Page 71 of A Murder is Going Down

I think about it all afternoon, while doing my laundry and tidying my room. I think about it while I’m in thebath, re-reading my old Hunger Games books, because somehow a dystopian nightmare is my comfort reading. I think about it while I help Aunty Sam set the table for dinner, which turns out to be the best carbonara I’ve ever had in my life.

Then this happens.

‘What did everyone get up to today?’ Aunty Sam asks brightly.

I’m too busy forking up long strands of spaghetti to answer.

‘I had a meeting with my boss to talk about going back to work,’ Elena says. This is news to me, although maybe it wouldn’t be if I’d thought to ask her a single question about her life during our chat.

‘That’s great,’ Aunty Sam says. ‘When are you thinking of going back?’

‘Probably when the school term starts.’ Elena smiles at me. ‘That’s how I knew you saw Haruto today. I called him to let him know.’

Patrick didn’t tell her after all. A knot in my shoulders loosens, just a bit.

‘Who’s Haruto?’ Aunty Sam asks.

‘A friend from work,’ Elena says. ‘Patrick and Heidi met him and his wife Jade today to, uh, get some closure?’ She meets my eyes and there’s a question there I’m not quite ready to answer. Am I dropping this?CanI drop this?

‘I thought you were dropping this,’ Michael says to Patrick.

Am I paranoid or is there something new in the look the brothers give each other?

‘We are,’ Patrick says.

I can’t help myself. ‘Haruto thinks he saw someone outside the house the night Felix died,’ I say and everyone looks at me.

‘Heidi,’ Aunty Sam says, shaking her head.

‘Did he tell the police?’ Michael asks.

‘I don’t know. He wasn’t sure what he saw,’ I admit.

‘He said it might have been a cat,’ Patrick says, wisely deciding not to bring up the wallaby theory and open himself up to fresh ridicule from his siblings.

‘Patrick said it might have been awallaby,’ I say disloyally. He gives me a look that’s at least fifty per cent amused, so I stick my tongue out at him and some of the tension flies out the window.

‘If someone was out there, the police will have found evidence,’ Michael says. ‘It probably was a cat.’ Then he smirks at Patrick. ‘You think they have wallabies running around the streets of Perth, bro?’

‘I saidmaybe,’ Patrick says. ‘And that was in confidence, Heidi.’

‘I thought I might go up to the house tomorrow,’ I say, even though I’ve only just thought of this, ‘and see if I canfind any tracks or … clues or something.’ I stuff the last of the pasta into my mouth, keen to leave the table so I can think.

‘How are you going to get out there?’ Michael asks.

‘I don’t know, bike and train.’

‘I’m not endorsing any of this. But I can give you a lift if Sam doesn’t mind lending me the car.’

I’m surprised by the offer. Michael hasn’t been Team Investigate. If anything, he’s been Team Wet Blanket.

Patrick looks surprised too, flashing Michael a look I can’t translate.

‘I thought you’d dropped this, Heidi,’ Aunty Sam says.

‘It’s not like I have anything better to do.’

‘You could help me clear out the shed.’