The hotel’s staff must have already been alerted and gone for help, since the concierge’s booth was empty; the reception desk was empty as well. Luca was unsettled at the thought that the hotel might have been unsupervised all night; and it might remain unsupervised from then on indefinitely. She looked behind the counter, which had been clean and empty the night before. Now a half-eaten sandwich lay on the desk, and a magazine called Teen Pussy, with its rather disturbing cover exposed to any passerby. Luca thought that kind of magazine must be illegal. She turned away from the desk and left for breakfast.

Most of the tourists followed suit. The restaurant windows looked onto the pool, where the body floated like an iceberg. Luca shivered as she munched on her whole grain croissant. Everyone tried not to pay attention to the corpse; they were all sure someone must have already called for some sort of help.

‘Shouldn’t we go home?’ she asked Robi. He shook his head no. Dark circles cast a shadow under his eyes; he looked tired.

He pointed at the pool with his fork. ‘Do you think people don’t die everywhere all the time? I bet someone has died in every single room in this building. Dozens must have died in the flat we’re living in. The streets that we walk every day used to be filled knee-high with bodies during the war. Still, we don’t move out of the city, huh?’

Luca nodded hesitantly.

‘We’ve paid for this,’ he said, his tongue dragging a morsel around in his mouth. ‘We’re staying until the end.’

Alexandra and Vajk showed up, each holding a tray with omelettes and coffee. They seemed fresh and well rested. They sat down at the table without asking permission.

They talked about the corpse outside, then about saunas and the bond market. Luca sometimes glanced out at the pool, at the dead man now on an eternal holiday. Time didn’t matter to him anymore; he was just resting, forever resting. We need to rest before we run out of time, she thought, and suggested that they go to the sauna.

In the changing room she looked out the window and saw senior citizens abandoning the spa. Like birds leaving the nest, wings packed into their trolley bags, they plodded towards the charter bus that seemed to have no driver yet. Their time was up, Luca thought. A sudden autumn breeze swept over the pensioners outside; shivering with cold, they gathered their linen summer shirts around their frail frames to preserve some of their body heat.

The swimming pool seemed empty without them. Children were goofing around in boredom by the edge of the water. A mother was reading her magazine on a deckchair; there was no adult around besides her to supervise the kids.