‘I don’t,’ he said, pausing for a moment’s thought as he counted on his fingers. ‘I’ve been to at least fifteen, and I’ve heard other drivers mention at least a couple more.’

María swallowed the saliva that had formed in her mouth as if she had been starving and could smell a delicious meal cooking somewhere close by. This was big news. This was the scoop she had waiting on for so long. She shifted in her seat, but tried to appear calm so as not to startle the driver.

‘And who owns all this aluminium? Do you have any idea who’s behind it?’

‘Different people. There are funds that trade in metals, some companies, sometimes the smelters themselves. You can see it all on the transport documentation that goes with each delivery.’

María could feel her heart jolt in disappointment. She had been sure that she had solved the mystery for Agla at the same time as coming up with a major news story of her own. She had been certain that there had to be a single entity stockpiling all this aluminium.

‘You’re sure?’ María asked, staring hard at the driver’s face as he nodded emphatically.

‘Absolutely sure,’ he said.

‘But why would all these different companies suddenly decide to start stockpiling the aluminium they produce, or buying it up so there’s a world shortage? It’s a weird coincidence.’

‘No. It’s not a coincidence,’ the driver said. ‘Meteorite pays them to store it.’

54

Agla had to tell María to speak slowly and clearly, as her internet connection seemed to be poor and the Bleep app didn’t seem to be able to keep the sound quality clear. The image broke up into blocks and pixels, but Agla could just make out that María was on the move, holding the phone in front of her with one hand while she steered with the other. Now was exactly the time when a proper phone would have been handy, one on which they could have held a normal conversation, but that wasn’t an option at Hólmsheiði. Instead she sat hunched in the library with the screen turned away from the all-seeing eye on the ceiling, so that no one would realise she was using the computer to make a call. Fortunately, by now the warders trusted her completely and only checked on her every couple of hours.