Page 78 of Dead in the Water

“Do you think so?” Joyce said. “Won’t it cause a lot of bother?”

“You keep saying we need to stand up to Kerry. And Russell didn’t even seem bothered about the room, so I can’t imagine he’ll mind.”

“Go on then.” There was a girlish giggle to Joyce’s words. “Let’s start moving things now.”

Lily pressed her fingers against her temples.

How on earth did she get herself into these situations?

And more to the point, how was she going to get out of it? The idea of strolling out with some vague excuse now felt like a terrible idea.

She also might only have moments before Joyce and Keith returned.

Frantically, she pulled out her phone, happy to see she still had a signal. With shaky fingers she tapped on the screen, then put the phone to her ear and held her breath while she waited for the call to be answered.

Chapter Thirty-Five

The phone was ringingin the station when Flynn arrived at the start of his shift. PC Hill paused with his hand hovering over it.

“Morning,” he said to Flynn. “You okay? You look annoyed.”

“I’m fine.” He pointed to the door at the back. “Is the sergeant in his office?”

“Yes.”

Flynn nodded and continued back there, leaving Jeff to answer the phone. Outside the sergeant’s office, he glanced at his mobile.

The radio silence from Lily was something he should get used to, he supposed.

“What’s going on?” the sergeant asked, when Flynn entered without knocking.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” he said, sinking onto the chair. “I can’t put my finger on it, but I have a feeling that we missed something…”

“Regarding Mr Whittaker?”

“Yeah.” Flynn straightened his spine and stretched his neck. “What if Lily was right and there was more to it?”

“There was no evidence of foul play. Sometimes all we can do is follow up on leads and hope that we find the truth. If we don’t have leads to follow, there’s not a lot we can do.”

Flynn rubbed his neck, unsure whether his emotional turmoil was really to do with the case, or with the situation with Lily. “I got weird vibes from them this morning,” he said. “Mr Whittaker’s friends.”

“You’ve seen them this morning?”

He nodded curtly. “At the harbour. They were loading up, getting ready to leave.”

“Why were you down there?”

“Just out for a walk.”

“And you ended up at their boat?”

“Yes. And that quiet woman, Joyce, was acting incredibly cagey.”

“Possibly because there was a police officer hanging around for no reason. It does have the effect of putting people on edge sometimes.”

“It was more than that. I’m sure of it.”

The sergeant tilted his head, but was distracted from saying anything by his phone ringing. His brow wrinkled as he peered at the screen. “Colin,” he stated with a pointed look at Flynn. “The forensic pathologist.”

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