Meltwater (Fire and Ice)

can question the Freeflow team for a few hours today on the premises. They are not obliged to answer any questions about the project they are currently working
on. We are not allowed to examine any documents or computer files relating to this project. After today we have to leave them alone unless there is a compelling reason to interview them again. And
if we do that, we do it at the house, we don’t take them to the station. Unless they are under arrest, of course.’
    ‘Once we have mirrored their hard disks, I don’t see how they can stop us from figuring out what they are working on,’ said Magnus. ‘Just from file titles or e-mail
subject lines. And that’s all we need. We don’t need the details.’
    ‘That’s what I thought,’ said Rannveig.
    ‘So, what are we waiting for?’ said Magnus. ‘We’re on our way.’
    ‘I’ll meet you there,’ said Rannveig. ‘Viktor is at the house and I’m sure he’s going to be hovering over you. I want to make sure he sticks to his side of
the deal.’
    Magnus, Árni and Vigdís all went in one car, with Magnus driving. Árni was still sulking from the harsh words Magnus had had with him over his behaviour the night before.
Magnus had promised the Commissioner he would talk to Árni, and talk to him he had. But Magnus knew Árni’s sulk wouldn’t last long: he got into trouble too frequently to
let it bother him overmuch.
    ‘I wonder about that guy Franz,’ Magnus said. ‘I’m curious about where he was when the others were up on the volcano. Maybe he knows more about the
snowmobilers.’
    ‘Now we’ve had the press conference we should hear from them soon,’ Vigdís said.
    ‘If they are innocent,’ said Magnus. ‘It will be more interesting if we don’t hear from them.’
    He turned up the hill towards the Hallgrímskirkja and braked as a woman on a bicycle shot out of a side road right in front of him at high speed. It wasn’t just the drivers in
Reykjavík who were dangerous nutters.
    ‘I should get a transfer to the Traffic Department,’ Magnus said. ‘Sort some of these guys out.’
    ‘They’d pedal rings round you, Magnús,’ said Vigdís with a laugh. ‘You’d never catch them.’
    ‘So, is it this week you’re going to Paris, Vigdís?’ Árni asked.
    ‘Yeah. Tomorrow. Boy, am I looking forward to it.’
    ‘You meeting the guy from New York?’ Magnus said. ‘Daníel?’
    ‘Yes. And his name’s Davíd.’
    ‘Oh, yeah. Sorry.’ Davíd was some kind of television executive in New York, originally from Vigdís’s home town of Keflavík, although according to
Vigdís they had only met for the first time the year before. ‘How’s that going?’
    ‘Transatlantic relationships are tough,’ said Vigdís.
    ‘Especially when you cancel on the guy all the time,’ Árni said. Davíd had come back to Iceland at Christmas, ostensibly to see his parents, but really to see
Vigdís. Which he had failed to do. She had been caught up in a rape investigation that took a week of intense work to solve. She had got her man: the rapist had been found guilty in March,
but it was clear Davíd hadn’t been impressed.
    ‘He understands,’ Vigdís said. ‘And I’ll make it up to him in Paris.’
    ‘Lucky guy,’ said Árni.
    Magnus agreed, but decided it was best not to say so. ‘Look, Vigdís. On the off chance we don’t have this case wrapped up by dinnertime, don’t cancel your trip.
We’ll manage without you.’
    ‘Great to be missed,’ said Vigdís. But she couldn’t help a smile spreading across her face.
    ‘Here we are.’ Magnus pulled into a space a few yards from the house on Thórsgata. He saw Rannveig striding purposefully up the street from the other direction in her
lawyer’s trouser suit. He rapped loudly on the door.
    It was opened by Viktor. Magnus suppressed the urge to barge past him and waited for Rannveig, who handed Viktor the warrant. He took his time reading it. Magnus slowed right down, controlled
his impatience. He was not going to let this asshole wind him up.
    Viktor glanced at him. ‘All right, you may come in.’
    The living space was full of computer equipment. Magnus recognized everyone from the night before; he noted there were no new additions.
    ‘Right!’ he said. ‘Can I have your attention? In a few minutes a team will be here to search your house and any computers we find. We won’t take the computers away, but
we will mirror the hard drives, which means taking a copy