Edge of Nowhere Read Free Page A

Atlantic winds. Most of the roofs were classic Icelandic red corrugated metal, with the odd lime green specimen thrown in.
    ‘And Arnór?’
    ‘He’s a fisherman. Small-time, struggling. Same age as Gústi; they’ve been enemies since school. Things got out of hand last year when someone gave the Ministry of Fisheries a tip-off about Arnór cheating on his quota. That’s a big deal, as I’m sure you know.’
    ‘I can imagine.’
    ‘The Ministry investigated, didn’t find enough evidence to prosecute Arnór, but they warned him. Arnór was sure that Gústi had tipped the Ministry off. They had a fight outside the local bar last Saturday night: it had been a long time in coming. I slung them into the two separate cells at the station for the night – although when they began screaming at each other, I let Gústi go.’
    ‘Death threats?’
    ‘And the rest. Arnór swore he would kill Gústi that very day. And then leave him on the mountain for a troll to sodomize him.’
    ‘Nice.’
    ‘Didn’t see any evidence of troll-rape back there,’ said Tómas. ‘You can usually spot the signs.’
    Magnus laughed. He missed the black humour of the Boston homicide cops. He liked Tómas.
    They pulled up outside a flashy white block made of concrete, glass and wood, that might in fact win an architecture prize. It was the municipal building: town hall, mayor’s office, police station, post office all in one.
    A woman was waiting for them outside the entrance. She was in her forties, short, with long red hair spreading out underneath a brightly striped woolly hat.
    She approached Magnus as soon as he was out of the police car. ‘Are you the detective from Reykjavík?’
    ‘Not now, Rós,’ said Tómas. ‘We are busy.’
    ‘But I have some information for the detective,’ Rós said. ‘About Gústi’s death.’
    ‘Well, come back tomorrow morning and I’ll take a statement from you,’ said Tómas.
    ‘No, that’s all right,’ said Magnus. ‘Rós, is it?’
    The woman nodded. She had a broad friendly face with big brown eyes.
    ‘My name is Sergeant Magnús. Come in and you can tell me what you have to say.’
    The three of them sat in the police station’s small interview room, and once Rós had been furnished with a cup of coffee, Magnus took out a pen and pad. With her hat off, Rós’s flaming red hair spread out over her shoulders. ‘It’s the hidden people. They killed him.’
    ‘I see,’ said Magnus, in as serious a tone as he could muster. He wrote down the words ‘hidden people’ on his pad in big letters and underlined it. ‘And why do you think that?’
    ‘They told me they would.’
    ‘Really?’ Magnus said. ‘How?’
    ‘In a dream. Well, in several dreams over the last few months. They are very unhappy about their homes being destroyed. You know they live in the rocks on this side of the tunnel?’
    Magnus nodded. ‘Yes, I’ve just been to see where Gústi was killed. Tómas pointed out their home.’
    ‘That’s just one of their dwellings. There are many more, or there were, before they were blown up to make the tunnel.’
    ‘And the hidden people are unhappy about this?’
    ‘You can say that again. At first they told me they would break the construction company’s machines. Which they did. But the company couldn’t take the hint. So now someone has been killed.’
    ‘I see,’ said Magnus. ‘And they told you this in a dream?’
    ‘They did.’
    ‘Who did?’ said Magnus.
    ‘One of the hidden people.’
    ‘Which one?’
    Rós looked a little confused by the question.
    ‘I’m investigating who killed Gústi,’ Magnus said. ‘I need names.’
    ‘Actually, I don’t have a name,’ said Rós uncertainly.
    ‘All right,’ said Magnus. ‘Then how about a description?’
    ‘A description?’
    ‘That’s right. Of the hidden person who told you this. In the dream.’
    ‘Oh, I see,’ said Rós. She cleared her throat and frowned. ‘She was a woman, maybe thirty years