The last room they came to was marginally less crowded and slightly less noisy on account of its distance from the sound system. It also featured some low leather couches, on one of which a fat, pale-skinned young man was almost lying flat, supporting a bottle and an iPhone on the dome of his stomach. He had dark, receding hair and an incipient double chin, but no beard, which made him conspicuous in these surroundings, as did his choice of denims and T-shirt. He and Kristjan exchanged a glance and several phrases of Icelandic.

‘This is Ragnar,’ said Kristjan. ‘Ragnar, this is Abe.’

‘Hæ,’ growled Ragnar. He didn’t smile as he looked up at Wada. ‘Konnichi wa.’

‘I was told you did not speak Japanese,’ said Wada. ‘Was I misinformed?’

Kristjan laughed. Ragnar didn’t. He went on looking at Wada, with no sign that what he saw impressed him. ‘Thanks for meeting us,’ said Kristjan brightly.

‘No problem,’ said Ragnar slowly.

Kristjan followed up with something in Icelandic. He sat down beside Ragnar and signalled for Wada to sit down on the other side of him. As she did so, the depression in the couch caused by Ragnar’s weight threatened to pull her down against him. She had to anchor herself to the arm to prevent that happening.

Ragnar took a swig from his bottle and looked at them each in turn. ‘Why am I meeting some middle-aged Japanese woman on a Saturday night in Reykjavík, Kristjan?’ he asked. ‘I get enough of her kind all week in the office.’

Kristjan leant in close to answer. He spoke at what would have been normal pitch anywhere else, but counted as a whisper in the booming confines of Jarđfræđingur. ‘You said yourself you’d need to be able to read Japanese to make sense of those files, Ragnar. So I’ve brought you someone who can read Japanese. Because she is Japanese. But she doesn’t work for Quartizon.’

‘How can you be sure of that?’

‘She’s the woman Caldwell was planning to meet in London.’

‘The one who was supposed to give him some dirt on Driscoll?’

‘I have information about Driscoll’s past that could be damaging,’ Wada cut in. ‘But I think we should concentrate for the present on what his company is doing in Iceland. Can you help us find that out?’

‘Why should I?’

‘Because you care. According to Kristjan.’

‘Well?’ Kristjan grasped Ragnar’s shoulder. ‘Don’t you?’

Ragnar gave the question some thought, aided by a deep swallow of lager. Then he said, ‘You want me to get you in?’

‘Já. All the way.’

Ragnar shook his head. ‘It’s too risky.’

‘You let us worry about that.’

Ragnar snorted. ‘It’s me I’m worried about.’