Where the Shadows Lie (Fire and Ice)

would like to spend as much time as possible with you before you go. It’s simple. If you have a problem with that, just tell me, and I won’t waste my time. Do you have a problem with that?’
    ‘I …’
    ‘Don’t bother answering, because come to think of it, maybe I have a problem myself.’ She turned on her heel.
    ‘Ingileif!’
    ‘Men are such jerks,’ she muttered as she stalked back to her flat.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
    ‘N OT ANOTHER FUCKING elf!’
    Baldur stared at Magnus in disbelief. Magnus had dragged him out of the interview room where he was still working on Tómas. He was unhappy to be interrupted, but reluctantly led Magnus along to his office. He listened closely as Magnus described his interview with the Reverend Hákon and with the sheep farmers, but began to lose patience once Magnus related the old man’s story about trolls and rings and the hidden man he had seen.
    ‘I’m supposed to be the old-fashioned one around here. And then I have to listen to this elf and troll bullshit!’
    ‘Obviously, it wasn’t an elf,’ said Magnus. ‘It was Tómas. He was a tall thirteen-year-old.’
    ‘And the ring? Are you trying to tell me that the pastor was wearing an ancient ring belonging to Odin or Thor or someone?’
    ‘I don’t know whether the ring is authentic,’ said Magnus. ‘And frankly, I don’t care. The point is that seventeen years ago a small group of people did think it was important. Important enough to kill for.’
    ‘Oh, so now we’re solving another crime, are we? A death in 1992. Except this wasn’t a crime, it was an accident. There was an investigation: we know it was an accident.’
    Magnus leaned back in his chair. ‘Let me talk to Tómas.’
    ‘No.’
    ‘I spoke to his father.’
    Baldur shook his head. ‘Vigdís should have spotted they were father and son.’
    ‘Hákon isn’t such an uncommon name,’ Magnus said. ‘We must have interviewed dozens of witnesses; I’ll bet at least five of them have the same first names as someone else’s last name. She didn’t know Tómas had spent his childhood in Flúdir, so there was no obvious connection.’
    ‘She should have checked,’ Baldur insisted.
    Baldur might have had a point, but Magnus didn’t want to dwell on it. ‘I can tell Tómas the farmers saw him in the snowstorm. I can convince him that we know he was there.’
    ‘I said, no.’
    They sat in silence, staring at each other. Then Magnus smiled. ‘I know you and I haven’t started out very well together.’
    ‘You can say that again.’
    ‘But just give me twenty minutes. You can be there too. You’ll know if we’re making progress, if there’s an opening. If I get nowhere, then we’ve lost twenty minutes, that’s all.’
    The corners of Baldur’s lips were turned down, scepticism was written all over his long face. But he was listening.
    He took a deep breath. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘Twenty minutes. Let’s go.’
    Tómas Hákonarson looked exhausted, as did his lawyer, a mousy woman of about thirty.
    Baldur introduced Magnus. Tómas’s tired eyes assessed him.
    ‘Don’t worry, I don’t want to talk to you about Agnar,’ Magnus began.
    ‘Good,’ said Tómas.
    ‘It’s another murder I want to discuss with you. One that took place seventeen years ago.’
    Tómas was suddenly awake, his eyes focusing on Magnus.
    ‘Know whose murder I’m talking about?’
    Tómas remained motionless. Magnus felt that he wasn’t trusting himself to speak. A good sign.
    ‘That’s right,’ he said. ‘Dr Ásgrímur. Seventeen years ago your father pushed Dr Ásgrímur off a cliff. And you witnessed it.’
    Tómas swallowed. ‘I don’t know what you are talking about.’
    ‘I’ve just come back from Hruni where I interviewed your father. And I went to Álfabrekka and spoke to the farmers who helped him go back and find Dr Ásgrímur. They saw you.’
    ‘They can’t have done.’
    ‘They saw a thirteen-year-old boy sneak by their farm in the snow.’
    Tómas frowned. ‘That wasn’t me.’
    ‘Wasn’t it?’
    ‘Anyway. Why would my father kill the doctor? They were friends.’
    Magnus smiled. ‘The ring.’
    ‘What ring?’
    ‘The ring you went to talk to Professor Agnar about.’
    ‘I have no idea what you are talking about.’
    Magnus leaned forward. He spoke in a low urgent voice, only a fraction above a whisper. ‘You see, the farmers saw your father wearing an ancient ring. We know that your father pushed Dr Ásgrímur off a