Page 25 of Death on the Rocks

Lily was halfway down her coffee when a noise drew her attention. A crash, as though someone had dropped something. It came again almost immediately. Moving from her chair, she called a questioning ‘hello’ as she peered around the side of the house to where the garden shed stood beside the border wall.

All was quiet again and she was about to return to her coffee when a jolt of curiosity propelled her towards the shed. Peering through the window wasn’t helpful. In the dim light, she couldn’t make out much.

Deciding she’d probably imagined the noise, she was all set to turn back when the silence was broken once again. This time it sounded like a tree branch scraping against the shed, except there was no breeze and all the branches were perfectly still.

Slowly, she slid the bolt which fixed the shed door in place. The hinges groaned as she opened the door, then silence consumed the air again.

With tense shoulders, she stepped inside, telling herself there was nothing to fear. Her body didn’t get the message and her heart pounded in her rib cage while the tiny hairs on her arms stood on end. She shivered in the shadowy room and almost laughed at herself. There was nothing except forthe usual gardening equipment: a lawn mower in the corner, a coiled hose pipe, a bunch of plant pots––

A high-pitched yowl shattered the silence.

Plastic flower pots flew from the shelf and ricocheted off Lily’s shoulder.

Instinct had her stumbling backwards, which meant the handle of the spade just missed her feet when it fell to the floor with a clatter.

Lily’s heart smashed against her ribcage so hard that it might have left a bruise.

“It’s just a cat,” she said out loud, in an attempt to calm her frazzled nervous system. “Only a cat. Nothing to be scared of.”

The silky tabby had the audacity to hiss at her before darting away.

“I let you out, didn’t I?” Lily called after it. “Maybe a thank you would be more appropriate. And an apology for shortening my lifespan wouldn’t go amiss either.”

With a deep breath, she bent for the handle of the spade and propped it back against the wall. Then she collected up the plant pots, which rolled around her feet. As she went to insert them into a space on the shelf, her eyes landed on a leather strap at the back of the shelf. Instinctively, she pulled on the strap, surprised by the weight attached to the other end of it.

She was even more surprised to find the weight belonged to a bulky black camera case.

Chapter Seventeen

An unconvincing voicein Lily’s head suggested it might not be Vinny’s camera. Maybe there was a perfectly good reason for someone to store their expensive camera in the garden shed. Admittedly, she struggled to think what that reason might be, but she didn’t want to rule out the idea entirely.

After removing the camera from its case, she turned it over in her hands, examining the selection of buttons before idly pressing the power button. The display brightened, showing her own shoes. Taking an educated guess, she pressed the play button, pulling up the last photo taken – that of a sunset over the water from a beach.

With a press of an arrow, she scrolled to the next photo – Alanna leaning against a wall with a bright smile on her face. Then more photos of Alanna. All artfully shot with the stunning scenery from the islands in the background. The pictures were mesmerising enough that, for a few moments, Lily was unconcerned that she was scrolling through the snaps of a man who was now dead.

In her hands was the apparently lost – but now almost certainly stolen – camera of a dead man.

She’d need to hand it in to the police, she thought, retrieving the case to pack the camera away again. She didn’t quite get that far. The collection of memory cards slotted into a clear pouch on the inside of the case caught her attention, and curiosity had her pulling them out. Each had a label, and she recognised the names of the other islands in the archipelago – Bryher, Tresco, St Agnes, St Martin’s.

Another label contained only a crudely drawn smiley face. The crooked mouth gave it a sinister air, which immediately intrigued Lily. She turned the camera to locate the slot for the memory card.

Once she had it in place, she returned to the display screen. The picture that appeared made Lily’s breath catch in her throat.

Her heart raced.

Not only was the photo darker in hue, but it was also darker in nature. Gone was the sense of calm and happiness that the previous pictures evoked.

A chill crept up Lily’s spine.

The photo had been taken indoors. It was of a young woman, but not Alanna. This woman looked far younger. Crude lighting bounced off the naked skin of her upper body. Her arms hugged her chest, keeping her breasts covered, yet the action made her look even more exposed. Her lips were stretched into an uncertain smile.

Releasing a breath, Lily scrolled to the next photograph and then the next – they were almost identical until she reached the fourth photo. Here, the woman – barely more than a girl, really – was captured from head to toe. She was entirely naked, with her arms hanging limply at her sides. In this one, there was less uncertainty in her features and more fear.

Fear that left Lily feeling repulsed for looking at the photos.

Quickly, she switched the memory cards back. With everything back how it had been, she could hand the camera into the police.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t matter that she’d put her fingerprints all over the evidence.

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