dust she had seen in the whole flat, flashing and vibrating to itself as the voice rose from a moan to burst into a climax.
“Ah. There you are,” Gunna said as a grin spread across her face, reaching with a wooden spoon under the machine to retrieve the phone. It was still vibrating and howling in pleasure as she sat up with it in her hand in triumph. Suddenly it stopped flashing and the screen went dark as the phone switched itself off.
“Damn, battery must be flat,” she muttered, fumbling for her own phone. “Helgi? What happened there?” she asked, Svana’s lifeless mobile in her hand.
“I let it ring and ring and then it went dead,” Helgi said. “What was all that shouting?”
“That was Svana’s ringtone, and she was faking it. I’ll be back in a minute.”
• • •
R AGNA GÚSTA HAD been named after two old ladies. Linda had wanted to christen the little girl with her mother’s name, and Jón realized that his own mother would consider it a lifelong slight if the child didn’t carry her name as well. Now he thought it vaguely amusing that his daughter would go through life carrying in close company the names of Ragnhildur and Ágústa, two elderly ladies who couldn’t stand each other.
Jón could see the serious expression she had inherited from her maternal grandmother on his daughter’s face as Ragna Gústa painstakingly nibbled the nuggets of chocolate from her ice cream before devouring it.
“Daddy?”
He wondered if the bloody man had the faintest idea what turmoil had been wreaked on the lives of ordinary hardworking people. He had fought for months to keep everything together, but finally he’d had to admit to himself that he couldn’t keep the pretence up any longer. The jeep had been the first thing to go. Linda hadn’t minded, as she hadn’t liked it anyway. What had been painful was having to pay more than a million in cash on top just for the privilege of being rid of the loans secured on it.
“Daddy? What’s that?”
If only he’d had the sense to take out a loan in krónur instead of letting himself be persuaded to borrow in yen and Swiss francs, then he wouldn’t have been hit by the spiralling exchange rate that had doubled his repayments. The boy who bought the Land Cruiser was only a youngster, but a youngster with a berth on a trawler and a pocketful of cash. Jón reckoned he’d actually got the lad to agree to a good deal, once he’d seen the young man’s eyes lingering over the massive tyres.
It hadn’t been painless, but at least he was shot of the mushrooming repayments that had been crippling him.
“Yeah, sweetheart? What’s up?”
“Daddy, are we going to see Grandma today?”
“No, sweetheart, not today. Shall we go to the pictures instead?”
A LBERT STOOD FOR a moment in thought, Svana Geirs’ phone in his hand. “Quite a new model, this one is,” he said, as if to himself. “Now, over here …”
Gunna watched as he dived into a box and rummaged, emerging with a black box bound round with a lead.
“This one might do it. We’ll see,” he muttered, plugging the charger into the wall and then into Svana’s lifeless phone. “We’ll give it a minute to build up some juice and then we can give it a try. So, how are you getting on with being out of uniform?” he asked with a lopsided smile.
“To tell you the truth, Albert, it’s bloody weird,” Gunna replied as he tapped a computer’s keyboard to bring it to life. “I feel like an old frump most of the time, all dressed up and nowhere to go.”
She eyed Albert, who was now watching the screen of the laptop perched on a pile of phone books on the workbench in front of him. One of the force’s forensics officers, a fascination with anything to do with communications and computers, as the amassed collection of chargers, battery packs, spare parts and other paraphernalia stacked under the workbench demonstrated. Gunna was certain he was absorbed in establishing a link between
“Ah. There you are,” Gunna said as a grin spread across her face, reaching with a wooden spoon under the machine to retrieve the phone. It was still vibrating and howling in pleasure as she sat up with it in her hand in triumph. Suddenly it stopped flashing and the screen went dark as the phone switched itself off.
“Damn, battery must be flat,” she muttered, fumbling for her own phone. “Helgi? What happened there?” she asked, Svana’s lifeless mobile in her hand.
“I let it ring and ring and then it went dead,” Helgi said. “What was all that shouting?”
“That was Svana’s ringtone, and she was faking it. I’ll be back in a minute.”
• • •
R AGNA GÚSTA HAD been named after two old ladies. Linda had wanted to christen the little girl with her mother’s name, and Jón realized that his own mother would consider it a lifelong slight if the child didn’t carry her name as well. Now he thought it vaguely amusing that his daughter would go through life carrying in close company the names of Ragnhildur and Ágústa, two elderly ladies who couldn’t stand each other.
Jón could see the serious expression she had inherited from her maternal grandmother on his daughter’s face as Ragna Gústa painstakingly nibbled the nuggets of chocolate from her ice cream before devouring it.
“Daddy?”
He wondered if the bloody man had the faintest idea what turmoil had been wreaked on the lives of ordinary hardworking people. He had fought for months to keep everything together, but finally he’d had to admit to himself that he couldn’t keep the pretence up any longer. The jeep had been the first thing to go. Linda hadn’t minded, as she hadn’t liked it anyway. What had been painful was having to pay more than a million in cash on top just for the privilege of being rid of the loans secured on it.
“Daddy? What’s that?”
If only he’d had the sense to take out a loan in krónur instead of letting himself be persuaded to borrow in yen and Swiss francs, then he wouldn’t have been hit by the spiralling exchange rate that had doubled his repayments. The boy who bought the Land Cruiser was only a youngster, but a youngster with a berth on a trawler and a pocketful of cash. Jón reckoned he’d actually got the lad to agree to a good deal, once he’d seen the young man’s eyes lingering over the massive tyres.
It hadn’t been painless, but at least he was shot of the mushrooming repayments that had been crippling him.
“Yeah, sweetheart? What’s up?”
“Daddy, are we going to see Grandma today?”
“No, sweetheart, not today. Shall we go to the pictures instead?”
A LBERT STOOD FOR a moment in thought, Svana Geirs’ phone in his hand. “Quite a new model, this one is,” he said, as if to himself. “Now, over here …”
Gunna watched as he dived into a box and rummaged, emerging with a black box bound round with a lead.
“This one might do it. We’ll see,” he muttered, plugging the charger into the wall and then into Svana’s lifeless phone. “We’ll give it a minute to build up some juice and then we can give it a try. So, how are you getting on with being out of uniform?” he asked with a lopsided smile.
“To tell you the truth, Albert, it’s bloody weird,” Gunna replied as he tapped a computer’s keyboard to bring it to life. “I feel like an old frump most of the time, all dressed up and nowhere to go.”
She eyed Albert, who was now watching the screen of the laptop perched on a pile of phone books on the workbench in front of him. One of the force’s forensics officers, a fascination with anything to do with communications and computers, as the amassed collection of chargers, battery packs, spare parts and other paraphernalia stacked under the workbench demonstrated. Gunna was certain he was absorbed in establishing a link between
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