Eventually they managed to get her out of the morgue and into a police car, which drove her straight home. Elinborg told the interpreter that the mother ought to ask a member of her family or a friend to be with her during this painful ordeal, someone close to her, someone she trusted. The interpreter passed on the message but the mother showed no response.

Elinborg explained to the interpreter how Elias had been found lying in the garden behind the block of flats. She described the police investigation and asked her to inform the mother.

“She has a brother in Iceland,” the interpreter said. “I’ll contact him.”

“Do you know this woman?” Elinborg asked.

The interpreter nodded.

“Have you lived in Thailand?”

“Yes, for several years,” the interpreter said. “I first went there as an exchange student.”

She said her name was Gudny, and she was slender and quite short, with dark hair and large glasses. She wore a thick woollen sweater and jeans under a black coat, and had a white woollen shawl over her shoulders.

When they arrived back at the flats, the woman asked to be shown where her son was found and they took her into the garden. It was pitch dark by now but the forensics team had set up lights and cordoned off the area. News of the murder had spread rapidly. Elinborg noticed two bouquets of flowers laid against the wall of the block of flats, where a growing crowd was gathering by the police cars, looking on in silence.

The mother went through the police cordon. Forensics technicians in white overalls stopped their work and watched her. She was soon standing alone but for the interpreter at the place where her son had been found dead. She knelt down, placed the palm of her hand on the ground and wept.

Erlendur emerged from the darkness and watched her.

“We ought to go up to her flat,” he said to Elinborg, who nodded in reply.