“You’re supposed to say “should have”, not “should of”.”

She gave him a pitying look.

“Do you think it matters?”

“Yes, I do,” Erlendur said.

He shook his head, a remote expression on his face.

“Was the door open when you found him?”

Osp thought

“No, I opened it. I knocked and got no reply, so I waited and was just going to leave when it occurred to me to open the door. I thought it was locked but then it suddenly opened and he was sitting there naked with a rubber on his…”

“Why did you think it would be locked?” Erlendur hurried to say. “The door.”

“I just did. I knew it was his room.”

“Did you see anyone when you went down to fetch him?”

“No, no one.”

“So he’d got ready for the Christmas party, but someone came down and disturbed him. He was wearing his Santa suit.”

Osp shrugged.

“Who did his bed?”

“What do you mean?”

“Who changed the linen? It hasn’t been done for a long time.”

“I don’t know. He must have done it himself?

“You must have been shocked.”

“It was a revolting sight,” Osp said.

“I know,” Erlendur said. “You should try to forget it as quickly as possible. If you can. Was he a good Santa?”

The girl looked at him.

“What?” Erlendur said.

“I don’t believe in Santa.”

The lady who organised the Christmas party was smartly dressed, short and, Erlendur thought, around thirty. She said she was the hotel’s marketing and PR manager, but Erlendur could not have been less interested; most of the people he met these days were marketing-somethings. She had an office on the second floor and Erlendur found her on the phone there. The media had got wind of an incident at the hotel and Erlendur imagined she was telling lies to a reporter. The conversation came to a very abrupt end. The woman slammed down the phone with the words that she had absolutely no comment to make.