Page 65 of Artful Deceit

“You don’t like him?” she asked Kit.

He shrugged. “I get dodgy vibes from him.”

“Only because he has an overprotective streak,” Seren put in. “If Kit thinks anyone looks at me funny, he takes issue with them.”

“That’s not true. Who else do I have a problem with?”

Seren opened her mouth, then closed it again with a hint of a pout.

“I don’t like him,” Kit said bluntly. “I’m allowed to not like people.”

“But you like everyone.” Lily dragged in a breath through her nose. “Seren once said if you don’t like someone, it’s a very bad sign…”

“Len’s harmless,” Seren said with slightly less conviction. “I really don’t think he was looking at me.”

“I don’t think he was either,” Lily mused.

“What?” Seren said.

Lily’s gaze was fixed on the horizon. “I think he was sizing the place up.” She swallowed hard. “I think he was figuring out what was worth stealing, and when would be the best time to slip inside and take whatever he had his eye on.”

“Len?” Seren said. “No way.”

“Oh, my god.” A wave of nausea swept through Lily as she felt absolutely certain she’d been right about Len at the start. “He’s played me like an absolute fiddle.”

“What are you talking about?” Kit asked.

“I have to go,” Lily said, then set off at a run.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Arriving at Len’s house,Lily was completely out of breath. She was also confused by the two police cars parked outside.

“What’s going on?” she asked when Flynn walked out of the house with a cardboard box in his arms. After depositing it beside an identical one in the boot of the closest police car, he turned to her with a triumphant glint in his eyes. “Len was the one who’s been robbing people.”

She swallowed hard. “How did you figure it out?”

“It occurred to me that your gut feelings about these things are usually right. So I took apart the pressure washer he was shipping off to the mainland and found a bunch of jewellery inside. I guess if we’d taken apart the vacuum cleaner the other day we’d have found something in that too.”

“What else have you found?” Lily asked as the sergeant led Len out of the house with a hand on his elbow.

“Bits and pieces. Mostly jewellery, a bit of cash, a few backpacks.”

Her eyes darted to the boxes. “Is this all the stolen stuff?”

Flynn nodded. “We’ll take it down to the station and go through it. Hopefully, we can get everything back to the owners.”

“Is my backpack in there?” she asked in a rush. “Can I have a look through and get it back?”

“Here she is!” Len sneered as he got close. “The island’s very own investigator.”

“You stole from people!” she shouted, unable to control her anger. “You stole from people who trusted you. And you lied to me. I trusted you, and you told one lie after another.”

“I don’t think you’re one to talk about lying, are you?”

“Come on.” The sergeant nudged him towards the open car door. “Don’t make a fuss. You’re in enough trouble as it is.”

“It’s her you ought to be looking into!” Len’s eyes blazed. “Someone should ask Lily Larkin questions. If that’s even your real name.”