Page 97

“The necklace… I thought it was a cross, but it’s an anchor.”
Flynn moved beside her to look at the photo. “It’s clearly an anchor.”
“Yes. In the picture it is…” She looked at him in a panic. “But I’ve seen it in real life… Or I think I have.” Feeling suddenly stupid, she shook her head. “No. That can’t be right. She wouldn’t still be wearing the same necklace, would she?”
“She might,” Flynn said. “Where did you see it?”
“The owner is called Gail,” Lily said, thinking aloud. “It can’t be her.”
“Who?” Flynn growled.
Lily’s pulse raced, and she thought of the day she’d been at Glynis’s house and the way Maria had been so adamant that someone was out to get them.
“She meant me and her,” she muttered, knowing she was rambling but unable to stop herself. “She thought someone was out to get us. And if she’s using a different name, that could explain why she got so stressed about the papers on the table. Maybe because it had her real name on it. And if the necklace is an anchor it explains why she was so confused when I asked if she was religious…”
Lily fell silent and looked at Flynn, who’d returned to the seat opposite her. His patient gaze made her shake her head in an attempt to straighten her jumbled thoughts.
“Sorry,” she said.
“Who do you think it is?”
“Maria.” She closed her eyes as she let everything sink in. “I think Maria owns the ice cream shop.”
“The woman who lives with Glynis?”
Lily gave a curt nod. When she finally opened her eyes again, she expected Flynn to ask if she was sure. He didn’t speak at all though, just looked at her in that way he did when shewas investigating something. He trusted her judgement without questioning it.
“Maria moved to the island not long before I did,” Lily said, trying to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together. “And Glynis said they were old friends. Maybe from when Maria – or Gail, if that’s who she really is – lived here before. It also explains why she’s been keeping such a low profile and not going out much.” Her eyes flicked to Flynn. “Do you think Glynis knows? Has she been coming into the shop to spy on me and report back to Maria?”
“I don’t know,” Flynn said. “I wouldn’t rule it out.”
Lily pushed her fingers into her temples. “Maybe I’m wrong,” she said frantically. “I could be way off the mark.”
“Maybe,” Flynn said. “But I don’t think it will be difficult to find out.”
Lily nodded slowly.
“What were you saying about someone being out to get you?” he asked with a deep frown.
“When I visited Maria and she was ill, I don’t think she knew anyone else had received the welcome baskets. I think she had it in her head that it was only me and her who’d been targeted. At the time, I thought she was delirious from a fever or something…” She inhaled deeply as she thought back on Maria’s ramblings. “She thought someone was trying to kill us.”
“Why would she think that?”
“Good question.” Lily paused. “But we know there was a fire at the ice cream shop, around the same time that my parents died in a fire.”
“You’re thinking that might not be a coincidence…”
She shrugged. “Maybe that’s what Maria was worried about… that whoever started the fires is still out to get us.” Looking at Flynn’s bemused features, she slapped a hand over her mouth. “I sound crazy, don’t I?”
“No,” he said unconvincingly.
With her mind reeling, she looked bleakly at Flynn. “I keep wondering…” She trailed off, not sure she really wanted to voice what was on her mind.
“What?” Flynn coaxed.
“When I think about my childhood, I have this horrible feeling that maybe I grew up on the run.” She laughed at the absurdity of the words and dropped her head to her hands. “I realise exactly how this sounds, but when I look back, it kind of makes sense. The way we moved around so much and the way my uncle was always talking about needing to be prepared for anything. When he died, I found stuff at his house that didn’t make sense…”
“Such as?” Flynn asked.
She opened her mouth, then closed it again, feeling as though she’d said too much. “Such as the photo of the ice cream shop,” she said eventually. “He’d convinced me that my memories of it weren’t real.”
Sighing, she covered her face with her hands. After a moment, Flynn peeled her hands away and held them in his.
“We’re going to figure this out,” he told her plainly. “We’ll talk to Maria and get you your answers. I promise.”
Lily nodded, feeling as close to finding out the truth as she’d ever been.
She just wasn’t convinced she was going to like what she found.
To be continued …