Page 16 of Death on the Rocks (Lily Larkin Mysteries #1)
Chapter Sixteen
It didn’t make sense. That was the thought that Lily kept coming back to as she made her way across the misty island. Why would someone walk away from a business unless it wasn’t doing well? And if it wasn’t doing well, why not sell the place?
Leaving the ice cream shop abandoned not only seemed like a terrible financial decision, but also an unethical one. The owner would have known how an empty building would look in such a beautiful setting. Whoever had complained about it being an eyesore hadn’t been wrong.
She also couldn’t understand the element of secrecy around the owner. What would cause their need for anonymity? That also didn’t make sense because if it was the same owner, someone must remember them from when they lived and worked on the island.
That notion made Lily’s racing thoughts slow down. If the solicitor was unwilling to give her the details of the owner, a better approach was to ask around and find out her name. With her name, Lily could probably track her down herself.
Glancing around, she was surprised to find the B&B in sight.
An eerie silence greeted her when she walked through the front door. Usually there were signs of life, but now it was completely still. She hesitated a moment, expecting Mrs Miller to appear and ask if she needed anything, or Mr Miller popping up to say hello.
No one materialised.
The absence of people felt like an invitation to make herself at home. Instead of going straight upstairs, Lily went into the breakfast room and made a beeline for the coffee machine. With a hot mug in her hand, she wandered to the living room.
The patio door was perfectly silent when she slid it open to step out into the back garden. Birdsong filled the damp air as she sat and sipped her coffee. After a few minutes, a brown sparrow came and hopped around her feet before fluttering away again.
Lily was halfway down her coffee when a noise drew her attention.
A crash, as though someone had dropped something.
It came again almost immediately. Moving from her chair, she called a questioning ‘hello’ as she peered around the side of the house to where the garden shed stood beside the border wall.
All was quiet again and she was about to return to her coffee when a jolt of curiosity propelled her towards the shed. Peering through the window wasn’t helpful. In the dim light, she couldn’t make out much.
Deciding she’d probably imagined the noise, she was all set to turn back when the silence was broken once again. This time it sounded like a tree branch scraping against the shed, except there was no breeze and all the branches were perfectly still.
Slowly, she slid the bolt which fixed the shed door in place. The hinges groaned as she opened the door, then silence consumed the air again.
With tense shoulders, she stepped inside, telling herself there was nothing to fear.
Her body didn’t get the message and her heart pounded in her rib cage while the tiny hairs on her arms stood on end.
She shivered in the shadowy room and almost laughed at herself.
There was nothing except for the usual gardening equipment: a lawn mower in the corner, a coiled hose pipe, a bunch of plant pots––
A high-pitched yowl shattered the silence.
Plastic flower pots flew from the shelf and ricocheted off Lily’s shoulder.
Instinct had her stumbling backwards, which meant the handle of the spade just missed her feet when it fell to the floor with a clatter.
Lily’s heart smashed against her ribcage so hard that it might have left a bruise.
“It’s just a cat,” she said out loud, in an attempt to calm her frazzled nervous system. “Only a cat. Nothing to be scared of.”
The silky tabby had the audacity to hiss at her before darting away.
“I let you out, didn’t I?” Lily called after it. “Maybe a thank you would be more appropriate. And an apology for shortening my lifespan wouldn’t go amiss either.”
With a deep breath, she bent for the handle of the spade and propped it back against the wall.
Then she collected up the plant pots, which rolled around her feet.
As she went to insert them into a space on the shelf, her eyes landed on a leather strap at the back of the shelf.
Instinctively, she pulled on the strap, surprised by the weight attached to the other end of it.
She was even more surprised to find the weight belonged to a bulky black camera case.