Meltwater (Fire and Ice)

Maybe. A couple of weeks ago, before I even knew Freeflow were coming to Iceland, Ásta asked me how a potential leaker might
get in touch with them.’
    ‘What did you tell her?’
    ‘I said the details were on the Freeflow website, but the best thing was probably to post a CD to one of their PO Boxes.’
    ‘Did you ask her about it? Whether she had anything specific in mind?’
    ‘No. That didn’t occur to me. Until now.’
    Once Viktor had gone, Magnus called Baldur to tell him what the MP had said, and how that corroborated Erika’s impression. He also mentioned Zivah’s feeling that Ásta knew who
might be behind the attacks on Erika, or at least knew that the Israelis weren’t. Baldur was just about to search Ásta’s room, and he said he would keep a look out for possible
leaked material.
    There was a message from Matthías for Magnus to call him.
    ‘What have you got for me?’ Magnus asked the inspector.
    ‘A stone wall.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘They said they’ve referred it to legal to see whether the Blue Notice complies with Article Three of the constitution.’
    ‘What the hell does that mean?’
    ‘It means the guy in Rome is trying to tell us something. It’s politics. Article Three prohibits Interpol from taking action on political matters. Once it goes to legal it will be
weeks before it comes out again. But at least they’ve told us why.’
    ‘They are scared of upsetting Tretto?’
    ‘Or his friends.’
    ‘Can’t you push them?’
    ‘Sorry, Magnús. There really is no point. That’s what the guy in Rome was telling me.’
    ‘All right. Thanks for trying.’ Magnus slammed the phone down in frustration. If it wasn’t for the ash cloud, he’d fly to Milan himself and break into Nico’s house
to get a hold of that computer.
    He turned to his own machine. It was nearly lunchtime and it was the first chance he had got to look at it all day.
    There was a message from Apex.
    i checked on nico. you are right that he was a plant. but it looks like he was just observing. the guys he was working for thought that ff had more
     information about gruppo cavour than we actually do. his job was just to stay in place and let them know if we picked up any further leaks. he definitely was not supposed to kill erika or help
     anyone else do it. apex
    Magnus typed a response: How do you know?
    He had to wait less than a minute for a reply. Apex had obviously set some kind of alert to tell him whenever Magnus typed anything into his machine.
    i took a look at his stored e-mails.
    Magnus couldn’t resist a laugh. Of course he had. He didn’t have to go through Interpol. Thanks, Apex. You heard about Ásta?
    Apex replied: yes. it has us all rattled. any ideas who did it?
    Magnus typed: Not yet. You?
    There was no immediate response. Magnus sat back in his chair staring at his screen. He hadn’t told anyone else about his contact with Apex, and of course Apex’s hacking into
Nico’s computer could not be used as formal evidence.
    Nico and his Italian friends could not be ruled out as suspects completely, but they were looking less likely.
    Then a message appeared: i hate to say this, but maybe dieter. he had a kind of crush on erika, always has had. he may have been jealous of nico.
    Magnus typed a response: Did he ever sleep with her?
    The reply came quickly. i don’t know.
    Magnus typed again: Do you think Dieter is capable of murder?
    no, i don’t. he went over to the dark side about fifteen years ago. stole a load of credit card numbers. after jail he sorted himself out. i really don’t believe
he would kill anyone. and none of that explains asta’s death. but, you asked.
    Thanks, Apex, Magnus typed.
    He rubbed his eyes. Another suspect! Magnus considered Dieter, the quiet, lumbering idealist. From what he understood of the way Freeflow worked, Dieter was Erika’s right-hand man; he had
been with her from the beginning. It was perfectly easy to imagine that he admired her commitment to the cause, her energy and her charisma. And although she was by no stretch of the imagination
beautiful, she had a sexiness about her that Dieter would have had plenty of time to appreciate. Magnus thought it highly unlikely that they were sleeping together in the house on Thórsgata.
Someone would have noticed; someone would have told him; he would have seen the signs. But in some other house in some other country in the past?
    Possibly.
    In which case if Dieter found out about Erika