Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Slowing her pace as she reached Hugh Town, it occurred to Lily that she needed a plan. Len wouldn’t be moving her backpack off the island. It would be the stolen jewellery he needed to get rid of. When she found him with it, what would she do then?
Breathless from her run, she struggled to think straight. She wanted to deal with everything alone until she had her passports, but maybe that wasn’t realistic.
Deciding she needed the police on hand, she called Flynn as she rushed towards the harbour.
“I need you to meet me,” she said after a quick greeting.
“The sergeant isn’t here yet.”
“Is he okay?”
“Yeah. I spoke to him. He’s fine, just running late. Which is weird, but I can’t really leave at the moment.”
“It’s a police matter,” she said.
“What’s going on?”
“It’s about the conversation I overheard – Len Marrack saying he was moving goods to the mainland.”
“You don’t seriously think it’s Len, do you?”
“Yes. I think he’s planning on moving his stolen goods off the island this morning via the ferry, and I need you here to arrest him when I expose him.” Once Flynn carted him off, Lily could go and search his place for her backpack.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Flynn said. “He’ll know we’re making extra checks at the ferry.”
“But you’re checking anyone who looks suspicious. No one is going to suspect Len. Plus, he’s working with a guy at the ferry. Can you please just come down here?”
“Yeah.” He sounded hesitant. “Okay.”
Lily told him she’d see him soon and hung up. The harbour was already busy with people boarding the ferry. Moving closer to the ship, her eyes scanned the crowd, but she couldn’t pick Len out.
There was still no sign of him when Flynn appeared beside her five minutes later.
“I don’t know if I’ve missed him,” she said.
“You haven’t.” Flynn looked back the way he’d come. “He’s here now.”
“And there’s his box of stolen goods,” Lily said, eyes on the large cardboard box he was wheeling along on a sack barrow.
Flynn frowned. “Len’s a nice guy, and he has a good reputation.”
“I know. We talked about this yesterday. It’s a brilliant cover. No one would suspect him. But he also knows people’s schedules, and he knows who leaves their doors unlocked. No one would ever think it suspicious if he was hanging around people’s property.”
“Did you definitely overhear him talking about shifting stolen goods off the island?” Flynn asked sceptically.
Lily thought back. “He was saying he needed to shift stuff off the island and that he had a buyer at the other end. He sounded stressed, and he mentioned giving the guy he was talking to his usual cut.”
“I can’t just accuse him of being a thief,” Flynn said.
“You don’t need to,” Lily muttered as Len got near. “I’ll do it.” She stepped into Len’s path.
“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 own little 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.”
“I’m sorry,” Lily said again. “I really want to find the thief, and I have to follow every lead.”
Len’s features softened. “I want them found too, but you can’t go harassing innocent people.”
“I know.” Muttering a last apology, she wandered away, slowly enough that Flynn caught up with her quickly.
“What was that all about?” he asked, with a frustrated bite to his words.
“I told you, I overheard him talking… I got the wrong end of the stick.”
“Why are you even looking into this?”
“I’m not, but I overheard him talking, and it felt suddenly obvious that it was him. It all added up. Except, obviously it didn’t.”
“You just said you want to find the thief.”
“So?”
“Why are you involving yourself?”
“Because I enjoy investigating. Haven’t you noticed that by now?”
“But previously there was always a reason for you to get involved. It affected you.” He paused before continuing. “Do you actually see yourself as an investigator? I don’t care, but I guess it always felt a little accidental before.”
“It’s accidental now… I thought I’d stumbled on the perpetrator. But also, it does affect me. St Mary’s is my home. Someone robbing my neighbours doesn’t sit well with me.”
“Okay,” he said with a sigh. “Are you going to keep looking into it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Just keep me updated, okay.”
“Yeah. What’s going on with Sergeant Proctor? Did he turn up for work?”
“He arrived right when I got off the phone with you. Apparently he overslept.”
“Weird,” Lily said.
“Yeah. I should get back to the station.”
“I need to open the shop,” Lily said, despair seeping through her.
What she really needed was a new plan for finding her backpack, and quick.