‘Was that all right?’ she asked Eva as the door closed behind Óðinn.

She nodded her agreement. 78

‘A reasonable mixture of firmness and explanation,’ she said. ‘But this is going to be all over the media, so that promise about taking flak is going to be tested.’

‘I can take it. Transparency is a good thing,’ Úrsúla said. ‘I made the promise on the first day in the job to look into this case, and I don’t break my promises.’

She had hardly finished her sentence before Freyja showed Thorbjörn in and Úrsúla felt the guilt overwhelm her, along with a rush of desire. She was about to break a promise; the most important promise she had ever made.

31

Gunnar was startled to see the minister looking so miserable. She sat in the passenger seat next to him with her phone in her hand, reading something on the screen that clearly wasn’t pleasant.

‘Something wrong?’ he asked.

They were on their way to the opening of some exhibition of ancient legal texts in the National Library, where she was to give a speech. But now she wasn’t looking at all cheerful, and every drop of blood seemed to have drained from her face.

‘It’s something you should probably take a look at,’ she said and handed him the phone.

He slowed down and looked for a space that had been cleared of snow. The piles of it were that deep each side of the street, if he were to pull over he would have trouble freeing the car again, spinning its wheels in the drifts.

He finally pulled into a bus stop, took the phone and read the fine detail of what ‘bitches who stick their noses where they’re not wanted’ can expect. The description was both foul and showed a level of imagination regarding how a female body could be abused; in particular, Úrsúla’s body. The sender was [email protected]. That could be just about anyone. 79

‘Keep hold of that,’ he said, handing the phone back. ‘We’ll let the analysts at the commissioner’s office see it. That’s a direct threat.’

Úrsúla nodded, shut her phone and dropped it into her pocket.

‘Are you OK?’ he asked before pulling away again.

‘Yes. Sure,’ she said and took a deep breath. ‘It’s just unsettling.’

He set off into the traffic again, inching along the icy roads as he tried to work out how to tell her to protect herself from such messages, without appearing to be telling her what to do.

‘Wouldn’t it be better to let your assistant filter your messages?’ he said cautiously. ‘Most ministers do that. There’s no need for you to read that kind of filth.’

‘Hmm.’ She appeared to be thinking it over. ‘Eva does filter my mail, but I check it as well. Maybe I shouldn’t.’ She stared out of the passenger window and seemed to be talking to herself. ‘But isn’t it better if I’m aware that someone has such a deep hatred for me? Isn’t it better to be prepared?’ she asked, and turned to him with a look that showed her question was sincere. It was obvious that this aspect of the job was something she hadn’t been prepared for.