She carefully put the salad tub down and crawled on all fours towards the mattress in the corner. She would finish eating later. Now she was going to curl up on the grubby bed and cry. Her hand touched something and it rolled away. She stopped instantly and patted in front of her with her palm, moving forwards and feeling the floor with both hands. Her right hand touched a round plastic tub and she stopped. She picked the tub up and could feel that it had an aluminium cover. This was the dessert! It must have fallen over and rolled off the tray when the man had pushed it into the cell with his foot.

María’s heart beat faster as she rolled the tub in her fingers. This meant far more than just the all-important final piece of a meal. The plastic tub itself gave her a clue as to where she was. With her limited sense of time and space she had become completely lost, unsure now whether she was in Iceland or in America.

57

Oddur still looked as if he couldn’t believe his own eyes. His forehead was furrowed right up into his hairline, so that in the morning light he looked like an old man weighed down with worry. He ran his thumb back and forth along the edge of the wad of notes, as if it were a pack of cards he was about to shuffle.

Anton fidgeted on the bench. The old cemetery was still mostly grey-brown, but some newly sprouted grass around the graves was starting to give the dead leaves on the ground some competition and the lichens seemed about to change colour. He was cold and wanted to get this business out of the way before anyone came along to disturb them.

‘So we’re all square?’ he said, getting to his feet.

Oddur remained on the bench, fondling the notes in his hands.

‘What did you say it was that you’re going to blow up?’ he asked.

Anton felt his patience ebb away.

‘Nothing you need to worry about,’ he said, his voice sharp. ‘Just an old shed. Something a bit special for the girlfriend. Something she’ll never forget.’

Oddur nodded and stood up, drawing out the moment, and Anton wanted to snatch the bag of equipment from him.

‘All square?’

‘Yep.’ Oddur stuffed the notes into his inside pocket and opened the bag. ‘Here’s the battery. The plate is just to keep it all secure. This is the detonator itself,’ he said, pointing to a little box with a printed circuit board. ‘You just stick the fuse from the dynamite into this hole, clip it together to keep the fuse in place and flip this switch. When this little light goes red, you’re ready to go. When everyone’s a safe distance away, you use this remote control, and bang. It has a range of around a hundred metres.’

‘Brilliant. Thanks.’