Áróra studied his face with interest. There was a childlike simplicity to his argument, and she wondered if he genuinely believed it, or if he had fashioned some slightly shallower version of integrity that allowed him to live with himself.

Hákon ordered more wine for her, and they set to work on their steaks. Out of habit, she pushed the potatoes aside and started on the salad. She made a habit of starting with the green stuff, then the meat or fish, keeping the carbohydrates to last. Keeping slim was a matter of accounting, just the same as finance. And she was smart enough to know that a company can’t pay wages on the black unless there’s undeclared cash somewhere behind it.

165

68

Hákon led Áróra towards the restaurant’s door; the support was welcome as she was wearing heels and wasn’t as steady on her feet as usual. She had lost count of the glasses of wine she had drunk over dinner. There had been white wine with the seafood starter, then red with the lamb main course and finally a dessert wine so sweet that she had no appetite for the dessert itself, in spite of the waiter’s long speech in praise of it.

‘Hi there, Hákon!’

The greeting cut clearly through the chatter, and Hákon raised a hand and waved. Áróra took a moment to focus properly and figure out where the call had come from. As Hákon steered her to the table where the woman who had called was sitting, along with her friend, she wished she hadn’t drunk so much. The friend was younger, stick-thin and at first Áróra thought she was wearing a shirt with intricately patterned sleeves, before she realised that she was wearing a sleeveless top showing heavily tattooed arms. Hákon kissed both women, and before Áróra could protest, he and the women had decided they would join them for one more drink.

‘Áróra, this is my business partner Agla, and Elísa, her wife. Elísa and Agla, this is Áróra.’

Agla smiled as she extended a hand.

‘Business partner?’ was all Áróra could say as she sat in the chair that Hákon had chivalrously brought for her. She hadn’t been aware of a business partner. None of the media coverage she had found online had mentioned one – and certainly not this one. No deep insight into the workings of the Icelandic business community was needed to know that Agla Margeirsdóttir was one of the country’s best-known financial criminals.

Áróra felt her head swim; it was as though the restaurant was 166spinning around her. She was struggling to join the dots. Maybe her plan wasn’t worth the risk. Hákon’s business network seemed to be more complex than she had imagined.