Where the Shadows Lie (Fire and Ice)

here,’ said Magnus. ‘ She has as much right to be here as we do. More. We can do this outside.’
    Baldur glared at Katrín. Katrín glared back. They moved out into the corridor.
    ‘Do you know why one of my police officers was shot?’ Baldur said, his face only a few inches away from Magnus.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Well?’
    ‘I’m a witness in a big police corruption trial in Boston. Some people there want me dead. Dominican drug traffickers. That’s why I came here. Looks like they found me.’
    ‘And why didn’t you tell me about this?’
    ‘The Police Commissioner thought that the fewer people who knew, the less chance there would be of a leak.’
    ‘So he knew about it?’
    ‘Of course.’ ‘If Árni dies, so help me I’ll …’ Baldur hesitated as he tried to think of a convincing threat.
    ‘I’ve apologized to Árni’s sister, and I will apologize to you,’ Magnus said. ‘I’m sorry that I led the hit man over here. I’m bad news. I should go.’
    ‘Yes, you should. Starting now. I want you to leave this hospital, you can’t do anything more here. Go back to the station and make a statement. They’re waiting for you.’
    Magnus didn’t have the strength to argue. He badly wanted to stay and see how Árni was doing, but in a way Baldur was right. He was a distraction. He should go.
    He put his head into the waiting room. ‘I’ve got to leave now,’ he said to Katrín. ‘Let me know if there’s news, one way or the other.’
    ‘The bald Gestapo officer sent you home, did he?’
    Magnus nodded. ‘He’s a little wound up. Understandably.’
    ‘Huh.’ Katrín seemed unimpressed. ‘I’ll call you when there’s news.’
    Magnus slept badly. No dreams, thank God, but he kept on expecting the phone to ring. It didn’t.
    He got up at six and called the hospital. He didn’t want to ring Katrín’s cell phone in case she had managed to snatch some sleep and he woke her. They had completed the operation and extracted the bullet. Árni had lost a lot of blood, but he was alive. They were cautiously optimistic, with the emphasis on cautiously. But Árni was still unconscious.
    Magnus walked down the hill to the police station. It was a grey, windy, dull Reykjavík day. Cold, but not very cold.
    There were two or three detectives in the Violent Crimes room. He nodded to them and they smiled and nodded back. Although he was prepared to shrug off hostility, he was glad that it didn’t seem to be present.
    Vigdís came over with a cup of coffee. ‘I expect you need this.’
    ‘Thank you,’ Magnus said with a smile. And then: ‘Sorry about Árni.’
    ‘It wasn’t your fault,’ Vigdís said.
    ‘Do we know who the shooter is?’
    ‘No. He has a US passport, but we’re pretty sure it’s a fake. He’s not talking.’
    ‘He’s a pro. He won’t.’ Magnus had given the detective who had taken his statement the night before all the information he could, including whom to contact in the Boston PD. It had been made very clear that Baldur didn’t want him to interview the Dominican.
    ‘They might send another one, you know?’ Vigdís said. ‘Another hit man.’
    ‘It will take them a day or two before they realize things have gone wrong and they get someone else over here. And I’ll be gone soon.’
    ‘Keep your eyes open,’ said Vigdís. ‘Now you haven’t got Árni around to watch out for you any more.’
    Magnus smiled. ‘I will.’ Vigdís was right. He was probably OK for twenty-four hours, but he ought to think of a place to lie low until he flew back to the States.
    ‘If you need any help with anything, just ask, OK?’
    ‘OK. Thanks.’
    As Vigdís left, Magnus turned to his computer. He needed to tell the FBI and Williams what had happened himself. But before he began to type there was an incoming e-mail, direct, not via the FBI.
Hey Magnus ,
There’s something I really ought to tell you. A guy broke into my apartment a couple of nights ago and shoved a gun in my mouth. He wanted to know where you were. I kinda told him about the Reykjavík police domain name on your e-mail address.
I feel real bad about this. I haven’t told the department, but I figured you needed to know so you could keep a look out for trouble.
Johnny Yeoh
    Anger flared in Magnus. He hit the reply key and began typing, but after a couple of words he stopped. He couldn’t really blame Johnny. The gun was real, the threat was real, if Johnny hadn’t told the man what he wanted to know he