Page 44 of Artful Deceit
“Morning!” Len called, then glanced overhead. “Hopefully, the sun comes out for you later. It’s not exactly ice cream weather now with all these grey clouds.”
Ignoring his jovial chatter, Lily’s eyes went to the box. “What have you got there?”
A frown wrinkled his brow, and he hesitated before answering. “Just some old junk I’m getting rid of.”
“What do you mean, you’re getting rid of it?”
“Selling it to a fella on the mainland. Why?”
Before Lily could answer, a guy in a hi-vis jacket wandered from the boat. “That’s for me, I assume, Len?”
“It is indeed. Usual drill, Jason. Someone will be waiting for it at the other end.”
“Wait,” Lily said, when the tall, blonde ship worker – Jason, apparently – went to take the box. “Extra checks are being carried out because of the burglaries. We need to have a look in the box.”
“It’s an old vacuum cleaner,” Len said. “Surely I’m not suspected of being a thief?”
“We’re just being vigilant,” Flynn said. “It’s nothing personal.”
“Bloody hell.” Len’s eyes flashed with annoyance. “I spent ages packing it up securely.”
“I can vouch for Len,” Jason said.
“I’m sorry,” Lily said, “but you have to admit it’s quite a coincidence that you suddenly need to sell your vacuum cleaner to someone on the mainland, right when there’s a spate of thefts on the island.”
“I wouldn’t call it a coincidence at all,” Len said. “And it’s not my vac.”
“What do you mean?” Lily demanded.
“I’m selling it for Mr and Mrs Jenkins.”
“Len often sells items for other people,” Jason said. “Mostly the oldies who can’t cope with the internet, or people who can’t be bothered with the hassle of finding a buyer. It’s his ownlittle eBay business. He’s been doing it for years. It’s actually a handy service he provides.”
“I can show you the listing,” Len said, producing his phone and tapping away. He held it out to Flynn with the listing for the vacuum cleaner.
When Flynn glanced at Lily, she looked back at him in a panic. Had she really got this completely wrong? It made total sense that it was Len. He had the means to enter people’s homes undetected and…
Panic gripped her chest. Had she been so desperate to get her stuff back that she was blindly latching on to any lead she had?
“I’ll have a quick look anyway,” Flynn said to Len, already pulling off the tape covering the flaps of the box. “It won’t take long.”
“As long as you intend on packing it back together again afterwards. And be careful. If it gets damaged, they’ll demand a refund.”
After pulling away a bunch of packaging material, Flynn drew the vacuum cleaner from the box. The exact one from the listing on Len’s phone.
“You could hide anything in a vacuum cleaner,” Lily said frantically. Stolen jewellery would be easy to stash inside a vacuum cleaner. Except as she pressed the button, and the flap popped open, all she found was the vacuum bag and a puff of dust. Her heart plummeted while an uncomfortable silence hung in the air.
“Did you really think I’d been robbing people?” Len said. “My own friends and neighbours?”
“No,” Lily said weakly. It seemed absurd now. “I just…”
“I reckon your investigative instincts are a bit off in this case,” Jason said, helping Flynn to pack the vac away again.
“We have to check,” Flynn said. “I already told you it was nothing personal.”
“Sorry,” Lily muttered. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Len shook his head. “If that’s what you think of me, it’d probably be better if you found someone else to clean your windows in the future.”
