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

Gunna had retreated to the sofa with Steini’s iPad.
    ‘Cleaning up, Mum?’ Laufey asked, eyeing the vacuum cleaner propped against the wall.
    ‘Just the essentials, sweetheart. No more than that. Speaking of which, shouldn’t you be at school today?’
    ‘Not until this afternoon. Can I get a lift with you?’
    ‘You can, but it means going early. I’m meeting Soffía this morning. That means I’m going at ten, not a moment later.’
    Laufey yawned again and nodded, vanishing into her room, and a moment later an insistent beat made its way through the thin panel, not loud enough to be worth complaining about, but not low enough to be easily ignored. Gunna dropped the iPad back on the table and returned to the vacuum cleaner, determined to at least make a dent in the housework.
     
    Erna dragged herself unwillingly from sleep, wondering why there was an unfamiliar duvet on the bed, then wondering why she was still wearing her clothes, before the previous day’s events came flooding back and she wanted to scream. The room’s other bed was empty, the covers thrown back, so Tinna Lind had to be up already. She sat on the bed and stared blankly at the wall, as if it might provide her with the answers she was desperate for.
    In the bathroom she found a tiny tube of toothpaste and scrubbed her teeth with a fingertip to get rid of the stale taste in her mouth. Her hair was a mess, she saw with dismay, and there was no brush or comb to be seen anywhere. There had been a hairbrush in her bag, but that had to be in the back of the car now.
    It was the smell of roasting meat coming up the stairs that reminded her how hungry she was. There had been brunch yesterday with Sunna on the 19th Floor, then they had gone to Hafnarfjördur to check out that new antique shop she had heard about, and after that there had been nothing but the awful drive in the dark with those two men. She shuddered at the thought of it.
    She went down the broad staircase with trepidation and her footsteps clicked on the tiles of the kitchen floor as the aroma of cooked meat drew her there. Tinna Lind and Magni sat at the table peeling potatoes and giggling at a joke.
    ‘Good morning.’
    ‘G’day, sleepyhead,’ Magni said with a grin. ‘The day’s half gone and you’re still snoring.’
    ‘I do not snore,’ Erna said in a tone that was intended to be cold but came across as hurt.
    ‘You know what I mean. Anyhow, there’s a roast dinner for breakfast, once the spuds are done. We had a little hunt around earlier and it looks like we could camp out here until the spring.’
    ‘I do hope not,’ Erna said, elbow on the table and the back of her hand to her forehead.
    ‘Not feeling well?’ Tinna Lind asked.
    ‘I have a headache.’ She sighed. ‘But I don’t suppose there are any painkillers anywhere?’
    ‘Don’t know,’ Magni said, forehead furrowed.
    ‘I had some in my bag, but it’s in the car. Magni, could you get the keys from your friend and fetch my bag, do you think?’
    ‘Sure.’
    As soon as Magni had gone, Erna hissed at Tinna Lind. ‘You still have your phone, don’t you?’
    ‘Yeah. But there’s no signal here.’
    ‘Shit. Shit. Tinna, what the hell are we going to do?’
    ‘I don’t know, mother. I really don’t know. But so far I’m enjoying the ride.’
     
    Össur hadn’t slept late, woken by his jangling nerves and an unwelcome dream of Alli the Cornershop snarling at him. He’d spent the night in Hotel Hraun’s bridal suite in the biggest bed he’d ever slept in, but still found himself in the morning along a narrow strip at one edge instead of spreadeagled as he’d intended to be, making the most of the downy expanse of it.
    He counted the money and, to make sure, he counted it again. Two hundred and eighty thousand euros in mixed, mostly two- and five-hundred denominations, left him with a warm feeling of satisfaction that evaporated when he remembered that if their plans had gone as intended, he would