Meltwater (Fire and Ice)

approached the widest window. There was a tiny gap in the curtains.
    Through it he could see the staff of Freeflow hard at work, laptops open, a couple of them wearing headphones. And in the middle of them all was Erika Zinn, staring intently at the
black-and-white images on her own computer.
    Damn!
    He pulled back. His grip loosened on the knife handle. So much for that idea. This was a house that never slept. He would need another plan.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    Wednesday 14 April 2010
    D ESPITE THE LACK of sleep, Magnus felt invigorated as he bounded up the steps of police headquarters at just after
seven. He had left Ingileif asleep in his bed. He doubted he would have time to see her at lunch, and didn’t know how or when he would see her that evening, but it would happen and he was
looking forward to it.
    Shame about Ollie arriving that day. He reminded himself to send Ollie an SMS telling him he couldn’t meet him at the airport. There was work to be done.
    Magnus was surprised and gratified to see Árni at his desk already. The young detective’s eyes were shining with excitement. ‘Did you hear about the eruption?’
    ‘Not Katla?’ Magnus said.
    ‘No. Eyjafjallajökull. But they think it’s bigger than the Fimmvörduháls volcano.’
    ‘When did this happen?’
    ‘The middle of the night some time. They’ve evacuated several hundred people.’
    ‘Has there been a jökulhlaup ?’
    ‘Not yet, but they’re expecting it.’
    Southern Iceland bore the scars of frequent flooding over the millennia as the various volcanoes had erupted, melting vast quantities of glacier ice and sending the resultant walls of meltwater
rushing to the sea by the fastest route.
    ‘Damn!’ Magnus swore.
    ‘What is it?’
    ‘This is going to really screw up the investigation.’
    ‘True,’ said Árni. ‘I don’t think we can expect much help from the Hvolsvöllur police in the next few days.’
    Magnus called the chief superintendent.
    ‘Kristján,’ he answered.
    ‘It’s Magnús. I guess you’ve been busy?’
    ‘Very busy. We’ve got almost everyone evacuated, all the farmers anyway. But there are still some tourists we need to track down, including a bunch of English schoolgirls. And the
Norwegian ambassador is out there somewhere apparently, in a tent.’
    ‘Any sign of flooding yet?’
    ‘Not yet. But they say it’s coming.’
    ‘Can you see the eruption?’
    ‘Too cloudy. Look, Magnús, I’ve got to go. You’re on your own with the investigation for the next few days.’
    ‘I understand. One question, though. Any leads on the snowmobilers?’
    ‘Nothing. No one saw anything. And if anyone saw snowmobiles that day, we have no way of knowing whether they were those snowmobiles.’
    Damn, again. ‘OK. Is there any way you can join in the conference at eight?’
    There was a conference planned first thing that morning to discuss the case, and Kristján and some of his officers had intended to patch themselves in on a speakerphone.
    ‘No way, Magnús. As I said, you’re on your own.’
    ‘Of course. Good luck.’
    ‘Thanks.’
    The conference room was full. Magnus, Árni, Vigdís and the other detectives from the Violent Crimes Unit were there, as were Edda from forensics, the computer guy
Ossi, Baldur, and a uniformed inspector who was supposed to provide resources to do some of the legwork of the investigation.
    Although the Icelanders were less in awe of rank than the American cops Magnus was used to, he felt uncomfortable leading the proceedings in front of Baldur. It would have been better to have
the Hvolsvöllur chief superintendent nominally in charge on the other end of the speakerphone.
    But Baldur was silent, his fingers steepled, tapping against his chin as he listened. He looked unhappy. The Commissioner’s decision to gve the investigation to Magnus rather than him had
obviously not gone down well.
    There was some excited chatter about the latest eruption, and then Magnus outlined the case as he saw it so far. The most likely motive for the attack was either revenge for something Freeflow
had done in the past, or an attempt to prevent whatever they were working on in the present from seeing the light of day. If that was the case, the assailants might be Israelis or Italians. Or the
murderer could well be the French snowmobiler in the red snow jacket that Franz had spoken to by the volcano. But it was far too early in the investigation to rule out other possibilities. The