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probably was a skeleton or two rattling at the back of his closet. That phone call had shaken him badly, woken him out of a daze, and now he knew that he would have to shape up.
    He had a few extenuating circumstances. Times were hard. His wife had moved to Norway and taken their two children with her. They weren’t divorced. Divorce was a word they avoided, but every day that passed brought that possibility closer. His wife was a doctor and had been given the opportunity to take up a post at a large Oslo hospital. At the outset, Gunnar had moved with the rest of the family, but he struggled to find work, and was disappointedthat his BA in political science from an Icelandic university didn’t open many doors in Norway. In spite of his wife’s encouragement, he couldn’t face being a house-husband, even though she reminded him that her salary in those precious Norwegian kroner was easily enough to keep them and the children afloat.
    Gunnar was awake very early that morning, tired after a difficult night. Some nights, sleep became nothing more than a fleeting, elusive commodity, dipping in and out of consciousness, which was far from restful. But he had had more than one sleepless night without his colleagues at the municipal offices noticing. Of course, he couldn’t hide anything from Elín any more than he usually could, but that wouldn’t be a problem.
    Elín followed him like a shadow. They had studied together and then taken their first steps together in journalism. They were the closest of friends and this was a friendship that had not proved to have a positive effect on his marriage. The frown on his wife’s face whenever Elín’s name was mentioned bore witness to the lack of trust, as if it was assumed that he was in love with Elín and they were sleeping together. He had to admit, solely to himself and not to anyone else, that she was pretty magnificent, both smart and charming, but so far he had resisted any temptation. It had never occurred to him that she wouldn’t be available if he were to show an interest, and over the years he reckoned that he had seen plenty of clues to suggest that she might. Self-confidence was something he had never lacked.
    Now his marriage was in the worst shape it had ever been. Sixteen hundred kilometres and a whole ocean separated him from his wife, and relations had been difficult, with both of them dissatisfied and easily irritated. Under these circumstances he could hardly be expected to be completely faithful, at least not in physical terms. And it was a fortunate coincidence that Elín happened to be single these days.
    He had offered her the deputy mayor’s post the moment the news had come through that the mayor’s job was his. First he had to givenotice to the existing deputy, and Gunnar was happy to take on that battle, as getting rid of someone with close links to the previous majority on the council suited the new majority. He had no intention of moving north alone with no allies of his own to back him up and Elín fitted the bill perfectly.
    The appointment to mayor of such a small town wasn’t exactly his dream job, but it would do. It came with power and a decent salary, plus experience that would be useful later on. He had taken the initiative and applied for the post when an old friend had been elected to the council as part of the majority in power. Gunnar contacted him and found that the intention was to employ a professional manager, so Gunnar’s appointment suited them both. Gunnar found himself with a job that plenty of people had wanted and his friend on the council found himself with a mayor he could trust and support behind the scenes.
    A little icing had been needed on the cake to seal the appointment. During Gunnar’s six months in Oslo he had applied for an unpaid internship at a Norwegian ministry. His application had been received favourably, although he had the feeling that this was no great achievement as they probably accepted anyone who