Page 19 of Death on the Rocks

After a moment, Sergeant Proctor caught his breath and looked resignedly at Flynn. “I suppose you can hold the fort here if I go home for a while.”

“Of course,” Flynn said, hiding his positivity at the notion. “I’ve written up my report and the statement for Miss Larkin.”

Sergeant Proctor walked over to Flynn’s desk and frowned in obvious confusion.

“The woman who found the body,” Flynn clarified.

“Ah, yes. Of course.”

“I’ll go over and get her signature on it tomorrow. Is there anything else you want me to deal with? A press release maybe?” He winced, wondering if that was even something they bothered about on the islands. Was the press even interested?

“I already did it,” Sergeant Proctor said. “And I have all the relevant people on standby for moving the body to the mainland as soon as the weather permits. I’ll try to keep any press interest at bay until we’ve informed the next of kin, though.” He droppeda piece of paper in front of Flynn with a name and phone number on it. “That’s the details of the deceased’s sister. I tried calling twice but got no answer. Keep trying her.” He let out a long breath. “You have dealt with this sort of thing before, I take it? You can be sensitive when breaking the news?”

“Yes,” Flynn said, gritting his teeth to keep from saying any more. Like pointing out that he was twenty-seven and not actually a child. That he’d been in the force for nine years and had routinely dealt with similar situations. And mostly to shout at him that he wasn’t completely incompetent and that their time together would be much more pleasant if he’d stop treating him as though he was.

He smiled benignly and reached for the piece of paper. “I can manage that.”

“If anything else comes up, call me.” Sergeant Proctor was already walking away. “Anything,” he growled. “Don’t go making decisions without running them by me.”

“Yes, Sarge,” Flynn said brightly, deciding to focus on the positive – he had the place to himself for the rest of the afternoon.

Not that he liked to wish illness on anyone, but he couldn’t help but hope it might take the sergeant a few more days to fully recover.

Chapter Thirteen

There wassomething about PC Grainger’s presence that made Lily feel anchored. While he was there, she felt safe and comfortable. Once he left she felt out of place around the Millers and Alanna and Marc. Possibly because she was aware of the fact that she’d insinuated to PC Grainger that one of them may be a murderer.

She spent the afternoon lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling and listening to the noises in the house. Eventually, she heard the doorbell and then the back and forth of a conversation before the creak of the stairs told her someone was coming up. The gentle knock on her door surprised her, and she stared at it for a moment before she moved.

Had it really only been twenty-four hours ago that Vinny had been pummelling on the door and demanding entrance? No one was demanding anything now, though. In fact, the knock had been so light that she wasn’t even certain it was someone at her door until she opened it.

The barmaid from the pub looked at her sympathetically. “I hope I’m not intruding,” she said, words dripping with apology. “I heard what happened… that some guy staying here had died, and I knew you were staying here, so I wanted to check on you.Flora just told me you were the one who found him.” She tilted her head. “Are you okay?”

“I think so. It’s been a very weird day.”

Seren gave a half smile. “It must have been awful.”

Instinctively, Lily wanted to say it hadn’t been so bad, but an image of Vinny’s twisted body came back to her and she swallowed hard. “Yeah,” she murmured. “It was pretty awful.”

“I have a shift at the pub tonight,” Seren told her. “If you want company, you could come and prop up the bar again. Kit will probably come in at some point too.”

“Thank you.” Lily considered the idea. “I actually don’t feel like going out.” She screwed her face up as a thought occurred to her. “Except I don’t have any food here, so I suppose I’ll need to go out at some point.” Maybe, under the circumstances, Mrs Miller might cook something for her. She could at least ask.

“Oh!” Seren’s eyes lit up. “I almost forgot… I brought you crab cakes. They’re my favourite comfort food and I thought you might need something comforting.” She looked suddenly uncertain. “I don’t even know if you like crab cakes, but if you do these are probably the best you’ve ever tasted. There are chips too.” Reaching into the bag in her hand, she retrieved a takeaway box and handed it over.

“Thanks so much.” Lily took it eagerly, only now realising how hungry she was. “That’s really kind of you.”

“I bought some for myself as well,” Seren said. “We can eat together if you want, or if you’d rather be alone, I’ll leave you in peace.”

Lily was happy to have company and opened the door wider before she frowned at the space she was inviting Seren into – a bedroom. “We could eat downstairs if you want…”

“No, let’s eat in here.” Seren moved inside. “Flora’s downstairs. She’d probably sit with us and we won’t be able to talk properly.”

Lily felt the same sense of ease that she’d felt with PC Grainger as she watched Seren settle herself in the armchair with her takeaway box on her lap.

Out of the blue, Lily heard her uncle’s voice ringing in her ear.Don’t get too attached,it said with Uncle Derek’s kindly tone.You know we won’t be staying long.

In her mind’s eye, she could see him ruffling her hair as he said the words. And he’d promise to buy her a treat in the next city or town they moved to – often in an entirely different country. As though a new toy would make up for not having friends.

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