Page 74 of A Murder is Going Down

‘Elena told me she and Felix had been arguing before she fell,’ Michael says. ‘They were at the top of the stairs and the bag was right there. She stumbled over it, and she remembers Felix reaching out to grab her – she thought to steady her, but she fell instead.’

Michael’s eyes hold mine for only a heartbeat. (Probably a good thing, since he’s driving.) This is as close as he’s going to get to telling me that my brother probably pushed his sister down the stairs.

‘There’s no benefit in talking about any of this now,’ he says quickly. ‘Felix is dead. Elena’s rehab is coming along. She’s alive. Why are you even asking me about it?’

That’s probably the question he should have asked first.

I think about lying. I barely know Michael. Lilia is in the back seat and if I say this next bit in front of her, it’s admitting that she’s part of the team. But if I keep any more secrets in my head they’re going to start oozing out of my ears.

‘I wondered about your brother,’ I say.

‘Patrick?’

‘Do you have another brother?’

‘If only,’ Michael says. ‘WhataboutPatrick?’

‘I wondered if he might have had a motive to hurt Felix,’ I say. ‘Theoretically speaking.’

‘That’s ridiculous.’

‘Is it?’

‘Patrick’s a peach. He traps spiders to take them outside.’

‘Everyone does that,’ I say.

‘I kill them,’ Lilia says, which is an alarming thing to learn about a person, like finding out they floss their teethafterbrushing them.

Michael gives me a look that saysyikes, then keeps going. ‘But I know my brother. He would never have hurt Felix. Anyway, it’s a moot point – he was in Melbourne when Felix died.’

‘He wasn’t.’ I say it before I can worry about whether it’s a thing I should say.

‘What?’ The wheel jerks in Michael’s hands and the car follows. We’re lucky the road’s quiet.

‘Patrick flew into Perth two days before Felix died and lied about it. I found his luggage tag in the wardrobe. Why would he do that?’

‘What were you doing in that wardrobe?’ Michael asks.

‘That’s not the important bit. Patrick lied about when he got to Perth. He lives with you in Melbourne – how did you not notice?’

‘Patrick was staying with a family friend for a few nights in Melbourne,’ Michael says. ‘When I’m performing, I’m not always around enough to look after him. But even if he did fly to Perth before Felix died, that doesn’t prove anything.’

‘So why hide it?’

Even Michael can’t answer that. ‘Have you asked Patrick about this?’

‘No.’

‘Let me ask. I’m sure there’s an explanation.’

‘Like what?’ It’s Lilia from the back seat, joining the chat.

Michael looks in the rear-view mirror, then back at me. ‘What you’re forgetting is that it’s Patrick who’s been driving this whole Hardy Boys thing. Why would he—?’

‘Who the hell are the Hardy Boys?’ I interrupt.

‘You’ve never read the Hardy Boys?’ Michael asks. ‘It’s like Nancy Drew for boys.’