The Family Upstairs

Libby and Miller Roe bang their fists against the bedroom door, but they can’t get it to open up. Finally, they hear Phin in the apartment talking to his cats. Phin opens their door and apologizes for locking it. Phin explains that he sleepwalks, and he locked their door the previous night to keep himself from entering their room while he was asleep. Libby and Miller Roe ask about their phones. The group goes into the kitchen, where the phones are charging. Phin explains that they must have left their phones to charge last night. Phin insists Libby and Miller Roe stay for breakfast, ushers them onto the terrace, and goes back inside to get breakfast. Alone on the terrace, Miller Roe says to Libby, “I don’t buy the ‘I was drunk so I locked you in your bedroom without telling you’ story. And I don’t buy the mobile phone thing either. I was drunk last night, but I remember my phone being in my hand when we went to bed. I smell a rat” (216). Libby agrees that Phin’s story doesn’t add up. Libby calls Dido and tells her she will be late to work but promises to make her afternoon meeting.