Page 79 of Dead in the Water

Flynn leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees while the sergeant answered the call. Given the sharp rise of his boss’s eyebrows, he gathered something had come up on the post-mortem.

“What is it?” he asked, the moment the call ended.

“He doesn’t have his full report yet, but he wanted to give me a heads up that he’ll be recommending further investigation.”

“Why?” Flynn asked eagerly.

“The angle of the skull fracture isn’t consistent with a fall.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Also there are particles embedded in his skull which don’t match the stonework on the harbour steps.”

“What kind of particles?”

“Like a brick,” the sergeant said with a frown.

“Someone killed him,” Flynn whispered.

“It’s looking likely. We need to get his friends in for more questioning.”

Flynn blew out a breath, then snapped his head to the door as PC Hill walked in.

“I just had a weird phone call,” his colleague said, looking at Flynn and then the sergeant. “A woman said she was walking home from the pub on Sunday evening and heard raised voices at the harbour. She thought it was probably teenagers messing around… but since she heard about Mr Whittaker, it’s been playing on her mind. She wasn’t even sure it was worth mentioning since she didn’t see anything… just heard arguing. Pretty loud, apparently.”

The sergeant met Flynn’s gaze as the room fell silent.

Flynn swore quietly.

“Did she say what time?” the sergeant asked.

“Around ten. Maybe shortly after.”

Flynn growled. “That’s not long after the Coopers and the Hugheses claimed they went back to the boat. And they said they sat and had a drink in the galley before they headed to bed. Even if they did go to bed soon after they arrived back, what are the chances that none of them heard arguing at the harbour?”

“Something’s not right,” PC Hill said.

“The post-mortem also raised questions,” Sergeant Proctor told him. “We definitely need to bring Mr Whittaker’s friends back in for more questions.”

Flynn tilted his head back. “If you can find them.”

“How do you mean?” the sarge asked.

“When I saw them half an hour ago, they were gearing up to sail. If they do have something to hide, I can’t imagine they hung around long. I’d say they’re on their way by now.”

“I can try and find out,” the sergeant said, plucking his phone from his desk.

Flynn’s phone rang at the same time, and his eyebrows rose when he saw it was Lily. She had great timing – he’d give her that.

“I’m just going to take this quickly,” he said, but the sergeant was busy with his phone and didn’t acknowledge him.

Slipping past PC Hill, he answered the phone in the hallway.

“Thank god!” Lily hissed quietly. “I thought you weren’t going to answer.”

“I’m in the middle of something at work. It’s about––”

“Shh! Just listen to me, because I don’t know how long I’ve got…”

He started to ask her what on earth she was talking about, but she didn’t stop talking.

“I think Vic killed Joseph,” she said in a rush. “I found a shirt and it has stains on it. I think it’s blood splatter. And there’s something not right about his sleeping pills. I don’t have time to explain everything now, but I need you to trust me. I’m on their boat and they’re sailing to the Mediterranean like they originally planned…”

---