Where the Shadows Lie (Fire and Ice)

you won’t be able to stay there the whole time you’re with us?’
    Magnus shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I guess not. I’ve no idea how long that will be.’
    ‘My sister has a spare room in her apartment. It’s a nice place, very central, in Thingholt. You could rent that. She wouldn’t charge much.’
    Magnus hadn’t begun to think about money, accommodation, clothes, living expenses; he was just pleased to be alive. But operating out of a suitcase in a hotel room would soon get tiresome, and Árni’s sister might provide a quick easy solution to a problem he hadn’t even begun to address yet. And cheap. That might be important. ‘Sure, I’ll take a look at it.’
    ‘Great. I’ll show you around this evening, if you like.’
    The coffee wasn’t bad. Icelanders lived on many cups of coffee a day – the whole society was fuelled by caffeine. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why they never sat still for long.
    ‘I’m sure I’ve heard this name Ísildur somewhere,’ Magnus said. ‘Maybe it was a kid at school. But that would have shown up on Vigdís’s search.’
    ‘Probably just the movie,’ Árni said, sipping from his own cup.
    ‘The movie? What movie?’
    ‘ The Fellowship of the Ring . Haven’t you seen it? It’s the first of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.’
    ‘No, I haven’t seen the movie, but I did read the book. So Ísildur’s one of the characters, right? What is he, some kind of elf?’
    ‘No, he’s a man,’ said Árni. ‘He wins the ring at the beginning of the movie and then loses it in a river somewhere. Then Gollum finds it.’
    ‘Árni! Why didn’t you mention this at the meeting?’
    ‘I was going to, but then I thought everyone would just laugh at me. They do that sometimes, you know. And it obviously doesn’t have anything to do with the case.’
    ‘Of course it does!’ Magnus just stopped himself from adding the words ‘you idiot!’. ‘Have you read the Saga of the Volsungs ?’
    ‘I think I did at school,’ said Árni. ‘It’s about Sigurd and Brynhild and Gunnar, isn’t it? Dragons and treasure.’
    ‘And the ring. There’s a magic ring. It’s an Icelandic take on the Nibelungenlied which Wagner based his Ring Cycle on. I bet Tolkien read it too. And it’s Steve Jubb’s favourite saga – it’s probably the only saga he has read. He’s a Lord of the Rings nut and he has a friend who is another Lord of the Rings nut whose nickname is Isildur.’
    ‘So Isildur isn’t Icelandic at all?’
    Magnus shook his head. ‘No, he’s probably another truck driver from Yorkshire. We need to talk to Baldur.’
    A look of panic flashed across Árni’s face. ‘Do you really think this is important?’
    ‘I do,’ Magnus nodded. ‘It’s a lead. In a murder investigation you take every lead you get.’
    ‘Um … Perhaps you should see Baldur by yourself.’
    ‘Oh, come on Árni. I won’t tell him you knew all along who Isildur was. Let’s go.’
    They had to wait an hour for Baldur to return from the courthouse on the Laekjargata, but he looked happy. ‘We can detain Steve Jubb for three weeks,’ he said when he saw Magnus. ‘And I have a search warrant for his hotel room.’
    ‘Didn’t he make bail?’ Magnus asked.
    ‘There’s no chance of bail in Iceland for a murder suspect. We usually get three weeks to pursue our investigation before we have to hand over evidence to the defence. Once we have finished with him here, Jubb will be taken to the prison at Litla Hraun. That will make him think.’
    ‘I like it,’ Magnus said.
    ‘Strange thing is, he has a new lawyer. We gave him a kid a couple of years out of law school, but he’s already fired him and hired Kristján Gylfason, who is about the most experienced criminal lawyer in Iceland. Someone must be helping him; finding the lawyer and paying for him. Kristján doesn’t come cheap. And for that matter, neither does the Hótel Borg.’
    ‘Isildur?’ Magnus asked.
    Baldur shrugged. ‘Maybe. Whoever he is.’
    ‘We think we have an idea about that.’
    Baldur listened to Magnus’s theory, a frown crossing the dome of his forehead. ‘I think we need to have another word with Mr Jubb.’

CHAPTER SIX
    S TEVE JUBB’S NEW lawyer, Kristján Gylfason, was smooth: intelligent face, prematurely silver hair, an air of calm competence and wealth. His very presence seemed to give Jubb comfort. Not good.
    There were now five men in the interview room: Jubb, his lawyer, Baldur, Magnus and