Page 11 of Dead in the Water

“Yes.”

“Joseph?” Lily asked. “Was the man’s name Joseph? Please tell me it wasn’t?” He said his friends had been in the pub – maybe one of them had fallen after a couple of drinks too many. Not that she’d wish any of them any harm, but she’d enjoyed chatting to Joseph. Surely he wasn’t dead.

“Yes, Joseph,” Pippa said. “Did you know him?”

She shook her head and moved automatically to the nearest chair. “He’s dead?”

“It looks as though he slipped on the harbour steps.” Pippa pressed her lips together. “Knocked himself out and ended up in the water.”

“No,” Lily whispered.

Seren pulled out the chair beside her. “You knew him?”

“He came in for ice cream a couple of days ago with his friends. Yesterday evening he stopped to watch the sunset outside the shop, and we had a chat.”

“You spoke to him last night?” Pippa asked, pulling up a chair.

“Yes. He seemed like such a nice guy.”

“You might have been the last person to speak to him.”

“He was talking to his son on the phone when he left,” Lily said.

“That must have been right before he died.” Pippa pressed her palms onto the table. “His friend Joyce said he didn’t come back to the boat last night. Apparently, he’d gone off for a walk while they were in the pub. When they got back to the boat, they all went to bed and didn’t notice until this morning that he didn’t make it back to the boat. They woke up to see the police pulling his body out of the water. Apparently, he was snagged on a bit of rusted ladder close to the bottom of the steps.”

“Oh, god.” Lily’s mind went to Flynn, assuming he’d been involved in that grim task. “I wonder if someone’s told his son. It sounded as though they were close.” Tears stung the back of her eyes as she remembered him talking so fondly about his grandson.

“His friend, Joyce, called his son,” Pippa said. “She came in the cafe straight after, and couldn’t stop crying, the poor thing.”

“Why were they in the cafe?” Lily asked.

Pippa shrugged. “Sergeant Proctor wanted to speak to them, but he needed to deal with the body first. They didn’t want tojust sit around on their boat, so they came for a coffee while they waited. They’ve gone now. What a terrible holiday.”

“How old was he?” Seren asked.

Lily stared at the table. “I’d guess mid to late sixties.” Her stomach lurched with a wave of sadness. “He seemed perfectly fit and healthy. He was excited about going home today and playing with his grandson.”

“It’s so sad,” Seren murmured. “Makes me feel sick. His poor family.”

“I better get back to the cafe,” Pippa said, smiling wanly as she stood. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Are you okay?” Seren asked Lily when they were alone.

“Yeah. It’s not as though I knew him… but it’s really sad.”

“It makes you realise how precious life is.” She stood and stretched her neck. “On that note, I’m off to find Kit to give him a big hug.”

Lily managed a smile.

“Here, you can have one too.” Seren bent and wrapped her arms around Lily, squeezing so hard that she couldn’t help but laugh. “You should call Flynn,” she said when she released her.

Oddly enough, that had been Lily’s instinct as well.

“Why?” she asked, affecting a puzzled air.

“He’ll have been dealing with it this morning. He’ll know all the details. And you should tell him you spoke to the guy last night. The police might want to talk to you.”

“I suppose they might,” she said. “I’ll message him.”

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