Sun on Fire Read Online Free PDF Page B

about being in Germany?” he asked.
    “It’s kinda strange,” Gunnar admitted, looking around. “I mean, I’m used to hearing people speak German in Iceland. Tourists, and all. But here it’s everywhere. I’m fond of this language—I picked it up from my mom before I learned Icelandic.”
    Gunnar’s voice trembled slightly as he spoke.
    “I know you don’t like traveling,” Birkir said, “but why the hell haven’t you ever made the effort to come here before?”
    “My dear old mom has had a phobia about the country ever since she fled to Iceland,” Gunnar replied. “She went through something really bad at the end of the war, and I understand that the situation here was terrible. She came to Iceland from Lübeck, but her roots were in the eastern half—that was her Germany. She was sure she wouldn’t be allowed to leave the country if she came back to visit here.”
    “But after the fall of Communism in East Germany? Wasn’t she happier after the reunification?”
    “No, not at all. She thought it would all go down the drain. She’s totally convinced there’s going to be another war in Europe. It’s kind of an obsession. She was always very unhappy when I brought up the idea of going to Germany, and I just got used to the idea that it wasn’t going to happen.”
    “So how did she react to this trip now?” Birkir asked.
    “I told her I was going to the east of Iceland, to Egilsstadir,” Gunnar said. “You’ll back me up on that, won’t you?”
    “I’ll try,” Birkir replied.
    14:30
    The embassy driver stood outside the customs area holding a card with “Icelandic Embassy” printed on it. He was a neatly dressed, shortish, middle-aged man with thick dark hair carefully combed back. Sigmundur greeted him in English and introduced his companions as “the Icelandic police.”
    Gunnar nodded familiarly at the man, who bowed in greeting.
    “Please follow me,” the man said in English, leading the way out of the terminal building. Birkir nudged Gunnar and they fell behind the others. “Try to get to know this guy. He could be useful to us.”
    Gunnar nodded. “Let’s hear what he’s got to say.”
    The embassy car, a spacious BMW, was waiting for them in the short-term parking lot. The driver skillfully shoehorned all five bags into the trunk and then opened the driver’s side rear door for Anna, who stubbed out her cigarette before getting in. Sigmundur was about to climb into the front passenger seat, but Gunnar tapped him on the shoulder.
    “Hey, buddy, I have longer legs than you, and my butt is wider.” He smiled, revealing the gap between his front teeth.
    Sigmundur hesitated, but then climbed into the backseat next to Birkir and Anna.
    “Thanks for meeting us,” Gunnar said to the driver in German as they drove off. “I hope it hasn’t been too much of an inconvenience for you.”
    “Oh, you’re German?” the driver said. “How long have you lived in Iceland?”
    “All my life,” Gunnar said. “My mother is German. She moved to Iceland after the war.”
    “I see. She has taught you good German.”
    “We always speak German together. I understand that we sound somewhat old-fashioned.”
    “You speak excellent High German,” the driver replied.
    “Thank you very much for the compliment,” Gunnar said as he studied the distant outline of the city out the window. Then he added, “You have a bit of a problem at the embassy, huh? Do you know anything about it?”
    “No, hardly anything. We’ve only been told that a deceased man was discovered in the ambassador’s office yesterday morning. All the staffers are devastated. The Icelandic embassy building is locked, and they have to work in a couple of borrowed rooms in the Felleshus.”
    “So you don’t know who the deceased is?”
    “No, I haven’t heard anything else about it. Embassy Counselor Herr Ingason had a brief meeting with all the staff yesterday morning and told us that the deceased was not linked to