Page 63 of Dead in the Water

“Is your necklace sentimental?” he asked, changing tack.

She moved the pendant back and forth along the chain, but didn’t reply.

“There’s a newspaper article with a photo of you from when the shop opened, and you were wearing it then, too.”

She shifted in her seat. “I suppose it is sentimental.”

“Was it a gift?”

A smile touched her lips then. “A friend of mine gave it to me when I bought the ice cream shop. I felt as though I’d been drifting through life until then. I told my friend I wanted to do something for myself instead of always doing what was expected of me. Buying the ice cream shop was my way of putting down roots. That’s what I said.” Her eyes softened. “My friend said if I was going to live on such a small island, I’d need an anchor, not roots.”

Flynn smiled at the story. “Are you still in touch?”

He could almost see her guard snap back into place. She tucked the necklace into her blouse, out of sight.

“We drifted apart,” she said. “We don’t speak any more.”

“That’s a shame.”

She nodded once, then stood abruptly. “It was good of you to call in.”

“Give my best to Glynis,” he said at the door.

He walked back to the station with even more questions than he’d started with.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Lily wasn’t surprisedto see Glynis walk into the shop in the middle of the afternoon. What surprised her was the anger that bubbled up in her. With all her investigating, she’d put her conversation with Maria out of her mind, but now it came back to her in a rush – along with the notion that Glynis had known all along that the owner of the shop was living under her roof.

“I came yesterday.” The small smile did nothing to disguise the guilt in Glynis’s eyes. “Jessica said you were out somewhere.”

Lily nodded. “I had a few things to do.”

“Jessica seemed to have everything under control. It’s good that you have some help around here.”

“She’s great,” Lily said with a forced smile.

Glynis dropped her voice to a whisper. “You’re upset with me, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” There didn’t seem to be any point in denying it.

“Can we talk for a minute?” Glynis asked, tipping her head towards a lone table at the side of the room.

With a resigned sigh, Lily led the way.

“You knew all along, didn’t you?” she asked, when they were seated opposite each other. “You knew Maria owned the shopand you kept it from me. Even when I asked you outright if you knew anything about the owner.”

“I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you, but it wasn’t my secret to tell.”

“Didn’t you feel bad spending so much time here? Or did you only come here to spy on me and report back to Maria?”

“Absolutely not. To start with, I was just intrigued to meet you, but then…” She reached over and placed her hand over Lily’s. “I’m very fond of you, and Flynn too.”

A lump formed in Lily’s throat at the sound of her name and Flynn’s so casually put together.

“And if I ever reported back to Maria it was because I was trying to convince her to introduce herself to you. I thought if I told her things about the shop, she might get curious enough to make herself known to you.”

“She doesn’t seem at all interested in the shop,” Lily said.

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