Page 1 of Dead in the Water

Chapter One

Apparently,the group of customers on the only occupied table in the ice cream shop thought Lily had gone into the back room, rather than merely ducking down behind the counter to wipe up a blob of spilled ice cream. If she popped up again now, while the haughty woman was making derogatory comments about the coffee it was going to be awkward.

“Honestly, it’s awful,” she went on. “It’s a good job the ice cream is excellent. That’s all I can say.”

Lily’s lips curved in a slow smile. Sod it. She could do with some entertainment after a quiet couple of days.

“Thank you,” she said as she stood, then smothered a laugh at the array of reactions from the six people around the table. The woman with the perfectly styled auburn hair visibly winced, while her friends looked thoroughly amused.

At a guess, Lily would judge them to be in their sixties. Two women and four men.

“Can I get you anything else?” she asked cheerfully. “More coffee, perhaps?”

“I think we’re fine, thank you,” the woman said, frowning into her mug.

“You don’t mind us lingering, do you?” a serious-looking man with wire-rimmed glasses asked. “We thought we’d wait until the rain calmed down, but who knows if that will ever happen?”

“It’ll probably stop soon,” the grey-haired woman beside him said, slipping her hand onto his knee.

“Ever the optimist, aren’t you, Joyce?” the other lady said mockingly. “You’ve been saying that for two days now.”

“It’s only a bit of rain.” The man beside her patted her on the back affectionately. “Tomorrow will surely be better.”

“They’re getting lovely weather down in Spain,” the woman said huffily. “I checked the weather reports.”

The others in the group fell into a silence that even Lily found uncomfortable.

It was broken by the sound of a chair scraping. A moustached man stood up and there was a split second when Lily was certain he was about to make a dramatic exit from the shop, but he walked up to the counter.

“I think I’ll have an ice cream after all,” he said, standing at the glass-fronted counter.

While the rest of them had already eaten ice cream, he’d opted for just a coffee.

“What flavour would you like?” Lily asked, paying no attention to the hushed conversation between his friends that sounded distinctly like bickering.

“I’ll go for strawberry, I think.”

Lily nodded and picked up the scoop. “Are you enjoying your holiday so far?”

“It’s all right, I suppose.”

“Come on,” Lily said lightly. “Surely the coffee isn’tthatbad?”

He chuckled at the lame joke, then his features turned serious. “I think some holidays are just destined to be a disaster.”

“Oh, dear. That doesn’t sound good.”

He took the ice cream cone from her and sidestepped to the till. “It’s not so bad, really.”

Lily took his money and deposited it in the till. Then she lowered her voice.

“Did you give the casting vote on the Isles of Scilly or something? Because someone seems upset that they’re not enjoying some Spanish sunshine.”

He gave her a conspiratorial smile. “Something like that.” He looked over his shoulder at his friends, who were now deep in a conversation about which other islands they would visit when the weather cleared. “Sorry about Kerry, by the way.”

Lily dipped her eyebrows in confusion. “Oh, you mean the coffee comment? It’s fine.”

“The coffee’s really not that bad.”

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