Page 34 of The Sunken Truth (Lily Larkin Mysteries #5)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Unable to focus, Lily doled out ice cream almost on autopilot for the rest of the afternoon. When they’d closed the shop and she’d sent Jessica home, she moved into the back room and set to work making new batches of ice cream.

By now, she could pretty much do that on autopilot too, but she still enjoyed the steady rhythm of blending the cream, milk and sugar for the base, and then stirring in her carefully selected ingredients to create her unique flavours.

Keeping the temperature right felt like an art that she’d mastered, and there was something about the waiting time with ice cream that made it extra special.

You couldn’t rush the process. The magic was in the length of time it took.

The phone rang, and she was all set to ignore it until she saw it was Flynn. After wiping her hands on her apron, she lifted the phone from the counter and swiped the screen.

“Hi,” she said brightly.

“Hey.” His voice was warm and affectionate, bringing an instant smile to Lily’s lips.

“Are you still at work?”

“Just walked out,” he said. “That was quite an interesting afternoon.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “I was definitely not expecting things to turn out the way they did.”

“Me neither. I just spoke to Ryan again. Now that he’s calmed down, he’s very sympathetic. It seems he genuinely was scared of taking anyone out diving after what happened. Now that he knows the full story, he seems to be dealing with it better.”

“What’s going to happen to Benji?”

“I don’t know. He’ll have to go to court and a judge will decide.”

“And Kurt?”

“He’s admitted to blackmailing Benji, and says he was desperate for cash to get back to his mum, but given his lack of remorse, I’m not sure how much sympathy he’ll get from a judge.”

“What a mess,” Lily said.

Flynn’s voice turned sorrowful. “I’m about to go and speak to Jago Treneary. I figured I’d fill him in first and he can talk to the rest of the family. Or I will if he prefers.”

Lily nodded. “That won’t be an easy conversation.”

“No.”

“You figured everything out, though. We should celebrate later.”

He laughed. “That’s very generous of you, because I’m fairly sure it was you who figured it out.”

“Team effort,” she said. “Was the superintendent suitably impressed?”

“He was quiet, which is unusual for him. Maybe it means he’s impressed. I don’t know.”

“When does he leave? ”

“Tomorrow. So either tonight or tomorrow morning, I need to talk to him about the possibility of me staying here.”

“Do it tomorrow,” Lily suggested. If he didn’t speak to him until then, she could live in hope for one more evening. “Let’s just have a chilled-out night in the pub tonight.”

“Okay.” He sighed heavily. “It would be nice if we could celebrate cracking the case, but it doesn’t feel like something to celebrate. What with the stuff with Terry Treneary, and the fact that I feel kind of sorry for Benji.”

“Me too. I still can’t believe Kurt was blackmailing him. Is Benji going to be in a lot of trouble?”

“I honestly don’t know how it will go. My opinion is that he’s a good guy who made a stupid mistake, but my opinion doesn’t count. It’ll be up to a judge to decide.”

“It should be Kurt who’s punished.”

“I guess he will be.” He paused for a moment, but sounded as though he was moving around. She assumed he was walking home. “By the way, did you hear the news about the shipwreck?”

“What about it? Did they find something exciting?”

“No. Quite the opposite. Since the storm, they can’t find any trace of it.”

“Really?”

“Even the sonar equipment isn’t detecting anything. It seems to have disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared.”

“That gives me chills,” Lily said, as goosebumps rose on her arms.

“Yeah. It’s creepy, alright.” He cleared his throat. “Listen, there’s something I have to say to you, and it’s a bit awkward.”

“Go on,” Lily said.

“It’s about the video we found. And I realise I’m stating the obvious… ”

She leaned against the counter and smiled to herself. “I can’t tell anyone about it?”

“I know you wouldn’t,” he said quickly. “And I guess if any of the Trenearys mention it to you, it’s fine for you to tell them you know, but just don’t bring it up yourself.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, I know. Sorry.”

She chuckled. “Why are you sorry?”

“Because I know you wouldn’t actually be insensitive enough to bring it up.”

“It’s fine, Flynn. You’re just doing your job.”

“Speaking of which – do you think I should visit Jago in uniform or in regular clothes?”

“Regular clothes,” she said. “It’ll be better if he hears it from a friend rather than a police officer.”

“That’s what I was thinking, too.” He dragged in a breath. “What are you up to?”

“Making ice cream. Come over when you’ve spoken to Jago and we’ll go and get a drink.”

He told her he’d see her later and she put the phone aside to get back to her ice cream. It was only half an hour later when the bell above the door jangled. Surely Flynn wouldn’t be that fast. Jessica must have forgotten to switch the sign to closed.

“I’m afraid I’m closed,” Lily called as she stepped through into the shop. “Oh. Hi.”

“Sorry,” Maria said, her eyes round as they darted around the room. “I didn’t mean to disturb you, but I could see the light on in the back. Were you making ice cream?”

“Yes. It’s become my evening ritual. With the good weather, I sell out fast.”

She smiled knowingly. “I’m glad it’s all working out so well for you. ”

“Me too.” Lily glanced into the back room. “Do you want to come through? I just need to get this batch into the freezer, then we could have a drink.”

Maria’s eyes went to the back room, then darted nervously to the floor. “You’re busy. I’ll leave you to get on with it.”

“No, it’s fine,” Lily said quickly. “We can just hang out here.” She took a couple of steps backwards. “Just give me two minutes.”

After hastily moving the batch of ice cream to the freezer, she pulled her apron off and returned to the shop.

“Sorry,” Maria said, turning from where she was standing in front of the framed newspaper articles on the wall. Both included photos of her – one from when the ice cream shop first opened, and one documenting the fire at the shop. “It’s strange being back here.”

“Do you want a drink?” Lily asked, nodding at the fridge full of soft drinks.

“No, thank you.” She drifted to a table. “I hope you don’t mind me calling in.”

“Of course not. I told you it’d be good to see you here.”

“I was thinking about what you said the other day, about how it’s good to talk about Derek with someone who knew him.”

“Yes.” Lily pulled out a chair and indicated for Maria to do the same.

“It made me realise,” she said as she sat. “I’ve never had that. Whenever Derek and I were together, we were in our own little bubble. We didn’t meet each other’s friends or family.”

Her eyes trailed over the room again. “I never spoke to anyone about him who actually knew him. I once had a friend who was convinced he was a figment of my imagination.” She smiled affectionately. “Sometimes, when I hadn’t seen him for ages, I’d start to wonder the same.”

“That must have been so hard,” Lily mused.

“I was wondering if…” She paused and worried at her bottom lip. “Maybe you aren’t interested, but I have photos… I wondered if you might like to see them…”

“Of Uncle Derek?”

“Yes. Me and him.” She smiled shyly. “We’re pretty young.”

“I’d love to see them,” Lily said, then waited eagerly while Maria delved into her tote bag and retrieved a small photo album.

“I’m very old school,” she said, handing it over. “There weren’t digital photos back then.”

“It’s nice having them printed out.” Lily’s breath caught as she opened the book to be confronted by a photo of her uncle beaming into the camera while lazing on a beach.

“He’s so young,” she whispered through the lump in her throat.

Tears stung her eyes as she turned the page to more beach pictures and then one of the two of them standing in a busy street wearing matching straw hats.

“That was at a street festival in Madrid, just a few weeks after we first met.”

“He looks so different,” Lily murmured as she continued to turn the pages. Every now and then there was an obvious time jump – they’d age a few years and the location would change.

“Could I ask you something?” Maria said, pulling Lily’s attention from the photos.

She nodded lightly.

“I was wondering how he died.” Her lower lip quivered. “And when?”

“Oh.” Lily dropped the photo album to the table .

“It’s fine if you’d rather not talk about it…”

“It’s not that,” Lily said, while her heart drummed furiously. “I just sort of had the impression that you already knew… when we spoke the other day, I thought you must already know.”

She shook her head. “Glynis had told me you’d come looking for the ice cream shop after your uncle had died, but she didn’t say more than that.”

Lily felt a pang of disappointment. If Maria didn’t know the details of his death, then maybe she was being entirely honest with Lily now.

If she wasn’t hiding things – if she was sharing everything she knew – then maybe Lily would never get all her answers.

“He had a heart attack,” she finally said. “Almost a year ago.”

“I’m sorry,” Maria whispered. “That must have been a shock for you.”

“Yes.” Her throat thickened, strangling her words. “We argued before he died. I never got to apologise.”

Maria didn’t rush to offer platitudes and Lily was grateful for it.

“The last time I spoke to him, he told me how amazing you were and how proud he was of you.”

Lily smiled and wiped tears from under her eyes.

Reaching across, Maria squeezed her hand. “He was also concerned that you’d thrived despite him and not because of him. He worried that he’d never really given you a proper home, and that you should have had more people around you.”

“Really?” Lily’s forehead wrinkled with a frown. Maybe Maria could help her with her questions after all. “He said that?”

“Yes. ”

“I’m surprised that was something Uncle Derek thought much about.” She paused, thinking. “When I was growing up, we didn’t stay in one place for longer than a couple of years. I’d make friends and then we’d move on and I’d have to make new friends.”

“He always did like to travel,” Maria said hesitantly. “He was a restless soul – never liked to stay in one place for very long.”

“Sometimes the travelling felt like an adventure. But…” Lily’s mind wandered, poring over her childhood, trying to figure out what she was missing from her story.

“But what?” Maria asked eventually.

“He was overprotective.” Lily winced slightly, hating to say anything negative about Uncle Derek.

“Almost paranoid sometimes. As though he saw danger around every corner. When we’d arrive in a new place, he’d always sign me up for martial arts classes and self-defence lessons.

He could be a little obsessive about it.

” Tilting her head, she looked questioningly at Maria.

There was a flash of something in her features that Lily couldn’t read. Maybe more guilt.

“Perhaps that was because of your parents’ death,” she ventured slowly. “It was such a tragedy, and it was pure luck that you weren’t at home with your parents. He mentioned that a few times – how grateful he was that you hadn’t been in the house.”

“Yes,” Lily muttered. “That was probably it.”

Maria’s features relaxed. “It seems as though you’ve settled into life here easily. Do you think you’ll stay? Or have you inherited Derek’s itchy feet?”

“I’m staying,” Lily said without hesitation. “I feel at home here. Probably more so than I’ve ever felt anywhere.”

“You certainly seem to have taken to ice cream making like a pro.” Her lips twitched upwards. “I think Derek would have been really amused by that.”

“Me too.” A rush of warmth flooded through her. “I used to jump from job to job. Nothing held my interest for very long. But Uncle Derek always said I’d find my passion, eventually.”

“You think it’s ice cream?”

She paused, her thoughts jumping to all the time she’d spent investigating mysteries since she arrived on the islands. Maybe she’d found two things she was passionate about.

“Making ice cream feels therapeutic,” she said after a moment. “I love the creativity of experimenting with flavours. And then getting to see people react to it is fantastic.”

“I always enjoyed it, too.”

“Feel free to come and give me a hand any time you want.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I think I’ll leave it to you, though. It’s probably more nostalgia than I can take.”

Lily handed the photo album back and thanked Maria for bringing it over.

She was feeling decidedly nostalgic herself when she said goodbye to her at the door.