Page 33 of Dead in the Water (Lily Larkin Mysteries #4)

Chapter Thirty-Three

Through the wardrobe door, Russell’s voice hit Lily’s ears, soft but distinct.

“You could have let Joyce have the room.”

Cautiously, Lily shifted her weight and squinted through the tiny slit at the edge of the door.

Kerry draped her arms around Russell’s neck. “You deserve the bigger room. It would be nice if you’d just say thank you.”

“Thanks,” he said begrudgingly.

“You can thank me properly the next time we reach port. We’ll slip away from Vic for a little shopping spree. I always think a proper thank you involves diamonds.”

He sighed. “More jewellery to add to your collection of items you can’t wear – and have to keep hidden from your husband.”

“I still love it. And I love thinking about the day I’ll be able to wear it without having to worry about Vic asking questions.” She sagged against him. “I do appreciate your generosity. It makes me feel loved.”

He took a subtle step away from her. “I spoke to James this morning.”

“Oh? What about?”

“About me buying his share of the boat. I told him I’d pay him the full amount that his dad wanted.”

“Why?” Kerry pulled back from him. “You insisted the price you offered Joseph was fair.”

“It was…”

Kerry’s eyes flashed with anger. “Don’t tell me this is about Lisa?”

“Why would it be anything to do with Lisa? She’s dead.”

“I thought you’d put that photo on your phone to annoy me, but you still have a stupid crush on her, don’t you?”

Russell exhaled loudly but didn’t say anything.

“That’s why you told James you’d give him more money for the boat. Because of your feelings for his mum. I can’t see why else since he’d already agreed to sell for less. He just wanted a quick sale.”

“I felt bad for him, that’s all.” He walked across the room and out of Lily’s field of vision. “And maybe I felt a little guilty about the way I left things with Joseph.”

“You always said he wanted too much for his share.”

“Even so, it left a bad taste in my mouth.”

“So you’re not still pining for Lisa?”

The silence went a beat too long, and even without being able to see him, Lily was sure he was thinking carefully about his reply.

“Let’s stop dwelling on the past, shall we? Time to look to the future.”

The sound of the door opening was followed by Vic’s voice.

“Trying to steal my wife,” he said, making Lily cringe at his jokey tone.

If only he knew.

“Just thanking her for bullying Joyce into letting me have the bigger cabin,” Russell said, tension clear in his tone.

“Oh, yes.” Vic chuckled. “If there’s one thing Kerry’s good at it’s brow beating poor Joyce.”

“Thanks,” Kerry said sarcastically. “Glad to know you think so highly of me.”

“I’m going to check the weather reports one more time before we leave,” Russell said, before the door to the cabin clicked.

Through the crack, Lily watched Vic take a seat on the bed.

“What are you grinning about?” Kerry snapped. “Sometimes I’d swear you enjoy swindling him.”

Vic barked out a laugh. “I’m swindling him? He’s the one sleeping with my wife.”

Shock almost had Lily blowing her cover. She pressed her hand over her mouth to ensure no sound escaped. Vic already knew that Kerry was cheating on him. And apparently he wasn’t overly concerned by it.

“He’s actually a sweet man,” Kerry said defensively. “Don’t you feel bad at all?”

“Do I feel bad about fleecing the guy who’s sleeping with my wife? No, I can’t say I lose a lot of sleep over that.”

Through the silence, Lily could almost feel the tension in the room.

“Listen,” Vic said calmly. “Just get a couple more pieces of jewellery from him, then let him down gently. Tell him you feel too guilty or something. You’ll need to be careful because we don’t want to lose him as captain. Not now we’ll finally be able to do all the travelling we planned.”

“What if I don’t want to break things off?” Kerry said quietly.

Lily turned her ear to the door at the unbearable silence.

“You’re serious?” Vic asked, then paused before speaking again in an oddly calm tone. “So that’s why you were so keen for him to get the bigger cabin.”

“Well, we haven’t been intimate for years. It’s…” She stumbled over her words before giving up on the sentence.

“For god’s sake,” Vic spat. “Do what you want as long as you’re discreet. And make sure he never finds out I know.”

“I’d hardly let that slip. I wouldn’t look very good in that conversation either, would I?”

“Come on.” Vic stood and strode towards the door. “We need to go up on deck. Russell’s keen to get going.”

“Hang on,” Kerry said when he was beside her. “There’s something I need to ask you…”

“Get on with it then,” he said impatiently.

Kerry cast her eyes to the floor. “Why do you have sleeping pills with you?”

“What?”

“The sleeping pills in your bedside table.”

“Oh, those. I told you I must have picked up the wrong ones.”

“But why do you have sleeping pills at all?”

“They’re old ones. From my knee surgery. Do you remember I didn’t end up needing them?”

“Yes, but…” Her voice was suddenly brittle, all trace of confidence gone. “You also told the police you’d taken a sleeping pill the night Joseph died…”

“Yes, that was just because I knew you’d been telling Russell I take them when you sneak off with him. I thought it best to cover our tracks in case he mentioned it.”

“Right. But you didn’t take any?”

“No. I didn’t even know I had them with me.” He took a step towards the door, but Kerry stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“Why are there three missing from the pack?”

His reply was a quizzical grunt.

“There are three missing from the packet but you said you never took any.”

“Not now,” he said. “After the surgery I took some…”

“But you just said you hadn’t needed them.”

“I just didn’t need them for very long,” he said, his voice chillingly calm. “Let’s get up on deck and wave goodbye to this place, shall we?”

Certain he was lying, Lily waited with her heart lodged somewhere near her wind pipe. After a moment the room fell silent. The intense thudding of her heart filled her ears. Somehow, she needed to get off the boat unnoticed. Then she’d get to the police station and report what she’d found.

The police could take things from there.

Her mind drifted to Joseph and James but she pushed away the wave of sadness at his needless death. She’d have time to deal with that later.

For now, she needed to figure out how to get herself off the boat and away from the man who she was certain was a murderer.