Page 40 of Dead in the Water

“I wonder if James will eat with us tomorrow?” Kerry remarked eventually.

At the mention of Joseph’s son, Lily stopped with her mug in front of her lips.

Vic draped an arm along the back of his wife’s chair. “If he does, we should convince Keith to keep Joyce out of the way. James will be feeling bad enough without having to endure an evening of her snivelling.”

“I should have a word with her anyway,” Kerry said, tilting her head. “You know what James is like… he’ll feel duty bound to comfort Joyce if she keeps blubbering like she has been. That’s not fair to him. I’ll tell her we all need to be strong and help him through all of this.”

The men on either side of her nodded their agreement.

“And we’re definitely going to speak to James about me buying the boat?” Russell asked. “You don’t think we should wait until after the funeral? Give the lad some time first?”

“No,” Vic said. “I don’t want this hanging over us. I’m sure James will feel the same. He’ll be happy to have one less thing to think about. And if we tell him his dad already agreed to it, that should sway him.”

Kerry stared out of the window. “Hopefully, Joseph hadn’t said otherwise to him.”

“Maybe I should offer him more,” Russell said.

Vic barked out a laugh. “You wouldn’t budge on the price for Joseph! It would have saved a lot of grief if you had. I guess you were happy to take advantage of your old friend, but draw the line at conning his grieving son?”

“I wasn’t trying to take advantage,” Russell said, a bite to his words. “And I’m not conning anyone.”

“Stick with the price you offered Joseph,” Kerry said firmly. “I’m certain James won’t quibble over it. If it’s an issue for him, you can offer him a bit more, but there’s no sense in going in too high. Tell him the boat is due for repairs and the price takes that into account.”

“I suppose so,” Russell replied.

Lily took another sip of her coffee. That sounded as though the boat wasn’t due for repairs at all. It seemed it was just like Joseph had said and they were trying to screw him over.

“We should take the boat for a spin tomorrow morning,” Kerry said. “I need something to kill the time until James arrives in the afternoon. All this sitting around is tedious.”

“A boat trip is a good idea,” Vic said.

Kerry lifted her coffee, pausing with it halfway to her lips. “It’ll probably be good for Joyce too – might help sway her.”

Sway her into what?Kerry’s message to Keith earlier had also mentioned them trying to convince Joyce of something.

Apparently, Lily wasn’t going to get an answer as the chatter shifted to a conversation about the food supplies they needed for the boat.

Five minutes later, the group stood to leave. Lily turned in her seat and bent her head over her coffee. Chances were they wouldn’t recognise her anyway, and even if they did, sitting on the next table in the cafe was unlikely to raise suspicions.

Even so, she was happy when they left the cafe without noticing her.

Their conversation played on her mind for the entire afternoon. Scheming to take advantage of a grieving son was pretty low. She hoped James would realise what they were up to and not let them get away with it.

Maybe she should try to speak to him when he was over. He’d be upset, though, and might find it intrusive.

With her thoughts all over the place, and that niggling feeling that something just wasn’t quite right about the situation, it annoyed her that she couldn’t chat to Flynn about it. Orwouldn’tspeak to him.

He called her mobile shortly after Lily had closed up the shop but, after dithering for a moment, she ignored it. It wasn’t as though she thought she could avoid him forever – or wanted to. She just needed a little space to figure out how to just be friends with him.

The thought that he might come over to her place after she’d ignored his call contributed to her decision to take an evening stroll. Not just that though – she also had the overwhelming urge to snoop around Joseph’s friends a little more.

Slamming his mobile down on the desk, Flynn released a quiet growl. Lily wasn’t just angry with him, but ignoring him, too.

“Everything okay?” Sergeant Proctor’s baritone made Flynn jump.

“Fine,” he said, glancing at his boss, who stood in the doorway behind him.

“I think you’ve been over those witness statements enough now.” He wandered over to the desk, which was strewn with papers. “Don’t you?”

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