Page 37 of Death on the Rocks

Thatword again. She was staying in a B&B for a week in a popular holiday destination so she supposed it made sense that people assumed she was on holiday. Maybe she should take it as a sign that she should use the rest of her time on the island to relax. She didn’t seem to be very good at that, though. It suited her much better to have something to do rather than sitting around doing nothing.

“It’s fine,” she said. “Probably not most people’s idea of a holiday, but it’s really okay.”

“Glad to hear it. Were you looking for me for something specific, or did you just want to hang out? Shall I get us a glass of wine?” She was off her seat and behind the bar in an instant.

Deciding she needed to keep a clear head, Lily passed on the wine and opted for water instead.

“I wanted to ask you a question,” she said, then waited for Seren to pour her drink and return to sit beside her.

“Go on then,” Seren said. “What’s the question?”

When she opened her mouth, Lily felt torn. “To be honest, I have two questions… the first is about the ice cream shop. I was wondering if you can think of anyone who might know the owner. I tried asking the solicitor like Kit suggested, but he couldn’t tell me much. He wouldn’t even give me a name. He was weirdly secretive, but I feel as though someone around here must at least know the name of the owner.”

Seren looked thoughtful, then swivelled on her stool to look at the guy serving customers on the other side of the room. “Noah?” she called as he walked towards the bar. “Do you remember the name of the woman who owned the old ice cream shop on the promenade?”

“Nope,” he replied, dashing Lily’s hopes. “Mum would probably know, though. Why?”

“Lily’s interested,” Seren said, tipping her head.

Noah held out his hand and introduced himself. “You’re the one who found the dead body?” he asked quietly.

“That’s me,” she said with a wry smile.

“Noah is Kit’s brother,” Seren explained. “And he’s right that Mirren might remember the owner of the ice cream shop. I’ll message her and ask.” She tapped rapidly on her phone. “What was the other question?”

“Do you happen to know the young guy who works at the B&B? Oscar.”

Seren nodded. “Oscar Morris. I knowofhim. His dad is in here often.”

“Do you know how I might go about finding Oscar?” Hopefully, Seren wouldn’t find the question too strange.

“I know where he lives,” she said. “That’s as much as I could tell you.”

“That would be helpful.” Lily caught the questioning dip of Seren’s eyebrows. “I saw him earlier, and he was upset about the guy who died, but he rushed away before I could talk to him properly. Also, I saw his girlfriend earlier and she was in tears. I just want to check they’re okay.”

“See!” Noah quipped, eyes on Seren. “Some peopleare upset about his death.”

“I didn’t say no one was upset,” Seren huffed, shaking her head. “Just that noteveryoneis.”

“What?” Lily asked, narrowing her eyes.

Seren shifted to face her. “Last night I saw Alanna had posted about the guy’s death on her social media accounts, and as I was scrolling through the comments. One woman posted this nasty message, basically saying she was glad he was dead.”

“Really?” Automatically, Lily got her phone out and opened social media to look for Alanna’s account.

“It’s not there any more,” Seren said. “Alanna must have removed it. But it makes you wonder what kind of person he was, if there are people out there who are happy he’s dead.”

Noah shook his head and leaned his elbows on the bar. “I told you, it’s internet trolls. Some people enjoy leaving nasty comments. It says nothing about the guy. I’ll bet if I were to die and you posted about it, there’d be someone crop up saying good riddance too.”

“True.” Seren’s lips twitched into a mischievous grin. “That’d be me!”

Reaching across the bar, Noah shoved a hand into her hair and ruffled it with all the affection of an annoying sibling. In response, Seren shoved his hand away with similar affection.

“It’s not actually true though,” Seren said. “You have to really have enemies for someone to say something bad about you after you’re dead.”

“The person probably didn’t even know him,” Noah insisted.

Lily’s head was bent over her phone. She’d located Alanna’s post about Vinny, all heartfelt and gushy. The comments beneath it were full of sympathy.

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