Thin Ice: An Inspector Gunna Mystery (Gunnhildur Mystery Book 5) Read Online Free

memorial service, but to be quite honest, I was such a wreck that day that it all passed in a daze.’
    She shivered at the recollection of those weeks, first the call from the command centre to tell her that Ragnar was not accounted for, a phrase that she found ridiculous at the time, the visit from the ship’s commanding officer, ill at ease and formal in his dress uniform, and the difficult calls and visits from others he had sailed with. The part that she found hardest to accept was that there had been no body, no remains, nothing to pack in a box and bury where she and the children could visit it. There had been a formal inquiry that placed no particular blame anywhere and culminated in an open verdict. There had been no discernible reason why Ragnar should have vanished under the hull of the disabled coaster the Coast Guard vessel had towed clear of the bay where it had grounded, and his dive partner at the time had not been able to account for his disappearance.
    The memorial service had been packed and Gunna had sat through it numb as uniformed figures filled the church behind her. What had stayed in her mind as the defining image of that grim day was ten-year-old Gísli in his best clothes with a look of confusion on his face, wondering where his stepfather had disappeared to while baby Laufey laughed and chattered to herself.
    ‘Gunna?’
    It seemed suddenly unreal that the young boy and the girl who had been a baby in her arms on that long, cold day were now busily nailing down floorboards in the next room.
    ‘Gunna?’
    She shook her head and hugged Kjartan as he gurgled on her lap.
    ‘Sorry, Drífa. I was miles away.’
    ‘You want me to take him?’
    ‘No, he’s fine here. I’m sure you don’t mind a break, do you?’
    ‘Not at all.’ Drífa laughed, and looked at the kitchen clock. ‘Do you want to eat here, or are you and Steini and Laufey going home?’
    ‘I’m happy to eat here. Shall we get a takeaway?’
    Drífa fetched a menu pinned to the corkboard and they quickly selected.
    ‘Half an hour,’ Drífa said, putting the phone down. ‘Will you go, or shall I?’
    ‘I’ll go,’ Gunna decided. ‘After all, it’s granny’s treat. The place just down from the church, is it?’
    ‘That’s the one. It’ll be great not to have to cook for a change.’
    Gunna poured herself half a mug of coffee and sipped. Kjartan sat with his hands on the table in front of her, playing with a spoon that tinkled every time he dropped it on the table top.
    ‘Gunna, I’m a bit concerned about Gísli,’ Drífa said quietly, peering through the open door at the three of them laughing and working in the other room.
    ‘What’s the matter?’ Gunna asked, her antennae immediately alert.
    ‘It’s his father,’ Drífa said haltingly and Gunna felt a chill for a second time. ‘I don’t know if I should tell you, really.’
    ‘Why? What’s the problem?’
    ‘I’m not sure. You know they were in touch for a while when Gísli went and found him? It was when he was having a really bad time, you know . . .?’
    ‘Yeah, I know,’ Gunna said. Gísli fathering two children six weeks apart had hit her hard, but she could not avoid seeing that guilt had eaten him up during those awkward months after Soffía had given birth to Ari Gíslason and Drífa had produced Kjartan Gíslason only a few weeks later.
    ‘Well, you know his dad didn’t want to know? Wasn’t interested?’
    ‘Yeah, and I wasn’t exactly surprised.’
    ‘He’s been in touch again. A couple of weeks ago his dad called and then came out here to see him. He’s not well and I think Gísli’s a bit screwed up about it. But you know what he’s like. If he has a problem, he keeps it bottled up inside.’
    ‘Tell me about it,’ Gunna said with a shudder at being reminded within the space of a few minutes of both the man in her life she would rather forget about and the one whose loss was still deeply painful. ‘I’ll have a quiet word if