Page 22 of Death on the Rocks (Lily Larkin Mysteries #1)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Asking a few questions wouldn’t do any harm. It might come to nothing, but Lily knew it would forever bother her if she didn’t at least try to find answers.

When Flora wandered into the living room to check on Lily, moments after PC Grainger left, it seemed like a good idea to start with her.

“PC Grainger mentioned the camera had turned up,” Lily said, remaining on the couch. “You found it in the neighbour’s garden, did you?”

“Not us, no. Oscar found it this morning when he arrived.”

Lily frowned. “I thought you’d given him the day off.”

“We did. After he found the camera. It shook him up. This whole thing has. So I told him to go home and we went and handed in the camera. I explained that to PC Grainger.”

“He only mentioned that you’d handed it in.” She chewed on her bottom lip. Oscar finding it actually made more sense, since she’d already suspected he’d been the one to steal it and stash it in the shed. Presumably now he was trying to cover his tracks.

“I’m glad it turned up.” Flora sank into the armchair and lowered her voice. “It gave me goosebumps to think of someone stealing from right under our noses. Rodney feels better now that it’s turned up, too. He’s been quite stressed out recently.”

Lily smiled and aimed for a nonchalant tone. “It must be quite demanding to run a bed and breakfast.”

“You wouldn’t believe,” Flora said forcefully. “If you’d have told me two years ago how much stress it would be, I’d never have believed it either.”

“I suppose it’s rewarding too,” Lily ventured.

Flora’s reaction was anything but enthusiastic.

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you? It sounds so idyllic, running a B&B.

Mostly it’s just hard work with little reward.

” Her eyes misted over, and Lily stayed quiet, waiting to see if she’d share more.

“Sorry,” she said with a gentle shake of the head.

“This tragedy has made me want to be close to my daughter and grandkids more than ever. They live in Devon so I don’t see them as much as I’d like. ”

“Do you ever think of moving closer to them?” Lily asked, despite already knowing the answer.

“All the time. That’s my dream. If only I could convince Rodney. He’s been in his element since we opened this place. It’s given him a new lease of life. Now I feel as though no matter what we do, only one of us will end up happy.”

“I’m sorry,” Lily murmured.

“Don’t listen to me being all morose.” Flora tried for a smile but it wasn’t convincing. “I hope the weather improves soon so you can see the island at its best. It’s remarkable how different it looks with some blue sky and sunshine.”

With a gentle smile, Lily stood up. “Fingers crossed it improves soon.” She declined Flora’s offer to make her a drink and set off to the privacy of her room to ponder her next move.

Instinct had her knocking on Alanna and Marc’s door, but there was no answer. That probably wasn’t a bad thing since Lily had no idea what she would say to them.

It was only that the logical thing seemed to be to talk to everyone who’d interacted with Vinny before his death and see what she came up with.

Someone knew something. She had no doubt about that.

Oscar was the person she most wanted to speak to. If only he hadn’t been given the day off.

Like a light bulb illuminating in her brain, Lily remembered him mentioning that he had another job too. At the Star Castle Hotel. Which surely couldn’t be too hard for her to locate. On a surge of adrenaline, she grabbed her jacket and headed back out of her room.

With her mind elsewhere, she didn’t notice the person at the bottom of the stairs until she almost collided with her.

The teenage girl didn’t pay Lily any attention in her hurry to get out of the front door.

Even at the speed she was moving Lily caught the tears which streamed from her bloodshot eyes.

She opened her mouth to ask if she was okay, but the girl was gone before she could formulate words.

Along the hall, Alanna stood in the doorway to the living room.

“Is she okay?” Lily asked, pointing behind her.

Alanna shrugged. “She was looking for her boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend?” Lily parroted.

“That kid who works here.”

“Oscar?”

“I guess so.” Alanna shrugged again.

It dawned on Lily that the girl was the same one who’d been chatting to Oscar a few days earlier. She’d seemed agitated then, too.

“Why was she so upset?” she asked, as Alanna passed her and started up the stairs.

“Who knows?” she replied without looking back.