Page 43 of A Murder is Going Down

‘He was still outside. Farnoosh went to find him to see if he could help, but, well, you know what happened.’

‘That makes sense,’ Lilia says.

‘Elena told me to call the number on the lift control panel, so I did. The technician talked me through a system reset and Elena was probably only in there for twenty, maybe twenty-five minutes, in the end.’

‘That must have been scary,’ I say, partly because it’s true and partly because Lilia’s intrusion into this interrogation is giving me the shits.

Sarah shrugs. ‘Honestly, it was kind of exciting. Better than playing Trivial Pursuit or something.’ She winces at her own words. ‘Obviously I didn’t know about Felix then.’

‘It’s okay,’ I say.

‘Pretty weird to have two accidents happen in the same night,’ Sarah says.

It’s more than weird, it’s suggestive. Did someone want to keep Elena trapped in the lift while Felix was being attacked?

‘Did anyone use the lift before Elena did?’ Patrick asks.

‘No. We took the stairs on the house tour.’

‘And Felix was outside the whole time Elena was in the lift?’ I ask.

‘He went outside just before Elena went upstairs.’

‘Did the lift technician say anything about what might have happened to the lift?’ Patrick says.

‘Like what?’

‘Could it have been done on purpose?’

Sarah seems genuinely surprised, like she couldn’t evenspellthe wordsabotage. ‘I’m sure it wasn’t.’

‘When did Farnoosh find Felix?’ Patrick asks.

‘It was before we finally got Elena out of the lift,’ Sarah says. ‘She … hold on.’ Sarah turns towards the door. ‘Farnoosh!’

Farnoosh appears in the doorway, phone in hand. ‘What is it?’

‘Do you have a sec or are you up against it?’

Farnoosh looks at the three of us, possibly trying to decide if we are worth her time. ‘I’m waiting for a call back from a dodgy councillor,’ she says. ‘But until then, sure. What’s going on?’

‘Farnoosh is a journalist,’ Sarah tells us. She turns to Farnoosh. ‘They want to know about the night Felix died.’

‘What about it?’

‘What happened when you went out to look for him?’

‘I thought he must be having a smoke just outside, but when I went out he wasn’t there,’ Farnoosh says. ‘I went up the path to see if he’d gone for a walk.’

‘Wouldn’t it be kind of a weird time to go for a walk?’ Patrick asks.

‘Kind of. But I wondered if maybe he was still pissed off from the fight,’ Farnoosh says.

‘Fight?’ I say. ‘What fight?’

‘The fight between Felix and Elena.’ Farnoosh looks at our uncomprehending faces, then at Sarah. ‘Didn’t you tell them about that?’

Sarah looks as comfortable as she would if Farnoosh upended the coffee table. ‘This is Felix’s sister and Elena’s brother,’ she says quietly. ‘They don’t need to hear about some meaningless fight that has nothing to do with anything.’