Page 23 of A Murder is Going Down

‘No.’

‘Or the funeral?’

‘Also, no. I’m afraid I didn’t hear about it until too late.’ He looks apologetically towards Elena, who waves hisSorryeyes away with her hand.

‘Then I don’t think so.’ Patrick puts down his phone so he can pick up a wine bottle and a pair of glasses from the table and waggles them at Elena and Adam. ‘Would you like one?’

Adam takes one; Elena helps herself to a Coke instead. Patrick mimes pouring himself a glass and Elena shakes her head.

‘Mike would let me,’ he says.

‘I don’t believe that for a second.’

Patrick turns to me. ‘What’s the legal drinking age in Switzerland?’

‘Sixteen,’ I say, wondering if he already knows this (and if so:how?).

‘You’re welcome to get on a flight to Zurich anytime you want, Patrick,’ Elena says. ‘Tonight, perhaps?’ She bumps into her brother lightly with her wheelchair as she manoeuvres in the small space to get past us. This mayor may not be an accident. ‘Will you excuse me?’ she says, not even trying to invent a reason to leave.

‘How did you know Felix?’ Patrick asks Adam, putting the wine bottle down.

‘I didn’t really,’ Adam says. ‘I work with Elena at the school.’

‘Ah.’ Patrick’s eyes flicker to mine so fast I would have missed it if I wasn’t looking at him. I can almost hear him whisperworkplace romancein my ear.

Aunty Sam walks past, pausing to pour herself a drink, and we all go silent, which isn’t at all suspicious. Even when she’s gone, it’s still awkward. I have no idea how to segue into the question:Did you have an affair with Elena and, if so, is it still going on and, if so, where were you on the night of Felix’s death?In fact, given that nobody has introduced me I’m not sure Adam realises I’m part of the conversation at all. I’m getting flashbacks to the first (also last) high-school party I went to.

‘You never met Felix, then?’ Patrick asks, sounding a little desperate.

‘Only the night he died,’ Adam says.

‘Ah!’ Patrick fails to hide his excitement that one of the people we’ve been hoping to meet has thrown himself into our laps the way a juicy salmon might leap into the outstretched paw of a grizzly bear.

Keep it together, man, I think but do not say.

‘You were at Felix and Elena’s that terrible night?’ Patrick confirms.

‘That’s right. Elena had invited a few of us from work.’

‘Wow, that must have been really traumatic,’ Patrick says and he manages to look genuinely concerned, which raises the question: is he a good actor or a good person?

‘Yeah,’ Adam says. ‘It was pretty horrible.’

‘What was Felix like that night?’

‘He seemed nice, friendly, chatty.’ Adam hesitates. ‘I know some people were saying maybe he did it on purpose, but he didn’t seem down to me. We talked a bit about bands – he was wearing a bright yellow Wilco t-shirt and I’m a big fan too – so we talked about that. We even talked about how the new Marvel movie actually looks like it doesn’t suck arse. He said he wanted to see it, he was making plans.’

‘I don’t know much about what happened,’ Patrick says. ‘I still don’t understand why Felix was even outside.’

If Adam realises he’s being grilled, he doesn’t seem bothered by it. Maybe he’s grateful to have someone to talk to at a party, even if it is a teenager who talks too much. I can relate.

‘I think he said he was going for some fresh air. Maybe that was code for having a ciggie or something and he didn’t want to get in trouble with Elena,’ Adam says.

‘And then Elena got stuck in the lift?’ Patrick asks.

‘Yeah, it was wild. Like a scene from that movie.’

‘Which movie?’ Patrick asks, which is not the point.