Page 34 of Death on the Rocks

Her eyes widened as she realised they really wouldn’t look into things further. “I imagine they’d be more upset if they thought there was a chance someone had killed him and you didn’t bother to look into it.”

“It’s been a stressful few days and this is a lot for you to process, but it’s a huge leap to suggest someone killed him.”

“His camera was stolen,” she said slowly. “With some pretty disturbing pictures. And then the guy mysteriously died.”

“The wet rocks can be treacherous,” he said flatly.

“So people often just fall and die around here when they’re out for a walk?” she snapped.

Finally, his gaze met hers. “Unfortunately, accidents happen.”

While her blood pulsed hard in her veins, Lily completely lost her cool. “This doesn’t make sense. When I spoke to you this morning, you believed me. You agreed that there should be an investigation. What happened between then and now?”

“What happened was I thought about what you’d said and discussed the situation with a colleague. After further consideration, I concluded that there’s nothing to investigate.”

He stood before he’d even finished speaking and the motion almost had the effect of hiding his irritation. But not quite.

Lily just couldn’t figure out where his annoyance was directed.

“You really don’t think there’s anything suspicious about this whole situation?” she asked while he moved towards the door.

“I think––” As he pushed the back of his hand across his forehead, he looked suddenly exhausted. “I think it would be best if you focussed on enjoying the rest of your holiday.”

He didn’t look at her again and was gone before she could say anything more.

So she didn’t have time to explain that she wasn’t on holiday. That she was searching for answers about her childhood. Not that she was too concerned about finding the owner of the ice cream shop now.

She had a new mission.

If the police wouldn’t investigate Vinny’s death, she’d just have to do their job for them.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Askinga few questions wouldn’t do any harm. It might come to nothing, but Lily knew it would forever bother her if she didn’t at least try to find answers.

When Flora wandered into the living room to check on Lily, moments after PC Grainger left, it seemed like a good idea to start with her.

“PC Grainger mentioned the camera had turned up,” Lily said, remaining on the couch. “You found it in the neighbour’s garden, did you?”

“Not us, no. Oscar found it this morning when he arrived.”

Lily frowned. “I thought you’d given him the day off.”

“We did. After he found the camera. It shook him up. This whole thing has. So I told him to go home and we went and handed in the camera. I explained that to PC Grainger.”

“He only mentioned that you’d handed it in.” She chewed on her bottom lip. Oscar finding it actually made more sense, since she’d already suspected he’d been the one to steal it and stash it in the shed. Presumably now he was trying to cover his tracks.

“I’m glad it turned up.” Flora sank into the armchair and lowered her voice. “It gave me goosebumps to think of someonestealing from right under our noses. Rodney feels better now that it’s turned up, too. He’s been quite stressed out recently.”

Lily smiled and aimed for a nonchalant tone. “It must be quite demanding to run a bed and breakfast.”

“You wouldn’t believe,” Flora said forcefully. “If you’d have told me two years ago how much stress it would be, I’d never have believed it either.”

“I suppose it’s rewarding too,” Lily ventured.

Flora’s reaction was anything but enthusiastic. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you? It sounds so idyllic, running a B&B. Mostly it’s just hard work with little reward.” Her eyes misted over, and Lily stayed quiet, waiting to see if she’d share more. “Sorry,” she said with a gentle shake of the head. “This tragedy has made me want to be close to my daughter and grandkids more than ever. They live in Devon so I don’t see them as much as I’d like.”

“Do you ever think of moving closer to them?” Lily asked, despite already knowing the answer.

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