Page 39 of Death on the Rocks (Lily Larkin Mysteries #1)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

It all felt a bit too easy.

That was Lily’s thought as she watched Mr and Mrs Miller stare at each other contemptuously. She was supposed to give PC Grainger an indication of who he should put pressure on, but apparently that might not even be necessary. Maybe Mrs Miller was about to incriminate her own husband.

“What the heck are you talking about?” Mr Miller asked with a pinched expression.

Mrs Miller propped her hands on her hips.

“You told the officer you were with me when Vinny died, but you weren’t.

I can’t see why you’d lie about that… unless.

” She swallowed hard. “If the two of you got into an argument and something happened… an accident… you just need to explain it. Everything will be all right in the end.”

Rodney’s eyes showed no emotion whatsoever. His face was a picture of confusion. “I was with you when he died,” he said slowly. “I saw Vinny leave the house and then I came into the kitchen…”

“But then you left again!” Flora’s voice rose in both volume and pitch. “You said you helped me with breakfast, but you didn’t. Not straightaway. You came in and then you left for a while before coming back to help.”

“To have a shower,” he said, speaking to her as though she were stupid. “I had a shower and then I came back into the kitchen. I must have been away from you for ten minutes at the most.”

“Exactly,” she said. “How can you say you were with me when you were in the shower? It’s not as though I watched you shower.”

It took Rodney a moment to react, but when he did, it was with a burst of laughter. “Good god! Do you honestly think I killed the fella?” This time his laughter had a manic note to it. “You think I’ve killed some poor fella because he complained about your burnt bacon?”

“So you didn’t do it?” Mrs Miller asked sheepishly.

“Thirty years of marriage and you think I’m capable of killing a man? That’s a little disturbing, love.” He shook his head at his wife, who seemed to shrink into herself.

“I just don’t understand why you didn’t tell the police to start with that you were in the shower,” Flora whispered.

“Maybe because I didn’t realise I was on trial for murder!

I said I was at home, with you. Which I was.

I didn’t know I had to account for every minute of that.

” He turned to PC Grainger. “I was in the shower and away from my wife’s sight for about five minutes at the time of Mr Roth’s death.

” He folded his arms across his chest. “From now on, I reckon I might spend a lot more time out of my wife’s sight. ”

“Don’t be like that,” Flora said, reaching for her husband, only to be shrugged off. “A man had died, and I was panicking. And now PC Grainger is saying it wasn’t an accident, so I was right to have panicked.”

“What makes you think it wasn’t an accident?” Mr Miller asked, rolling his eyes.

PC Grainger’s gaze slid momentarily to Lily, silently reminding her of the plan.

He needed to know who killed Vinny, and she still couldn’t figure it out.

Mr and Mrs Miller seemed highly unlikely now, which left Katie or Oscar, or Alanna or Marc.

She hoped it wasn’t Katie or Oscar, but they both looked shifty enough that she couldn’t rule them out.

Alanna also didn’t exactly look the picture of innocence as she sniffed loudly every few seconds and kept muttering about the stress of it all.

Beside her, Marc was his usual calm and collected self.

Lily’s gaze went to PC Grainger as he started talking again, but her eyes quickly bounced back to Marc. PC Grainger’s words resounded loudly in her head. Not the ones he was currently saying – about the positioning of the body and the trajectory of the fall – but ones he’d spoken days before.

If I’d killed someone, I’d be keeping very quiet.

He was right. Anyone with something to hide would be careful what they said. Almost everyone in the room had happily confided in Lily and made no effort to conceal their emotions.

Marc, on the other hand, had kept quietly in the background, not drawing the slightest bit of attention to himself.

On a physical level, he was surely the one most likely to overpower Vinny. He could also have slipped away with no one noticing. From what Lily had observed, he tended to go downstairs for a coffee before Alanna in the mornings.

He also had access to the memory card and the laptop.

He probably knew what Vinny had been up to, and decided to put a stop to it.

Lily needed time to ponder it more. Except she didn’t have time.

Her eyes swept over everyone in the room as PC Grainger continued to speak in his levelled voice. He was doing brilliantly, but he’d run out of steam soon and would need Lily’s input.

He didn’t need to know for definite, she told herself. He’d only asked for her best guess. Right now, her best guess was Marc. As discreetly as she could manage, she pulled her phone from her pocket and opened a blank document. With a slight tremble to her fingers, she typed out two words.

Marc.

Laptop?

Then she inched closer to PC Grainger and kept her eyes on her phone as though reading a message. With the slightest movement, she nudged PC Grainger’s arm with her elbow, then angled the phone a few degrees in his direction.

He didn’t pause in his monologue, and she couldn’t even be sure he’d read it until he changed the direction of his little speech.

“We also have the issue of some missing items. While Mr Roth’s camera was recovered, it appears a memory card has gone missing, along with his laptop. I’m sure none of you will object to a search. I’ll start here with your hand luggage and check any other luggage later.”

Lily caught the way Marc’s fingers wrapped more tightly around the strap of his backpack.

“If I could start with you?” PC Grainger’s gaze landed firmly on Marc.

The bob of his Adam’s apple was his only sign of distress. “Don’t you need a warrant for that?” he asked, with a small smile. “I’m sure no one wants the contents of their bags being strewn around in front of everyone.”

“I promise not to strew anything around,” PC Grainger said, taking a step forwards and extending his hand for the bag. “I’ll just take a quick look inside.”

“Surely you need a warrant, though,” Marc said, keeping a firm grip on his bag.

“No,” PC Grainger said. “I don’t. I’m permitted to conduct a search if I feel there’s enough suspicion. But I also imagine you’ll all be willing to cooperate to help with the investigation.”

With a shake of her head, Alanna turned on Marc. “Just show him what’s in your bag and then we can leave.” She pulled on the zip of her oversized handbag and opened it in PC Grainger’s direction. “Let’s all just show him,” she went on. “He’s only doing his job. Then we can all get on our way.”

As everyone else opened their bags, Marc kept a hold of his.

“May I?” PC Grainger said, his hand still outstretched.

“Oh, my goodness.” Alanna snatched it from Marc and handed it over. “What on earth is the problem? He only wants a quick look.”

Lily let out a silent sigh of relief.

Unless she was very much mistaken, her best guess was spot on.