Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Craning her neck, Lily stared up at the oak tree by Silas’s tent and wondered how she got herself into such ridiculous situations.
After another quick glance around to check the coast was clear, she reached for the first branch, which hung a little above head height.
Thankfully, she had good upper body strength, or she’d never have made it up that first bit.
From there, a few branches were closer together and she scrambled higher with ease.
Then she stopped to catch her breath and scan the branches.
It would be quite a brilliant place to hide stuff.
If it weren’t for Silas being seen climbing the tree, it would never have occurred to her to search in a tree.
With no sign of anything, she suspected her theory was a little too far on the wild side, but continued higher.
As the branches thinned out again, she curled her fingers into a hole in the trunk to see if she could use it to haul herself higher.
Her fingers brushed against something. Instinctively, she reached further in and fumbled around until she had a firm hold on what felt like a plastic bag.
“Bingo!” she said triumphantly, eyeing the clear plastic bag filled with cash.
A quick flick through the notes told her it was almost a thousand pounds.
On a rush of adrenaline, she shoved the package into the back pocket of her cutoff jeans and circled the tree trunk, looking for further hidey-holes.
Finding a convenient branch, she ventured higher before setting off down again, her hands and eyes searching every inch of the tree.
“Hey!”
The angry voice came loudly and out of the blue.
Startled, Lily’s foot slipped, and for one excruciating second, time slowed. She grasped at branches that she couldn’t quite grip.
Then everything went incredibly fast. The skin on her leg burned as it scraped along the bark of a thick branch. The same sensation ripped across her arm and then her face. Something crashed into her side, and she had the fleeting image of a pinball being flung around a machine.
Bang, bang, bang.
Thud, thud, thud.
She had absolutely no control.
Just when she expected to hit the ground, she felt warm skin instead.
And then the ground.
Silas swore loudly while she breathed in the scent of soil and grass.
“I couldn’t catch you,” he said. “But I broke your fall at least. Are you okay? Are you alive?”
It took her a moment to peel herself off the ground.
“I’m alive,” she said, spitting out a blade of grass and gingerly touching her face, then checking her fingers. “No blood,” she murmured. “Just a graze then?”
“A lot of grazes,” Silas said, eyes wide as he stared at her calf and then her upper arm. “You’re pretty banged up. Is anything broken?”
“Don’t think so,” she said, checking each limb as she eased herself to a sitting position.
“I’d call 999 but I don’t have a phone.”
Lily twisted herself to look at her shoulder, which was all scraped up. “I don’t need an ambulance.”
“I was going to call the police, not an ambulance.”
She flinched when he reached down, but he only plucked the bag of cash from the ground beside her.
“You were stealing my stuff,” he growled.
“How can I steal it from you when it’s not yours?”
“Of course it’s mine.”
Lily rubbed the back of her head, feeling a bump rising. “Listen, can you please just give me my backpack? I won’t make a fuss. Keep my money for all I care.” She’d set the police on him later but she wasn’t about to tell him that. “I just need the passports.”
“Have you got a concussion?” Silas asked.
“Possibly, but can you please give me the passports?”
He glanced around, and Lily felt a spark of hope.
“I can run back to the beach and get one of them to call an ambulance. I think you need medical attention.”
“I don’t.”
“You’re talking gibberish.”
“I’m not. You stole my backpack, and I need you to return it.”
He shook his head. “I’ve just caught you up a tree stealing my money, but you’re claiming I’m a thief?”
“Yes. It’s not your money. Why would you keep your money in a tree unless you were trying to hide something?”
“Because I live in a tent.” He pointed at it. “It’s not exactly secure, and I heard there’s a thief terrorising the island, so I hid my money in the tree.”
Lily inhaled deeply. “That actually makes sense.” She rubbed her forehead. “I thought you were skint. Why not stay in the guest accommodation if you have all that money?”
“Because it wouldn’t last very long if I were paying a couple of hundred quid a night to sleep inside.”
“That’s true,” Lily said. “But surely it would be more secure to keep your money in the bank.”
“I’d argue with you on that, but I find the conversation isn’t a lot of fun.”
“Okay.” She took another deep breath and stood up, testing to see if any of the pain was more than just scrapes and bruises. “So you didn’t steal anything?”
“No.” He looked at his money, then took it from the bag and counted it. “You weren’t trying to steal from me?”
“No. I want to catch the thief.”
“They stole from you?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you tell the police?”
“No.”
“That’s why you’ve been hanging around here so much? You think one of us is the thief?”
“I did, yes. Now I’m not so sure.”
He put the money back in the bag. “If I hide this in the same spot, can you please not tell anyone where it is?”
“I won’t say anything, but people saw you climbing the tree, so if you want to be really secure, you might want a new hiding spot.”
“I’ll just keep it on me for now.” He lifted his shirt and shoved the cash into his bumbag. “I only came back for a jumper. They’re waiting for me back at the beach.”
“Don’t let me keep you,” she said as she hobbled towards the house.
Silas ducked into his tent, then walked quickly past her.
“Sorry for scaring you.”
She nodded. “Thanks for breaking my fall.”
At the fire pit, she sank down onto the ground, resting against a log while she worked up the energy to get herself home.