Page 32 of Dead in the Water

“Don’t you think it’s strange that no one heard him fall? If his friends were on the boat, as they claim, surely at least one of them would have heard a splash.”

The sergeant shrugged. “I imagine if you’re used to sleeping on a boat, you get used to hearing splashes and other noises. The mind probably filters it out so you barely notice it at all. That’s if they were still awake. There’s every chance they were fast asleep.”

“It doesn’t ring true,” Lily insisted. “If no one heard anything, I imagine it’s because someone was purposely being quiet. And careful. Perhaps they waited and made sure there was no one around.”

The sergeant leaned back in his chair. “The way he was found, and his head injury seem to be consistent with a fall.”

Lily threw her hands up. “Can you consider the possibility that you’ve missed something? Just for a minute? Because it’s not that long since you were convinced a man fell to his death from the cliffs until I proved otherwise. You were sure you were right then as well.”

“There’ll be a post-mortem,” Flynn said, bracing his hands on the desk. “That will show anything suspicious.”

“So you’re just waiting around for that?”

Flynn’s eyes narrowed. “There’s not a lot else we can do.”

“I’ll tell you what we’ll do,” the sergeant said in an annoyingly measured tone. “We’ll go through all the statements again and check we didn’t miss anything. We’ll keep asking if anyone heard or saw anything on the evening of his death. His son is also arriving tomorrow, so we’ll chat with him again and see if he has any reason to suspect anything untoward. And if you stumble upon any evidence, let us know and we’ll follow up.”

“Fine,” Lily muttered, her jaw tense as she rose from the chair. “I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

She stalked out of the station and almost refused to stop when Flynn called out to her a moment later.

Except she’d look petty if she ignored him completely.

“Are you okay?” he asked, when she turned back.

“Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because you can barely look at me. I’m sorry, okay…”

She rolled her eyes, hoping the action would mask her hurt. “I already told you it’s fine.”

“It’s clearly not fine. You’re angry with me and now you’re all worked up about the guy who died.”

She threw her hands up. “You think I’m so distraught about you standing me up that I’m looking into a man’s death to distract myself?”

He scratched at his jaw. “I think you have a lot on your mind. There’s also the stuff with Maria which you’re avoiding dealing with.”

“I’m not avoiding it. I just haven’t had a chance to speak to her alone.”

“Okay,” he muttered.

“I really think there’s something that doesn’t add up about Joseph’s death. You can sit around waiting for the post-mortem, but my gut is telling me that something isn’t right and I intend to figure out exactly what happened.”

He nodded slowly. “I could help.”

“You already said there’s nothing you can do without evidence.” She held up a hand when he started to speak. “I don’t need your help.”

Walking away from him, her heart felt heavy. He was probably right that looking into Joseph’s death was a distraction from her problems.

It wasn’t only that, though. She’d felt a connection with Joseph and knew she wouldn’t sleep well while there were unanswered questions about his death.

Chapter Sixteen

Kit Treneary steppedout of the Cookie Jar with a croissant in one hand and a takeaway cup in the other. He smiled widely when he spotted Lily, but his cheerful demeanour faded almost immediately.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing. Are you angry with me?”

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