The Darkness(25)

‘I haven’t accused you of anything, and if you know nothing about Elena …’

‘Why did you come here?’ he asked abruptly, catching her off guard. ‘What gave you the idea to come and see me?’

She could hardly tell him that her source in the police believed him to be a major player in the sex industry.

After an awkward pause, she said: ‘An anonymous tip-off.’

‘An anonymous tip-off? They’re not always reliable, are they?’ He pressed home his advantage: ‘Have you got any evidence for me to refute? It’s hard to defend yourself against allegations snatched from thin air. You must be aware’ – he leaned a little closer – ‘that I have a reputation to protect. In business, a good reputation is everything.’

‘I quite understand. And I can assure you that this conversation won’t go any further. Since you’re obviously unfamiliar with the case, there’s nothing more to be said.’ Hulda felt an urgent desire to get out of the house, out into the sunny spring afternoon, though áki’s behaviour had not been in the least threatening. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Suddenly, she felt hemmed in. Her palms were sweating and she was feeling increasingly jumpy, sensing that the tables had been turned. She had often tried to enter the heads of suspects, not out of sympathy for their plight so much as to improve her interrogation technique. Over the years, she reckoned she’d become pretty adept at it. Once she had gone so far as to have herself locked in a cell to find out what that sort of confinement felt like and how long she would be able to stick it out. Before locking the door, her colleague had asked if she was sure about this, and she had nodded, despite feeling the cold sweat prickling her skin. He had closed the door, leaving Hulda alone with nothing but the four walls. Next to the reinforced door was a narrow window and, above the bed, another, slightly larger one with frosted glass, the only purpose of which was to admit a small amount of light. Finding herself breathing unnaturally quickly, Hulda had closed her eyes to distract her attention from the fact that she was trapped in a small space. But far from helping, this had made her feel so claustrophobic that she was afraid she was going to faint. Yet she knew that, unlike real prisoners, all she had to do was knock on the door to be let out. Panting, close to hysteria, she had stuck it out for as long as she could before finally jumping up and banging on the door. When her colleague didn’t immediately respond, she had been on the verge of screaming, flinging herself against the door and hammering on it with all her might. But at that moment, mercifully, it had opened. She had felt as though she’d been locked in for hours, but her colleague had glanced at the clock and said: ‘You only lasted a minute.’

The claustrophobia wasn’t as intense now, but something about this encounter in áki’s living room had triggered the memory.

She rose to her feet. ‘It was nice to meet you. Thanks for agreeing to see me unannounced like this.’

áki stood up as well. ‘My pleasure, Hulda. Do get in touch if I can assist you any further with your inquiries.’ He extended his hand and she shook it in parting. ‘Of course, I’ll get in contact if I hear anything,’ he said with a laugh. ‘Though it’s rarely that exciting in the wholesale business. Hulda – Hulda Hermannsdóttir, wasn’t it?’ he said, and this time there was no mistaking the menace underlying his words.





X


The day of the trip had arrived. She stood to one side, watching him pack two rucksacks, one of them for her. ‘Do I really need all that?’ she asked, as it dawned on her that this trip was going to be a lot tougher than she had realized. Nodding, he told her she couldn’t get away with any less kit. The pack contained a sleeping bag that would keep her alive during the freezing nights, food supplies, a thick scarf, a pair of gloves that looked too big for her, a woolly hat and an empty bottle. When she asked if she should fill it with water, he laughed. Don’t forget we’re in Iceland: there’s more than enough clean water here. We’ll be staying overnight in a mountain hut and the water in the stream there is far purer than anything you’ll get out of the tap.

Just when she thought there wasn’t room for anything else, he had added a torch and some batteries then announced that he reckoned that was it. She lifted her pack with difficulty, gasping at the weight and exclaiming that it was far too heavy. ‘Nonsense,’ he said. ‘You won’t notice it once it’s on your back. You’ll need these, too … He reached for a pair of walking poles and strapped them to the outside.

After loading both packs into the car, he asked if she knew how to ski. She shook her head, spotting a ray of light, a possible way out. She’d never skied in her life, she told him, and it was far too late to start now. Perhaps they’d better not go on the trip after all. He laughed and said there was no way he was going to let her down like that. Then he disappeared and returned with a pair of skis, two poles and a thick rope.

She asked nervously if he was planning to go skiing without her.

It was a safety precaution, he explained: if anything went wrong he could ski for help. Seeing her eyes on the rope, he added that it was necessary in case the car got bogged down.

‘Are you expecting that to happen?’ she asked, her breath catching in her throat.

‘No, no chance,’ he reassured her. And she believed him.