‘Hæ, I was wondering if I could have a word?’ Stella said, the words tumbling out of her.

Gréta’s reaction wasn’t what she had expected. There was none of the usual delight in seeing her, not even a smile. Gréta seemed unusually reserved.

‘Is this something to do with the ministry?’ she asked, and Stella shook her head.

‘No. Just a small private matter.’

‘Well, we’re going to dinner and we’re already a little late, and after that we’re going to the theatre.’

Gréta opened the outer door for her blonde companion, who stepped out like a princess and stood waiting on the pavement, looking Stella up and down. Stella followed them out.

‘Could we meet for a coffee tomorrow evening?’ she asked.

Gréta shook her head. ‘I’m working tomorrow evening.’

‘And Saturday?’ Stella asked and Gréta hesitated.

The blonde sighed. ‘On Saturday we’re going to Harpa. Remember? The concert and then dinner.’

Gréta nodded and spread her hands theatrically, while Stella swallowed her annoyance and felt a growing disquiet in her belly. What was this stranger doing, interfering in her meeting Gréta? What the hell business was it of hers? All she wanted was to talk 198to Gréta, simply to make up for her own bad behaviour. But it was obvious there was no point. She wouldn’t ask again. It was clear that Gréta didn’t want to meet her.

87

‘I just pressed the button and ran out into the street,’ Úrsúla repeated, one more time, for Boris this time, as he had just made an appearance. ‘I thought I had to get out right away or I’d be so frightened I wouldn’t be able to move, so I ran for it and waited for the police.’

‘You did exactly the right thing,’ Boris said. ‘Women are like songbirds – prone to freeze if they’re attacked, so it’s as well to escape while you can still make decisions.’

The man had been taken away by the police. To begin with they had taken him into the kitchen, and Úrsúla had been able to hear the special-unit officers who had been first on the scene talking to him. They had led him out through the living room, where she sat with the female officer who had been in the second car. The man had looked dejected and subdued, and for some reason it occurred to Úrsúla that she had made too much of the incident. Perhaps it had just been panic on her part, just as it had been a few days before when she had freaked out at the thought that the man delivering fish had been Pétur.

‘Do you think this could be a misunderstanding on my part?’ she asked.

Boris shook his head. He was about to say something when a plain-clothes officer appeared in the doorway and called him. Boris went over and they spoke in muted voices. Úrsúla saw him hand a phone to Boris, who looked through the contents. She heard no more as the female officer sitting at her side patted her hand, asking if she wanted some water or a blanket, and Úrsúla realised that she was shivering. That had to be either nerves, or 199else the cold draught blowing in through the open door along with the flashing blue lights of the police cars outside.