Page 58 of Dead in the Water

Joyce’s features flashed with surprise. “Yes, why?”

Lily stuttered a little but didn’t manage to formulate any words.

“Cancer?” Joyce closed her eyes. “Of course. Sorry, I wasn’t thinking of Lisa, though.”

“Oh?”

“Vic’s very ill,” she said slowly. “Terminally.”

Lily kept her features set in surprised concern, while her brain whirred. Vic being ill explained why he’d been having trouble sleeping.

“He’s being a typical man about the whole thing. Refuses to speak about it.”

“Maybe he thinks he’s doing you a favour.”

“He didn’t even want us to know about the diagnosis.” Joyce’s features morphed into a sardonic smile. “I’m sure he didn’t think about how difficult it would make life for Kerry. Shekept his secret for a while, but of course she needed to confide in someone. Keeping something like that bottled up isn’t right.”

Lily frowned. “So you pretend you don’t know?”

“Crazy, isn’t it?” Joyce idly ran her fingers through the sand beside her. “Apparently he wants to make the most of the time he has, without everyone making a fuss. I suppose I can understand that to some extent.”

“It sounds like a difficult situation for everyone.”

“Yes.” She dusted the sand from her hands. “I think his illness is partly why Kerry got so upset about Joseph not wanting to continue with the trip. I suppose she was thinking it might be Vic’s last chance to do it.”

“Did Joseph know about Vic being ill?”

“No.” She closed her eyes briefly. “I encouraged Kerry to tell him. If he’d known I think he would have changed his mind about the trip, but Kerry said she already felt she’d betrayed Vic by telling me and Keith about his illness.” She paused and her eyes glazed over. “She didn’t even want us to know, but we overheard her talking to Russell.”

“No one else knows?” Lily asked.

She shook her head. “Just us. I hate secrets. Vic is our friend and we’d like to support him through this. We can’t do that if we’re not supposed to know about it.”

Lily was a little lost for words. “I’m sorry,” she said eventually.

“I’m sorry for offloading on you. I also feel bad for staying out of the way when I should be helping James sort through his dad’s things. He shouldn’t have to do that alone.”

“Keith’s with him, isn’t he?”

“Yes, but he’s not the most sensitive person. He’ll be all businesslike about it. Which is probably helpful to some extent, but poor James needs sympathy too.” She stood and brushed the sand from her floral skirt. “I’ll go and see what I can do to help.”

“I’m sure he’ll appreciate that,” Lily said. “Good luck.”

“Thank you.” Joyce reached for Lily’s hand and clutched it in both hers while giving her a grateful smile. “You’ve been ever so kind.”

“It’s nothing,” Lily murmured.

Maybe none of it had anything to do with Joseph’s death, but it seemed there were plenty of secrets between the group of friends.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The morning jogaround the island did little to dispense Flynn’s frustrations. In fact, it had the opposite effect. Since he’d usually have invited Lily to join him, her absence was a constant reminder of their rift, which he had no idea how to fix. If she wanted space, he supposed he’d have to give it to her – even though the idea of it pained him.

His shift didn’t start until after lunch and the free time did nothing to help his mental state. Arriving at the station early, he greeted PC Hill at the front desk, then went through to the sergeant’s office.

“Any word on the post-mortem?” he asked, taking a seat.

Sergeant Proctor looked up from his computer screen. “I can’t imagine we’ll hear anything until tomorrow at the earliest.”

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