Then #2
‘This is a weird question,’ I say, following Aunty Sam to the kitchen, ‘but why were you at Felix and Elena’s house the night Felix died?’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘You were out at their house before Felix died.’
‘No, I was home.’
‘But—’
‘But what?’
‘Someone saw you.’
‘Who?’
We reach the kitchen, which is empty, and Aunty Sam turns to face me, looking more annoyed than guilty, which is a bad sign.
‘Adam,’ I say, not even hesitating before throwing him under the bus. The phone in my hand vibrates, but I ignore it.
‘Who the hell is Adam?’
‘Elena’s friend.’
‘I’ve never even met someone called Adam.’
‘He was here at the house the other day and recognised you. Dark-haired guy, um, kind of looks like the dude from Ted Lasso.’
Aunty Sam’s face wrinkles. ‘I don’t watch TV.’
Patrick appears in the doorway like he’s been summoned. ‘Jason Sudeikis,’ he says.
‘What?’ I’m so surprised to see him that I smack my hip against the kitchen bench.
‘The guy from Ted Lasso is Jason Sudeikis,’ he says, exhibiting zero shame at his transparent eavesdropping. ‘And where’s this iced bun I’ve been hearing about?’
‘Not him – the other one. Roy Kent,’ I say.
‘Who the hell is Roy Kent?’ Aunty Sam says.
‘That’s the character name,’ I tell her. I appeal to Patrick, ‘You know the guy I mean.’
‘Oh, yeah, the handsome one. Sure, why are we talking about him?’
‘I was trying to describe Adam to Aunty Sam,’ I say. ‘She would have seen him at the party here the other day.’
‘I don’t remember him,’ Aunty Sam says. ‘He must have mistaken me for someone else, because I was at home the night Felix died.’ She lifts a stack of plates off the kitchen bench and carries them through to the table in the next room, where Michael is slicing into a gigantic bread-and-sugar monstrosity.
‘Now, can we please have some of this bun? I’m starving. ’
‘Hey, Heidi,’ Michael says pleasantly. ‘Bun?’ (If I hear the word bun one more time, this bun is going out through the window.)
‘Sure.’ I take a seat next to Elena, who is either reading or pretending to read the paper.
‘Where did you go this morning, by the way?’ Aunty Sam asks me, taking the chair opposite. She probably thinks she’s changing the subject.
‘Just for a drive,’ I say, as Patrick says, ‘We went to see Adam.’
Okay, then.
‘Does everyone know this Adam?’ Aunty Sam repeats, clearly confused.
‘I’ve never met him,’ Michael says helpfully.
‘He’s a friend of mine from work,’ Elena explains. But she’s frowning. ‘Why would you go to see Adam, Heidi?’
‘I went with Patrick,’ I say, which is only sort of an answer.
‘Tell me you’re not still on this Veronica Mars bullshit,’ Michael says.
‘That was a great show,’ I say, looking at Patrick in search of a grin. But he’s not looking at me.
‘You’re not still trying to investigate Felix’s death, right?’ Elena says. She seems upset.
‘We’re not trying to investigate Felix’s death,’ Patrick repeats.
When Michael scoffs, Patrick keeps talking.
‘We were. I was trying to help Elena. But, after talking to Adam, it’s obvious that nobody else could have been involved that night.
Felix was out there by himself. Maybe he fell, maybe he jumped. But I’m convinced he wasn’t pushed.’
After the conversation in Patrick’s room this isn’t a total shock, but it also is. Patrick looks up, catches my eye, then immediately drops his own.
‘Sorry,’ he tells the table. ‘I guess we both got carried away.’
‘Thanks, guys,’ Elena says. Her eyes are still a little too bright, but she’s smiling or trying to. ‘I know you were only trying to help me.’
‘Do you have any plans for the rest of the time you’re here, Michael?’ Aunty Sam asks.
‘I thought we could go for a sibling movie tonight?’ Patrick interrupts, looking at Michael. ‘If you and Elena are up for it.’
This is the first I’ve heard of it. Michael seems similarly surprised.
‘Sure,’ he says. Elena nods too, looking pleased.
I try not to feel the snub and stuff an icing-heavy piece of bun into my mouth. Eating my feelings: always a great idea.
When we’re all full and there’s just a pile of crumbs left behind, I corner Patrick by the fridge. ‘I’ve got something to tell you,’ I say.
‘You were Team Logan?’
This unexpected response derails me entirely. ‘What?’
‘Veronica Mars. You seem like a Team Logan kind of a person.’
‘No, I wasn’t … wait, of course I’m Team Logan. Whose side were you on? Duncan’s?’
Patrick says, ‘I always thought—’
But I don’t let him finish. ‘No, don’t answer that, I’ll lose too much respect for you. Also, I have something important to tell you: Ben deleted that message from Felix off his phone.’
Patrick doesn’t pretend he can’t remember what message I’m talking about. ‘How do you know?’
‘Lilia.’
‘You’re talking to Lilia now?’
‘She messaged me.’
‘How does she know?’
‘She looked at Ben’s phone.’
‘Seriously?’
We grin at each other before Patrick remembers he’s over this now.
‘As much as I love that you’ve managed to turn Lilia against Ben, I really think we should leave the police to it,’ he says.
I’m not sure how to say the next bit, so I blunder in before I can overthink it into the ground. ‘Patrick, did something happen? This morning you were into this investigation like a disgruntled cop in a Nordic crime drama. Now you want to drop it like you’re that disgruntled cop’s boss.’
‘You’ve lost me.’
‘Was it something that Adam said or is there something else?’
Patrick doesn’t quite meet my eyes. ‘Nothing happened,’ he says.
‘I don’t want you to waste your time with this stuff.
I made a mistake: I was bored and let my imagination run away with me.
It’s only stressing Elena out and the whole point was to help her.
Plus, now we know she’ll get some money from the house even if she misses out on the life insurance. ’
‘What about your missing phone? You didn’t imagine that.’
‘Someone probably picked it up, thinking it was theirs.’
‘That doesn’t even make sense.’
‘I don’t know, Heidi, maybe I lost it.’
‘Oh, you lost it a long time ago.’ He grins at that one and I know he’s not completely done with me. ‘Can we do a deal?’ I ask, probably pushing my luck.
‘Depends.’
‘Will you come with me to talk to Jade and Haruto? They’re the only ones we haven’t spoken to who were there that night.’
‘That doesn’t sound like you’re dropping it.’
‘I’m going with or without you.’
‘Okay, okay,’ he says. ‘We can see Jade and Haruto. Then will you let it go?’
‘Sure,’ I lie.
We pause in the doorway of the kitchen.
‘I’m sorry about the movie,’ Patrick says quietly. ‘I would have invited you, but it’s kind of a sibling bonding thing.’
‘Don’t even worry about it.’
‘I would have liked you to come.’
There’s no opportunity for me to respond to that (which is good – I have nothing), because Michael comes along the hallway, accusing Patrick of having misplaced something from his half of the room, and whatever moment there was between me and Patrick disappears.
I go to my room and do something even sillier than everything else I’ve done: I text Lilia everything Aunty Sam said about not being at Elena and Felix’s house the night Felix died and ask her what she thinks it means.