Meltwater (Fire and Ice)

Dumont, the Belgian Finance Minister, and her dodgy past. An
Italian corruption scandal—’
    ‘Is that news?’ asked Magnus.
    ‘Hey, we Icelanders are hardly in a position to complain, are we?’
    ‘True,’ said Magnus. Before the kreppa , as Icelanders called the financial crisis of 2008, Iceland had prided itself on being rated the least corrupt country in the world.
Since the kreppa , they knew they were not.
    ‘There was a big scandal about arms exports to Zimbabwe breaking sanctions,’ Vigdís went on. ‘The Luxembourg subsidiary of a German bank laundering money . .
.’
    ‘Anything against the United States?’ Magnus asked. ‘Anything that might interest the CIA?’
    ‘Not really, apart from the Darfur leak right at the beginning. And there are the handbooks of a bunch of secret student clubs at colleges in America. They sound very strange.’
    ‘Fraternities?’ said Magnus with a smile. ‘They are very strange. But not really something the CIA would bother themselves with. Nor the FBI for that matter.’
    ‘OK, but I suppose the other stuff would interest them. They are interested in pretty much everything, right?’
    ‘I guess so,’ said Magnus. ‘I imagine someone like Erika Zinn is bound to be paranoid about them.’
    ‘Perhaps with good cause,’ said Vigdís.
    ‘Do you want me to get in touch with them?’ asked Árni.
    ‘With the CIA?’ Magnus couldn’t hide his surprise.
    ‘Sure. I could call the US Embassy in Reykjavík. Ask to speak to someone.’
    ‘No, Árni, I do not want you to indulge your espionage fantasies. I think it would be a thoroughly bad idea to get in touch with the CIA; it would just make things more political.
But if we do, we will do it through official channels.’ Magnus turned to Vigdís. ‘What about Erika Zinn herself? Anything from Interpol?’
    ‘Yes. I mentioned the Italian corruption case. In 2007 there was a judicial investigation in Rome into the takeover of a company called Gruppo Cavour. The investigation was dropped, but
then Freeflow published details of discussions between government ministers about bribing judges. The Italians didn’t like that. Erika spent a week in jail there three months ago: it looks
like she has pissed off some pretty important people in Rome. She was released, but she is still officially under investigation.’
    ‘No outstanding warrant for her arrest?’
    ‘No,’ said Vigdís.
    ‘Pity.’
    ‘But Dieter Schroff has a couple of convictions for hacking into computers. Been to jail twice, once in 1991 and once in 2000. Let out in 2003 and nothing since then.’
    The door opened and Rannveig, the assistant prosecutor, came in. She was a red-haired woman in her late twenties, hardworking and effective.
    ‘Did you get the warrant?’ Magnus asked.
    ‘No,’ said Rannveig. ‘At least not yet. The judge is thinking about it.’
    ‘ Thinking about it?’ Magnus was surprised. Icelanders didn’t like to think about things. They took quick decisions. Sometimes with good results, sometimes with bad, but
as a rule they didn’t like to dither. ‘What’s the problem?’
    ‘Viktor Símonarson got to the District Court the same time I did,’ said Rannveig. ‘He objected to the search warrant, in particular to the warrant to search
Freeflow’s computers. It’s the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative.’
    ‘But from what I understand that’s just a resolution before Parliament. It hasn’t changed the laws yet, has it?’
    Rannveig shrugged.
    ‘I hope the judge told him to piss off?’
    ‘He didn’t, I’m afraid. He needs to consult. But we should hear soon.’
    ‘We need to know what Freeflow is working on!’ cried Magnus in frustration. ‘Why they are in Iceland. Doesn’t he get that?’
    ‘Oh, he gets that all right, Magnús,’ said Rannveig reprovingly. ‘It’s just that he also gets the rights of journalists to protect their sources.’
    ‘OK, Rannveig, I’m sorry,’ said Magnus. ‘What about arresting them?’
    ‘On what charge? We don’t have any evidence to suggest that any of them committed the murder, do we?’
    Magnus paused, thinking. ‘Not yet,’ he said. ‘What about obstruction of justice? Article one hundred and twelve.’ The Icelandic Penal Code was still fresh in his mind
after the six months he had spent learning it.
    ‘Difficult,’ said Rannveig.
    ‘But can’t we just bring them in and hold them for twenty-four hours before we go to a judge?’ That was the