‘I don’t disagree with that,’ Gunna broke in. ‘But what we didn’t manage to establish was how he managed to get, dead drunk, from Reykjavík to be found floating in the dock at Hvalvík, especially after our investigation came to an end and Sævaldur took it over.’
Vilhjálmur looked at Gunna as if she were a recalcitrant child and sighed audibly. ‘There are other factors involved, Gunnhildur. We have to tread a delicate path on occasions and we also have to allocate resources where they are most needed. I don’t have to remind you that we are facing a very different enforcement environment to the one you might remember from before you took over in Hvalvík. Hm?’
‘That’s as may be, but now we have to reallocate some resources to this matter,’ broke in Ívar Laxdal, the National Commissioner’s deputy, who had been silent until now with a sheaf of newspapers in front of him, topped by a front page bearing the same picture of Einar Eyjólfur Einarsson as had already been on every TV report. Gunna knew Ívar Laxdal, who had already been a senior officer when she joined the force, only by his reputation for blunt speaking. Now he voiced everyone’s thoughts.
‘This Skandalblogger’s allegations have been picked up by the media and splashed over the front pages. Regardless of the circumstances of the case, it hardly reflects well that this could have been investigated more thoroughly at the time,’ he continued. Vilhjálmur Traustason looked hurt, as if he had been punched in the kidneys by a trusted colleague.
‘So what are we doing?’ Bjössi asked with ill-concealed irritation. Gunna could see that he was desperate to go outside for a smoke and sympathized with him.
Ívar Laxdal stood up. ‘There will be a press announcement this afternoon and I need you there for that, Vilhjálmur. I expect to see progress by the end of the day. I need to have an evaluation this afternoon, please,’ he said brusquely, putting on his gold-braided cap. ‘I’m sure I can leave you to organize everything and I’ll see you at headquarters at one. Email it through to me when you’re ready.’
He swept from the room, leaving Vilhjálmur pale with suppressed anger as he swiftly detailed three of his own officers to liaise with Gunna and CID, and followed his superior’s example by sweeping from the room, after having called a further meeting for that afternoon.
The tension relaxed as the door banged shut in his wake.
‘Right, then. So what the hell are we going to do?’ Bjössi asked, looking at Gunna. ‘You’re the man here with the experience, sweetheart.’
Gunna looked at Bjössi and Bára, the young woman Gunna had chosen Snorri over for secondment to Hvalvík.
‘How many people do we have to play with?’
‘Us,’ Bjössi said. ‘As well as your guys from Hvalvík, plus whatever Reykjavík decides to help us out with. We’ve already set aside an incident room.’
‘We can call on a couple of the guys here when they’re available for legwork,’ Bára added.
‘OK. Let’s start with Reykjavík, we need liaison straight away with the computer crime division to try and track this oddball down. What is it he calls himself?’
‘Skandalblogger.’
‘Ideally we need to contact the person behind it and find out what else he or she knows. We need to go through the records of the original investigation and find out more about Einar Eyjólfur’s background. Bára, you can pull my reports off the system so you’re not going over the same ground twice. We already know quite a lot, but we haven’t gone as deep as we ought to. Anything on friends, colleagues, whatever. His girlfriend’s name is Dísa and she lives in Vogar. No idea if she still works at Spearpoint; find out. I have her full name and address at the station in Hvalvík and I can email those to you later.’
Gunna drew breath. She was already enjoying the buzz of running a team, wondering how long it would be before someone more senior would be assigned to the case.
‘Bjössi, will you please do your thing as far as you can with what’s available? Go through the pathology again and the forensics, then come back and tell me where the holes are. And if you feel like it, you can get on with that right now and go for a puff on the way.’
Bjössi needed no second invitation and was out of the room before Gunna had finished speaking.
‘Bára. Clean Iceland. Do we have any contact with these people? Do we have any intelligence on them? I’m sure there’s something, but it’s a question of which department is holding it. Einar Eyjólfur was involved with Clean Iceland, so we need to speak to them. Find out who to talk to and talk to them, who’s driving that bunch and what exactly was our boy’s role.’
Gunna’s words came out in a torrent and she could not restrain a fizz of excitement at the activity she was kicking off.
‘You all have a couple of officers to make use of, so make use of them. Delegate. Ask questions. All right? Now let’s get on with it. The trail’s gone cold, but that shouldn’t slow us down too much. You know what number to find me on and I’ll be back this afternoon.’