Page 3 of Dead in the Water (Lily Larkin Mysteries #4)

Chapter Three

With the rain finally stopping and the sun appearing, Lily hoped the shop would be busier again. She propped the door open to set up the tables outside. The space was limited, but she could manage three small tables without causing issues with access on the promenade.

She was on her way back inside when she spotted a familiar face ambling in her direction. Lily smiled at Glynis automatically. Then she remembered her suspicions. If Maria was the owner of the ice cream shop, then Glynis surely knew that, and had kept the information from Lily.

She reminded herself that she didn’t know anything for sure. And that Glynis was recovering from her hospital stay and didn’t need unnecessary stress. It was the first time Lily had seen her out in a month.

As someone who’d always been so fit and full of vitality, it was tough to see Glynis looking frail. Shuffling slowly along the promenade, she looked every one of her eighty-six years.

“Hello,” Lily said, greeting her with a gentle hug. “It’s good to see you up and about.”

“Thank you, dear.” She patted Lily’s cheek with an affection that made Lily’s heart ache. Could she really have been deceiving her the whole time they’d known each other?

“How are you feeling?” Lily asked.

“I have to say I’m not feeling particularly fit. I was getting cabin fever, though. And I think I need to push myself if I ever want to get back to my previous fitness levels.”

“How do you feel about an ice cream?”

Glynis made her way to a chair at the front of the shop and accepted Lily’s help in lowering her into it. “I’m afraid my appetite is still pathetic. I’ve only been managing very bland food.”

“I’m sure you’ll bounce back soon. The fresh air will be good for you.”

“That’s what I think.”

“Do you want a coffee?”

“You’re serving coffee now?”

Lily nodded. “It’s not great. Whenever you want decent coffee you should go to the Cookie Jar.”

Glynis chuckled and patted her hand. “I could do with a glass of water, if you don’t mind. And if you’ve got five minutes to sit and tell me how you’ve been, that would perk me up no end.”

“Of course.” Lily smiled and made her way inside.

While filling a tall glass with water, she felt a heaviness in her stomach. Had Glynis come to visit Lily because they were friends and she was genuinely interested in her, or was she gathering information to pass back to Maria?

Heading back outside, Lily cast her eyes over Glynis and decided the notion was absurd. She barely looked fit enough to be out, never mind be on some convoluted spy mission.

Sitting, Lily filled her in on the shop, and how lovely it was to have Jessica working with her. Glynis smiled along, but wasn’t her usual chatty self. After five minutes, she feebly said she should get home, then waved away Lily’s offer to escort her.

Watching her go, Lily realised she hadn’t asked about Flynn, which was a sure sign she wasn’t back to full fitness.

Another thought hit her too – at the speed Glynis was going, Lily could easily nip around the other way and catch Maria alone.

Presumably, she’d be at home. As far as Lily could tell, she didn’t leave the house much.

It was another reason she suspected her of being the owner of the ice cream shop – she was keeping herself hidden because she was concerned about being recognised by someone who knew her twenty years ago.

“Hello!” Jessica said, arriving for work and breaking Lily from her thoughts.

With Jessica there to look after the shop, there was no reason she couldn’t finally confront Maria.

She smiled brightly at her chirpy employee. “It looks like the weather will be better for us today.”

“I hope it’ll be busy,” Jessica said, walking inside with her. “I love seeing the customers reacting to your ice cream.”

“I like it too,” Lily agreed, pushing thoughts of Maria aside and focussing on her job.

As she’d suspected, they had a steady stream of customers over the morning.

They took it in turns to take a lunch break, though Lily’s was only a quick dash up to the flat to grab a sandwich.

At a lull in the afternoon, she left Jessica to keep an eye on the place and wandered onto Porthcressa Beach to stretch her legs.

She walked the length of the beach and had started back towards the shop when she caught sight of Seren. With her striking red hair swinging in a ponytail, she was easy to spot as she strolled towards her.

“Jessica said you were out for a walk.”

“I fancied some fresh air,” Lily said. “What are you up to?”

“Just killing time before I start my shift in the pub.”

“Were you on the hunt for ice cream, by any chance?”

“Not really, no.”

Lily raised an eyebrow. “Should I be offended?”

“No. You know I love your ice cream. I just think I love it a little too much. I need to get back to eating ice cream as a treat, rather than every single day.”

“Fair enough,” Lily said. “I feel the same way. I’m almost sick of the sight of the stuff already. But that’s probably a good thing.”

“We should start swimming in the mornings,” Seren said. “A few years back I swam a few times a week, but I got out of the habit.”

“I’m definitely up for that.” The thought had crossed her mind a few times recently, when she’d looked out of her living room window to see people getting their exercise out in the bay.

“Anyway,” Seren said, linking her arm with Lily’s. “I haven’t got long, so tell me what’s up?”

“How do you mean?” Lily asked, dragging her toes through the soft sand as they walked.

“You seem a bit down? Or are you just tired now that you’re working for a living?”

“I am tired,” she admitted. It was a good kind of tired though. The shop kept her busy, but she enjoyed it.

“It’s probably a shock to the system being so busy. It’s also kind of amazing that you’ve done so much in such a short space of time. Don’t you think it’s crazy that just a few months ago you had no clue how to make ice cream or how to run a shop?”

“It is pretty surreal when I think about it,” Lily agreed.

She could have left it at that. Or she could have confided in Seren about the issue with Maria. She didn’t want to do that yet, though. Not until she knew for sure that Maria was the owner.

There was one other problem she could share with her friend.

“I had dinner with Flynn last night,” she blurted out, before she could talk herself out of sharing.

“That’s not exactly news, is it?”

“No. But he invited me to his place, which is unusual. And he said he was going to cook.” She dragged in a breath. “I got it into my head that it was a date…”

“Was it?” Seren asked.

“No. Definitely not.”

“Okay.” Seren seemed confused. “But you two decided you were going to stick to being friends, didn’t you?”

“Yes. We did. And that seemed logical. But last night when I got to his and realised it wasn’t a date, I was disappointed.” That didn’t quite cover it. “Actually, I was really annoyed with him. Which is a little unfair, but I couldn’t help it.”

“Did you say anything?”

“No.”

Seren squeezed her elbow. “Just because you agreed to be friends doesn’t mean you can’t change your mind about that. Talk to him and tell him you don’t want to just be friends.”

“I don’t know,” she said with a sigh. “He seems fine with things the way they are.”

“It doesn’t matter how he seems – you won’t know for sure what’s going on in his head unless you ask.”

“Maybe.” She glanced up at the promenade and spotted a large group entering the shop. “I should get back and help Jessica.”

“I better get to work, too.” They continued to the promenade together, then went their separate ways.

Lily got straight to work helping Jessica, and the rest of the afternoon was pleasantly busy. She sent Jessica home at closing time, but ended up staying open an hour later since every time she went to flip the sign on the door, more customers would arrive.

Keeping the customers happy by staying open longer had seemed like a good idea until she realised she still had to make new batches of ice cream.

The thought of that final task was tiring, but she soon got into the rhythm of chopping and blending ingredients. There was something soothing about the process and time went by without her noticing, but the tiredness hit her again when she moved three new batches of ice cream into the freezer.

Glancing from the back room into the shop, she spotted the tables and chairs which she’d forgotten to take inside for the night.

Now, the task felt overwhelming. Mostly, because there was someone sitting out there in the fading light, and the idea of having to make small talk – when all she wanted to do was collapse in bed – wasn’t at all appealing.

For a moment, she considered abandoning the tables and chairs for the night. But if there was a storm and they got blown around, she’d curse herself for her laziness in the morning.

Taking a breath, she psyched herself up for it.

It wasn’t as though she had to chat. All she had to do was politely shoo them away and pack up for the night.

She’d be tucked up in bed in no time.