A Poisonous Plot (Lily Larkin Mysteries #3)

Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Twenty minutes later, they were standing at the front gate of Arthur Penrose’s house. The property sat remotely in the northwest of the island, looking out to Tresco and Bryher and countless small islets. On a clear day, the view must be sensational, but everything was overcast today.

Unsurprisingly, the garden was perfectly maintained. Roses crept up the stonework at the front of the house on either side of the door. A neat lawn was intersected by a gravel path, which forked just beyond the front gate to lead to the front door and either side of the house.

“Knocking on someone’s door isn’t trespassing,” Flynn said, turning the iron handle of the gate and pushing it open.

“He won’t be home,” Lily told him. “Apparently, his trips to Tresco are like clockwork.”

“Well, we can knock on his door to see if he’s home. If not, we could have a quick check to see if he’s in the garden.”

Lily grinned. “Can I also check to see if he’s in his greenhouse?” She pointed at the glass structure to the left of the house.

“I think that would be fine.” He lifted the brass knocker and banged it three times against the door. “I guess he’s not home,” he said after a moment of silence.

“Funny that.” Lily set off to the left. “Maybe he’s in the greenhouse!” she said mockingly.

The gravel path crunched underfoot, breaking the silence. Lily’s gaze swept over the plants in the beds along the dry stone wall which marked the edge of the property, but she couldn’t pick out any she recognised from the blog.

Stepping beside her, Flynn peered through the glass panels of the greenhouse, then gave a small shake of his head and gestured to the door.

It screeched in complaint when Lily pulled the sliding door along its tracks.

“What are we looking for?” Flynn asked, stepping into the warm, humid air after her.

“I’m not sure.” She walked along the centre aisle, between the potted plants at either side of her. “Something out of place, or maybe some of the plants listed on his blog. The poisonous ones.”

“I’m no gardening expert but these look like baby tomatoes to me,” Flynn said, pointing at the seedlings. “These are probably peppers, and I’d say these are sweet peas.”

“You seem fairly knowledgeable,” she said, a note of mocking to her tone since they were all clearly labelled.

A couple of orchids stood regally at the end of the greenhouse, along with a planter of leafy vegetables. Overhead, grapevines twisted. Nothing jumped out at Lily as sinister.

“I don’t see anything interesting,” she said, unable to keep the disappointment from her voice.

“Were you expecting him to have a selection of poisonous plants all neatly labelled?”

“No, but he also doesn’t seem like the sort of person who would be too concerned with covering his tracks. I thought there might be some clues around here.” She followed Flynn back outside and took a lungful of the crisp, fresh air.

Flynn looked back towards the lane. “We shouldn’t hang around long.”

“He won’t be back for ages,” Lily said, walking further around the side of the house. Her eyes lit up at the big, waxy green leaves around the back of the greenhouse. “That’s rhubarb,” she said, casting her eyes back to Flynn.

“And?”

“The leaves are poisonous if ingested. You’d need to eat a lot, but if you dried them and ground them up, you could add them to food and give someone nasty stomach problems.”

Flynn stood beside her, staring down at the leafy plant. “Lots of people grow rhubarb.”

“It’s something.” She turned on her heel and scanned the garden at the back of the house. “There are daffodils under that tree. They’re toxic when ingested too.”

“It’s hardly damning evidence.”

“I suppose he’d keep any proper evidence hidden.” She approached the window at the back of the house and cupped her hands against the pane to peer inside. Nothing shocking there, just a small living room with dated furniture and chintzy wallpaper.

“Let’s go,” Flynn said, tugging on her elbow.

“You didn’t have to come,” she said, clocking his serious expression.

“I probably shouldn’t have. This feels dodgy now.”

“Okay. We can go.” As her gaze swept over the garden, she paused and lingered on the view beyond the border wall. The landscape shifted downwards on a gentle incline, and a narrow path led through grass and heather to a sweeping stretch of beach.

“Feel like taking the coastal route back?” she asked Flynn. “We could walk along the beach and find a path at the far end of it. Unless you’re in a rush? The road will be quicker.”

“I’m not in a rush,” he said and changed course, heading for the wall at the end of the garden. With his long legs, he vaulted it effortlessly, while Lily took a little more effort to get over it.

They walked single file along the narrow path through gorse bursting with yellow flowers. Staying directly behind Flynn protected Lily from the wind until they were closer to the beach. Then the gusts grew stronger and seemed to come from all directions.

“Did you bring a raincoat?” Flynn asked, turning back to her.

“No. Why?”

He pointed to the mass of dark clouds out at sea. “I reckon we’re going to get soaked.”

“No.” She wrinkled her nose. “It’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, right.” He rolled his eyes. “You’ve brought me out in a storm.”

“How was I supposed to know? The weather was fine when I set off.”

He turned to continue on the sand-strewn path, which was bordered by rocks near the top of the beach. “The weather on this island is always so unpredictable. Sometimes it seems to change from one minute to the next.”

Lily only faintly registered Flynn’s words. Her gaze was fixed on a lone figure at the other end of the beach.

Grabbing at Flynn’s arm made him stop at the same moment she did.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She pointed. “I think that’s Arthur.”

“I thought you said he’d be out for the afternoon.”

“He’s supposed to be.” Instinctively, she changed course, trampling over the dunes. “I guess the weather put him off going to Tresco.”

“Where are we going?” Flynn asked, close behind her.

“I don’t want him to see me.” She slipped behind a patch of long marram grass and crouched low. “Get down!”

He did as he was told and Lily peered out, but had lost sight of Arthur.

“He’s down there,” Flynn said, pointing him out, strolling along by the waterline.

Lily grimaced. “I assumed he’d cut up onto the path. If he turns now, he’ll see us.” Without a lot of thought, she dropped to her bum and reclined onto the sand.

With an amused twinkle in his eyes, Flynn stretched out beside her and propped himself up on his elbow. “Lovely day for a bit of sunbathing.”

“If I’m lying down, he won’t see my face.”

“Or he might be concerned that someone’s collapsed and come to investigate,” Flynn said, apparently finding her panic wholly entertaining. He had a point, though. They would look pretty weird lying in the sand when a storm was about to break.

“If he spots me, he’ll know I’ve been snooping around. I don’t want him to know I’m on to him.”

“You seem pretty certain he has something to hide.”

Lily braved a look down the beach, but dropped back again when Arthur turned in their direction.

“He could easily have put something in my smoothie,” she said.

“This morning you said any of the staff could have done it. You also mentioned that a staff member had been acting defensively when you were asking questions.”

“Denzel? Yeah, he was shifty. He has an alibi, though. Arthur doesn’t. At least not a verifiable one. What’s he doing?” She didn’t want to look again, so stayed flat on her back while Flynn peered around the grass.

“Heading this way.” His lips twitched in amusement as he looked down at her. “It would have looked far less suspicious if we were just out for a walk on the beach and not hiding. This will look dodgy.”

Annoyingly, he was right. Hiding in the sand dunes wouldn’t be so easy to explain. Unless…

No, it was a stupid idea.

And Flynn would laugh at her.

It would explain them lying in the sand dunes though… and would probably deter Arthur from getting close enough to realise it was them.

“What’s that look for?” Flynn asked, breaking her from her swirling thoughts.

She only hesitated for a moment.

“You should kiss me,” she blurted out.