Page 47 of A Murder is Going Down

‘Yeah, he’s the eldest of the three of us,’ Patrick says. ‘I live with him in Melbourne.’

‘Where are your parents?’ Ben asks.

‘Dead,’ Patrick says bluntly. He’s only being half-honest, given he has no idea whether his dad is still breathing or not, but it shuts Ben up (which I think was the point).

I scramble to change the subject to something less depressing than the death of a parent. Unfortunately, sibling infidelity is the best I can come up with. ‘Maybe Felix found out about Elena’s affair,’ I say. ‘That could have been what the fight was about.’

‘Elena was having an affair?’ Lilia asks.

Patrick is nodding, but at me, not in response to Lilia’s question. ‘If he knew it was Adam—’

‘If itwasAdam,’ I butt in.

‘Who’s Adam?’ Ben asks.

‘Felix could have confronted Adam at the party,’ Patrick says slowly. ‘Things got out of hand and maybe Adam pushed him or Felix got aggro with Adam and it was self-defence.’

‘Sarah and Farnoosh didn’t say anything about Adam going outside with Felix,’ I point out.

‘Maybe they didn’t notice. Or they were covering for Adam,’ Patrick says.

‘I guess,’ I say, unconvinced.

‘Your mouth saysI guessand your face saysyou dickhead.’

‘I know conspiracies work in books and movies. In real life, I don’t think that many people can keep a secret for long,’ I say. I try not to think about the secret Lilia and Ben kept from me before deciding todo the right thing, which is code for at leastinforming methat they were arseholes.

‘We’ve got Adam’s number,’ Patrick says. ‘Assuming nobody stealsthisphone,’ he taps his second-hand phone through his jeans pocket, ‘I can arrange a time to see him. Are you free tomorrow or the next couple of days?’

‘I’m free the next couple of everythings. I have no plans,’ I say.

‘We’ve got school tomorrow,’ Ben says.

‘Sucks for you, bro,’ Patrick says.

‘Do you think Elena’s thetypeto cheat?’ I ask Patrick. ‘She seems too kind to do something that awful.’ If Lilia and Ben have any emotional wound from cheating on me, I’m pouring salt into it now.

‘She’s my sister, so I’m afraid I’m unable to consider her sex life or admit she has one,’ Patrick says.

‘Don’t be a baby.’

‘Fine. Objectively, I don’t think it’s her style. But I alsodon’t think there’s one type of person who cheats. I guess I don’t think that—’

Don’t say it, Patrick.

‘—cheating automatically makes you a bad person.’ Patrick sees my face and catches up (finally). ‘Although in some cases, it does,’ he adds.

‘Whose side are you on?’ I hiss, my lips practically on his ear.

‘Anyway,’ Patrick goes on, ‘it’s not like I know Elena’s type.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I was surprised when she married Felix.’

‘How so?’

Patrick looks like he’s trying to decide how much to say. Then he says it all. ‘Elena’s the best and Felix was not a great guy, Heidi.’