Page 48 of Death on the Rocks

If she wasthe suspicious type, Lily would swear there’d been something fishy about her conversation with Mrs Miller. And if she wanted to investigate the matter further, she’d definitely take a closer look at where exactly Mr Miller was at the time of Vinny’s death. It wouldn’t surprise her to find he wasn’t where he said he’d been. Not given how cagey Mrs Miller had looked when questioned about it.

But Lily wasn’t the suspicious type, and she wasn’t investigating anything. What she was going to do, she decided as she walked out of the house, was visit PC Grainger and fill him in on what she’d learned. If the information she’d gleaned was worth investigating further, he could handle it. If not, then she’d done all she could. From then on, she was going to focus on enjoying a little holiday.

A figure in her peripheral made her look up.

“Hi,” she said to Alanna, who was perched on the stone wall by the garden gate. For the first time since Lily had met her, the emotion in her features looked genuine. “Are you okay?”

She nodded in reply. “I just went for a little walk. It got me thinking about Vinny going out for a walk and having no clue it was the last thing he’d do.”

Lily’s instinct was to engage Alanna in conversation. Why though? She’d decided she was going to leave the investigating alone and focus on having a holiday, so she really shouldn’t keep probing.

“I guess you and Vinny must have been close?” she asked, cursing her lack of self-control. “You worked together for quite a while, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” She looked away. That would be a good time for Lily to walk away. She looked along the lane, contemplating exactly that. “We didn’t always get on, though,” Alanna added quietly.

“I don’t think many people get on with their colleagues all the time,” Lily said. “And you were travelling together, so it must have been pretty intense.”

“It was. In the last six months we’d been arguing a lot.” She took a shuddering breath. “It’ll sound awful, but a couple of times since he died, I’ve thought…” Pausing, she sniffed and pulled a tissue from her pocket. “Sometimes I’ve thought it’s almost a relief. That makes me an awful person, doesn’t it?”

For lack of an answer, Lily shrugged. “You can’t help how you feel.”

“He was a brilliant photographer,” she said. “And I knew him since we were kids. You know how there are some people who you’re friends with purely because you’ve known them so long?”

No, not at all.To be agreeable, Lily gave a quick nod.

“He was fun when we were younger, but he didn’t want to grow up. In the end, he was starting to feel like a liability.”

“In what way?”

Alanna tipped her head from side to side. “He had a thing for younger women. Nothing illegal or anything, but he was thirty, and still chasing eighteen-year-olds. He could charm them,” she said nonchalantly. “But he was mostly using them. We travelled a lot, which was advantageous for him. He’d hook up with some woman, and they were always young and naïve enough to thinkit was more than it was. He left a trail of broken hearts, and mostly left me to deal with the aftermath.”

“What kind of aftermath?” Lily asked, taking a step closer to Alanna.

“The women would get angry, of course. And when he ignored them, they’d pop up on my blog, saying what they thought of him there.”

Lily pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “I saw someone had commented something nasty when you posted that he’d died.”

“Horrible, isn’t it? They won’t stop even now he’s dead. There are a few women who troll my blog and write something horrible every time I post. That’s what I argued with Vinny over. I couldn’t cope with the negativity and I didn’t want to work with him any more.”

“I don’t blame you. It sounds very unprofessional.”

“I know it sounds daft, but that blog is my baby. I’m actually good at it,” she said tearfully. “I grew up being told I’d never amount to anything and I’ve created a thriving business from nothing.”

“That’s something to be proud of.” Lily tried not to dwell on what lengths a person might go to in order to protect the life they loved. “I saw you posted more photos this morning,” she said, redirecting the conversation. “They were really great.”

“He was a talented photographer,” Alanna said firmly. “It was heartbreaking to go through his most recent photos, but it also felt soothing in a way. Like a part of him was still alive. I just wish he knew the camera hadn’t been stolen, only lost. He was furious when he thought someone had taken it.”

“Were the photos you posted ones you found on the camera?” Lily asked, pretending she hadn’t read the blog post, which stated exactly that.

“Yes. I was so happy when Mrs Miller told me they’d found the camera.”

“It must have been a relief.” Lily took a breath while deciding the best way to find out what she wanted to know. “I thought the Millers handed it to the police,” she said as casually as she could manage. “Did the police give it back to you?”

“No. Mrs Miller let me have a look before they handed it in so I downloaded the photos from it.”

Lily’s whole body seemed to buzz at the new information. It meant that Alanna could easily have taken the memory card.

“The police will give all Vinny’s belongings to his sister,” Alanna said. “Once they finally track her down. Except––” The sound of the door opening behind them cut her off and she turned to smile at Marc.

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