Meltwater (Fire and Ice)

drinking coffee in silence.
    Magnus addressed them in English. ‘Hi, my name is Sergeant Magnus Jonson of the Reykjavík Metropolitan Police,’ he said. He used the American form of his name. Since his
father was Ragnar Jónsson, he had been born Magnús Ragnarsson. However, when he had joined his father in Boston at the age of twelve, that had all become too complicated, so he had
lost the accent on the ‘u’ and taken an Anglicized form of his father’s last name.
    He introduced Árni and Vigdís. ‘I know you have all been through a terrible experience, and you must be very tired, but we will have to interview all of you now. As soon as
we’ve finished you will be free to go.’ Magnus turned to the chief superintendent. ‘Is there a hotel in town?’
    He nodded. ‘I’ll find them rooms. If the hotel is full we’ll find somewhere for you.’
    ‘Thanks,’ said Magnus. Then, turning back to the group, ‘Erika Zinn?’
    A thin, pale woman in her thirties with shoulder-length black hair looked up. Despite the fatigue, her brown eyes were piercing. It took Magnus aback. ‘Can we start with you?’

CHAPTER FOUR
    T HE STATION HAD a small but comfortable interview room. Árni and Magnus sat opposite the woman.
    ‘All right,’ Magnus began. ‘Let’s start with some basic details. What’s your full name and address?’
    ‘Erika Sarah Zinn.’ She gave an address in Chappaqua, New York. Árni wrote it all down.
    ‘Profession?’
    ‘I’m a journalist.’
    ‘Do you have your passport?’
    Erika dug the blue document out of her bag. Magnus glanced at it – the name checked, and the place of birth was given as New York, USA. It was thick: extra pages inserted and nearly every
one of them stamped. Erika liked to travel.
    He handed it back. ‘Here to cover the volcano?’ he asked.
    She nodded.
    ‘So, what happened?’
    Erika told Magnus about the trip up to the volcano and how they had climbed up to the rim.
    ‘Did you see anyone else up there?’ Magnus asked.
    ‘We did notice two people right up by the volcano when we got out of the jeep,’ Erika said. ‘I don’t remember seeing them when we were up there.’
    ‘These were the snowmobile riders?’
    ‘I guess so,’ said Erika. ‘There were two snowmobiles parked down at the bottom, I remember that. And there was a couple, a man and a woman, who climbed up the lava bank after
us. They had been waiting in their car for the weather to clear. But I don’t think they stayed at the rim for as long as we did.’
    ‘Can you describe any of these people?’
    ‘No. Wait, the woman had a bright blue woolly hat.’
    ‘And the snowmobilers?’
    ‘No – I didn’t get a good look at them. I was looking at the volcano. It really was amazing. One of the most incredible things I’ve seen in my life.’
    ‘Of course. So what did you do at the top?’
    ‘We gawked. Nico told me some stuff about volcanoes. Then he and I went to look at a stream of lava flowing down over to the side. It had just started to snow.’ Erika was
concentrating hard, making sure she told her story clearly. ‘I don’t know where the man came from. I didn’t see him at all, but Nico did. He shouted something like:
“Hey!” I turned to see this guy swinging a rock towards my head. He would have hit me too if Nico hadn’t dived for his arm.’
    ‘Then what happened?’
    ‘The guy dropped the rock and jumped back. Nico lunged at him. Then Nico kind of jerked and gave a little cry of pain. Not a scream or anything. I saw his face; he looked surprised. Then
he slid down to the ground and I saw the other guy was holding a knife. I’m sure Nico hadn’t seen it.’
    ‘What did you do?’
    ‘I screamed. And then I ran. I headed back around the rim. The guy was following me. I go running a lot, I’m pretty fit and I was really scared, so although the guy was catching me I
managed to keep ahead of him. The visibility was really bad by this stage.
    ‘I saw Dieter and ran toward him. I tried to tell him what was going on. Then the guy who had stabbed Nico appeared through the snow. He saw us and came toward us holding out the
knife.’
    Erika swallowed. ‘I could see Nico’s blood on it. Anyway, Dieter picked up a rock and squared up to him. I could tell Dieter was scared, but he’s big. Then Dúddi showed
up and the guy with the knife disappeared back into the snow. I guess he figured three was too many to take on, even with a knife.’
    ‘Did you see where he