Chilled to the Bone

Chilled to the Bone Read Online Free PDF Page B

Book: Chilled to the Bone Read Online Free PDF
Author: Quentin Bates
Tags: Fiction, Mystery
all trust. Otherwise …” he jerked his head in the direction of the minister’s and his political adviser’s end of the office. “Otherwise you can have your balls ripped off and pickled instead of me.”
    H ELGI YAWNED IN front of the screen. The hotel manager’s office contained a computer that held all of the hotel’s CCTV footage and a plump middle-aged man was sitting alongside Helgi as he ploughed repeatedly through the same scenes.
    People scuttled across the screen at double their usual speed while Helgi’s companion, one of the reception staff, kept up a relentless commentary.
    “My dear, it’s quite amazing some of the things a person gets to see in a place like this. Especially at night. The graveyard shift can be most entertaining,” he said with satisfaction.
    “You work nights as well, do you?” Helgi asked, just to say something.
    “Oh, yes. I prefer the night porter’s shift. I’m the lord of all I survey at night when all the stuffed shirts are asleep,” he said with a wink that Helgi missed as his eyes were on the screen. He froze the picture.
    He pointed at a figure standing at the reception desk. “Who’s that?”
    “That gentleman is a Russian businessman. He’s something to do with herring, I believe. A regular winter visitor to these shores.”
    Helgi set the sequence to run again and watched the crowd around the reception desk, only looking up briefly as Gunna came into the room quietly and pulled up a chair behind them.
    “Any joy, Helgi?”
    “Nobody so far that … I’m sorry. Your name’s slipped my mind …” he said apologetically.
    “Gústav Freysteinn Bóasson, at your service. Known to his friends as Gústav and the staff and clientele of this place as Gussi,” he replied grandly, waving a hand to indicate his surroundings. “And you are?”
    “Me? I’m Gunna.”
    “Known as detective sergeant Gunnhildur to us food soldiers,” Helgi added wryly. “Who’s that character?”
    Gussi hooked a pair of horn-rimmed spectacles onto one ear at a time and peered at the screen. “Ach,” he said dismissively, “that’s nobody.”
    “And what do you mean by ‘nobody’?” Gunna asked sharply and saw Gussi flinch at her tone.
    “He works in the bar. He’s a rather silly young man by the name of Kolbeinn, I believe.”
    “Here,” Helgi interrupted. “That’s Jóhannes Karlsson, isn’t it?” The black and white figure moved jerkily through the lobby, looked from side to side and disappeared from view. “Gussi, where does that door lead?”
    “That leads to the bar. It’s quiet at that time of the morning.”
    “You were on duty this morning. Didn’t you notice him?” Helgi asked, pausing the replay.
    “I may have,” Gústav shrugged. “I was at the reception desk and we were quite busy. I can’t keep tabs on every person who walks through the lobby,” he said without hiding his impatience.
    “Is there CCTV in the bar?”
    “There most certainly is. In this city, Big Brother is everywhere.”
    “All right,” Helgi said with immense patience. “How do I switch this machine here to the recording from the camera in the bar?”
    “Choose number six from the menu at the top.”
    Glasses on the end of his nose as he switched camera, Helgi grunted with satisfaction as almost instantly Jóhannes Karlsson appeared in view. He was a tall, broad man with a deliberate way of walking. The camera caught him stalking across the empty restaurant and taking a seat at a low table where he opened a newspaper. A minute later a waiter appeared and spoke to him briefly.
    “No sound on this, I don’t suppose?” Gunna asked.
    “It’s just supposed to be good enough to recognize faces,” Helgi said, eyes on the screen. “This is exciting, isn’t it, watching someone reading the paper. Gussi, what’s the waiter’s name? The guy he spoke to just then?”
    “As I told you only a minute ago, that young man is Kolbeinn, one of the lowly staff like myself who
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