Page 11 of Dead in the Water (Lily Larkin Mysteries #4)

Chapter Eleven

For the first time since she’d opened the ice cream shop, Lily woke feeling unmotivated. Usually, she was raring to go and excited about the day, but today she felt groggy. She knew it was down to her cancelled plans with Flynn, and that fact annoyed her.

She shouldn’t take it personally. He’d had to work, but no doubt he’d call in the shop later and they’d make new plans. For all she knew, they’d be on their picnic this evening and she’d kick herself for overthinking everything.

Fresh air and a morning walk would probably perk her up.

Going to the harbour hadn’t been her conscious intention, but she supposed it made sense that she’d end up there.

It was eerie to think Joseph had died there. His life snuffed out, just like that. A chill crept up her spine, and she dragged the zip of her hoodie further up, despite knowing it wasn’t the temperature that caused her to shiver.

“Morning!”

She turned at the cheerful voice and smiled at Rhys, who loomed over her. The teenager seemed to grow taller every time she saw him – which was pretty regularly now that his girlfriend worked for Lily. She never saw him alone, though, and they rarely exchanged more than a polite greeting.

“How are you?” she asked.

“I’m good.” His eyes sparkled as he grinned. “Work has been busy.”

“Ted mentioned there’s been more interest in the boat tours.”

He nodded emphatically. “Holidaymakers love it. It’s weird because all we do is take them along and do what we’d be doing anyway, but they love learning about the lobster pots.

And they’re so fascinated by the wildlife.

I guess I forget that this isn’t normal for most people.

” He gestured towards the water. “I think having some reviews has helped to get more interest, but a lot of it is word of mouth, which is really cool.”

“You do a great job of advertising it.” That had been left to him since he was way better at it than Ted, his stepdad.

“I’m really glad it’s working out well.” The tourist trips had been her idea.

It had always been clear to her it was something people would be interested in, but seeing their business expand gave her a buzz.

“It was a good idea,” he said with a playful twitch of his eyebrows.

He seemed so much more mature than when Lily had first met him a couple of months ago. Which made sense since he’d left school since then and had started working for a living.

“I forgot my phone on the boat this morning,” he said, tipping his head towards the jetty. “I was just heading back to grab it. What are you doing wandering out here? Don’t you have a shop to deal with?”

“I do,” she said, amused by his playful tone. “I felt like some fresh air before opening time. It’s a little morbid that I ended up here.”

“Because of that guy who died?”

She nodded once.

“It was creepy. I’m glad we didn’t have any tourists with us yesterday, because that would have been an uncomfortable end to the trip.”

“Did you see him?” Lily asked.

“Yeah. Zack and Kev found him in the water when they were coming back in for the morning.”

“Not when they first got here?”

“No. But it’s still dark when most of us are heading out.

” He cringed. “It’s kind of gross to think he was in the water when we set off for the morning.

The police were here when we got back to the harbour.

It’s weird how your instinct is to look, isn’t it?

Even though you know it’s probably not going to be a sight you want to see, you still look.

I only saw him from a distance, but I sort of wish I hadn’t looked. ”

Lily’s stomach lurched at the thought. “I met him at the ice cream shop. I was chatting with him before he died.” She scanned the boats on the water, then looked along the harbour wall. “Which steps did he fall down?” she asked. “I thought there’d be a police cordon or something.”

“It was roped off most of yesterday,” Rhys said, pointing further along.

“Oh, yeah.” Lily only then noticed the small collection of flowers.

“I suppose they couldn’t keep the steps closed off for too long. People use them. Also, there isn’t much point in keeping them closed off.”

“I guess not. It just seems weird – that things go on as they did before.”

Rhys nodded. “I reckon his friends must feel awful.”

“How do you mean?”

“That’s their boat.” He pointed. “ Faith. ”

Lily was momentarily confused until she spotted the name on the side of the boat.

“Old people go to bed too early,” Rhys said. “If they’d stayed up a bit later, they’d have heard him fall, wouldn’t they? It must have been a decent splash. And when the harbour’s quiet, even the smallest noise sounds loud.”

His shoulders rose and fell. “If someone had found him quickly, he might still be alive.” He shrugged again. “Or perhaps the fall injured him so badly that it wouldn’t have mattered. But if it was me, I’d be wishing I’d heard something so I could’ve got him out of the water and tried to help him.”

“Yeah,” Lily mused. “I hadn’t thought of that. It makes sense though. Especially as the boat is moored close to the steps. Or have they moved it since?”

“No, it’s been there the whole time.”

“It’s so sad,” Lily muttered.

A voice in her head niggled at her. Wasn’t it strange that out of a group of five people, not one of them had heard anything?