Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Lily’s thoughts whirled while she got dry and put on fresh clothes. She was waiting for the kettle to boil when her mind took her back to kissing Flynn. Her stomach fluttered and she paced to the living room, cursing as she went. She shouldn’t be getting butterflies thinking about Flynn. He was her friend. There was no way anything could happen between them.
When the kettle clicked she went back to the kitchen, but only stared at the wall. She really valued her friendship with Flynn and she didn’t want to lose it. Getting butterflies at the thought of him wasn’t good.
It was only a kiss, though. There was no need for anything to change between them.
She lifted the kettle, then immediately put it down again. Time with her own thoughts wasn’t what she needed. Grabbing her boots and raincoat, she ventured back out into the rain.
The downpour had eased off and only a few drops flicked from her coat when she pushed her hood back and slid onto a bar stool in the Mermaid Inn.
“You look pensive,” Seren remarked, wandering over to her.
“I need a beer,” she said. “And I need you to listen to me rant.”
“I can manage both of those.” She popped the top off a bottle of lager and set it in front of Lily. “What’s up?” she asked, then leaned on the bar when Lily beckoned her closer.
“Flynn kissed me,” she whispered, then watched in amusement as Seren’s eyebrows shot up.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. We were on the beach and he kissed me and now I’m freaking out.”
“He just kissed you? Out of the blue?”
Lily bobbed her head ambiguously. “Kind of.”
“I don’t know why I’m surprised. The chemistry between you two is insane, but you were adamant you were just friends.” Her gaze pierced Lily’s. “Anyway, tell me all the details. What happened? Was it really romantic?”
“Not entirely. We’d been snooping around Arthur Penrose’s place and we ended up hiding in the sand dunes. I was worried we were going to get caught out so I told Flynn to kiss me…”
Seren’s brow wrinkled. “That was a lot of information,” she said. “But you told him to kiss you?”
“Yes.”
“So it wasn’t completely out of the blue?” Her words were laced with mocking as she eyed Lily with exasperation.
“I didn’t think he’d do it,” Lily said forcefully. “At least not without me explaining why I wanted him to kiss me.”
“And why did you want him to kiss you?”
“Because Arthur was on the beach and I didn’t want him to see me so close to his house, so we hid in the dunes. But that looks weird, doesn’t it – two people randomly lying in the sand dunes when the weather is miserable.”
“Ah,” Seren said knowingly. “So if Arthur glanced over, he’d just see a couple having a bit of fun and not think anything of it?”
“Exactly. It also meant our faces would be a bit more hidden. But Flynn didn’t let me explain any of this. I asked him to kiss me and he kissed me.”
Seren nodded her head slowly. “I knew he fancied you. It’s been weeks since I saw him chatting up random women in the pub.”
“Has it?” Lily asked, then chastised herself for sounding so desperate. What did she care about his romantic exploits?
“I actually never see him in here alone any more. If he comes in, it’s with you.”
“Okay,” Lily mused. “That only means he’s being discreet.” She couldn’t let herself imagine it had anything to do with her.
Seren’s eyes twinkled as she smiled. “How was the kiss?”
“Um…” Lily blew out a breath, trying to find the right words. “It was…”
Grinning, Seren pressed the back of her hand against Lily’s cheek. “That good, was it? You’ve gone bright red.”
Lily pushed her hand away. “It was good,” she admitted.
“What happens now?” Seren asked.
“Nothing,” Lily replied and felt like her entire body was deflating. “It was only for show.”
“Are you sure?”
Lily swallowed hard. “Afterwards he just carried on as normal.” She felt her jaw tighten. “It was such an amazing kiss. I didn’t want it to stop and I really had the impression that he was enjoying it, too.” She paused and sighed. To her, it really had felt special. But she also hadn’t had a lot of physical contact with anyone recently, so maybe she was just deprived.
“What happened right after you kissed?” Seren asked eagerly.
Lily shrugged. “He glanced up to check the coast was clear, then hopped up as though nothing had happened. I felt as though my insides had liquidised and my brain had forgotten how to string a sentence together, but he was all calm and cool, as though it was an everyday occurrence.”
“Maybe he was just playing it cool so things wouldn’t be awkward.”
“I don’t think so. He asked me to hang out tonight like we always do.”
“Maybe he’s going to come over and kiss you again.”
“No,” Lily said, while her traitorous stomach erupted with a quiver of butterflies.
“But you want to kiss him again?”
“No,” Lily said unconvincingly.
“Are you going to continue to try to convince me that you only see him as a friend?”
“I was never lying. Not to you, anyway. I may have been lying to myself. But we can’t be more than friends, so it makes no difference how I feel about him.”
“Why can’t you?”
“Because he’s Flynn the womaniser,” Lily said with an eye roll.
“I bet he’d give up his womanising ways for you.” Seren pursed her lips. “I suspect he already has.”
Lily put her hands to her face, then pushed them up through her hair. “He’ll be leaving in a few months, and he’s also my best friend. I can’t risk messing that up.”
“Oof!” Seren slapped her hand over her heart. “That hurts.”
“My best male friend,” Lily said while her lips stretched into a grin.
“That’s okay then,” Seren said. “I still think you can’t rule out a relationship with him just because he’s your friend. It’s also going to be difficult to hide your feelings when you spend so much time with him.”
“I know, but he’s not sticking around. Even if this wasn’t an unrequited thing, it makes no sense to start something with him.”
“My guess is it’s not unrequited,” Seren said, raising her chin and smiling at a young couple who walked in. She gave Lily’s hand a squeeze and told her she’d be back in a minute.
“I have to go soon anyway,” Lily said, as Seren walked away. “Flynn is coming to my place to hang out.”
The thought made her undeniably jittery.
“How come you were snooping around Arthur’s place?” Seren asked when she returned.
Lily grimaced. “I just wanted to have a little look around his garden.”
“To see if he has any poisonous plants?” Seren set her hands on her hips and tilted her head.
“I didn’t find anything incriminating,” Lily said with a shrug.
“Of course you didn’t. It’s Arthur. Please can you strike him off your list of people to question about this? I promise you it was nothing to do with him.”
“Okay,” Lily said with a distinct lack of conviction. She wasn’t like Dante – she couldn’t exclude people from her investigation because they didn’t seem like the sort. “I’m fairly sure it’s someone who’s involved with the garden centre. Do you know a guy called Denzel who works up there?”
“Denzel Harris?” Seren nodded. “You can cross him off the list as well. He’s friends with my dad. I’ve known him all my life and he’s a good guy.”
“He wasn’t happy about me asking questions.”
“What kind of questions?”
“Mostly he didn’t like me asking where people were on Friday evening when the baskets were delivered.”
“You asked him for an alibi?” Seren rolled her eyes. “I’m not surprised he wasn’t thrilled about that.”
“It’s only a problem for people who have something to hide.”
“Where was he?” Seren asked.
“In here all evening.”
A muscle twitched in Seren’s jaw. She reached for a cloth and set about wiping the beer pumps. “On Friday?” she asked without catching Lily’s eye.
“Yeah. Were you working on Friday evening?”
Seren gave a quick nod.
“And was he in here?”
She swallowed hard. “Did he definitely say he was in here?”
Lily thought back. “He said he was at the pub. I assumed he meant here, but no, he didn’t specify. Maybe he was at the Old Town Inn.”
“Maybe,” Seren murmured.
“What?” Lily asked. “Why do you look as though there’s something you’re not telling me?”
“It’s nothing.” She tossed the cloth aside and rubbed at her forehead. “It’s only that Kit was in the Old Town Inn on Friday evening and he didn’t mention seeing Denzel. He told me about everyone else he saw, and I think he’d have mentioned if he saw Denzel because things have been a bit weird between them lately… but it doesn’t mean anything. Kit probably forgot to mention it. Or maybe Denzel meant a completely different pub.”
“Are there other pubs on this island?”
“There are pubs on the off-islands,” Seren said. “Maybe he was in one of them.”
“Does he usually go on a boat trip for an evening in the pub?”
“Probably not,” Seren admitted, “But that doesn’t mean he didn’t on Friday. He might have been meeting someone from one of the off islands. He’s good friends with John over on Tresco. They could have gone to the New Inn over there.”
“You’d think he would have mentioned that,” Lily mused.
“He could also have got the days mixed up,” Seren said firmly. “There are lots of other conclusions we could reach before you write him off as a criminal. Denzel wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“I’m going to check with Kit if he saw him in the pub,” Lily said, getting her phone out. He replied immediately and they had a brief exchange.
“What did he say?” Seren asked once Lily put her phone away again.
“Denzel wasn’t in the Old Town Inn.”
“I’m telling you, that means nothing.”
“You didn’t see how annoyed he got with me for asking where he was,” Lily said. “I’m pretty sure he lied to my face.”
“That still doesn’t mean he’s done anything wrong.”
“Maybe not,” Lily said. “But it means I have more questions for him.”
Seren sighed loudly. “You’re kind of annoying when you’re in investigator mode.”
“Sorry,” Lily said. “But someone poisoned people. And they tried to poison me too. I need to find out who it was.”