrested for the murder, it’s Billy.” Ásta’s voice was firm.
Billy shot out of the chair. “She was the one who hit him. She went there to kill him. I only went to get money!” Anger had reddened his face and his lips twisted in a grimace.
The recording kept rolling.
“Did the woman pay you for killing Nonni?” Hawke asked.
“I refused the money. I didn’t kill him. I told her to pay Billy.” Ásta’s voice.
Böðvarsson turned the recording off. “Did a woman contact you to pay you for Nonni’s death?”
Billy shook his head. “No. Ásta told me she’d get the money from the woman and pay me.” He wiped his hands across his face. “I didn’t want money for Nonni’s death.” Billy’s gaze hovered over each one of their faces. “I just want to go home and forget this all happened.”
“That’s not going to happen. You’ll have to face charges of accessory to murder,” Böðvarsson said, motioning for the young man to sit.
Hawke shifted to face the detective. “What if he helps us catch both women?”
Böðvarsson stared at Hawke. “What are you talking about?”
“We know who Ásta was talking about. What if we have Billy call her and set up a meet for her to pay him?”
Böðvarsson didn’t look convinced.
Billy’s face was losing color. “I don’t know if I—”
Hawke cut him off. “I don’t think he could get Ásta to admit to killing Nonni, but I know someone else who could.”
“I can’t okay any of this. I’ll have to run it by the police commissioner and the prosecutor. And I already had Ásta booked. How are you going to get a confession out of her when she’s in custody?” Böðvarsson glanced at Billy.
“We can’t talk about this with a suspect in the room.”
Hawke glanced at his watch. 10:00. “Run it by whoever it needs to be run by and let me know in the morning what they say.”
He wasn’t sure if Böðvarsson could get his superiors to listen, but he would leave it up to the Icelandic Police to make the decision. He was going to go see a friendly face.
<<>><<>><<>>
Dani was still up when he arrived at his room at the Center Hotel.
“Is everything solved?” she asked, sitting in a chair, wearing a loose-fitting pair of pajamas and looking at a map of Iceland.
“Yes, and no. We know who killed the young man physically, but we still need to find a way to pin it on the woman who wanted him dead.” Hawke started to fill a glass with water.
“There’s beer in the fridge,” Dani pointed to the small refrigerator, he’d thought about stocking all week but hadn’t had the time.
“Thanks.” He grabbed a bottle, opened it and sat in the chair beside her. “How was your trip today?”
She set the map down and peered into his eyes. “It was beautiful. I wish you could have been with me. Will you be able to see sights with me tomorrow?”
He sighed. “It will depend on the answers Detective Inspector Böðvarsson can get from his superiors tonight.”
“I see. Should I plan on keeping this room a couple more days and do day trips out of here?” She didn’t sound upset. That was what he liked about her. She understood his profession came first.
“That would probably be the best. And I’d like to go to the funeral for the victim later in the week.” He sipped his beer and studied her.
Dani peered into his eyes. “Tell me about him.”
Hawke spent half an hour telling her about meeting Nonni and what he’d learned about the young man since his death.
“He sounds like a young man who would have made a difference in the world, had he been allowed to live.” Dani summed up in one sentence the way Hawke felt.
<<>><<>><<>>
Wednesday morning Hawke woke to his phone buzzing. Dani was snuggled up against his side. He reached over her to get to the phone.
Böðvarsson.
“Hello?” he answered, his voice still scratchy from sleep.
“Did I wake you?” The question was more of a jest than a question.
“Yeah. Did you get a go ahead with our plan?” Hawke sat up, scrubbing his free hand up and down his face.
“The Police Commissioner and the Prosecutor will be in my office in an hour. They both wish to speak with you.”
“Great. Have coffee and pastries ready.” He hung up and slid his legs over the edge of the bed.
“You’re leaving already?” Dani asked, not moving from where she was snuggled under the covers.
“Yeah. If all goes well, I’ll be done with this by noon. Don’t stray too far.” He leaned over, kissed the top of her head, and hurried into the shower.
<<>><<>><<>>
Böðvarsson waited for Hawke at the entrance to the police station. “The commissioner and prosecutor aren’t very happy I’m advocating for grípa til örþrifaráða from an American.”
Hawke studied him. “What does that mean?”
“Basically, we would resort to extreme measures as these to put innocent people in danger and all of our jobs in jeopardy by trying to get a nearly royal to prove she wanted someone dead and the person who killed our victim to confess to someone not in law enforcement.” Böðvarsson opened the police station door.
“That sums it up. We can have wires on Billy and Riku and we’ll be close enough to arrest once they each say or do what we need to know.” Hawke slapped Böðvarsson on the back. “It’s easy.”
The detective opened one of the interview rooms. Two men, one of large stature and one average, stood in a corner talking. They both faced the door and their gazes took in Hawke.
He stepped forward extending his hand. “Commissioner.” The larger of the two put his hand out and Hawke shook. “Prosecutor.” He shook the other man’s hand. “Thank you both for taking time to come down and listen to our proposal.”
The two moved to chairs across the table from Hawke and Böðvarsson.
“What you are proposing could discredit not only our police but our country,” the commissioner said.
“I realize we are dealing with a woman of importance. But I also feel tricking her is the only way to get her to admit to what she did. The younger woman in the equation would have killed the victim at some time, but the older woman’s desire for his death gave the murderer the shove she needed to commit it sooner.”
“I have read all the subterfuge Mrs. Albright had Ms. Tumaini do to make her look like the murderer, I don’t see how, even if she pays this Billy Weston, we can bring charges against her,” the prosecutor said. “For all we know, Mrs. Albright believes that Ms. Tumaini killed the victim. And that Ms. Tumaini will be charged.”
Hawke raised a hand. “If that’s how you think, then we’ll have Ms. Tumaini go to Mrs. Albright, with a wire, and tell her she didn’t kill the victim and the police know it was a for hire killing, and they have the person responsible who is telling everything. That will take her to the young woman who really did it.”
“Ásta is in jail.” Böðvarsson said.
“We need to let her out long enough for Mrs. Albright to contact her, and as we are gathering the two, have Riku confront the young woman.” Hawke nodded to all three men at the table. “That’s the best way to clear it all up and get the truth. I don’t think Billy Weston could carry out what we need done, anyway.” He glanced at Böðvarsson. “We need to tell Kanika what she needs to do. She can either go to Mrs. Albright or call her on the phone. I think the phone would be more convincing.”
Böðvarsson nodded.
“We haven’t said yes to any of this,” the commissioner interrupted.
Hawke nodded and gave the man his full attention. “I’m not trying to tell you what to do, but given this is such a unique situation, I think a unique move on the law enforcement’s part is the way to go. Otherwise, you’ll have a murderer get off for attempted murder or assault, while a young man who shoved the falling body off him out of fear will go to jail for murder. And a woman who set someone else up to go down for the murder and agreed to pay someone to kill the victim, will walk away without so much as a slap on the hand.” He glanced around the table. “That isn’t justice to me. Is it to you?”
The three began a discussion in Icelandic while Hawke tried to read their faces. The two stood and walked out of the room. He shifted his attention to Böðvarsson. “Well?”
“The commissioner is on the fence, but the prosecutor wants us to do it. Let’s go see Kanika.” Böðvarsson stood and walked to the door.
“What about letting Ásta loose?”
“I’ll call and have that happen while Kanika is making her call. If Ásta wants to get out of here, she’ll need money and could contact Mrs. Albright. I’ll also put a tail on Mrs. Albright and on Ásta so we know where they both are at all times.”
“While you set all of that up, I’ll let Riku know we’ll need her assistance.”
Chapter Thirty-one
Riku sat in the back seat of Böðvarsson’s car. Hawke was in the passenger seat. The police watching Mrs. Albright said she’d remained in the hotel apartment, but her husband had left thirty minutes earlier, after Ásta had been seen making a phone call.
“What if they only meet in the hotel room?” Riku asked. “How do I come upon Ásta?”
“You’ll wait in the hotel lobby after Ásta goes to see Mrs. Albright. When she comes down, you confront her about Nonni.” Hawke had been playing all kinds of scenarios through his mind. It was best to have Riku in a public place given Ásta’s rage and hatred.
“That is good plan.” Riku leaned back in the seat.
Böðvarsson had a listening device in his ear. “Ásta just drove up to the hotel.”
Hawke put his hand o
n the door handle.
“She’s in.”
“How do we hear what they say?” Riku asked.
“We don’t. The flowers were changed out with fresh ones and a listening device.” Böðvarsson grimaced. “We can’t use this against either one of them in court, but we might be able to get one of them to confess to the conversation or the whole plot by having them recorded.”
“She just knocked on the suite and was let in.” Böðvarsson pointed to the door.
Hawke and Riku exited the car and walked to the hotel. Motion on the third floor caught his eye. Glancing up, he noticed that the two women stood out on the deck. He hoped there had been fresh flowers put out there or they would have nothing.
Inside the lobby, he led Riku to a chair. “Wait here. When you see her, approach, don’t let her out the door, and accuse her of ruining what you and Nonni had with her jealousy. I’ll be watching where she can’t see me. You’ll be safe.”
“I know. I hope she will say what you need.” Riku folded her hands and placed them in her lap.
“Me, too,” Hawke said, walking to a pillar and slipping around the side, where he could see Riku and keep an eye on the elevator.
They didn’t have long to wait. The elevator doors opened. Ásta stepped out with a smug smirk on her face. Until Riku stood and walked toward her.
“How did you find me here?” Ásta accused.
“I am waiting for my father. He is visiting. What are you doing here?” Riku stepped in front of the other woman when she tried to step around her.
“Seeing a friend. Out of my way.” Ásta put an arm out to push Riku to the side.
“You are not going anywhere until you tell me why you took Nonni away from me.” Riku swung her arms in what looked like a martial art’s move to push Ásta’s arm away.
“I didn’t take Nonni from you. You took him from me. We were talking about spending our lives together until you showed up here two years ago. After that, all he talked about was Riku this and Riku that.” She sneered. “But he slept with me when you weren’t around.”