Page 71 of Artful Deceit

“That might be true if Uncle Derek were around to verify my story and explain that there was nothing illegal going on. But I have no proof that I didn’t acquire it myself and that I wasn’t planning something nefarious.”

Maria rubbed at her forehead. “What a mess.”

“Why did he have fake passports?” Lily asked desperately. “Was he some kind of spy?”

“No.” She huffed out a laugh. “Nothing like that.”

Lily sat ramrod straight. “You know why he had them then?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve been keeping secrets from me this whole time?”

“I didn’t know how much you knew,” she protested. “I didn’t want to raise old issues that would upset you for no reason.”

“Can you please tell me now, since whatever you know might be the only thing that stops me from spending the next decade behind bars.”

“I’m sure that won’t happen.”

“Please tell me whatever you know… the sergeant and Flynn will be back any minute.”

She squeezed her eyes closed. “It’ll sound insane.”

“My life feels pretty insane at this moment, anyway.”

She exhaled a long breath. “Derek was never convinced your parents’ deaths were an accident.”

“He thought someone started the fire at our house on purpose?” Lily whispered.

Maria nodded. “That was only the start of it.”

“The fire at the ice cream shop?”

“Yes. But that was alittle later…”

“How do you mean?”

“Derek had been asking questions. The fire at your parents’ house was deemed accidental. Faulty electrics or something. No one’s fault, or so they said. But Derek had his suspicions, and so did your grandma.”

“My grandparents all died either before I was born or when I was tiny. I never knew any of them.”

“You knew Clara. Maybe you don’t remember her, but she was a big part of your life when you were little.”

A lump swelled in Lily’s throat. “Did you know her?”

“No. But Derek talked about her a lot. She sounded like a force to be reckoned with.”

“She was my mum’s mum?” Lily asked.

“Yes.” She pressed her lips together. “I don’t know if you remember, but the house you lived in with your parents was on a cul-de-sac. Right at the edge of the town. Your mum had grown up in the house and was attached to it. Property developers wanted to buy out all the houses on the street, but your parents refused to sell. As far as I understand it, there were some aggressive conversations with the company that wanted to buy… and then your house burned down. Derek and Clara didn’t think it was a coincidence.”

“But they didn’t find any evidence?”

“No. And it seemed that someone didn’t like them digging into it.”

Lily shook her head. “What happened?”

“Your grandma got a couple of threatening notes. Then she was walking home from the shops one evening when she had a nasty fall down stone steps. It didn’t kill her outright, but she was in bad shape. I don’t think she was conscious much, but she came around for long enough to tell Derek that someone had pushed her. And that he needed to stop looking into your parents’ deaths and focus on keeping you safe. She told him to take you and get away from Truro.”