Page 26 of A Murder is Going Down

‘How was his mental health, would you say?’

‘My dad’s?’

‘Felix’s. Was he sad? Depressed? Would you say he had tendencies towards l’ennui that manifested in gloomy periods?’

‘Sorry, are you being serious right now?’

‘Did he listen to a lot of Elliott Smith?’

‘Patrick,’ I say, half-wanting to murder him, half-verging on hysterical laughter. This, I’m starting to realise, is my default position when it comes to all things Patrick.

‘I didn’t know Felix that well,’ Ben says. ‘It’s not like I read the patient files while I’m working.’

Patrick seems confused. ‘Working where?’

‘At my dad’s surgery.’ Ben, realising Patrick is not intimately familiar with his CV, explains, ‘I clean my dad’s surgery in the evening – for money.’

‘Patrick,’ I say, but he’s not listening.

‘Really,’ he says, now entirely focused on Ben. ‘That’s so interesting. Does that mean you have a key and you know the alarm code and everything?’

‘Uh, yeah.’ Ben looks at Lilia, who seems to realise where this is going even if she doesn’t know why.

‘Patrick,’ I try again. ‘Ben and Lilia are leaving. Maybe we should try talking to Elena or her friends?’

‘We need this,’ Patrick says to me, lowering his voice. (But it’s not low enough because Lilia and Ben areright thereand this isn’t like a Shakespeare play, where the villain can just hiss his asides at the audience while everyone else onstage acts like they’re wearing noise-cancelling headphones.) ‘We haven’t got anything to go on. Other than Adam I don’t think anyone who was at Felix and Elena’s that night is even here.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Lilia asks, but we both ignore her.

‘Felix’s medical records might give us some kind ofangle, if we’re serious about investigating his death,’ Patrick whispers.

‘Did you say you’re … investigating Felix’s death?’ Lilia asks.

‘No,’ I say.

‘Yes,’ Patrick says, and I fantasise about finding a cliff to push him down. ‘It’s to do with life insurance,’ he adds. ‘Elena doesn’t get the money if Felix killed himself.’

‘Oh,’ Ben says.

‘Oh,’ Lilia says.

‘Patrick,’ I say.

‘I’m not sure what you’re asking,’ Ben says, but I think he finally does.

Patrick grins at what he must see as the perfection of it all. To him this is all a beautiful coincidence and not a terrible idea. When he turns away from me and towards Ben and Lilia it feels like the sun has gone behind a cloud. ‘How would you like to do something that might make Heidi finally forgive the pair of you?’ he asks.

Now

‘Something’s gone wrong,’ Marianne says. ‘They should have fixed the lift by now.’

‘Well,’ I gesture at the four walls, ‘they haven’t.’

‘This is starting to get weird.’

‘Starting?’

Marianne gives me another one of those looks. I knew being stuck in a tiny lift with a claustrophobe would end badly.