Page 12 of A Murder is Going Down

Aunty Sam disappears on an unspecified errand, Elena disappears to her room and Patrick disappears briefly, only to reappear in the garage where I’m pumping up the tyres on my bike.

‘Do you want company?’ he asks.

I finish with the pump and try and fail to brush cobwebs off the bike chain without getting grease on my hands. ‘I’m pretty much done.’

‘I meant at Elena’s.’

‘Do you even have a bike?’

He pats an old Indi 500 in surprisingly good nick, leaning against a dust-covered lawnmower.

‘Is this your aunt’s?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Do you reckon she’d mind?’

‘Sure. I mean, no.’ I hand Patrick the pump. ‘Knock yourself out.’

‘What doyouthink about Felix?’ Patrick asks ten minutes later as we pull into the train station, swiping our cards and heading for the platform.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Did he seem suicidal?’

‘No.’

There’s a whooshing noise and the train arrives. The nice thing about travelling on public transport outside peak hour in a city built on the assumption that everyone has a car is that we have a whole carriage to ourselves.

‘Aren’t you missing school right now to be here?’ I ask, which should have occurred to me before now.

‘It’s school holidays in Melbourne. Isn’t it here?’

‘Not until next week.’

‘So shouldn’tyoube in school?’ Patrick asks.

‘Special dispensation.’ Honestly, I’m not sure if it’s because of Felix or because nobody at school expected me back from Switzerland so soon, but the principal told Aunty Sam I shouldn’t worry about coming back before the school holidays. That means three whole weeks before I have to think about avoiding Ben and Lilia in the school canteen.

‘Do you know what you want to do after school?’

‘Psychology, I think. If I get the marks.’ Patrick cocks his head on one side to give mea look. I say, ‘What?’

‘You’ll get the marks.’

‘How would you know?’

‘Because you’re a super smart nerd.’

I hate that my cheeks go pink with pleasure at this. ‘How would you know?’ I repeat. ‘When I met you three years ago, I could barely pronounce all the names of those Greek gods in Percy Jackson. I’mstillnot sure I’m saying Hermes right.’

‘Hermes,’ Patrick says.

‘Hermes.’

‘Hermes.’

‘Shut up.’