Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
After a few hectic days, things settled down at the Isles of Scilly police station.
Flynn spent most of Monday morning catching up on comments on their social media pages.
In contrast with his previous feelings about that task, it felt pretty therapeutic now – especially given that most of the people posting were familiar to him after six months on the islands.
If the social media page was all he had to deal with, then life was as it should be on St Mary’s. He was sure Sergeant Proctor would agree.
Late in the afternoon, he picked up his phone to message Lily, then hesitated. He’d go and see her instead. The atmosphere between them that morning had been tense, and he suspected he could have handled it better. Somehow, he needed to reassure her that his move was only temporary.
Walking into the back rooms, he found PC Hill packing things into a box in Sergeant Proctor’s office.
“I thought the sergeant’s wife wanted to come and sort through his belongings.”
“She did,” Jeff said. “But she called me earlier and said she couldn’t face coming down here. Asked me to do it.”
“You should have said. I can help.”
Gently, he laid a photo of the sergeant and his wife in the box. “Thanks, but I’m almost done. It’s not that much, really.”
“Are you okay?” Flynn asked when his colleague sank heavily into the chair behind the desk.
“I feel as though I made a massive mistake.”
“How do you mean?”
Jeff blew out a breath. “I should have taken the sergeant’s job. Then you could’ve stayed on. It would’ve been you and me, and everything would have been all right. Now, I’m stuck with a new sergeant who I’m not convinced I’m going to like. Not given the phone call I had with him earlier.”
“Why, what did he say?”
He shrugged. “Nothing terrible – he just seemed a little insensitive about the whole situation. Honestly, I didn’t think it would all go so fast. I thought I’d be acting sergeant for a few weeks at least, and you’d be able to stay on for a while to ease the transition.”
“It does all feel a bit rushed,” Flynn agreed. “How did they find a new sergeant so quickly?”
Jeff curled his lip. “I think he’s been waiting for a sergeant’s position for ages, and has been turned down for lots of jobs.”
“Not a great sign,” Flynn said.
“No,” Jeff agreed. “If I’d known how things would turn out, I’d have thought harder about taking the sergeant’s job myself.”
“You said you didn’t want to be a sergeant.”
“I didn’t. I don’t. Once upon a time, I had a girlfriend who thought I should be more ambitious, so I took all the exams and everything, but when it came to it, I’m happy being a constable. I don’t want the extra responsibility.”
Flynn nodded. “I think I’m the same. Promotions aren’t on my list of priorities.”
“I don’t think I’d be a good sergeant. Stick to your strengths, I reckon.”
“Yeah,” Flynn said, though he wished Jeff had stepped into the sergeant’s role. “I can’t believe this is my last week.”
“Me neither.” He sat up straighter. “You know Sergeant Proctor was stirring things up – making a fuss about needing an extra officer on the islands. Maybe that will happen still.”
“I’m hoping so,” Flynn said. “But it won’t happen before the weekend.”
Jeff leaned back in his chair and dragged his hands through his hair. “I hate all of this. I keep expecting Graham to walk in the door, or to wake up and find this has all been a bad dream.”
“Same,” Flynn said, glancing around the room. “Are you sure you don’t need any help in here?”
Jeff shook his head. “By the way, I had word from forensics about that necklace you found at Gideon Rowe’s place.”
“And?”
“It’s clean. They couldn’t find fingerprints or any other fibres.”
“Not a massive surprise.”
“No. I’m wondering whether to question Len Marrack again. See if we can get him to confess to planting it there.”
“It’s up to you,” Flynn said, hoping he sounded casual. “He claimed he didn’t know anything about it when we interviewed him. To be honest, I’m not sure it’s worth pressing him about it. I guess he just threw it inside when he was supposed to be cleaning windows.”
“And then he gave you an anonymous tip to search the place?” Jeff asked, tilting his head.
“Yeah.” He swallowed hard. “We had a call from an unknown number saying we should search there. I imagine it was him. He just wanted to keep us off track while he got the stolen goods off the islands.”
“It almost worked,” Jeff said.
“Yeah.” Flynn backed up to the door, keen to put an end to the conversation. “I might go out for a wander if you don’t need me for anything here.”
“Fine by me,” Jeff said, then got back to placing items in the box.
Outside, the sunlight was dazzling, and the sky was a cheerful shade of royal blue. “Finally,” Flynn muttered. After all the drizzle and grey skies for the last couple of weeks, the sunshine was a welcome sight.
It did, however, mean there was a queue in the ice cream shop and a lot of bustle outside it too. Loitering outside, he watched Lily handing out ice creams with Jessica at her side.
“Is she okay?” a voice asked beside him.
“Hi,” he said to Maria, then shrugged in reply to the question. “I’d say she’s been better. She was pretty stressed out this morning.”
“You can hardly blame her. The poor thing has a lot on her plate.”
Flynn gave a curt nod.
“I heard you’re going back to London soon.”
“Yes. Just until I can figure out a way to get a job here again. Lily won’t believe that it’s just temporary.”
“That makes sense.” She inclined her head, and they walked towards the beach.
“From what I know, she grew up without much stability. Finally, she feels settled here, and now the rug is being pulled out from under her. You’re leaving, and Jessica is leaving.
I think she’d grown pretty fond of Sergeant Proctor so that must be a blow too.
And if all that isn’t hard enough, I’ve just told her that her parents may have been murdered. Her grandmother too.”
Flynn lifted his eyebrows. He’d been so caught up with his own problems, he’d barely stopped to think about everything that Lily was dealing with. He definitely could have been more patient with her.
“It’s surprising she’s managing as well as she is,” he said, wishing he didn’t have to leave next week. “Will you keep an eye on her?” he asked. “When I’m not here.”
“Yes. I came to see how she was doing, but I’ll come back when she’s not so busy.” She took a step away. “If I don’t see you before you leave, take care of yourself. And come back soon.”
“I intend to,” he said and returned her smile before she wandered away.
A moment later, Maria glanced back over her shoulder. “And make the most of this sunshine,” she said cheerfully.
“Yeah.” He turned to watch the families enjoying the beach, then smiled to himself as an idea came to him.