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her empty coffee cup.
    'Were they the same age as Niran?'
    'Yes, I suppose they were around the same age. Coloured.'
    'But you didn't recognise them?'
    'No.'
    'You say you chat to Sunee.'
    'Yes.'
    'Have you spoken to her recently?'
    'Yes, a few days ago. I met her outside. She was coming home from work and was terribly tired. She's told me a lot about Thailand in her broken Icelandic. She speaks simply. That's fine.'
    'What sort of thing has she told you?'
    'Once I asked her what was the most difficult thing about living in Iceland or moving to Iceland from Thailand and she talked about how Icelanders were a bit reserved compared to the Thais. She said personal contact was more open over there. Everyone talks to everyone else, complete strangers will discuss anything quite happily. If you're sitting out on the pavement having a meal you're not shy about inviting passers-by to join you.'
    'And the weather's not quite the same,' Elínborg said.
    'No. People stay outside in all that good weather, of course. We spend most of the year indoors and everyone here lives in his own private world. You run into closed doors everywhere. Just look at this corridor. I'm not saying it's better or worse, but it's different. It's two different worlds. When you get to know Sunee you have the feeling that life in Thailand is much calmer and more relaxed. Do you think it would be all right for me to drop in on her?'
    'Perhaps you should wait a day or two, she's under a lot of strain.'
    'The poor woman,' Fanney said. 'It's not sanuk sanuk any more.'
    'What do you mean?'
    'She's tried to teach me a few words of Thai. Like sanuk sanuk. She said that's typical of all Thais. It means simply enjoying life, doing something nice and fun. Enjoy life! And she taught me pay nay. That's the usual greeting in Thailand, like we say hello. But it means something completely different. Pay nay means "where are you going?" It's a friendly question and a greeting at the same time. It conveys respect. Thais have great respect for the individual.'
    'So you're good friends?'
    'You could say that. But she doesn't tell me everything, the dear little thing.'
    'Really?'
    'I shouldn't be gossiping like this but...'
    'But what?'
    'She's definitely been having a visitor.'
    'We all have visitors,' Elínborg said.
    'Of course, no, it just occurred to me that it might be a boyfriend or something like that. I sort of have that feeling.'
    'Have you seen him?'
    'No, but I started suspecting it in the summer and again this winter. There was just the sound of people moving about. Quite late at night.'
    'And nothing else?'
    'No, that was all there was to it. I've never asked her.'
    'So you're not talking about her ex?'
    'No,' Fanney said. 'He comes round at different times.'
    Elínborg thanked her for her help and took her leave. She called a number on her mobile and was out in the corridor by the time she got through to Sigurdur Óli. She told him about the group of lads by the chemist's.
    'They could be his schoolmates,' Elínborg said as she hurried down the stairs. 'He could have gone home with one of them. They seemed to be about his age.'
    'I think Erlendur's been making a list of the two boys' friends,' Sigurdur Óli said. 'I'm going to meet Elías's teacher, Agnes. I'll ask her about the chemist's. The question is whether we ought to phone the chemist's too and find out if the boys were hanging around there.'
    'It might still be open,' Elínborg said. 'I'll check that out.'
     
    Sigurdur Óli rang off and ran up the steps to a house divided into three flats, in the vicinity of the school. Elías's teacher lived on the first floor and came downstairs to open the door. He recognised her from one of the photographs he had seen at the school. She took one look at Sigurdur Óli, with his short, precise haircut, tidily knotted tie, white shirt and black raincoat over a dark suit, and interrupted before he could even introduce himself.
    'No thanks.' She smiled. 'I don't even believe