Page 13 of Dead in the Water (Lily Larkin Mysteries #4)

Chapter Thirteen

A couple of tables were occupied in the ice cream shop when Flynn appeared in uniform in the middle of the afternoon.

Lily’s traitorous stomach cartwheeled at the sight of him, while the more rational part of her flashed with anger.

Instinctively, she turned away from him, though she wasn’t sure how pretending not to notice him would help matters.

“Hi,” he said, strolling up to the counter as though he hadn’t ditched her to hang out with Jago the previous evening.

Busying herself with tidying up the work surface, she only cast him a cursory glance over her shoulder as she muttered a greeting.

“I wanted to come earlier, but work’s been pretty busy.”

“We’ve been busy here too.”

“That’s good.”

Finally, she forced herself to turn, but looked at the ice cream counter rather than him. “Want an ice cream?”

When he didn’t respond, she lifted her face to meet his gaze.

“Are you angry with me?” he asked.

“Maybe.” She smiled tightly. “I’m not sure. Should I be angry with you?”

“I’m sorry about last night.”

She tucked her hair behind her ear, hating the part of her that hoped Seren might have got it all wrong and that his excuse about having to work had been genuine.

“Are we going to reschedule for another time?” she asked quietly. “Or are we not bothering?”

He shifted his weight and kept quiet.

A heaviness settled on her chest. “That’s what I thought.”

“Can we talk about this in private?”

“Hello!” Jessica said cheerfully, walking out of the back room.

Flynn smiled a greeting at her, then tipped his head in the direction she’d come from and walked back there.

Clenching her jaw, Lily followed him. “We don’t need to talk about it,” she said when they were away from prying ears. “It’s fine.”

“I’d like to explain.”

“You don’t need to. I know what happened – you decided you didn’t want to meet me after all. Which is fine. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got stuff to get on with.”

“Just let me explain. You don’t have anything so urgent that you can’t hear me out.”

“How do you know?” she snapped. “For all you know I might be off to have drinks with Jago Treneary… Or something equally important.”

Flynn’s frustrated growl was all the confirmation she needed.

“So you were with him? Was it an important police matter he wanted to discuss?”

“I’m sorry, okay. I panicked and lied about having to work.”

“It doesn’t even matter. Let’s just forget it.”

He opened his mouth, but she cut him off.

“Please, don’t. I know what you’re going to say - that you’re leaving soon and there’s no point in us starting something, but I don’t want to hear it because I think the truth of it is that you’re a coward.

” She hated how hurt she sounded - and even more, she hated the sympathy in his eyes.

“Please, let’s just forget it,” she said after a strained silence.

He rubbed at his forehead. “Are we still friends?”

“Yeah, sure. Whatever.”

“Lily…”

“There is something I wanted to ask you,” she said, cutting him off and waiting for him to give her the nod before she continued. “Are you treating Joseph’s death as an accident?”

He screwed his eyes shut and shook his head. “I thought we were talking about last night.”

“We talked about it. It’s all good. But I’d like to know about Joseph… what’s his last name?”

He stared at her for a moment, then seemed to resign himself to the subject change. “Joseph Whittaker.”

“Was there anything suspicious about his death?”

“No. Why?”

“I just wondered.” She paused, pondering what Rhys had said. “Where were his friends when he fell? Were they on the boat or still in the pub?”

“On the boat. Except for one of them who was staying in the hotel.”

“And the ones on the boat didn’t hear anything? He didn’t call out as he fell, or they didn’t hear a splash when he landed in the water?”

Flynn shook his head. “No.”

“Isn’t that strange?”

“They were asleep already.”

“At ten o’clock?”

“We don’t know what time he fell. It’s likely it was immediately after he ended his call with his son, but maybe he walked for longer, or he sat on a bench for a while. There’s no way to know for sure.”

“There are no cameras in the area?”

The slight shift of his eyebrow was enough for her to know that it had been a stupid question. Of course there were no cameras.

“Thanks,” she said. “That’s all I wanted to know. I need to get back to work now.”

He followed when she walked back into the shop. “I’ll talk to you later?” he asked.

She nodded, but was happy she didn’t need to specify how much later that would be. They may still be friends, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t furious with him.

And hurt, too, but she didn’t like to dwell on that.

She wanted to put it all out of her mind.

With the bell above the door signalling Flynn’s departure, she took her phone out and hastily typed out a message. She didn’t need to wait long for a reply, and a smile pulled at her lips as she read it.

“Do you think you’ll be all right here on your own for an hour?” she asked Jessica.

When she nodded eagerly, Lily made a dash for the door.