Page 5 of Artful Deceit

“No.” He forced a smile. “Not usually. So there’s nothing you can tell me? You haven’t noticed any suspicious activity?”

“No.” Saffron ran her finger over his upper arm. “And it’s ever-so-quiet around here. If someone had come past, we’d havenoticed.” The scent of wine on her breath and the intrusion on his personal space had him taking a step back.

“If you think of anything, or see anything odd, please call the station.” Annoyingly, he didn’t have a business card to leave, but they could look the number up if need be. “And make sure you lock the doors when you go to bed.”

“We can continue the party, though?” Saffron asked.

Flynn nodded. “Just keep an eye out for anything unusual.”

“Want to stay and join us?” When Saffron ran a hand down his arm, he took yet another step back.

“I’m working,” he said. “Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

As he retreated to the road, Silas slunk away from the fire, wandering through the field and back to his tent. Saffron picked up her guitar again and continued with her dubious melody.

Flynn’s radio crackled to life when he reached the car – the sergeant asking where he was.

He told him he was on his way and turned around in the driveway ahead.

Chapter Three

HopingFlynn might return and pick up where they left off, Lily stayed awake for as long as possible. There was no word from him until she woke with a start the following morning to find a message apologising for having run out on her, and promising to call her in the morning.

She’d only been awake for ten minutes and was waiting for the toaster to pop when her phone rang.

“Morning,” she said, then pushed the toast back down again when it came up too pale. “How was your night?”

“Busy.”

“Yeah?” She wandered back to the living room. “There was really a burglary?”

“Two,” he said. “We left one place and went straight to another call.”

“Did you catch anyone?”

“No. We spent a long time looking though.”

Lily sank onto the couch. “Did they take much?”

“Just some cash, a watch and a few pieces of jewellery. Whatever they could grab quickly, by the looks of it. They also robbed another house, but they went unnoticed there, so thehomeowners only noticed this morning. We’ve just been out there.”

“You really have been busy.”

“Yes. This is more action than I’ve seen in the whole time I’ve been here. It’s typical that it’s when PC Hill is away.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “I’ll bet he won’t be too pleased to have taken his holiday time when there’s actually something to do.”

“How long will he be gone?”

“Just a week. Back next Sunday.”

Lily nodded, not wanting to dwell on PC Hill choosing to take his holiday time now – before Flynn left so he didn’t leave the sergeant short-handed.

“Sorry for rushing off last night,” Flynn said.

“Couldn’t be helped,” she murmured.

“You could have told me I had my T-shirt on back to front.”

“I tried! You wouldn’t stop to listen.”