Page 77 of Dead in the Water

His reply was a quizzical grunt.

“There are three missing from the packet but you said you never took any.”

“Not now,” he said. “After the surgery I took some…”

“But you just said you hadn’t needed them.”

“I just didn’t need them for very long,” he said, his voice chillingly calm. “Let’s get up on deck and wave goodbye to this place, shall we?”

Certain he was lying, Lily waited with her heart lodged somewhere near her wind pipe. After a moment the room fell silent. The intense thudding of her heart filled her ears. Somehow, she needed to get off the boat unnoticed. Then she’d get to the police station and report what she’d found.

The police could take things from there.

Her mind drifted to Joseph and James but she pushed away the wave of sadness at his needless death. She’d have time to deal with that later.

For now, she needed to figure out how to get herself off the boat and away from the man who she was certain was a murderer.

Chapter Thirty-Four

With one foot outof the wardrobe, the boat pitched, causing Lily to stumble. They were moving already.

Creeping out from her hiding place, she leaned across the bed and moved the flimsy curtain aside to look out of the tiny window.

They were definitely moving – manoeuvring through the other boats in the harbour. If Lily was going to leave stealthily now, her escape would include a swim. That was assuming no one would be keen to turn around and take her back to the jetty.

She grimaced, wondering how Vic would react to finding her hiding on the boat. What if he figured out she was on to him?

At the sound of voices in the hallway, Lily’s heart rate went wild and she retreated hastily to the wardrobe, closing the sliding door quietly behind her.

“I’m so angry with you,” Joyce was saying when she walked into the cabin. “This room is so much bigger than ours. It’s completely unfair that Russell gets it. Why didn’t you say anything before?”

“Because Kerry might be forceful in her opinions, but what she said made sense: Russell is the captain. And it would be a hassle to move our things.”

“It would be worth it. There’s so much storage space in here. The wardrobe is twice the size of ours for a start.”

Lily’s breath hitched in the darkness. If they decided to check out the wardrobe, there was nowhere for her to hide. She slid down the wall and sat hugging her knees, as though making herself small might also make her invisible.

“The drawers under the bed are bigger too,” Joyce said.

“Is storage really the issue?” Keith asked.

“No,” Joyce huffed. “I don’t like Kerry getting her own way all the time. She gives out orders and everyone goes along with them.” She fell quiet and Lily peered through the crack to see her standing directly in front of Keith. “And I’m also feeling terrible about lying to that police officer. Everything feels a bit much.”

Keith’s voice turned quieter and Lily strained to hear. “It’s not as though it was a terrible lie, and it doesn’t matter. It’s no one’s business where we’re sailing to. For all they know, we might have just changed our minds at the last moment.”

“There wasn’t even any reason to lie, was there?” Joyce said. “I could have just explained we were continuing on with the trip we’d originally planned, but it felt so disrespectful to say we’re heading off on holiday when our friend has just died.”

Lily rested her forehead on her knees. Presumably, if she didn’t find a way off the boat soon, she’d end up in France or Spain with no ID and no money. That would be an interesting situation.

“Sweetheart,” Keith said, taking Joyce’s hand. “Everything is going to be fine. A couple of weeks in the Mediterranean will do you the world of good. Maybe we’ll head to the Greek Islands too. Haven’t you always wanted to sail around the Greek Islands?”

“Yes,” she said, sniffing loudly. “But what about Joseph’s funeral? We can’t miss it.”

“When we have the details, we’ll book a flight back for it. You need to stop feeling guilty – I’m sure Joseph and Lisa would want us to continue with our travel plans.”

“I suppose you’re right.” She paused. “It was so much easier to deal with Kerry when they were around.”

“Do you know what we could do?” Keith said excitedly. “We should switch rooms. We can start moving our things while the rest of them are busy on deck. If we already have most of our stuff in here, there won’t be so much of a battle about it.”

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