Page 15 of The Sunken Truth (Lily Larkin Mysteries #5)

Chapter Fifteen

Since the ferry wasn’t due back for hours, they made their way to the hotel at Hell’s Bay, thinking the popular bar and restaurant there might be their best shot at finding someone with a boat to give them a ride to St. Martin’s.

The landlady scanned the room when they explained their predicament. “It’s all visitors at the moment,” she said. “No locals, I’m afraid. I’d take you myself, but I’m short on staff today so I can’t leave. If you hang around, no doubt someone will turn up who can help you out.”

“I’m hungry,” Lily said to Flynn, grateful at the suggestion of staying a while. “Shall we get food?”

The landlady tipped her head to the terrace. “Grab a table outside and enjoy the view. I’ll send someone to take your order.”

“Thanks, Maddie.” Lily smiled at her before they went outside. The panoramic view made her stop and stare at the endless stretch of water sparkling under the intense sunshine.

“How do you know the owner?” Flynn asked, moving to sit at a table for two.

“I came in here for lunch with Seren a couple of weeks ago. We’d been to visit Lowen’s pottery studio. Have you been there?”

“No. Is it near here?”

Nodding, she pointed to the long strip of beach. “Just down there, but it’s hidden by the sand dunes.”

“Lowen has a boat. Maybe he can take us to St. Martin’s.”

“True,” Lily said.

“Why do you sound as though you don’t want to get a lift with him?”

“I’m very happy to. Are you going to let me eat first, though?”

He laughed and stretched his legs out in front of him. “Yes.”

“Good. I’ll get hangry otherwise. That’s no fun for anyone.”

They ordered burgers and sat quietly, basking in the sunshine and listening to the gentle rush of water against the shore.

“I saw Glynis this morning,” Lily finally said.

“Yeah? How is she?”

“Seems to be doing well.” She paused. “Maria’s back.”

“Really?”

Lily nodded. “Apparently she arrived back yesterday.”

“You should have said.” Flynn’s eyebrows pulled together. “I wouldn’t have dragged you along with me if I’d known. You probably wanted to go and talk to her.”

“It’s fine.” Lily picked at the corner of her thumbnail. “There’s no rush.”

“You’ve been desperate for her to get back so you can question her,” Flynn pointed out.

“Yes. But…” She trailed off and shook her head. “Never mi nd.”

Flynn looked at her intently. “You don’t have to speak to her if you don’t want to.”

“I do if I want to find the answers about my childhood.”

“Sometimes ignorance really is bliss. If you’re convinced nothing good will come from it, there’s no shame in letting it drop.”

“Maybe.” Her notion of having had a happy family life in her early years had already been destroyed, so it probably didn’t matter much now.

“Anyway, I’m not putting it off. I was intending to go over this afternoon, and I can still do that when we get back.

I’m trying not to think too much about it, though.

Chances are she won’t tell me anything. You know what she’s like. ”

“She definitely hasn’t been overly forthcoming so far,” Flynn said. “Have you remembered any more from when you were here as a kid?”

Lily rubbed at her forehead. “Nothing new. I remember being on the beach with my dad, and I think we were staying at the flat with Maria. I vaguely remember sleeping on the couch… but it’s all so hazy. It’s like the harder I try to remember, the more out of reach the memories become.”

Flynn gave a sympathetic smile before his gaze dropped to his phone, which lit up on the table in front of him.

“Is that the sergeant again?” Automatically, Lily leaned in to look. Her stomach tightened at the female name flashing on the screen: Gina. Whoever the heck she was.

Flynn’s lips twisted to a frown as he tilted the phone towards him.

“Don’t ignore it on my account,” Lily said, trying to sound like someone who didn’t have any thoughts at all about a woman calling him, and certainly no jealousy.

“I’ll call her back later,” Flynn said, silencing the call and shoving his phone in his pocket .

For a moment, Lily held her tongue, but curiosity got the better of her. “Someone special?” she asked, her voice annoyingly brittle.

The intensity of his gaze made it clear he could see her jealousy as plain as day.

“Gina is my dad’s wife,” he said with another sympathetic smile.

“Oh.” Relief flooded her. “Your stepmum?”

“Yes. Except that feels a little odd, since I barely know her.”

“I thought you got on with her.”

“I do.” He sank back in his chair. “She always seems nice, but I’ve only actually met her a handful of times.”

“How come?”

He shrugged and chewed his lower lip. “They have busy lives.”

“Does she call you often?” Lily asked.

“No. We usually communicate by email.”

“Maybe you should have answered then. It could be important.”

He gave a slow shake of the head. “She’ll leave a message if it’s urgent, but I suspect I know what it’s about.”

“What?”

He hesitated a moment. “I think her and my dad are having issues and I’m getting dragged into the middle of it.”

“How come?”

“I suspect my dad was lying to her about my relationship with him. From what I gather, he made out that he was some kind of model father and told her that my mum turned me against him.”

“And that’s not true?”

“No.” He ran his thumbnail along his lip. “Not at all. ”

Unsure what to say, Lily waited until he finally continued.

“Before I moved here, I had a bit of a showdown with Dad. He wasn’t very happy with me so it seemed like a good time to tell him what I thought of his parenting efforts.

Gina was there. I’m sure he told her it was all lies, but she emailed me a few weeks ago asking questions about my childhood and my relationship with Dad. ”

“Did you reply?”

He nodded once, but didn’t elaborate.

“Do you speak to your dad much?”

“Not really. I try to avoid having anything to do with him these days.” He shifted in his seat, looking decidedly relieved at the interruption when Maddie arrived with their food.

Once she left, he commented on how odd it was that no one had got photos of the shipwreck, and chuckled about the trend of people taking photos of themselves on black backgrounds and declaring it to be a picture of them in front of the wreck. The local social media communities were full of them.

His subject change wasn’t exactly subtle, but Lily didn’t push him on it, assuming he’d tell her more in his own time.

The shop portion of Lowen’s pottery studio was void of people when Lily and Flynn walked in half an hour later.

Above the door, a bell rang once and the sound reverberated around the airy space.

Shelving around the edge of the room displayed unique handmade pottery – each piece exuding its own unique charm.

At the back corner, the till sat on a counter, and beside it an open archway led to Lowen’s workshop, where Lily had enjoyed trying out the pottery wheel on her last visit .

Lowen stepped through the archway before they’d ventured far into the room.

“Hello!” he said brightly. “This is a surprise. If you’re here for a pottery lesson, I’m afraid you’ll have to come back later. I’ve got a couple here now for a lesson.” He looked at his watch. “They’ll be finished in an hour.”

“That’s not why we’re here,” Lily said. “We were actually hoping to scrounge a lift to St. Martin’s but I guess that won’t be possible if you’re in the middle of a lesson.”

“You’re welcome to borrow my boat,” he said without hesitation. “I don’t need it until dinnertime.”

“Really?” Flynn tilted his head.

“Yeah, of course.”

“Right.” Flynn shifted his weight. “It’s very generous of you, but…”

“We’re city people,” Lily finished for him. “We’re used to driving cars, not boats.”

“It’s only a little RIB,” he said. “And with this weather, I don’t see how you can go wrong.”

“Rigid inflatable boat,” Lily said for Flynn’s benefit.

“I know! I’ve lived here longer than you. I do have some basic knowledge of boats, thanks.”

“Sorry!” she said mockingly.

“Do you need to get back to St Mary’s after you’ve been to St. Martin’s?” Lowen asked.

“Yeah. But if we time it right we can get the day tripper back.”

“Or you could do me a favour and take the boat back and leave it for Pippa. Saves me going over to pick her up.”

“Okay,” Flynn said. “You may need to give us a few pointers about where to tie up… and anything else we should know.”

“I can do that. It’s all pretty straightforward. Hang on a second.” He went into the workshop and chatted with his customers for a few minutes before reappearing. “They’re all set up for ten minutes.”

They stepped out onto the beach and made straight for the boat on the sand nearby.

“What’s your tour of the off-islands in aid of?” Lowen asked as they walked over the soft sand.

“We came here to speak to Eustace Tremayne,” Flynn replied.

“Is he all right?” Lowen said, his words laced with concern.

“He’s fine,” Flynn said quickly. “We just had some questions for him about the Fortune. ”

At Lowen’s puzzled expression, Lily expanded. “Apparently Eustace’s grandfather was the captain of the ship which has been found.”

Lowen stopped in his tracks. “Oh!” He pressed a hand to his forehead.

“I don’t know why I didn’t connect the dots earlier.

Eustace has told me stories about his grandfather so many times over the years.

To be honest, it never felt real when he’d tell me about it…

Is it really the same ship that’s been found? ”

“We don’t know for definite,” Flynn said. “But there’s a ship in the exact spot where the Fortune went down.”

“Eustace will love it,” Lowen said. “It’s his favourite topic of conversation.”

“Do you know him well?” Lily asked, stopping beside the boat.

“Yeah. He’s always lived on Bryher. When I started working over here as a teenager, he used to come in the pottery studio often, or I’d bump into him in the hotel bar.

That was right after his wife passed away and he was out and about more – looking for company, I suppose.

A lot of people can’t stand hearing his wild stories, but I’ve always loved them. ”

“We’ve just been hearing about his grandfather smuggling gold,” Lily said. “It sounds like a fairy tale.”

“It really does. Gold smuggling and pirates. I could listen to him all day. I visit him from time to time. He likes the company.”

“Sadly, we didn’t get to hear about pirates,” Lily said. “Though I kept expecting there to be pirates in the story.”

“The funny thing is Eustace tells the story with the pirates as the bad guys, but it was William and his crew who’d stolen the gold. Those so-called pirates only took back what was theirs to start with.” He grinned. “I tend not to raise that point with Eustace.”

Flynn shook his head. “He told us that the ship sank with the gold on board.”

“No,” Lowen said. “They were in the Mozambique Channel when the boat was hijacked and the gold stolen.”

“That’s weirdly specific,” Flynn said.

“It’s true. Eustace got the story firsthand from his grandfather.”

Flynn’s eyes narrowed. “You actually believe it?”

Lowen shrugged. “Yeah, I guess I do… but maybe that’s because I want to believe it. It’s a great story, either way.”

He switched his attention to the boat and gave them a quick lesson, and a few pointers on places to avoid, and the best places to dock.

“I assume this is official police business?” he finally asked, eyeing Flynn’s uniform.

“Yeah,” Flynn replied, confusion clear in his features. “Why?”

“Because I’m guessing neither of you have a Boatman's License. ”

“You need a license to drive a boat?” Lily asked.

“Yeah. But if you’re on police business I’m sure it’s fine. Just don’t do anything crazy. Stick to the places I told you. If anyone asks, you got detailed instructions from me.”

Flynn opened and closed his mouth repeatedly.

“Okay, great,” Lily said and began pushing the boat into the shallows with Lowen.

“Wait!” Flynn said. “I had no idea we needed a license. In the UK…”

“Different rules out here,” Lowen said, cutting him off.

“We’ll be careful,” Lily said, then flashed Flynn a playful smile. “If anyone asks we’ll say we have special permission from the police.”

He rolled his eyes and bent to undo his laces.

“You should get a boat license,” Lowen said to Lily.

She nodded and stepped into the boat. “I might do that.”

“You’re always leading me astray,” Flynn muttered as he joined her.

Lowen pushed the boat out a little further, then headed back to his studio, leaving them to navigate the archipelago alone.