Meltwater (Fire and Ice)

and when we arrived they were up at the volcano. I think I saw them up at the rim
when we got up there. Then they were gone.’
    ‘Did you see where they went? Did they follow Nico and Erika?’
    ‘No, I didn’t see. And they were on the other side of us – I mean Nico and Erika went off to the left and they were on the right.’
    ‘What about Franz? You say you lost track of him?’
    ‘Yes – I don’t remember seeing him at all when we went up the volcano. Dúddi was a little worried about him, until we got back to the car and found him there waiting for
us.’
    ‘You didn’t see him talk to the snowmobilers?’
    ‘No. But he could have done. I mean the visibility was only clear for part of the time we were up there, and we were concentrating on the volcano.’
    ‘Do you know anything about Franz?’
    ‘No – I had never met him before today. He speaks good English, but he’s not a native speaker. Perhaps German?’
    Magnus smiled. ‘We’ll speak to him next. And the two people on the snowmobiles? Can you describe them?’
    Ásta thought hard. ‘I got a look at them when we were waiting in the car for the others and they were mounting their snowmobiles. They were wearing hats and ski jackets, so it was
hard to see. Both men, for sure, one of them big with a bit of a belly. But I wouldn’t recognize them again.’
    ‘What about their ski jackets?’ asked Magnus. ‘What colour were they?’
    Ásta closed her eyes. ‘One of them I remember. Bright red. It was the bigger man. The other man I don’t remember.’
    Magnus smiled. ‘Thank you, that’s very helpful. Now tell me what happened after Dúddi told you about Nico.’
    Ásta was just about to answer when she was interrupted by a commotion outside in the corridor. Magnus opened the door to take a look. A tall silver-haired man with a pointed chin was in a
heated discussion with Kristján. He was wearing jeans and a smart black jacket and sported a nice tan, unusual in Icelanders in April.
    ‘I want to see my client,’ the man was saying.
    ‘I’m sorry, we are interviewing her at the moment.’
    ‘Is she a suspect?’ the man asked.
    The door opened behind Kristján and Erika appeared. ‘Viktor!’ she said in English. ‘Boy, am I glad to see you.’
    ‘What’s going on here?’ Viktor asked.
    ‘Nico has been killed, up on the volcano. I was with him – it was horrible. I told the police what happened, and then they suddenly started asking me a lot of questions about
Freeflow. Especially that one.’ She nodded towards Magnus. ‘He’s American. CIA would be my guess.’
    The lawyer frowned. He turned to the chief superintendent. ‘What is an American doing here?’ he asked in Icelandic.
    ‘Sergeant Magnús is attached to the National Police Commissioner’s Office,’ Kristján said. ‘Show Viktor your ID, Magnús.’
    Magnus handed his identity card to the lawyer, who examined it carefully.
    ‘The guy may have Icelandic ID,’ said Erika, who was watching closely. ‘But he’s American. His accent is perfect. And I want to know what he is doing here.’
    ‘I’m trying to catch the man who killed your friend,’ said Magnus. ‘And I would appreciate some more cooperation from all of you. In particular we need to know what
Freeflow is working on.’
    ‘So you can tell the US government?’ said Erika.
    ‘No, so we can ascertain who had a motive to kill Mr Andreose.’
    Viktor looked at Erika and then at the chief superintendent. ‘My clients are leaving now.’
    ‘I can’t allow that,’ said Kristján. ‘We haven’t finished questioning them.’
    ‘I ask you again, are they suspects?’
    ‘No, but they are witnesses. Witnesses in a murder investigation.’
    Viktor took a step towards him. He was taller than the chief superintendent and pointed his chin down towards the police officer.
    ‘In addition to being a lawyer, you know that I am a Member of Parliament and one of the sponsors of the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, which has been endorsed by the government. The
initiative was developed in conjunction with Freeflow. Our country should be a haven for organizations like them. Freeflow’s activities are of no interest to the police, and certainly the
Icelandic authorities should not be cooperating with foreign governments to force Freeflow to reveal what they are working on.’
    ‘I do not work for a foreign government!’ Magnus growled. ‘I don’t care what Freeflow is working on, beyond the