Read Summerchill for Free Online Page A

behave out of the ordinary at all?’
    Aníta Sól shook her head and Helgi sighed inwardly.
    ‘No. He was just the same as usual.’ She shook her head and shrugged.
    ‘Has this happened before?’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Has he gone off before without saying anything?’
    ‘Not for as long as this. A few hours sometimes.’
    ‘But he’s always back at night?’
    ‘If he’s not working at a club, yeah.’
    ‘Does he drink? Use drugs?’
    ‘Hell, no. He’s a real health freak. He won’t even take an aspirin.’
    ‘What’s his temper like? I mean, does he get into arguments or disputes?’
    ‘He’s a big guy. People don’t normally argue with him.’
    Helgi made notes and closed his notebook. The sun had shifted a few degrees and the rich light no longer bathed the room. Traffic on the nearby main road hummed in the background. Aníta Sól looked forlorn in the paler light and Helgi started to feel sorry for her, wondering how someone so shallow managed to survive in such a tough world.
    ‘How about family? Has he got family close by? Do you have people you can call on for support?’
    ‘Yeah. I can go to my mum.’
    ‘And Axel Rútur’s family?’
    ‘There isn’t much. His father lives in Denmark and his mum is in the country at Kirkjubæjarklaustur.’
    ‘So he’s not a Reykjavík boy?’
    ‘Yeah. He was brought up here. But then his mum got a job as a housekeeper at this hotel place she works at and we don’t see her much these days.’
    ‘Siblings?’
    ‘There’s a half-sister who lives with their father.’
    ‘In Denmark, right?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    The place fell silent and Helgi stood up. He inspected the pictures on the walls, hands behind his back and leaning forward as if he were in a museum to peer at the framed photographs showing Axel Rútur with groups of similar beefcakes brandishing cups and prize belts.
    He stepped back, thought for a moment and took a card from his wallet.
    ‘Could you call me if you hear anything about Axel Rútur, or if there’s anything you recall that might be relevant?’ he said. ‘Or if he turns up?’
    Aníta Sól took the card and held it in one hand, as if it were fragile. She nodded and Helgi wondered what was going on inside that coiffured and carefully painted head.
    ‘Thank you for your time. I’ll be in touch when I’ve made some enquiries.’
    Rafn was as good as his word. A truck appeared two hours later loaded with timber and wallboards, and they sat down to review the day’s progress. Tadeusz munched a slice of cold pizza and Marek painstakingly rolled a joint.
    ‘Why the walls so thick, Logi?’
    ‘No idea. That’s what they want, so that’s what they get.’
    ‘Something not right about this,’ Tadeusz said with a smile.
    Marek lit up, puffed contentedly and passed the spliff to Tadeusz.
    ‘That’s their business,’ Logi replied. ‘I’m more concerned about where Danni is with the cash.’
    He reached for his phone and scrolled through it to find Danni’s number and, to his amazement, it was answered on the first ring.
    ‘Turn around, my boy,’ he heard Danni greet him, and spun around to see him coming through the open door.
    He sat down on a crate and reached for the last slice of pizza. ‘Pineapple, yuk,’ he pronounced, but ate it anyway.
    ‘Cash, Danni?’
    ‘Well . . .’
    ‘Danni, just for once, no shit. Please. The boys have worked like slaves and if you don’t stump up, the job’s not going to get done.’
    Tadeusz shook his head slowly and Marek blew out a cloud of aromatic smoke. ‘That’s right,’ he said slowly.
    ‘I only have four hundred thousand,’ Danni said apologetically, and smiled weakly.
    ‘Let’s have it,’ Logi said.
    ‘Listen, I can have the full whack for you in the morning.’
    ‘Cash on the nail, Danni. That’s what I agreed with your friend Rafn.’
    ‘All right.’ Danni grumbled and went through a pantomime of patting his pockets to find a bulging wad of brand-new 10,000 krónur notes