Page 44 of A Poisonous Plot

“It’s only a problem for people who have something to hide.”

“Where was he?” Seren asked.

“In here all evening.”

A muscle twitched in Seren’s jaw. She reached for a cloth and set about wiping the beer pumps. “On Friday?” she asked without catching Lily’s eye.

“Yeah. Were you working on Friday evening?”

Seren gave a quick nod.

“And was he in here?”

She swallowed hard. “Did he definitely say he was in here?”

Lily thought back. “He said he was at the pub. I assumed he meant here, but no, he didn’t specify. Maybe he was at the Old Town Inn.”

“Maybe,” Seren murmured.

“What?” Lily asked. “Why do you look as though there’s something you’re not telling me?”

“It’s nothing.” She tossed the cloth aside and rubbed at her forehead. “It’s only that Kit was in the Old Town Inn on Friday evening and he didn’t mention seeing Denzel. He told me about everyone else he saw, and I think he’d have mentioned if he saw Denzel because things have been a bit weird between them lately… but it doesn’t mean anything. Kit probably forgot to mention it. Or maybe Denzel meant a completely different pub.”

“Are there other pubs on this island?”

“There are pubs on the off-islands,” Seren said. “Maybe he was in one of them.”

“Does he usually go on a boat trip for an evening in the pub?”

“Probably not,” Seren admitted, “But that doesn’t mean he didn’t on Friday. He might have been meeting someone from one of the off islands. He’s good friends with John over on Tresco. They could have gone to the New Inn over there.”

“You’d think he would have mentioned that,” Lily mused.

“He could also have got the days mixed up,” Seren said firmly. “There are lots of other conclusions we could reach before you write him off as a criminal. Denzel wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“I’m going to check with Kit if he saw him in the pub,” Lily said, getting her phone out. He replied immediately and they had a brief exchange.

“What did he say?” Seren asked once Lily put her phone away again.

“Denzel wasn’t in the Old Town Inn.”

“I’m telling you, that means nothing.”

“You didn’t see how annoyed he got with me for asking where he was,” Lily said. “I’m pretty sure he lied to my face.”

“That still doesn’t mean he’s done anything wrong.”

“Maybe not,” Lily said. “But it means I have more questions for him.”

Seren sighed loudly. “You’re kind of annoying when you’re in investigator mode.”

“Sorry,” Lily said. “But someone poisoned people. And they tried to poison me too. I need to find out who it was.”

Chapter Twenty

By the timehe left Lily’s place that evening, Flynn was pretty sure he’d messed things up between them. On the surface, things were relatively normal. She’d prattled on about Arthur Penrose and Denzel Harris and her theories about the poisonings, then moved on to chatter away about the ice cream shop. It wasn’t as though it was anything new for her to talk a lot, but there was a nervous energy to her wittering now – as though she didn’t want to deal with any lull in conversation.

Even lounging on the couch to watch TV with her had felt odd. There was a tension in the atmosphere which he wasn’t sure how to get past. With any luck, it would just take time and they’d slip back into their carefree friendship.

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