Page 82 of Artful Deceit

He replied immediately.Don’t worry about it. I finish work in a couple of hours. I’ll come over then.

She responded with a smiley face.

“Everything okay?” Jessica asked after handing over change to an elderly lady.

“Fine.” Lily glanced outside at the gorgeous blue sky. “Do you think you can manage alone for the rest of the day?”

“Yeah. Of course.” The flash of delight in Jessica’s eyes made it very clear she enjoyed looking after the place on her own.

After a trip to the supermarket, Lily got to work cooking.

When Flynn arrived two hours later, he looked into the flat with a frown. “Did you cook?” he asked, following her into the kitchen.

“I made sausage rolls,” she told him, “and a quiche and cheese pastries. All from scratch.” She turned back to him. “I thought it was about time we had our picnic.”

His lips twitched into a playful smile. “Great minds think alike,” he said, dropping his backpack from his shoulder.

“You made a picnic too?” she asked as his arms encircled her waist.

“Yes.” He dropped his forehead to hers. “I told you we’d get some decent weather eventually.”

With her hands on his neck, she looked him in the eyes. “I wanted to do something nice after I was so grumpy with you this morning.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said quickly. “But I do want to talk to you about some stuff. Which beach do you want to go to?”

Since neither of them was interested in venturing far, they settled for the quiet end of Porthcressa Beach and were soon tucking into a feast of a picnic.

“You never told me what you did that was illegal?” Flynn asked eventually.

Lily frowned. The last few days had been such a blur that it took her a moment to figure out what he was talking about. “Are you asking as a policeofficer?”

He shook his head and picked up another sausage roll. “Just your boyfriend.”

She couldn’t control her grin.

“What did you do?” he coaxed.

“Went into Gideon’s place through an open window. It was the only place at the retreat I hadn’t searched, and Len offered to lend me his ladder so I could get in there.”

“That’s when he planted the necklace?”

She nodded. “Apparently so. I thought he was helping me search.”

“He denied planting it.”

“He must have done,” Lily said.

“Yeah, I know, but it’s also not a bad thing that he’s denying it. If he admits it, he might also mention you were with him.”

“Oh.” She grimaced. “I didn’t think about that.”

“He hasn’t said anything, and I can’t imagine he will.”

“What’s going to happen to him?”

“He has to go to court next week for sentencing. I think he’ll spend some time in prison. After that, I guess he’ll need to find a new place to live. It would be awkward for him to stay on the islands.”

“He completely fooled me,” Lily said. “If it weren’t for Kit saying he didn’t like him, I wouldn’t have figured it out.”