Page 45 of A Murder is Going Down

‘Was Elena particularly close to anyone at work?’ I ask when neither Patrick nor Lilia says anything.

‘We were all pretty close,’ she says. ‘School environments can be kind of intense, so when you find other teachers you like, you tend to stick together.’

‘She wasn’t closer to any one person in particular?’

‘Haruto maybe?’

‘Not Adam?’

‘Adam?’ Sarah seems surprised. ‘No more than anyone else. They did go on a school camping trip a few weeks before Felix died, I guess.’

I can feel Patrick’s eyes on me.

There’s an awkward little pause where none of us seems to know what to say. Then another one.

‘Thanks for having us today, Sarah,’ Lilia says finally, standing up. ‘We won’t take up any more of your time.’ She always did know the right moment to leave.

‘Talking to you has really helped,’ Patrick says, laying it on a bit thick. ‘Right, Heidi?’

‘Uh, yeah.’ I try to get into my role as traumatised teen in need of catharsis. ‘It’s a relief to know he was surrounded by, uh, friends before he died.’ This is a stretch, but Sarah, who is probably a nicer person than me, seems to buy it.

‘We’d like to talk to everyone who was there that night,’ Patrick says, pulling out his newly acquired secondhand phone. ‘Would you be comfortable passing on their numbers? I don’t want to trouble my sister.’

‘Um. Sure.’

Phone numbers are exchanged and small talk is made before it’s time for us to go.

‘Are we still on for a lesson on Friday?’ Sarah asks Lilia at the door.

‘Sure. Thanks again for having us.’

‘I know what Heidi means to you, Lilia,’ Sarah says, and I examine the tips of my brogues. ‘It was nice to meet you,’ she says to me. ‘I’m so sorry about Felix. He seemed like a sweet guy.’

A sweet guy.The phrase sticks with me as we say our goodbyes and return to the car and a sulky Ben. Felix was many things. He was confident, arrogant, talented, petty, charismatic, mean and he could choose to be very charming when he wanted to make the effort. But sweet? That’s the one description of my brother I find impossible to believe.

Now

The hatch door drops to the floor of the lift with a clang and I look up into a square of darkness, thinking of every movie I’ve seen where someone goes gallivanting into a lift shaft. It rarely ends well for them.

‘Nice work,’ I say.

‘Thanks.’ Marianne drops to the floor too.

The intercom buzzes. ‘Hello, are you there?’

‘He’s watching us,’ Marianne pants.

‘You talk to him,’ I say, because this Marianne Bond, who’s come out of nowhere with her mad Pilates skills, doesn’t need me to hold her hand.

Marianne takes a second to catch her breath, then presses the button. ‘What is it?’ she says.

‘Good news. The fault has been fixed. We’re running diagnostics right now, but we should have you moving in five minutes.’ The apologetic tone has been replaced by something closer to the voice an obstetrician might use when they present a new mother with their healthy baby.

Marianne unclenches, just a bit. ‘Seriously? Five minutes.’

‘That’s what I’m told. Might be sooner.’

Marianne looks at me.