“Do you often go there midweek, in the middle of the day? Elinborg asked, looking at the father.

“We go there whenever we like,” he said.

“And you were both there all day?”

“Till evening,” the father said. “We’re doing up an old range at the cottage. Are you telling me that on the basis of a pack of lies told by a couple of youths, you come here late at night, in the middle of a blizzard, to ask a string of preposterous questions?”

“That’s what’s so odd,” Sigurdur Oli said. “Why should they lie about Hallur and Agust, boys they don’t even know?”

“Isn’t that something you should be looking into? It’s bloody outrageous to come here and pester the boy in the middle of the night with nonsensical questions based on information from some youths who sound to me as if they’re trying to get themselves out of trouble.”

“Maybe,” Elinborg said. “We’re only doing our job. You’re welcome to complain to our superiors.”

“I might just do that”

“Do you want me to call for you?”

“Stop it, Ottar,” the woman said.

“No, I’m serious,” the man said. “This conduct is bloody outrageous.”

Elinborg had taken out her mobile phone. It had been a long day and she would have given anything to be at home. She could have had a word with Sigurdur Oli and agreed to come back in the morning, apologising yet again for the intrusion, but this man was seriously aggravating her. Everything he said was correct but he was being deliberately provocative and getting on her nerves. Before she knew what she was doing she had selected Erlendur’s number and handed the man the phone.

“This is the man you want to talk to,” she said.

Erlendur approached the house with Virote. It had taken them ten minutes to walk up from the town centre. Virote pressed the bell, the door opened and a man whom Erlendur assumed was Johann appeared, clearly upset, and started talking in a rush to Virote. He did not notice Erlendur at first but when he stepped forwards the man started back and stared at them both in turn.

“Are you from the police?” he asked, looking suspiciously at Erlendur.

Erlendur nodded.

“You’re Johann, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“What’s going on here?”

“Sunee wanted it this way. I’m trying to help her.”

“Where Niran?” Virote asked.

“Niran’s disappeared,” Johann said.

“Do you know where he’s gone?” Erlendur asked.

“No.”

“Home, maybe?” Erlendur suggested.

“No, I called Sunee,” Johann said. “She’s desperately worried.”

“Where can he have gone?”

“Impossible to say. He’s been more agitated than usual today. He’s in a bad way. He feels he should have looked after Elias better.”

“When did he leave?”

“I didn’t hear him go out”

Johann showed Erlendur into the kitchen.

“Not more than fifteen, twenty minutes ago. I had to pop out to the shop and when I came back he was gone.”

There was no mistaking Johann’s anxiety. He was of medium height, fair-haired and lean, dressed in a blue denim shirt and black trousers, and had a neat beard that he kept stroking down from his mouth.

“I heard at work that the police have been asking questions about me,” he said.

“You and Sunee must have known each other for some time if she trusts you with Niran.”

“Yes, nine months, more or less.”

“But you’ve been keeping it pretty hush-hush.”

“No, I don’t know. Hush-hush. We wanted to be cautious. I got divorced four years back and have lived alone since. Sunee’s the first woman I’ve met since my divorce who I really like. She’s special.”

“Are you planning to live together?”

“We’ve talked about my moving into her place in the summer.”

“You’ve been to her place?”

“Yes, several times. I couldn’t believe what happened to poor little Elias. I didn’t hear about it till the day afterwards because I was in the West Fjords on business and didn’t see the news. When people started talking about the murder, I immediately thought of Sunee. Then her brother, Virote here, called me from his mobile and Sunee came on the phone and told me what had happened. She told me about Niran, that he was in shock and in a terrible state and could he stay with me for a few days. He was frightened and knocked sideways by the whole affair as you might expect, and she was afraid for him, afraid that something might happen to him too or that he might do something stupid. I got back to town at lunchtime and found them waiting outside my house. Niran was a terrible sight. Totally destroyed. Sunee asked me to look after him and there was no way I could refuse, no way I could argue with her. It was just something I had to do.”

Johann looked at Erlendur.

“Niran wasn’t hostile to me as Sunee had expected,” he explained. “I hit it off with Elias straight away but she was worried about how Niran would react if we started living together. But Niran didn’t take against me. He may not exactly have welcomed me with open arms but he didn’t take against me. He didn’t take much notice of me the few times I visited them at the flat, though I managed to chat to him a bit about football. I was going to sort out a new computer for them so that they could get online. He was very enthusiastic about that.”

“And you talked about football?”

“We both support the same English team,” Johann said with a shrug.

“You didn’t want to get in touch with the police?”

“No, I did it for Sunee, for her and myself and Niran.”

“It didn’t occur to you that they might have anything to hide?”

“Niran could never have harmed a hair on Elias’s head. The very idea is absurd. Ludicrous. You’d know that if you’d only met them for a few minutes. Their relationship was special. I think that’s why Niran reacted so badly. They used to play together and Niran read Thai comics or books to Elias in the evenings. I told Sunee that I wished I’d had such a kind big brother when I was young.”

“How did you and Sunee meet?”

“At a nightclub. She was with her friends from the chocolate factory. I’d been at my company’s annual do. I didn’t know her at all. She invited me to dance and we danced and talked. She told me about Thailand. Then I got in touch with her a couple of days later and asked if she remembered me. We met again. She was completely open about everything, about Odinn and her boys and her work at the chocolate factory.”

“What then?”

“We started seeing each other regularly. It’s… Sunee … she’s positive and happy and sincere and fun, always sees the bright side of everything. Maybe it’s the Thai mentality, I don’t know. Then this happens, this horrific crime.”

“But you were a bit coy about the relationship?”

“We both were, actually. We didn’t want to rush into anything and I admit I needed to think about it. It was completely new and unexpected for me.”

“You didn’t tell anyone at work?”

“Only my closest friends, and recently my family, after Sunee and I decided to move in together. But the grapevine has obviously been buzzing because it didn’t take you long to track me down. I’ve asked Sunee to marry me. We’ve discussed getting married as early as this summer but I don’t know . . . then this nightmare happens.”

“Can you guess where Niran might have gone?”

“No. As I say, he’s been very restless all day”

“Did he mention anyone in particular? Anyone he suspected of committing the crime?”

Johann looked at Erlendur.

“He talked of revenge. He’d been involved in a scuffle at school with a teacher who threatened him. Niran didn’t want to say who it was but that was one of the reasons why Sunee hid him. She was afraid for him. He’s her only child now.”

At that moment Virote came into the kitchen holding a scrap of paper. He handed it to Erlendur.

“I find in Niran room,” Virote said.

The paper had been torn out of the telephone directory at Kjartan’s name.