8:03 PM.

It took her nearly fifteen minutes to read through all the documents from the safe and sort everything she’d learnt in her head. Compartmentalise it all properly for later. Seulgi stood there watching while she did so, always observant, always willing to help. That was one thing Irene had always liked about her, one of the first things that had drawn her to Seulgi – she would always jump in, no matter what. First in, last out. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, but at least she tried. Many chose not to.

By the time she’d finished reading it all through twice over it was 8:04PM and Mr Kim’s body had gone completely cold and it was still raining outside. Irene sorted the documents into a little pile neatly. They were still arguing over something intermittently downstairs and she listened and listened closely and then she grabbed the documents and said, ‘There’s a lot here. And I mean a lot. Like, everything. Holy , how did we manage to get this? This is the motherload. This is going to blow the doors right open.’

‘We? You mean you. I did nothing. I just followed you. How the hell did you guess the code to the safe?’

Irene shrugged shyly, her eyes scanning the room for anything she might’ve missed. ‘I just figured it would either be his birthday, the birthday of someone in his family, or his favourite hobby,’ she said. ‘And when I thought about the sort of guy Mr Kim was, I figured it would the latter of the three. And then I got to thinking about his pottery and what he said about his love for the Qing Dynasty. Just a very lucky guess, really. Would’ve looked stupid if I was wrong. But I wasn’t, so, hey.’

‘Yeah.’

‘,’ Irene said.

‘What?’

She stepped carefully around the other side of the chair and tried the top drawer of the desk and to her moderate surprise it was locked. So were the two drawers below. ‘Why didn’t I think to check these before?’ she said.

‘Are they locked?’

‘Yeah.’

She stood back and surveyed the room again. Other than the documents she’d piled out on the desk and the two vials beside Mr Kim’s head there wasn’t much to go on. She studied the little vials again. Nothing to them. One empty and one almost full that looked almost thick in the poor light, like a sort of transparent soup or something. On the shelf to her left behind where Seulgi was stood watching was a small black bag on the bottom and she stepped back around and picked it up and set it on the desk beside the documents and ped it and began fishing out everything inside. Most of it was vials of morphine and Heparin in small plastic pouches.

‘What are you doing?’

She scanned them all, pulling them out of the bags and reading the labels in the pale light and setting them down again. When she was finished she put the bag on the floor beside her and said, ‘No naloxone.’

‘What?’

‘The anti-opioid. The one used to counteract the effects of the morphine and other opiates. Someone must have taken it.’

‘But I thought we established that it could’ve been almost anyone because he went around telling everyone about it.’

‘Well, yeah. I was just making sure.’

‘Okay. What now?’

‘I don’t know,’ Irene said.

‘Do you wanna make out?’

‘What?’

‘Just kidding,’ Seulgi said. ‘I just felt like lightening the mood a bit. You’re looking gloomy. I never liked it when you got gloomy. Always made me feel miserable too. Like a big raincloud spitting out, well…rain, I suppose. A very moody raincloud.’

‘Yeah, I get the point. Can we please focus?’

‘When are we gonna—’

‘Talk? Later.’

‘I was gonna say make out.’

‘Also later. Maybe.’

‘Okay. Pinkie promise?’

‘Pinkie promise a maybe?’

‘Just pinkie promise in general.’

‘Sure,’ Irene said. ‘Why are you in such a rush to talk anyway? What do you want to discuss?’

Seulgi shrugged. She was playing with her nails again and Irene noticed it immediately.

‘Just things?’

‘Us,’ Seulgi said quietly. ‘If there is still an us. Is there still an us?’

‘I don’t know,’ Irene said, and it was the truth. She turned back to the body and bent down so that she could get to the pockets of his shirt without having to pull the corpse upright and risk it falling or disturbing the crime scene in any significant way. The blood had spilt on the floor and had pooled and dried against the leather of his seat and she could smell the iron of it, the faint tang. She got down on her knees to get a better angle.

‘Uh, what are you doing?’

‘I’m just…looking for something.’

‘This looks kinda wrong, not gonna lie.’

‘I’m just searching,’ Irene said. The next thing she heard was a knock on the study door, although it was already open, and then, to her eternal misery: ‘Are you two— oh. Uh, is now a bad time or something? What the are you doing?’

‘Nothing,’ Seulgi said.

Irene couldn’t see from below the desk but she could hear Yeri stepping closer. ‘Are you sure?’ Yeri said. ‘It looks an awful lot like, well…I think you know. Look, I know you’re both and all, but with an old man? A dead old man? Really? Some people have no manners at all. Far be it from me to kinkshame – I mean, I’m into some pretty freaky myself. Like, woah. Like…woah woah. I’m talking, like, melted candlewax and milk and honey, you know? How’s that one Rihanna song go? Chains and whips? Yeah. But necrophilia? That’s going too far, bro. Way too far. That’s a line I simply won’t cross. But hey, if you want to get it on with my dead granduncle while your girlfriend watches, then be my guest.’

‘God, will you shut the up for once?’

‘Ooh, tetchy, are we? Hit a nerve?’

‘Why are you even here?’

‘Came to see what you misfits were doing. It got boring listening to people shout at each other downstairs. Felt a bit like I was in an episode of The Simpsons, except everyone was Homer. Figured maybe you two outlaws felt the same way. But now I guess I see why you came up here for your privacy.’

Irene pried out what she was looking for from Mr Kim’s inside pocket and stood back up and dusted herself off. In the palm of her hand was a small brass key with a plastic fob on it. She held it up to show the other two.

‘Is that—’

‘A key. Yeah.’

She tested the drawers and the key opened all three. Inside the top two was nothing of note – a portrait of Mr Kim, some stationery, other bits and pieces. But in the bottom drawer was a single notice of termination printed on official creamcoloured letterhead, the only things missing being a signature from Mr Kim and the name of the terminated person in question. She held it up and read through it and nodded to nothing in particular.

‘God,’ Yeri said, ‘what are you doing? Leave that to the experts, yeah? Oh, I suppose you are technically the experts for now. What a world we’re living in.’

‘What’s that?’ Seulgi said.

Irene read through it again, just to be sure. Then she said, ‘It’s a notice of termination for a member of staff.’

‘Which member of staff?’

‘It doesn’t say.’

‘What?’

‘It’s blank. Look. Guess he didn’t get around to filling the name in. But I’ve got a good idea about who it is.’

‘Who?’

‘Is this what you’ve been doing?’ Yeri said. She was stood now by the doorway again with her arms folded, leaning against one side of the frame.

‘Yes,’ Irene said.

‘Snooping through my granduncle’s belongings.’

‘I wouldn’t call it snooping.’

‘Oh, no? What would you call it, then? Because he didn’t give you permission, did he? Unless I missed something earlier. No, don’t answer that one – I already know that he didn’t. So, yeah, it’s snooping. Might be for a good cause, but it’s still snooping.’

‘Why did you come upstairs?’

‘Because I was bored. I told you that already.’

‘And Wendy let you?’

At that Yeri laughed. ‘You think Wendy has the authority to stop me? From walking up a flight of stairs? C’mon.’

Irene studied her for a minute. There seemed to be no change in her at all, no fear, no suspicion, no anything. And that in itself was almost worrying. She thought Yeri would say something but she did not. She just stood there, smug smile on her face, as if she had been victorious. And so Irene took it upon herself to try and wipe it off. To try and take her down a peg. She scooped up the documents on the desk and slid them neatly behind the blank notice of termination and said, ‘KAIST.’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘You attend KAIST University, don’t you?’

‘That’s private. Whether I do or— wait, how did you know?’

Irene held up one of the documents about halfway through the stack. ‘It’s a proof of payment for a wire transfer to a KAIST University number,’ she said. ‘For one student in particular – Kim Yerim.’

‘Just Yeri, please.’

‘For Kim Yeri.’

‘Proof of payment?’ Seulgi asked, turning to her for an explanation. But Irene’s eyes never left Yeri. She said, ‘Estranged, you told us.’

‘What?’

‘You said you were estranged.’

‘I am estranged. Well, was. Am I now? I mean, technically speaking. If he’s dead, am I still estranged? I dunno.’

‘Enough of the games.’

Yeri glared at her. Downstairs they were still mumbling and the distant noise made for a rather distracting backdrop. ‘If you were estranged,’ Irene continued, ‘then what’s this?’

‘What is it?’ Seulgi said.

‘It’s a wire transfer. He was paying for your funding at KAIST, wasn’t he? Wasn’t he, Yeri?’

She was quiet.

‘Can’t be that estranged if he was willing to pay this amount of money. It’s not exactly cheap. This could feed a whole family for years. And that’s just one semester.’

‘So, what, exactly? What are you getting at? Yeah, he funded me. Doesn’t mean we got on well. Or that we even got on at all. What are you trying to prove?’

Irene pulled another sheet of paper from the pack and held it up so that they both could see it. ‘Here’s the date of the final payment,’ she said. ‘And here’s the dates of your enrolment and your graduation. Notice anything strange?’

‘The final payment date is a year before the graduation date,’ Seulgi said.

‘Exactly.’

‘Look,’ Yeri said, ‘why do you have to speak in ing riddles all the time? Asking people questions and getting them to answer it for you. Jesus, you’re like a school principal or something. “Repeat after me,” blah blah blah. Just do things normally. Use your ing words.’

‘Alright,’ Irene said. ‘If you want it plainly, I’ll put it plainly. The reason the payment date is a year upfront is because he was going to cut off your funding, wasn’t he? I don’t know why – I didn’t know him very well. Or you, before this evening. Maybe he was as sick of your bull as everyone else. Maybe he thought you were an . He finally realised it and decided to cut you off. Force you to fend for yourself. And then when you found out, you couldn’t take it. You flipped out. Maybe freaked. You hatched a plan to either make him pay up or kill him.’

‘Kill him?’

‘Yes.’

‘Wow,’ Yeri said. ‘You genuinely – genuinely – might be the stupidest person in this house. And that’s saying a lot, considering who you’re standing next to, and that dumb maid downstairs. But at least they can say that one of them is a failing artist and the other cleans dishes for a living. Don’t really have to be all that smart to do either of those things. What’s your excuse, Miss Investigator? Don’t have one? Didn’t think so.’

‘You’re deflecting.’

‘No, actually, I’m not. If you want an answer, I’ll give you one. First – and let me get this out of the way immediately – I had no ing idea he was going to cut off my funding, so thanks for telling me that. And thanks, granduncle, for…y’know, not ing telling me that while you were alive. Could’ve had the decency to at least give me that. Guess he really was an as well. But I didn’t kill him. Why the would I kill him? Ignoring the fact that I didn’t know he was gonna cut me off, even if I did know – which I didn’t – where would killing him get me, huh? Where would that leave me? I doubt he’s left me in his will, has he?’

‘I don’t know. I couldn’t find a will.’

‘You don’t need one. The answer is no, he hasn’t. You know why? Say it with me. Go on, both of you.’

‘You were—’

‘Estranged. Yes, bingo.’

‘He was right to cut you off,’ Seulgi said.

‘Because I’m rude? I’m an ? I’m a terrible person? Yeah yeah, save it for someone who cares, ya morally righteous cretin. Look, I get it, okay? You’re jealous of my honesty. Of how I can be unashamedly straightforward about everything. It makes you feel insignificant, doesn’t it?’

‘No.’

‘Oh, I bet it does, sweetheart.’

‘Don’t call me that.’

‘Why not? You gonna get angry or something? Ooh, maybe you could draw me a spooky voodoo portrait or something. Maybe that’d actually get your artwork to sell.’

‘What the did you—’

‘Seulgi,’ said Irene. She turned and saw the expression on Irene’s face and immediately relented.

‘So,’ Yeri said, ‘how’s that for your explanation?’

‘I think we need to go downstairs and have a word with everyone else. Multiple words, in fact.’

‘Lead the way, cowboy.’

They went on down to the rest of the group. They were all still sat around, drinking and talking, as they had been before. Something about it felt almost homely for a moment, strange as that was to Irene, before she reminded herself of the reason they were there. They all turned to her again. When they saw the documents in her hand they all seemed to straighten up. She walked around to the front of the room and eyed them individually and cleared .

‘What’s that, boss?’ Wendy said.

Irene held them up. ‘These are the documents from Mr Kim’s safe,’ she said.

‘What?’ Wheein said.

Sooyoung sat forward too. ‘How did you get them?’ she asked.

‘That’s for me to know.’

‘Well…yes. Of course. But why can’t we know?’

‘She’s a thief,’ Yeri said, taking her seat again. ‘She stole them from the safe. What? You gonna deny it? You know I’m right. Technically speaking, of course.’

Irene ignored her. ‘Every single person in this room has been lying to me,’ she said. ‘And I’m going to find out why.’

‘This is bull,’ Lisa said.

‘How about we start with you?’

‘What? Is that a threat?’

‘No. I just meant— never mind. Mr Kim said you were in line to become the next chairman of Hyundai Group.’

‘Sure.’

‘What he didn’t say was that he was planning to pull his consortium of shareholders out of Hyundai Group and look elsewhere. The documents are right here. He was looking at long-term sustainable options for car manufacturing in the future. And not with Hyundai. But you knew this, of course. You don’t need me flashing you documents, do you, Lisa?’

Lisa was silent.

‘No. Of course not. These things don’t just happen overnight, not on this scale. You’ve been discussing it with him already. You knew he was going to pull out. That’s why you showed up tonight when he invited you – to try and talk him out of it. You knew that him pulling his investors out of Hyundai Group would seriously damage your standing with the shareholders. That perhaps they might even be so inclined as to hire someone else in your place, someone tried and tested. Probably a man.’

‘That’s ist.’

‘What? No, I—’

‘So you assume a woman can’t do a job as well as a man, and they’d fire me for that?’

‘No. I just—’

‘She’s right,’ Wheein said. ‘That is kind of ist of you. And presumptive.’

‘Very presumptive,’ Sooyoung said.

‘Be quiet,’ said Wendy. ‘All of you, be quiet. You know what she meant. Sorry, boss, keep going. I got ahead of myself. I’ll shut up now.’

‘Thanks,’ Irene said. ‘So, you knew he was going to pull out because you’ve been discussing it for months now. That’s why you’ve been to the house, back and forth for these meetings. And why the maids said they saw you storm out the other day. Because you were angry at what was going to happen. You know you needed to do something. And if Mr Kim were out of the picture, you knew the other investors would be less likely to ditch in his wake. Boom. All the chips fall into your lap.’

‘So she did it?’ Yeri asked.

‘I’m not done yet,’ said Irene. She pulled out another document and pointed at Sooyoung.

‘H&H Enterprises.’

‘What?’ Sooyoung said.

‘The investment firm that you’re a major part of.’

‘Uh, yeah. I know. Why the hell are you telling me that? I know who I am, don’t worry.’

‘Yeah. And you also knew that Mr Kim knew about you defrauding investors of hundreds of millions of won.’

‘Wait,’ Yeri said, ‘I’m confused. Who knew what about who knowing who? And what? And where, while you’re at it? Go slowly. Jump back a step.’

‘Sooyoung here was luring in investors with promises of big money payouts and fleecing them out of their money. Think of it as a bit like a pyramid scheme, but with actual investors and real, big money. The only one she wasn’t scamming was Mr Kim, who had his own stake in H&H Enterprises, just like he said earlier.’

Irene held up another document. ‘Here’s the evidence,’ she said. ‘A list of accounts with direct transfers set up in your name – Park Sooyoung. Somehow Mr Kim had obtained a list for himself. He knew everything. And he was going to confront you over it. But then, you knew that, didn’t you? You’ve been close enough to him to know all about him. That’s why you’ve been back and forth all this time.’

‘So she did it?’ Yeri said.

‘Wait,’ said Irene. Now she drew out another form like it was a gun and levelled her accusations at Wheein. ‘You,’ she said.

‘Me?’

‘Yes, you.’

‘What about me?’

She turned to the others. ‘You want to know what Wheein here does? What her investments are actually in?’

‘No,’ Yeri said, yawning. ‘But I’m sure you’ll tell us anyway, so get on with it.’

‘She said she used to work with Mr Kim on a private equity firm, but that’s not true at all. It’s not a private equity firm. She’s a key stakeholder in Front House Publishing company.’

‘Front House?’ Wendy said.

‘Yes.’

‘Are you— what? Are you serious?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Front House is—’

‘The publishing company that publishes your novels, yes.’

‘What in the world?’ Wendy said. She looked from Wheein to Irene and rubbed her eyes and said, ‘Wait, Wheein has a stake in the publishing company that has me under contract?’

‘Not just Wheein. Mr Kim, too. But you knew that already, didn’t you?’

‘What?’

She turned to Wendy. Part of her felt bad for what she was about to say because she thought Wendy didn’t deserve it but she continued anyway, for the sake of completion. ‘You said you came by today because you’re a journalist,’ she said.

‘Yeah. I am a journalist.’

‘Sure. But you’re also an author. You said that. You’ve got, what, eight novels?’

‘Seven.’

‘Seven novels. And all with Front House Publishing. There was only one problem, wasn’t there?’

‘I don’t—’

‘Mr Kim was planning on buying out the entire company. Taking the whole thing over. And, well—’

‘He didn’t like you,’ Sooyoung said. ‘That face he made to you earlier on the balcony. Looked like he’d swallowed a beehive.’

‘Jesus,’ Mr Jae said. ‘Imagine that.’

‘What?’

‘Oh, nothing. Swallowing a beehive…god, that would be awful.’

‘Well, yes. I expect so.’

‘Back on topic,’ Irene said. ‘You knew he didn’t like you, or at least you had a hunch. And you knew that if he got the chance to buy out Front House, like it says he was about to do right here in this contract he’d had drawn up, you were out of a publishing contract. Out of a job. That sounds like a good enough motive to me.’

The look in Wendy’s eyes was almost too painful to see. She looked like a dog left out in the rain, all wide-eyed and trembling. ‘Boss,’ she said. ‘Boss, you don’t think I did it, do you? You don’t think I’d do that?’

‘No. I don’t.’

‘Oh. I just— I mean…I…I didn’t—’

‘Oh god,’ Yeri said, ‘are you gonna cry now, too? Is there anyone here that isn’t going to cry?’

‘What about him?’ Seulgi said, pointing to Mr Jae.

Irene shrugged. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘There was nothing in the safe on him. So, Mr Jae, what do you say for yourself?’

‘Nothing,’ Mr Jae said, glass in hand. ‘What is there for me to tell? My business investments are confidential. Mine and mine alone. No, you won’t get to see them, and no, I won’t talk about them. I don’t think they’re relevant.’

Yeri laughed. ‘That sounds like the words of a guilty ing man,’ she said.

‘You can think what you like.’

‘Oh, don’t you worry, sweetheart, I am.’

‘Sweetheart?’

‘What about them too?’ Seulgi said, nodding to the maids.

Irene shuffled the documents again and came up with the notice of termination. ‘Do you know what this is?’

‘How good do you think my eyesight is?’ Yeri said.

‘Not you. It’s a notice of termination for a member of staff here at the manor. But it doesn’t say who, because there’s no name on it yet. One of you three was about to be fired without recompense.’

‘Four,’ Wendy said.

‘What?’

She nodded to Mr Jang, stood off to the side.

‘Oh. I, uh…’

‘Forgot about him, boss?’

‘Yeah. Sorry, Mr Jang.’

He shrugged and was silent.

‘One of you four, then. And I’m willing to bet whichever one of you it was knew that already, didn’t you? Didn’t you, Jennie?’

Jennie’s head snapped up so quickly it looked almost comical. Like she had been caught in the very act of something that should be private. ‘What?’ she said. ‘What are you—’

‘Rosie said you had expensive taste.’

‘What? I don’t—’

‘Expensive bags, expensive clothes. Expensive jewellery. Right?’

‘What does that have to do with—’

‘Expensive jewellery isn’t hard to find here, is it? I noticed something was off when I first went upstairs. Before we knocked everything over. There was this cabinet with broaches and necklaces and rings, and some of them were missing. There were empty spaces. I wondered why. Thought it was strange that the rest of the room was completely full except for these little spaces. And then it hit me. You’re a kleptomaniac, aren’t you, Jennie?’

‘What’s a kleptomaniac?’ Jennie said.

‘Someone who can’t resist the urge to steal things.’

‘Oh. No, I’m not.’

‘You are.’

‘No I’m not.’

‘Yes you are.’

‘No, I’m not.’

‘Yes you— look, you are. Don’t try and deny it. Or I can go upstairs and turn your room upside down if you’d like. I’m sure I’d be able to find something there.’

She was about to step across the room when Jennie said, ‘Wait. Alright, wait. . Yes, I stole some ing jewellery, alright? I thought it looked nice. Maybe I am a ing schizomaniac or whatever you said.’

‘Kleptomaniac.’

‘Yeah. That.’

‘Schizomaniac,’ Yeri said with a chuckle.

‘Look, I’m not that smart, alright?’

Yeri laughed under her breath.

‘I stole some stuff, yeah. But that’s it. Just some dumb ing necklaces and stuff. Victimless crimes. I thought it all looked pretty.’

‘And you thought you could sell it,’ Irene said. ‘But Mr Kim wasn’t as senile and stupid as you thought he was. He knew you were stealing from him, from right under his nose, and he was going to fire you, wasn’t he? Wasn’t he, Jennie? The notice is right here. So, you panicked. You figure that if he’s not around anymore, you’ll get to keep the jewellery. Maybe smuggle some more out. Hell, maybe you’ll get a chunk of his inheritance money, too. Am I right?’

She was crying again now and Irene almost felt a pang of sympathy for her. ‘No,’ she stammered. ‘No, you’re not. I never— I never hurt him. I never hurt anyone. I promise I didn’t. I took some stuff, yeah, but that’s it.’

‘God,’ Yeri said, ‘there you go again, crying like a baby.’

‘I—’

‘Is everyone in his house an , then? Wait. Don’t answer that.’ She nodded in Seulgi’s direction and said, ‘What’s your crime, then? Apart from being a ty painter, I mean. Wait, don’t answer that either. I can’t be bothered listening. Is there any more whiskey? All that straining to listen really works up a thirst.’

‘So,’ Lisa said, ‘who are you actually blaming? Do you have an actual suspect? Or are you going to stand there and accuse all of us of different things and hope that something sticks? Because it’s not going to. You’re not as smart as you think you are.’

‘I’m with her,’ Wheein said. ‘This is bull.’

Mr Jae cleared his throat. ‘Bull,’ he said. ‘I agree.’

‘Are you going to keep us here?’

‘What?’ Irene said.

Wheein shifted on the sofa as if get more comfortable. ‘I said, are you going to keep us here?’

‘Keep you where?’

‘In this room?’

‘I’d like to, yes.’

‘But you can’t,’ Yeri said. ‘I mean, let’s be honest, what’s stopping us from just getting up and walking somewhere else?’

‘The threat of me shooting you?’

‘Ooh. Scary. No, William Stone, don’t shoot! Please spare me!’

‘William Stone?’

‘Yeah. C’mon, don’t tell me you don’t know William Stone. The first sheriff in American history? Appointed to the County of Accomac in the Colony of ia in 1634, serving two consecutive terms until the end of 1635 and also serving simultaneously as county commissioner? Later appointed to the office of third proprietary governor of Maryland? Seriously? None of you? God, read a ing history book for once.’

‘Well, okay. Doesn’t change the fact I’ll do it.’

‘Uh huh.’

‘I mean it.’

‘Yeah, yeah. Look, I can’t be bothered with all of this.’

‘Where are you going? Yeri.’

She was already by the kitchen doors when she called back. ‘I’m gonna heat the stew up or something. God knows I’m starving. You know, we still haven’t had dinner. Maybe we should do that, as a big, dysfunctional, murder-y sort of creepy family. I think that would be a great teambuilding exercise.’

‘If she’s allowed to leave the room then why aren’t we?’ Wheein said.

Irene sighed. ‘She’s not allowed to leave the room.’

‘Then why is she?’

‘Because— look, can you please just stay here for now?’

‘No.’

‘Great.’

‘I’m going to the bathroom then,’ Sooyoung said. She was already up before Irene could say anything. By the time she’d taken a deep breath everybody else save Wheein was up and Jisoo and Rosie were already halfway up the stairs and Jennie was crying into a tissue in the corner of the room. Irene glanced at Wendy, almost apologetically, and then at Seulgi. Then without another word she went back upstairs and into Mr Kim’s study. When Seulgi walked in after her she was bent down inspecting his desk and the empty safe.

‘Hey,’ Seulgi said.

‘Hey.’

‘That seemed…rough.’

‘Yeah, you can say that again.’

‘That seemed…rough.’

‘Uh huh.’

Seulgi was silent. It was a quiet that Irene didn’t like at all – one that implied neither of them knew how to proceed, what was the correct procedure for such a strange and morbid scenario. Standing there gazing at each other, almost stealing a smile, the corpse bloating behind them. Someone somewhere in the house coughed.

‘Who do you think did it?’ Seulgi asked.

‘Honestly?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Not a ing clue. But I won’t stop. I’ve got a couple clues about a couple things.’

‘Yeah,’ Seulgi said again. Then silence. The space between them was almost nothing at all and Irene could smell the peppermint lingering on Seulgi’s breath. She wanted to say something, to make sense of that which could not be made sense of. Instead she just stood there while Seulgi leant forward and drew her in for a kiss and then she closed her eyes and went boneless against Seulgi’s touch and then she was smiling.

‘Oh,’ she heard. They turned, caught again, terribly embarrassed. But this time it was Wendy and she was blushing. ‘Sorry,’ she mumbled. ‘I just— I mean, I didn’t— you know what? I’m just gonna go. Just gonna…play pool or something. Sorry for disturbing you. Please, uh…carry on. Or don’t. It’s up to you. Sorry.’

She left without another word. When she was out of sight and out of earshot Seulgi giggled.

‘What? What are you laughing at?’

‘Nothing,’ Seulgi said. ‘It’s just…I like her.’

‘Yeah.’

‘She’s cute.’

‘Cute?’

‘Yeah. Cute. Don’t you think?’

‘I suppose so. Minus the possibility that she’s a murderer.’

‘Do you really think she could have done it?’

Irene sighed. Her headache felt ready to crack her open like a walnut. ‘I don’t know what to think,’ she said. ‘Let’s just go get something to eat.’