Page 28 of A Murder is Going Down

Marianne isn’t finished. ‘Once somebody parked me in and waited for me to come back. They wouldn’t move their car until I took their manuscript from them.’

‘That sounds—’

‘I was in the toilet at a party – aparty– when someone slid their manuscript under the cubicle door. It’s a cliché in the industry, you know, but it does happen. One writer got a job as a cleaner in my office, just to put his manuscript on my desk.’

‘Were they any good?’ I ask, because she’s clearly not ready to let this go.

‘Trash.’

I’m not sure if she’s talking about the authors or the manuscripts, but I let it slide.

‘You see why I had to ask,’ she says.

‘Uh huh.’

‘But the man,’ she nods at the lift intercom, ‘says there’s no sign of tampering. Something about an electrical surge and some work being done in the building. Apparently it’s happened before.’

I close my eyes and tilt my head back.

‘It might be another twenty minutes,’ Marianne adds.

How slowly would twenty minutes pass, I wonder, if we sat here in silence, letting the seconds strangle themselves?

‘Do you want to keep telling me the story?’ Marianne says. She’s probably asking herself the same question.

‘How about no.’

‘I’ve already said sorry,’ Marianne says, apparently shocked that a single word can’t work miracles.

‘I don’t think so.’

There’s a beat, and I can hear Marianne’s breath speeding up.

‘Tell me the end then. Who did kill your brother? You said he was murdered, so who did it?’

I don’t say anything.

‘I’m not going to beg,’ Marianne says, although I think she might.

‘I don’t feel like it.’

Marianne starts up with the breathing again. Short, shallow breaths, which I’m pretty sure is the opposite of what she should be doing. It’s like being trapped in a small space with someone attempting to blow out the candles on an invisible birthday cake.

‘Do you need to do that?’ I ask.

‘It’s. This. Or. You. Distract. Me,’ Marianne says.

I only pretend to be disappointed.

‘Okay.’

‘You didn’t really break into a doctor’s office, did you?’ Marianne asks.

‘Break in? Hardly. We had a key.’

Then

We break into Ben’s dad’s surgery. Except it’s not really a break-in because we have a key. It’s more like Entering Without Breaking. Not illegal (not until we get into those medical files, anyway), but also not … great.