Page 110 of A Murder is Going Down

‘Why are they here?’ Michael is at the front door to the house, looking as confused as the inside of my brain feels.

Lilia ignores everyone but me. ‘I really need to talk to you,’ she says. ‘You’re not answering your phone, Heidi.’

I don’t know where to start so I don’t say anything.

‘What’s so important that you stalked Heidi out here?’ Patrick asks Lilia, who ignores him and addresses her next words to me.

‘I figured out the thing with Ben and Felix,’ she says, looking at Ben, to whom this is very clearly news.

‘What thing?’ Ben says.

‘Ben’s been cheating on me,’ Lilia says.

‘What?’ Ben says.

‘Oh no,’ Patrick says in a monotone. ‘You poor thing, Lilia, what did you do to deserve this?’

I would laugh if my body wasn’t still humming with adrenaline.

‘What are you talking about?’ Ben asks Lilia.

‘I found the WhatsApp messages,’ she says, sounding tired. ‘You didn’t delete them – you archived them.’ Then she turns back to me. ‘Felix found out and was holding it over Ben’s head.’

‘I don’t know what you think you saw,’ Ben says, ‘but I would never—’

‘Was Felix blackmailing Ben?’ I ask. ‘Because Ben doesn’t have any money.’

‘I don’t think so,’ Lilia says. ‘It was more like Felix just wanted Ben to know that he knew.’

‘That tracks.’ Felix wouldn’t have cared what Ben got up to with whom, except if he spotted a chance to have power over somebody else.

‘That means Ben had a motive to hurt Felix,’ Lilia goes on with the vibe of someone delivering a bombshell.

Patrick and I look at each other. Neither of us laughs.

‘You thinkIhad something to do with Felix’s death?’ Ben looks shocked. ‘I made a mistake. But I would never … Felix … Lilia …’ His sentences are falling apart.

‘Maybe Lilia should come inside with us for a chat,’ I say to Patrick.

‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ Michael says, looking into the house, where I can just make out Elena sitting at the kitchen table.

‘Lilia’s part of this,’ I say.

‘This is family only,’ Michael says.

‘Lilia basically is my family,’ I say, and Lilia shocks us all by bursting into tears.

‘Lilia,’ Ben says in a low voice. ‘They’re obviously in the middle of something.’

‘I’m going inside,’ I say. Michael steps back to let me in and Patrick and Lilia trail behind me. When I see Ben stepover the doorway threshold, I turn around and put a hand out like a traffic cop. ‘Not you, Ben.’

‘Heidi. You don’t seriously think I would have hurt Felix, do you?’

‘No, I know you didn’t have anything to do with Felix’s death. But you’re not welcome here.’

‘Lilia,’ he says, ignoring me. ‘Are you seriously going in there? Come on, we’ve got a lot to talk about.’

‘We’ve got nothing to talk about,’ she says. ‘Go home, Ben. And feel free to keep on going further, so I never have to see you again.’