Page 108 of A Murder is Going Down

‘Pretty suss that the note turned up right after I told you Haruto said he saw someone outside that night. I assume that someone was you?’ I ask.

Michael nods. ‘When I went outsidefor some fresh airas Felix, I hiked up the side of the cliff, staying off the path in case someone came out to look for me sooner than I thought they would. I didn’t mean to get so close to the window. I was trying to make it up to the road so I could walk to the train station and get back to my hotel before anyone saw me.’

‘Was that your hair that I found on a bush?’ I ask. ‘The thing I thought was a thread?’

‘Yeah, that was a genuine clue.’

‘And that is why you got rid of it.’

‘Sorry.’ He gives me a face that addsnot sorryto the end of his words.

‘How much did you know about this?’ I ask Patrick.

‘I figured it out after we saw Adam,’ he said.

‘How?’ I’m seriouslypissed offthat Patrick solved this before me.

‘It was something Adam said when we spoke to him thesecond time. He said that when Felix walked in on them, he – Felix, I mean – said, “I’ll knock next time.”’

Elena shakes her head and Patrick, despite everything, grins at her.

‘Michael says that all the time when he walks into a room and gets surprised. It’s a total tic,’ Patrick says to me.‘It wasn’t proof of anything, but it made me wonder. He nearly said it that night Lilia came over for dinner until Elena cut him off.’ Patrick’s eyes flicker up and down my face. ‘I was scared you’d catch that.’

‘Is this why you suddenly changed your mind about wanting to find out what happened to Felix?’ I say. ‘Because of what Adam said?’

‘I didn’tknowanything for sure,’ Patrick says. ‘But it got me thinking. Then I found Michael’s luggage tag and realised he’d lied about when he got to Perth.’

‘ButIfound the luggage tag,’ I say. ‘And it had your name – P Maidenhead. How do you explain that, if you’re not a part of this from the start?’

‘Actually, I found it first,’ Patrick says.

‘But the initial on the luggage tag was P,’ I say.

‘That’s me,’ Michael says. ‘Michael’s my middle name – first name is Paul. I always hated being called Paul. I was named after my crappy dad, which Mum thought was a good idea when I was born. I asked everyone to call meMichael instead when I was pretty young. Then I adopted it professionally.’

I’d thought Patrick was joking when he made fun of Michael for having a stage name. ‘Your mum called you Patrick and Paul?’ I ask, making a face.

‘I escaped with Penelope as a middle name,’ Elena says.

‘And Mum was too lazy to bother with a middle name by the time she got to me,’ Patrick says. The siblings laugh, which feels wrong in the middle of a murder confession.

My phone is a lump in my pocket and I berate myself silently for not calling for help when I had the chance. Now I’m stuck out here with at least one murderer and two co-conspirators who are planning to do what with me, exactly?

‘After you found the luggage tag, you came to me,’ Elena says softly to Patrick, leaning hard on her stick.

‘And yet neither of you thought to throw the bloody luggage tag in the bin?’ Michael says.

‘I asked Elena about it because I knew that she must be in on it,’ Patrick says. ‘No one would mistake her own brother for her husband. Plus, you know, sis, I don’t want to criticise your planning, but it was strange that you called your friend Sarah and not your husband when you were trapped in the lift. If you hadn’t known Felix was already dead, calling him would have been the logical thing to do.’

‘I told you we should have brought Pat in on it,’ Michael says to Elena. ‘He’s detail-oriented. I don’t care what his Econs teacher says.’

‘Measure twice, cut once,’ Patrick says. ‘That’s my motto.’

‘It’s bad enough thatyou’reinvolved,’ Elena says to Michael. ‘Patrick is a literal child.’

‘I’ma child?’ Patrick scoffs. ‘This was the worst-planned murder since Wile E Coyote tried to kill off Road Runner.’

‘Which time?’ I ask.