Then #2
‘But Aunty Sam wasn’t at Elena and Felix’s that night,’ I say.
Adam shakes his head. ‘No, she was leaving. I didn’t know who she was until I saw her later at her house.’
‘How do you know it was her?’
‘I’m good with faces. Like I say, I nearly hit her car. I got a good look at her face.’
‘Did you ask Felix or Elena why she was there?’
‘No, I didn’t know who she was at the time. I assumed she was an Uber driver dropping someone else off.’
I’m too confused to do more than goldfish my mouth and I look to Patrick for help.
He’s also looking as baffled as though Adam has suddenly started speaking conversational French.
It’s a sign of how bad things have become that I almost wish Lilia was sitting at the table with us, so she could jump in and ask the questions.
‘Then what?’ Patrick asks finally when the silence is getting weird.
‘We went in and had some drinks. Cocktails. Elena made them.’
‘Who was there?’ I say, trying to get my head back in the game and away from the image of Aunty Sam at Elena and Felix’s on the night that Felix died. I already know the answer to this question from Sarah and Farnoosh, but it can’t hurt to double-check their story.
Adam ticks them off on his fingers.
‘Elena and Felix, Sarah and Farnoosh, and Haruto and Jade. And me. We had pizza. Drinks. It was nice. After dinner, Haruto and I went upstairs, then Felix walks in on us. Haruto and I came down soon after.’
‘In the lift?’ I ask. I’m thinking about the coincidence of Elena getting stuck in there just as Felix went outside and the possibility it wasn’t a coincidence.
‘No, we took the stairs,’ Adam says.
‘Why?’
‘Isn’t it kind of environmentally irresponsible to use a lift to go down one floor? Unless you’re in a wheelchair, I mean.’
Being lectured about climate change by a murder suspect? Sure, why not.
‘I guess so,’ I say.
‘We came down and Felix had already gone outside. Someone said he wanted air. We were sitting around chatting. Then Elena had to get something from upstairs, a jumper maybe, and you know what happened then.’
‘What was everyone doing while Elena was stuck in the lift?’
‘Sarah was on the phone with Elena, and Farnoosh went looking for Felix. At some point, she came back and grabbed Haruto.’
Synapses in my brain make a connection. I love it when they do that.
‘When you talked to Patrick at the party you weren’t sure if it was Farnoosh who went looking for Felix,’ I say. ‘But you are now?’
Adam looks surprised. Maybe even a little caught. ‘I think it was Farnoosh,’ he says.
‘Have you spoken to Farnoosh about that night since Patrick asked you about it?’ I ask.
Adam shrugs. ‘Sure. We’re friends.’
‘You and Farnoosh?’
‘Me and Sarah.’
I want to ask more about whether Sarah and Farnoosh told Adam about the meddling kids who came around asking them questions, but Patrick chooses this unfortunate moment to re-enter the chat.
‘What did you do after Haruto and Farnoosh went down to the water?’ he asks.
‘I went outside and used the telescope to watch them. Farnoosh was freaked out. I know she isn’t someone who scares easily. I was worried.’
‘What did you see?’ Patrick asks.
‘I watched them go down the cliff towards the water. I thought it was weird, because why would Felix go down there? I saw them find something. I didn’t realise it was a body until Haruto started doing CPR.
Even from far away I could recognise that that bright yellow Wilco t-shirt and I knew it was Felix. ’
‘What happened next?’
‘I ran inside, but Elena was still in the lift. Sarah was on the phone to the lift guy, so I told Jade what was going on. She said we shouldn’t tell Elena until we knew what was happening, but she phoned emergency.
As it turns out, Farnoosh or Haruto had called too, so that was a double-up.
The ambulance took forever. Elena got out of the lift just as Haruto came in and we had to tell her that Felix was missing.
When she asked, What do you mean missing?
we said he’d been hurt. Elena couldn’t get down to the water, so Sarah stayed with her while Haruto, Jade and I went down to help carry Felix up. ’
‘You weren’t worried about moving the body?’ Patrick asks.
Adam looks shocked. ‘We couldn’t leave him there.’ He looks at me as though I should understand.
Having never discovered a dead body I give him a tight-lipped smile. ‘I get it,’ I say.
‘Then the ambulance arrived and the paramedics must have known right away that Felix was dead, because they didn’t even take him to hospital.
We all had to stick around waiting for the police to get there while they took Elena to the hospital – for shock, they said.
Jade and Haruto went with her, but the rest of us were stuck at the house and we didn’t know what to do. ’
‘What did you do?’
‘Sarah started gathering dishes to do some washing-up until Farnoosh said something about it being a crime scene. That was shocking, because we thought it was an accident. At least I did. Isn’t it?’
‘We don’t know.’
‘That’s all I can tell you about that night,’ Adam says. ‘Felix was outside by himself, so I don’t see how it could have been anything but an accident.’
‘He could have jumped.’
‘I didn’t know the guy, but he seemed happy enough to me.’
‘Did Felix say anything else to you or Haruto when he walked in on you?’ Patrick asks, which seems like a non sequitur to me.
‘No. Why?’
‘Just curious.’ I try to catch Patrick’s eye for a clue as to what he’s thinking, but he’s staring at nothing.
Adam stands, scooping up his phone and keys. ‘I really need to go,’ he says, and we get up too. Behind Adam, Ben rises from his seat until Lilia pulls him back down by the hem of his t-shirt.
‘Be less obvious,’ I hear her hiss.
‘Thanks for talking to us,’ I say.
‘Sorry for your loss,’ Adam says to me. ‘I didn’t know your brother well, but he seemed like a nice guy. I was surprised.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Just … Sorry. I shouldn’t say.’
‘Please do.’
‘Felix was more charming than I’d expected. That’s all I meant. Elena didn’t talk about him much. I kind of assumed there must be a reason.’
‘Yeah,’ I say, thinking of my brother’s ability to turn his charm on and off as required. ‘He could be charming if he wanted to be.’ I don’t add that he rarely wanted to be with me.
‘He wanted to with us, then.’
‘Well, thanks.’
‘I’d even wondered … Uh, there’s no point in that now.’ Adam blushes.
‘What?’ I ask.
‘Just that Elena often came to work with bumps and bruises that she tried to hide. I’d wondered if Felix … had anything to do with that.’
I don’t know what to say, so I say nothing.
With his face tomato-red, Adam makes his escape. He’s halfway across the coffee shop when I remember something and jog after him.
‘Adam!’
He turns around, face wary. ‘Yeah?’
‘You weren’t having an affair with Elena,’ I start.
‘I really could not be more gay.’
‘But when you came over to Aunty Sam’s for the party, didn’t Elena tell you on the phone that it was too dangerous for you to come over?’
‘No. Was that the phone call you overheard?’
‘Yeah.’
‘All I can say is that it wasn’t me she was talking to.’
‘Thanks.’
We drive home in the car together. Nobody seems to want to talk and that suits me, because all I want to do is think.
I think about why Felix seemed so determined to charm Elena’s friends the night that he died.
I think about why Aunty Sam never told us she was at Felix and Elena’s house earlier that night.
I think about whether someone could have sabotaged the lift to distract everyone while they killed Felix.
I think about who Elena was talking to when she told them not to come to Aunty Sam’s house.
And, most of all, I think about whether there’s anyone in my life who isn’t keeping a secret.
(Kind of no, honestly, but we’ll get there.)