Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Exercising had always been a solitary activity for Lily. At least until she’d moved to St. Mary’s and fallen into the habit of jogging with Flynn. Now, it felt odd to set off for a run alone. She even felt a jolt of guilt for not inviting him when she stepped outside into the morning mist. She had her reasons, though, and it was nothing to do with the slightly strained atmosphere between them since they’d kissed.
It was that she was on a mission to engineer a meeting with Denzel and probe him about his alibi for Friday evening, which she was certain was fake. That was definitely a solo project.
If it weren’t for that, she’d have invited Flynn along.
She was sure of it.
They hadn’t been in touch at all the previous day, which was unusual, even though she knew he’d been working. It was probably more odd that they’d got into the habit of being in contact every day.
That’s just what best friends did, though. It wasn’t a sign that there was anything more between them. They’d both recently moved to the islands without knowing anyone, so it was natural that they’d gravitated towards each other.
With all her over-thinking, she almost ran right past the garden centre, but snapped out of her trance just in time.
Annoyingly, there was no sign of Denzel’s truck in the car park. She didn’t want to go inside, so she carried on running and looped back half an hour later to try her luck again. Still, there was no sign of him. She headed back towards Hugh Town and called in on Maria on her way.
Apparently, her previous manic behaviour really was down to sickness. Now that she was on the mend, she was aloof and kept Lily standing on the doorstep while they exchanged a few words.
She was feeling better, she said, and informed Lily that there was no change with Glynis. The doctors on the mainland were treating her symptoms and were hopeful she’d turn a corner soon. Maria promised she’d be in touch if she had any more news, then ended the conversation and retreated inside, closing the door firmly.
Maybe Lily had just got used to people on the island being friendly, but Maria’s abruptness left her a little stunned.
As she set off again, walking this time, her mind drifted back to the way Maria had dragged Lily inside on her last visit, and how unnerving it had been when she’d talked about someone being out to get them.
They’re not going to stop until we’re dead.
The words rang in Lily’s head. It had been a strange thing to say. Even if she thought someone was intentionally poisoning newcomers, there was no sign that anyone was trying to do more than warn people off.
Caught up in her thoughts, she almost missed Denzel walking out of the supermarket with a bag of shopping in his hand.
“Hey!” Lily called out, catching up to him at his truck. “I was hoping I’d bump into you.”
“Yeah?” He opened the passenger door and put his shopping on the seat. The quirk of his eyebrow expressed more than a hint of disapproval. “What can I do for you now?”
“I just wanted to check… Which pub were you in on Friday night?”
He walked around to the driver’s doors and pinned her with a frosty glare. “The Old Town Inn,” he said, a rough edge to his voice. “Why do you want to know?”
“What time were you there?” she asked, ignoring his question.
“All evening,” he muttered, clearly irritated. “I already told you that.”
“The entire evening?”
“Yes.” He opened the door to the truck. “I actually have a job to get to, if you’ve finished with your inquisition.”
“So, just to be clear, on Friday evening you were in the Old Town Inn for the entire evening?”
“Yes! What the heck is your problem?”
“My problem is that someone tried to poison me. I’d like to know who it was. I’d also really love to know why you’re lying about where you were on Friday night.”
His knuckles turned white as he gripped the edge of the door. “What makes you think I’m lying?”
“Because Kit Treneary was in the Old Town Inn on Friday evening, and he said he didn’t see you there.”
Denzel slammed the door so hard that Lily took an instinctive step backwards. “You’ve been talking to Kit Treneary about me?” he growled.
Lily squinted in confusion, because it didn’t seem as though getting caught out bothered him as much as the fact that it was Kit who’d blown his alibi. She’d been dismissive when Kit had said Denzel was annoyed with him, but she was starting to suspect that Kit had it right.
“What’s your problem with Kit?” she asked, tilting her head.
“I don’t have a problem with Kit.” Denzel took a deliberate breath, as though trying to calm his temper. “Look,” he said evenly. “Maybe I got the days mixed up. It might not have been Friday that I was in the Old Town Inn.”
“Where were you then?”
“At home, I guess.”
“At home, alone?”
“Yes. The last I heard that wasn’t a crime. Also, the last time I checked it was the police who were supposed to question people if they’re suspected of a crime. I don’t have to answer to you.” He opened the door again, climbed into the driver's seat, and pulled away.
As she ambled home, Lily turned her phone in her hand, desperate to call Flynn and tell him about her encounter with Denzel. She wasn’t sure if he was working, which annoyed her because usually he messaged her enough that she was aware of his schedule. Not knowing was a reminder that things weren’t quite right between them.
She was almost home when the phone vibrated in her hand. In the second before her gaze hit the screen, she felt a pang of anticipation, assuming that Flynn had telepathically known she was thinking about him and been compelled to call.
Except it wasn’t Flynn, and the disappointment she felt annoyed her immensely.
“Hello,” she said, answering the call from Gordon Pengelly.
“Hi, Lily.” His tone was clipped and business-like. “How are you?”
“Fine, thanks. And you?”
“Good,” he muttered. “Listen, this is a bit of an odd phone call, but I thought it best to get things out in the open. I’ve just had a visit from Sergeant Proctor.”
“Oh?” Lily said, a note of surprise in her voice that was entirely fake.
“Yes. We had a chat about a few things, mostly about those welcome baskets which I’m sure you’ve heard about.”
Lily gave a hum of acknowledgement.
“He also had a few questions about the produce I’ve been supplying to Dante Accardi for his restaurant.”
“Okay,” Lily said, wondering when he was going to get to the point.
“Your name came up,” he said, then cleared his throat.
“Really?” Lily asked, cursing the sergeant for bringing her into it.
“Yes. He said you’ve been looking into it. To be honest, I’d heard something about you being a private investigator, but I thought that was just a wild rumour.”
“It’s not an official thing,” she said. “I just like to look into things sometimes. Especially when they impact me directly.”
“And how do these supposed poisonings impact you?” he asked.
“I got a basket too.” She hesitated, debating whether to mention the smoothie before deciding not to mention it for the time being. “I didn’t eat anything from the basket, but a friend of mine received a basket and she got ill. They were all delivered to newcomers to the island, which definitely makes me nervous.” As a thought occurred to her, she stopped dead. “I’m also opening a business, like Dante,” she said, speaking her thoughts aloud. “I don’t want my customers to get ill.”
She felt vaguely ill herself at the thought of the products which had come from the garden centre. It’d just been fruits and herbs though, nothing dried like had been in the welcome baskets. She’d have noticed if they’d been tampered with. Wouldn’t she?
“Ah, I see.” Gordon’s voice in her ear pulled her from her thoughts, but the subtle sense of unease stayed with her. “I’m sure you’ve got nothing to worry about. I can’t imagine anyone around here is out to get anyone. The islands have always been a very welcoming place for visitors and newcomers.”
“Good to know,” Lily said quietly as she continued walking.
“Anyway, as well as the sergeant mentioning you, I also heard from Sally that you’d been questioning people here about their whereabouts at the time the baskets were delivered…”
He let the sentence hang in the air. Lily winced.
“Yes,” she said slowly.
“You can’t actually think one of my employees had anything to do with this?”
“At the moment, I don’t know what to think. I’m just asking a few questions to see what comes up.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” he said reluctantly. “I imagine you’ll find it’s all a waste of your time, though.”
She arrived in front of the shop. “How so?”
“I just can’t imagine there’s anything sinister going on. Sometimes food makes people ill, that doesn’t mean it’s intentional.”
“Odd though, isn’t it, that the baskets were delivered anonymously?”
“It was probably someone who wanted to do something nice but remain anonymous. Honestly, if it weren’t for people getting ill, I’m sure no one would have thought anything about it.”
“People did get ill though. If it was genuinely an accident, why wouldn’t the person come forward and admit to it?”
“Would you? ” he asked. “If you realised your good deed had made people ill?”
Lily inhaled a lungful of salty air. She wanted to say yes, she would come forward, but she wasn’t sure it was true. It was hard to know since she couldn’t imagine anonymously delivering welcome gifts to people she didn’t know.
She ignored the question and changed tack. “If it turns out it was an accident, I’ll be very happy.” She’d also be incredibly surprised. “But I think it’s better to err on the side of caution until we know for sure.”
“I suppose you may have a point there. No harm in being vigilant to keep islanders safe. I’m just concerned that you may be unnerving people with your questions.”
Her mind flicked to Denzel slamming his car door, and she knew for a fact that her questions were ruffling feathers.
“I’ll try to be more tactful with my questions,” she said, her jaw tight as she lied. Tact wasn’t her strong suit and sometimes being tactful was entirely over-rated.
“I’m glad we can talk so openly,” Gordon said, before ending the call.
Lily opened the door to the shop and was halfway up the stairs to the flat when she fired off a message to Flynn telling him she’d had an interesting morning.
Relief flooded her when he immediately called her. She flopped onto the couch as she answered and proceeded to fill him in on the latest developments.