Page 64 of Death on the Rocks

Alanna gasped and clutched at the back of the chair beside her as though she needed the physical support. “This can’t be happening,” she muttered and then gasped again. “When did Vinny start all this?” she asked Marc forcefully.

“A couple of years ago.”

Tears filled her eyes. “About the time you got a new job?” she asked angrily. “Your well-paid job in website design and maintenance?” She shook her head in disgust. “How could you?”

“You always wanted me to travel with you? It was you who suggested I get a job where I could work remotely. And somehow you expected me to afford flights to all the fancy destinations you wanted to go to.”

Alanna continued to shake her head. “You’re sick,” she said. “I was telling my female followers to empower themselves and all the time you and Vinny were exploiting women right under my nose. How didn’t I see this?”

“It’s not your fault,” Mrs Miller said kindly, approaching Alanna and giving her shoulder a sympathetic pat.

PC Grainger spoke again, directing his words at Marc. “I’m going to need to ask you again where you were at the time of Mr Roth’s death. And I would remind you that our forensic technology is highly sophisticated. We’ll be able to build a clear picture from fibres and fabrics on the corpse so it would be much better if you provide us with anything you know about his death.”

Marc ran a hand down his face, but still didn’t appear overly stressed. “I messaged him that morning, asking him to meet me. I only wanted to talk to him.”

“What happened?” PC Grainger asked.

“We talked. I told him we needed to stop all that seedy business before we got into real trouble.”

“What did he say?” Alanna whispered.

“He wouldn’t listen to reason. He’d got greedy and wanted more and more money. He wasn’t going to stop.”

Alanna’s hands came up to her ashen face. “What did you do?”

“It was self-defence really,” Marc said in a rush. “He pushed me, so I pushed him back.”

“Oh my god,” Alanna muttered, taking steps back. “You killed him. You actually killed him.”

When Marc took a step towards Alanna, PC Grainger calmly put himself between them.

“You should thank me,” Marc said to Alanna. “I did you a favour. You wanted him out of the business.”

“Not like this,” she said, her voice trembling. “I didn’t want him dead.”

“I’m going to need you to come back to the station with me,” PC Grainger told Marc.

He shrugged. “I’m not saying anything else until I have a lawyer.”

“I think that’s an excellent idea.” PC Grainger removed his handcuffs from his belt. “Do I need these, or will you come without a fuss?”

“I’ll come,” he said, then looked at Alanna. “We’ll get all of this sorted out, babe. Once they realise what kind of person Vinny was, no one’s going to be too concerned with what I did. It’ll all blow over.”

Lily’s eyes widened at the look on Marc’s face – as though he truly believed what he was saying. He genuinely didn’t think he’d done anything wrong.

He actually thought he could get away with killing someone because the victim wasn’t a nice guy.

She suspected he was in for quite a shock.

Chapter Forty-One

When PC Graingerled Marc out of the room, the rest of them automatically followed. Lily kept her eyes on PC Grainger’s back while they made their way off the ship, so was only vaguely aware of Alanna sobbing about how it would be the end of her career. Mr Miller quietly consoled her with the reasoning that no publicity was bad publicity. She calmed down at that, asking if he thought it might be a positive thing for her blog.

Passengers stood on the deck, watching them file off via the gangway. Back on dry land a small crowd had formed. Apparently the ferry being held up had caused quite the spectacle. The chatter seemed to halt, and all eyes fell to PC Grainger, but he didn’t stop, just continued on his way with a hand firmly on Marc’s arm. He hadn’t gone far when he glanced over his shoulder and met Lily’s eye. His lips remained in a hard line, but the way his eyes bored into hers felt distinctly like a secret high-five.

Once he was out of sight, Lily tuned back into the conversations around her.

“I don’t know what to do,” Alanna was saying manically to Mr and Mrs Miller. “PC Grainger said I was free to leave and he would contact me by phone later about making a statement,but it feels strange to leave now. Like I’m running away or something. I think I want to stay for a little while. Could I stay with you for another day or two?”

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