Page 45 of Death on the Rocks

Though she was fairly sure they had different motives for wanting to find it.Shewanted it handed to the police so they might finally take action. Whereas she suspected Oscar wanted to hand it over to Katie to gain brownie points with her.

Which meant she’d really like to find it before he did.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Maybe it wasbecause the investigative part of Lily’s brain was in overdrive, but when they reached the house and Oscar told her to wait outside while he searched the shed, it set alarm bells ringing.

“I’ll come and help you look,” she said, following him down the side of the house.

“Okay. You check the garden while I look in the shed.”

Lily felt frown lines crease her forehead. “Do you really not know where it is?”

“What?” His eyes bounced from his feet to Lily’s face and back again. “I told you, I thought I’d handed it in, but I was stressed. I might have dropped it.”

“Or you might have kept it for yourself,” she suggested.

“Why would I do that?”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Why would you keep a memory card full of naked photos?”

“She’s my friend,” he said angrily. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“Oh, yeah. You’re so gallant that you didn’t even look at them, right?”

A patch of red spread up his neck. “I promised Katie I wouldn’t look at them, and I didn’t. We just need to find thememory card so I can give it to her.” Turning his back on Lily, he opened the shed.

“I think we should give it to the police,” Lily said, following him into the dreary space. “That was your intention before, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, but now I realise it should be Katie’s decision.” He moved plant pots aside as he searched the shelves. “If she doesn’t want the police to investigate it, that’s up to her.”

When a thorough search of the shed revealed nothing, Oscar pointed Lily to the area of the garden she should search. He claimed he didn’t want the Millers to see him in the garden when he wasn’t supposed to be at work.

Lily couldn’t help but think that the reason he wasn’t helping to search was because he knew it would be fruitless. It didn’t seem believable that the memory card just got lost somewhere, and she couldn’t come up with any logical conclusion other than him having taken it for some evening entertainment.

The thought made Lily’s stomach churn. How anyone could take pleasure from the photos was beyond her. You’d really need to have some sick fantasies. Oscar seemed like a decent kid, but he was also a hormone-riddled teenager. Likely with a massive crush on Katie.

As she expected, the search of the garden was fruitless, and she indicated as much to Oscar with a shake of her head when she wandered back towards the shed.

“I don’t understand,” he said. “I really don’t know what happened to it.”

As she watched him leave, Lily really wished she believed that statement. As things stood, she could only think that Oscar must have the memory card.

At least she knew who the photos were of now. Maybe that information would be enough to get the police to take notice. But not if Katie refused to speak to them.

Oscar was right that it needed to be her decision.

Which meant Lily was firmly back to square one.

“You look very serious.” Mrs Miller’s voice startled Lily when she walked inside. With her mind desperately chewing over the events of the last few hours, she hadn’t noticed Flora in the hallway.

Lily shot her a questioning look. It wasn’t that she hadn’t heard her words – she just wasn’t sure how to respond.

“You look as though you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Is everything okay?”

Her instinct was to insist she was fine, but she stopped herself before the words came. Because she wasn’t okay. Shedidfeel as though she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Maybe not the world, but a heavy burden. And she shouldn’t have to bear it alone. In fact, she shouldn’t have to bear it at all. The police should be investigating.

Thinking back on PC Grainger’s dismissal of her concerns, she was suddenly furious.

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