Page 35 of Dead in the Water (Lily Larkin Mysteries #4)

Chapter Thirty-Five

The phone was ringing in the station when Flynn arrived at the start of his shift. PC Hill paused with his hand hovering over it.

“Morning,” he said to Flynn. “You okay? You look annoyed.”

“I’m fine.” He pointed to the door at the back. “Is the sergeant in his office?”

“Yes.”

Flynn nodded and continued back there, leaving Jeff to answer the phone. Outside the sergeant’s office, he glanced at his mobile.

The radio silence from Lily was something he should get used to, he supposed.

“What’s going on?” the sergeant asked, when Flynn entered without knocking.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” he said, sinking onto the chair. “I can’t put my finger on it, but I have a feeling that we missed something…”

“Regarding Mr Whittaker?”

“Yeah.” Flynn straightened his spine and stretched his neck. “What if Lily was right and there was more to it?”

“There was no evidence of foul play. Sometimes all we can do is follow up on leads and hope that we find the truth. If we don’t have leads to follow, there’s not a lot we can do.”

Flynn rubbed his neck, unsure whether his emotional turmoil was really to do with the case, or with the situation with Lily. “I got weird vibes from them this morning,” he said. “Mr Whittaker’s friends.”

“You’ve seen them this morning?”

He nodded curtly. “At the harbour. They were loading up, getting ready to leave.”

“Why were you down there?”

“Just out for a walk.”

“And you ended up at their boat?”

“Yes. And that quiet woman, Joyce, was acting incredibly cagey.”

“Possibly because there was a police officer hanging around for no reason. It does have the effect of putting people on edge sometimes.”

“It was more than that. I’m sure of it.”

The sergeant tilted his head, but was distracted from saying anything by his phone ringing. His brow wrinkled as he peered at the screen. “Colin,” he stated with a pointed look at Flynn. “The forensic pathologist.”

Flynn leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees while the sergeant answered the call. Given the sharp rise of his boss’s eyebrows, he gathered something had come up on the post-mortem.

“What is it?” he asked, the moment the call ended.

“He doesn’t have his full report yet, but he wanted to give me a heads up that he’ll be recommending further investigation.”

“Why?” Flynn asked eagerly.

“The angle of the skull fracture isn’t consistent with a fall.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Also there are particles embedded in his skull which don’t match the stonework on the harbour steps.”

“What kind of particles?”

“Like a brick,” the sergeant said with a frown.

“Someone killed him,” Flynn whispered.

“It’s looking likely. We need to get his friends in for more questioning.”

Flynn blew out a breath, then snapped his head to the door as PC Hill walked in.

“I just had a weird phone call,” his colleague said, looking at Flynn and then the sergeant.

“A woman said she was walking home from the pub on Sunday evening and heard raised voices at the harbour. She thought it was probably teenagers messing around… but since she heard about Mr Whittaker, it’s been playing on her mind.

She wasn’t even sure it was worth mentioning since she didn’t see anything…

just heard arguing. Pretty loud, apparently. ”

The sergeant met Flynn’s gaze as the room fell silent.

Flynn swore quietly.

“Did she say what time?” the sergeant asked.

“Around ten. Maybe shortly after.”

Flynn growled. “That’s not long after the Coopers and the Hugheses claimed they went back to the boat.

And they said they sat and had a drink in the galley before they headed to bed.

Even if they did go to bed soon after they arrived back, what are the chances that none of them heard arguing at the harbour? ”

“Something’s not right,” PC Hill said.

“The post-mortem also raised questions,” Sergeant Proctor told him. “We definitely need to bring Mr Whittaker’s friends back in for more questions.”

Flynn tilted his head back. “If you can find them.”

“How do you mean?” the sarge asked.

“When I saw them half an hour ago, they were gearing up to sail. If they do have something to hide, I can’t imagine they hung around long. I’d say they’re on their way by now.”

“I can try and find out,” the sergeant said, plucking his phone from his desk.

Flynn’s phone rang at the same time, and his eyebrows rose when he saw it was Lily. She had great timing – he’d give her that.

“I’m just going to take this quickly,” he said, but the sergeant was busy with his phone and didn’t acknowledge him.

Slipping past PC Hill, he answered the phone in the hallway.

“Thank god!” Lily hissed quietly. “I thought you weren’t going to answer.”

“I’m in the middle of something at work. It’s about––”

“Shh! Just listen to me, because I don’t know how long I’ve got…”

He started to ask her what on earth she was talking about, but she didn’t stop talking.

“I think Vic killed Joseph,” she said in a rush.

“I found a shirt and it has stains on it. I think it’s blood splatter.

And there’s something not right about his sleeping pills.

I don’t have time to explain everything now, but I need you to trust me.

I’m on their boat and they’re sailing to the Mediterranean like they originally planned… ”

Now when she paused, Flynn couldn’t even find words.

“You’re where? ” he muttered.

“It’s the stupidest thing, but I sneaked onto their boat looking for clues, and they came back.

I hid in the wardrobe and now I’m stuck here and I’m certain Vic is a murderer so I’d really rather he didn’t catch me and I’m sorry for avoiding you but it doesn’t matter what happened between us, I need you to find me.

I sent you my locat––” Her voice cut out and Flynn looked down at his phone to find the call had been lost.

Instinct had him calling her back, but it wouldn’t connect.

He swore again as he strode back into the sergeant’s office.

“I spoke to the harbourmaster,” Sergeant Proctor said, ending his own phone call. “The boat already left. Five minutes ago, apparently. And we don’t know which way they were heading.”

“Lily has them,” Flynn said in a panic.

“What?” PC Hill said incredulously.

“Or they have Lily,” he said as a jolt of fear shot up his spine. “She’s on their boat and she thinks Vic killed Joseph.”

“Bloody hell.” The sergeant rose quickly from his chair. “Where’s the boat?”

“I have her last known location, but she just lost her phone signal.” With his finger scrolling through his contact list, he moved towards the door. “We need a boat,” he said, glancing up at his colleagues.

“Who are you calling?” the sergeant asked.

“Kit Treneary. Can you call the coastguard? And anyone else you know with a boat.”