Where the Shadows Lie (Fire and Ice)

the existence of the saga and the ring secret. Seemed worth it then.’
    ‘I thought you had killed the professor,’ said Magnus.
    ‘I know you thought that. But I also knew I hadn’t. And I guessed you’d figure that out in the end.’
    ‘Have you had any dealings with Pétur at all?’
    ‘Never,’ Jubb said. ‘I hadn’t met the bloke till the other day when I saw him with Lawrence Feldman. That man is weird, by the way. Clever. Rich. But weird.’
    ‘And you’re not?’ said Magnus.
    ‘There’s nothing wrong in being a Lord of the Rings fan,’ Jubb said defensively. ‘What is wrong is when you let it blind you to what’s going on in the real world.’ He looked around at the extraordinary countryside flashing through the mist around them. ‘Although sometimes I find it hard to believe that this country is part of the real world.’
    ‘I know what you mean.’
    Magnus’s phone rang. Vigdís.
    ‘I can’t find Pétur at his house or at Neon. They haven’t seen him there all day – they don’t know where he is. I’m just going to check the other two clubs.’
    ‘Don’t bother,’ said Magnus. ‘He’s heading to Gullfoss. He’s going to meet his sister there. And then he’s going to kill her.’
    ‘Are you sure?’
    Magnus hesitated. How sure was he? He had made mistakes earlier in this investigation. ‘Yeah, I’m sure. Can you call in a SWAT team? What do you call it – the Viking Squad. The cloud’s probably too low for a helicopter, but the sooner they get here the better.’
    ‘We’ll never get the Viking Squad approved,’ said Vigdís. ‘I will call Baldur. But you and I both know what he’s going to say.’
    ‘Damn it!’ Magnus knew Baldur would ignore his request. ‘Can you come yourself, Vigdís?’
    A pause. ‘All right. I’m on my way.’
    ‘And bring a weapon.’
    ‘I’ll be there as quick as I can. Unarmed.’ She hung up.
    ‘Careful!’ Steve Jubb flinched as he shouted the warning.
    Magnus nearly swerved off the road as he took a bend too fast with only one hand on the wheel. As they were moving north, the road was already deteriorating. Stones slammed against the floor of the car like so many bullets.
    ‘She’s stopped at Gullfoss!’ Jubb said, staring at his screen.
    After careering over some foothills, they descended to cross a narrow gorge at a small suspension bridge and then found themselves on a better road speeding across flat moorland into the fog.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
    P ÉTUR SAW THE familiar figure of his sister emerge from the gloom over the lip of the hollow. She walked in the same way she had when she was a girl – her coat was even the same colour. It brought back memories of those family picnics, before everything had been ruined. At twelve Inga had been really quite pretty, even when wearing her earnest glasses, but she had always been overshadowed by the stunning Birna. Pétur felt a sudden surge of affection for his little sister.
    She wouldn’t let him down. She couldn’t possibly let him down.
    He raised a hand to greet her.
    ‘Why the hell are we meeting here?’ she said, shivering.
    ‘It’s the right place,’ said Pétur gravely. ‘It’s the right place to talk about Dad.’ This wasn’t starting well.
    ‘What I want to know is what you were doing driving up to Stöng yesterday. They found Hákon’s car, you know. And his body at the bottom of Hjálparfoss.’
    ‘I’ll tell you about that. But I want to tell you about Dad first.’
    ‘My God!’ said Ingileif. ‘You know how he died, don’t you?’
    Pétur nodded, meeting her eyes. They were anxious, questioning, but also angry.
    ‘I was with them that weekend. With the pastor and Dad.’
    ‘I thought you were at school.’
    ‘I know. Dad wanted me to come with him on the expedition. He was convinced they would find the ring. I was in two minds about it. As I told you, I was dead against them taking the ring – I remembered Grandpa’s warnings. But in the end, he persuaded me.
    ‘The trouble was, Mum had forbidden it. So we didn’t tell her. I took the bus to Hella from Reykjavík and they picked me up there.’
    ‘So Mum never knew?’
    ‘No.’ Pétur shook his head. ‘We camped out on the hills and then the next morning we got to the cave. It wasn’t really a cave, more of a hole in the lava. It took us three hours to find it, but it was Dad who discovered it. He was so excited!’
    Pétur smiled at the memory. ‘And who can blame him? It was