The Donald in question seemed to have much the same feeling; hardly a minute had passed before he burst through a side door into the reception area.

‘What do you want here?’ he said aggressively.

This hostile reception took María by surprise, and she coughed again and began her speech, explaining that she was a journalist from Iceland and ran a small online news outlet.

But Donald interrupted her before she’d finish her sentence.

‘We don’t talk to journalists here.’

‘I’m just looking for some background information about aluminium trading—’ she began, before Donald again firmly interrupted her.

‘You can leave now.’

‘I’d really like to talk to the manager of this company,’ she said.

‘Then you need to talk to Meteorite Metals International. We don’t talk to journalists here.’

‘And your name is, Donald … what?’

‘Call security,’ Donald snapped at the receptionist, placing his feet wide apart and folding his arms in a clear indication that he had nothing more to say.

It was obvious that this was as far as she was going to get. María decided that this probably wasn’t the moment to ask if she could use the toilet. She’d just have to hold it in.

‘I can find my own way out,’ she said, just as two security guards appeared, each taking her by an arm and escorting her through the car park to her car.

She got in stiffly, relieved to be out of their hands, and reversed out of the space. The two guards walked behind the car all the way to the gate, where they stopped and watched as she drove away.

As soon as she was out of sight, María stopped by the side of the road and got out of the car, where she pulled down her jeans and pissed into the roadside dust. Her breaths were coming fast, and she could feel her heart thumping in her chest. The dramatic reaction to her arrival confirmed Agla’s suspicion that there was something strange about this metal storage unit. There was something very strange about the whole thing.

30

Elísa’s bank statements offered an insight into her life – the further Agla dug back into them, the clearer her mental picture of the young woman became. Now that she had access to her online banking details, having completed her tax return for her, Agla hadn’t been able to resist the temptation to check through her card transactions. What was clear was that Elísa was hooked on ice cream, and had seemed to buy some every evening, often after paying for a meal at some fast-food place.