Page 83 of Dead in the Water

“You were so annoyed at not being able to go on the trips we’d planned,” Kerry went on. “It was your idea to sell to Russell so we could make proper use of the boat. Oh my god. You really killed him. Just because you weren’t getting to enjoy your retirement the way you wanted.”

“I didn’t kill him,” Vic said, with icy calm. “No one can prove otherwise.”

“I found your shirt with blood stains on it.” Lily’s heart pounded while she waited for Vic to react. Maybe it wasn’t blood stains at all.

Beside her Flynn held up the evidence bag. “Are the stains on this Joseph’s blood?”

Finally, Vic shifted in his seat. Then he puffed out his chest. “I’m not saying anything until I’ve spoken to my lawyer.”

“I know you did it,” Lily growled, a swell of anger rising in her. “You won’t get away with it. Between the missing sleeping pills and the stains on the shirt and the post-mortem report, there’ll be plenty of evidence. Plus, you brought old sleeping pills from home, so clearly you were planning this for a while.”

The calm behind Vic’s eyes finally snapped. “I wasn’t planning anything,” he shouted. “I only brought them in case.And if Joseph had been reasonable about selling his share of the boat I wouldn’t have needed to take such drastic action.”

The boat fell silent and Vic’s gaze darted around his companions who stared at him with varying degrees of horror.

“You should be thanking me,” he roared. “I did it for all of us. So we could spend our retirement traveling like we’d planned, without him holding us back.”

When he stopped talking, no one said a word.

All the colour drained from Vic’s face as the sergeant stepped towards him, unclipping his handcuffs from his belt as he went.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Vic closedhis eyes while the sergeant arrested him. He didn’t speak, nor resist. Calmly, he peeled his eyelids open and remained still as the handcuffs clicked into place.

That ominous sound seemed to snap the others from their shocked silence.

“Did you say he’s not dying?” Russell asked, his accusing gaze on Kerry. “You told me he has cancer and he doesn’t have long to live.”

“I’m so sorry.” Kerry shuffled towards Russell. “I really am.”

“They’ve been having an affair.” Lily aimed the comment at Sergeant Proctor but spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear.

Vic eyed his restraints with agitation as he spoke. “I don’t think you can really call it an affair when I knew all about it.”

“What?” Russell said through gritted teeth.

“It was my idea.” Vic’s voice held a note of pride. “She was only stringing you along. I thought it would be a good way to encourage you to go along with our plan for you to buy Joseph’s share of the boat, so we could finally make use of it.”

Russell shrugged Kerry off and paced away from her.

“It all got out of hand,” Kerry said, following him. “I’m so sorry.”

Vic released a surly laugh. “You weren’t sorry when he started showering you with expensive jewellery. Thanks for that, by the way. That was an unexpected boost for my finances.”

“You sold the jewellery?” Russell asked, glaring at Kerry. “All those excuses about not being able to wear it around Vic and the real reason was because you didn’t have it any more?”

“It’s true that I’m not dying,” Vic said. “So you won’t be getting my wife to yourself anytime soon.”

Joyce let out a yelp of surprise and pressed her hand to her chest while mumbling her disbelief.

“You’ve been lying to me about everything,” Russell snarled at Kerry. “You said you loved me and the only reason you wouldn’t leave him was because he was dying. You must think me an absolute fool.”

“There’s no fool like a gullible, rich fool,” Vic said. “I’m surprised you fell for her story about me dying, though. I did tell her she may have gone a bit far there.”

“You just made it up?” Joyce asked, staring at Kerry with disbelief.

“He wanted me to leave Vic. I don’t know why I said it. I just panicked.” Tears sprang from Kerry’s eyes as she inched back towards Russell. “I’ve been an idiot. We just wanted to be able to travel the world like we’d planned, but I shouldn’t have used you like that.”

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