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cleared up that case last week, the tourist who was murdered on the volcano?’
    ‘That’s right,’ said Magnus. ‘Made some arrests yesterday.’
    ‘Good work. We don’t get that kind of case very often around here. Although you were up this way last year, weren’t you? With the fisherman from Grundarfjördur. And the murder today, of course.’
    Magnus nodded.
    ‘Are you staying here at Bjarnarhöfn?’
    ‘No. I just came up by car from Reykjavík this morning. I was planning to drop in and see my grandfather. When I got here, I knocked on the door of his cottage. There was no answer, so I pushed the door and walked in. There was no one there. I saw that the church door was open and so I thought I would check it out. That’s when I found him.’
    ‘And you didn’t see anyone else around?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘What did you do after you discovered the body?’
    ‘Dialled 112. Then I went back to the cottage to see if I could find any evidence of someone visiting Hallgrímur.’
    ‘And did you find anything?’
    ‘No. Nothing obvious. But maybe forensics will spot something.’
    The constable, Páll, had told Emil that Magnus had appeared tense when he first saw him, but he seemed cool now. Wary. Alert. Was this natural, Emil wondered? Possibly. Discovering a body would be very familiar to Magnus; discovering his grandfather’s body would be a shock. It was difficult to predict what a natural response to such a clash of professional detachment and private grief should be.
    ‘Aníta says that when she saw you through the kitchen window you were washing up a mug.’
    ‘Huh.’ Magnus thought a moment. ‘I could have been washing my hands. I had got some blood on them. That must have been what she saw.’
    Emil paused. ‘Páll said he saw you make a phone call just after he and Rúnar arrived. Who were you calling?’
    ‘The station,’ Magnus said. ‘Just checking in.’
    ‘I see.’ Emil smiled. Magnus smiled too. There was a long period of silence. Emil fondled a wart on one of his chins, the middle one.
    Eventually Emil spoke. ‘Do you have any idea who might have killed your grandfather?’
    ‘No. Absolutely none. I didn’t know him very well, and hardly know his family at all.’
    ‘You think they might be involved?’ Emil asked.
    ‘I’ve no idea,’ said Magnus. ‘But it’s a logical place to start.’
    ‘Indeed it is,’ said Emil thoughtfully. ‘I’m just worried about that mug.’
    ‘The mug?’
    ‘Yes. When you were looking for evidence in your grandfather’s cottage, did you find any?’
    Magnus met Emil’s eyes with a steady gaze. ‘No. Only a Sudoku puzzle open on the table. I assume my grandfather was working on that.’
    ‘No mug?’
    ‘No, as I’ve explained, I wasn’t washing up a mug.’
    ‘There is a mug on the drainer by the kitchen sink,’ Rúnar said.
    ‘I’m sure there is. Maybe that’s how Aníta got confused.’
    ‘When we check the mug for fingerprints, which we will, will we find yours on it?’ Emil asked.
    ‘I don’t think so,’ said Magnus. Then he hesitated. ‘Wait. I might have taken a drink out of it. After washing my hands.’
    Emil just looked at him. Magnus looked back. ‘If you’ve finished, Emil…’
    But Emil hadn’t finished. ‘Why did you allow Aníta and her horse to mess up the approach to the church?’
    ‘I wanted to show her the body.’
    Emil grunted. ‘Magnús, you must have seen dozens of murder victims in your time.’
    ‘That’s true,’ Magnus said. ‘Actually, that’s probably an underestimate.’
    ‘So you know how to examine a body without getting blood all over your shoes and traipsing it everywhere?’
    ‘Yeah. When I’m in detective mode. But this was my grandfather we’re talking about.’
    ‘Were you fond of your grandfather, Magnús?’
    Magnus paused, but kept his gaze steady on Emil. ‘No. No, I wasn’t. He was pretty horrible to my brother and me when we lived here. And he ignored me when I came back