Page 40 of The Sunken Truth (Lily Larkin Mysteries #5)

Chapter Forty

Lily couldn’t settle when she got home. All she could think about was Flynn speaking to his dad.

On the couch, she dropped her head back and stared at the ceiling, contemplating how a person could treat their own child so coldly.

Her heart squeezed, thinking of how difficult it must have been growing up craving fatherly attention which he’d never get.

And how that craving would probably never fully go away.

Hopefully, their current conversation went well and the superintendent could finally do something good for Flynn by letting him stay.

God, she wanted him to stay. She bit down on her lip. Even if he had to leave, they’d figure something out. A long-distance relationship wasn’t ideal, but it was infinitely better than not having him in her life.

It was odd how the idea of not having him in her life felt so impossible. It even felt surreal to think of a time when he wasn’t in her life. How had she ever managed without knowing him ?

An hour went by, with her checking the time every few minutes, and waiting for the phone or the doorbell to ring.

Maybe he’d just come back after he’d spoken to his dad.

Maybe he’d stay the night.

Her stomach somersaulted at the thought.

Just when she thought she was going to go crazy with waiting, her phone finally rang. “Hi,” she said, swiping at her phone. “How did it go?”

Flynn hesitated. Time seemed to slow for a moment.

“He can’t get me transferred here permanently. He already tried.”

Tears pricked the back of Lily’s eyes. “It’s good that he tried, at least. Maybe he has some paternal instincts after all.”

“I think it was more about keeping me out of his life. Also, I found out he’s only here so his wife thinks he’s making an effort with me.”

“Sorry,” she said. “Is there anything else you can do to stay here?”

“The sergeant was going to make some more enquiries, but it seems unlikely anything will come of it.”

“Okay,” she mumbled, not sure what else there was to say.

“What do you want to do?”

“I don’t mind. You can come here? Or I can come to your place.”

Again, he hesitated. “I didn’t mean now. I meant in general. With us…”

Heat rose up her throat and she shook her head as a wave of anger rushed through her. “What do you mean, what do I want to do? We already said we’d figure out a way to be together. If you only said that because you thought you’d end up sticking around…”

“Woah!” He sounded entirely amused as he cut her off mid rant. “I haven’t changed my mind about anything. I meant what I said about a long-distance relationship.”

“What are you asking me then?”

“I only wanted to check if it’s okay for you. I told you what I wanted, but didn’t give you a chance to say how you feel. And now you know I’m going to be gone in a few weeks maybe you’ll feel differently… I’d understand if you did.”

“We’ll make it work somehow,” she said, relaxing back again. “We can visit each other, like you said, and we can video call all the time.”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe one day Sergeant Proctor will retire and you can have his job.”

He laughed loudly.

“I’m serious,” she said. “How old is he? Surely he can’t be too far from retirement.”

“I don’t know how old he is.” His voice turned serious. “I love the fact that the only obstacle you see to me being sergeant is that the position is already filled.”

“You could be sergeant one day, couldn’t you?”

“Theoretically, yes. At least if my dad wasn’t determined to hinder my career. But even if he wasn’t set on thwarting me, I can’t imagine it. I enjoy being a PC. I reckon that’s what I’m supposed to do…” He let out a frustrated groan.

“What?”

“I just realised my dad told me I’d never be more than a PC, even before he made it clear he’d stand in my way. He just thought I’d never be good enough. Maybe that’s why I never imagined anything else.”

“You could totally be sergeant.”

“I don’t know. I really do enjoy being a PC. I’m not sure I aspire to a higher rank. ”

“If you enjoy it, then great – stay a PC. But don’t let him hold you back.”

“We’ll see. Anyway, when I’m back in London my shift patterns should be pretty good for me coming to visit you. I’ll be working four on and four off, so I’ll be able to come and bother you for a few days at a time. I was also thinking…” He trailed off, leaving Lily in suspense.

“What?”

“Nothing, never mind.”

“Tell me,” she insisted.

“It was only a thought, but in the winter, when the ice cream shop is quiet…”

“I could close up for a while and come and stay with you.”

“Only if you wanted to.”

“I’d like that. I imagine it will be a little quiet here for my liking.”

“I can’t imagine it here in the winter.” There was a faraway quality in his voice, as though he’d be sad to miss it.

“You leaving seems surreal,” she said, happy that they were finally talking about it instead of avoiding the subject. “I still keep thinking something will happen and you’ll be able to stay.”

“Fingers crossed,” he whispered.

An ache started in her chest. Maybe talking about it wasn’t so great after all. Dwelling on his leaving didn’t seem like the best approach to the next couple of weeks – what she should do was make the most of having him around.

“Do you want to come over?” she asked, her heart speeding up as the words left her mouth. It pounded even more furiously when he hesitated to reply.

“If I come over there, I won’t want to leave,” he finally said.

“I wasn’t planning on kicking you out.”

“I know.”

She laughed nervously.

“Sorry,” he said. “I definitely want to come over… it’s just that…”

“What?” she asked, an impatient bite to the word.

“I thought I might take you out on a date if that’s okay.”

“Now?”

“No. Not now. It’s late.”

“Yeah,” she said slowly. “I’m going to need you to keep talking, because I’m not sure what’s going on here…”

“I just don’t usually date people.”

“Your reputation would suggest otherwise.”

“I sleep with random women,” he said bluntly. “Or I used to. But I never properly dated anyone.”

“Never?”

“I avoided it. But I would like to go on dates with you. I want things to be different with us.”

“Okay,” she said, basking in the warmth that pooled in her stomach. “Where are you going to take me?”

“I was thinking of a sunset picnic on the beach.”

“So this date involves me making a picnic, does it?”

“No.” He laughed. “I’ll take care of everything.”

“Promise you won’t stand me up this time?”

“I promise.”

She moved to stand up when a yawn overtook her.

“Should I let you get to bed?” Flynn asked amused.

“It’s been a long day.” She wasn’t keen to end the call, though. “Oh, I forgot to tell you. Maria came over.”

“Just for a visit?”

“Yeah. She wanted to show me photos of my uncle.” Slowly, Lily wandered to the bedroom. “And ask me how he died.”

“So she didn’t already know? ”

“I guess not.”

“That makes sense. How could she have known?”

“Yeah.” In her bedroom, she sank onto the bed, then immediately stood again and slid open the wardrobe drawer. “She couldn’t have known. So it seems as though she’s finally telling the truth.”

“Why do you sound put out by that?”

Her eyes went to the backpack at the bottom of the wardrobe. The one that was packed for emergencies, the way her uncle had always taught her. She pulled it out and moved back to the bed.

“I still think maybe there’s a lot about my childhood that I don’t know. If Maria doesn’t have answers for me, I can’t imagine I’ll ever find out.”

“Is this because of the fire at your parents’ house and the one at the ice cream shop?”

“Partly.” She pulled out the small bundle of clothes from the backpack and set them beside her on the bed. Then she did the same with the selection of chargers and her pen knife and torch. “But I also just have this feeling there was stuff Uncle Derek didn’t tell me about.”

“Like what?”

Lily opened her mouth, then closed it again. Desperately, she wanted to tell him everything, but a part of her insisted she couldn’t tell anyone. Especially not a police officer.

“Ignore me,” she said breezily. “I think I’m just tired.”

“I’ll leave you to sleep,” he said. “Talk to you tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” She smiled into the phone as she wished him goodnight.

Setting the phone aside, she went to repack the backpack, but paused.

Lifting it onto her lap, she reached into the bottom and pulled out the Ziploc bags filled with an obscene amount of money. The notes were mostly euros, but there were several thousand pounds as well.

Her heart rate increased, just as it had done when she’d first found the cash at her uncle’s house after he died. It sped up even further when she took the brown envelope from the bag.

Her passport and birth certificate. She flicked to the photo page of her passport, then put it aside and slid her hand into the envelope again.

Given the state of the world, maybe it made sense to have a bag of supplies ready to go.

The envelope fell to the floor as she pulled out the second passport – the one she’d found with the money when she’d cleared out Uncle Derek’s house – and which made no sense at all.

As always, she felt slightly nauseous as she flicked through the pages, opening it to the photo of herself. The same photo as her other passport.

There were a few distinct differences with this passport, though.

In this one, her name wasn’t Lily Larkin. And she wasn’t British.

Realising she’d forgotten to breathe, she released a breath while hastily stuffing everything back into the backpack. Quickly, she returned it to its place.

The bottom of the wardrobe – and the back of her mind.

To be continued…