Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Even from the outside, The Smoke Yard gave Lily chilled out vibes. Flynn opened the wooden door, which was plastered with stickers proclaiming various political statements, words of wisdom, and rude jokes.
Inside, the warm air felt like a gentle hug, and the scent of meat cooking made Lily inhale deeply.
“I’ve been here before,” Flynn said, rubbing his hands together and scanning the room for a table. “When I first moved in.”
“Not good enough for you to come back?” Lily asked.
“I think it was good.” He shrugged. “I don’t eat out round here very much. Where do you want to sit?”
They settled on a table by the window and slipped into opposite sides of the booth. The five minutes they spent reading the laminated menus was a bit of a waste since they already knew what they wanted.
“I think we have to order at the bar,” Flynn said, setting his menu aside.
“I’ll go.” Lily got up before he could protest, wanting to make up for dragging him out when he’d clearly rather have stayed at home. Also, she’d spotted Aiden behind the bar and was keen to say hello.
“Hey!” he called as she approached. “How are you?”
“Great, thank you. Mr Patel recommended this place to me. He had a lot of good things to say about the food.”
Aiden grinned. “Henry’s great. He’s a big fan of this place. Haven’t seen him much recently though.” He looked past her and raised a hand to greet Flynn. “Are you guys here for food or just drinks?”
“Definitely food,” she said, her mouth watering at the smells drifting from the kitchen.
“The bacon cheeseburgers are amazing, as are the pulled pork burgers. I also recommend the spicy chicken wings. But you really can’t go wrong with anything on the menu. It’s all great.”
“That’s good. We’re both going for the pulled pork based on Mr Patel’s recommendation. And a couple of beers, please.”
“Coming up!” He put the food order into the system, then put a glass under the beer tap across from Lily.
The place was about half full, and her gaze roamed the other patrons while he poured the drinks. It looked to be a mix of ages, with a few families sitting in booths and couples at the tables in the main section. A waft of garlic bread from a guy along the bar had her mouth watering even more.
“I still can’t get my head around Mr Latham,” Aiden said, pulling her attention back to him.
Lily smiled sadly. “The entire day feels pretty surreal.”
“It’s a weird thing. I wasn’t fond of him, but I assume someone will miss him. You have to feel sorry for that person.”
“Yeah. It’ll be a shock to his family. It’s kind of weird that no one ever saw him with visitors or anything.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me to find out he was the black sheep of his family.”
Lily took a swig of her drink when he set it on the bar. “I was talking to Gigi about him earlier.”
“She definitely wasn’t his biggest fan.”
Thankfully, Lily still held the glass to her lips, covering any trace of surprise. “No,” she murmured.
“The only reason I got to know Gigi was because she was out walking Pixie after dark and she was sure Mr Latham was following her.”
“Really?” Lily kept her features neutral. “I know he was a bit creepy but Gigi didn’t go into details.” It was certainly creepy that he had a photo of her, even if Gigi hadn’t made a big deal of it.
“She was terrified,” Aiden added, placing the second beer on the bar. “She ducked in here that night and ended up staying until the end of my shift so I could walk her home.”
“Do you think he was following her?”
“Yeah. Once she’d calmed down, she insisted it was probably her imagination running away from her, but I don’t think so. I think if a woman feels as though she’s being followed, there’s a very good chance it’s because she’s being followed. I told her not to ignore her intuition about this stuff.”
“Nothing else happened, though?”
“Not that I know of, but I reckon he was infatuated with her. I saw him hanging around in the hallway sometimes. I’m fairly sure he was waiting to conveniently bump into her.”
“I saw a photo of Gigi in his living room.”
“I noticed that too.” A muscle in Aiden’s jaw twitched. “Like I say, I won’t be mourning him.” He smiled at her and picked up the card reader. “Cash or card?” he asked, putting an abrupt end to the conversation.
After paying, Lily returned to Flynn. “I just found out something weird about your landlord,” she said as she set his beer in front of him.
“Course you did,” he muttered, but his eyes were on his phone.
“Who are you messaging?” Lily asked.
“Rosie. She likes to send me cat memes.”
“That’s nice. Has your dad said anything about you being in contact more with your siblings?”
“Not to me,” he said wearily. “It’s easier now that they don’t live with him.”
“Gina definitely won’t take him back?” Lily asked.
“No. I think she’s much happier without him.” He turned his attention to his phone and tapped out a message. “I said I’d take Jake and Rosie out somewhere next weekend. Rosie’s suggesting places we could go. I reckon she might bankrupt me.”
Lily smiled and sipped her drink while he continued messaging with his half-sister. Eventually, he set his phone aside.
“What were you going to say about Mr Latham?” he asked.
Catching how worn out he looked, she felt a pang of annoyance with herself. The last thing he needed was her bombarding him with suspicions about his neighbours.
“Nothing,” she said, shaking her head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Tell me. I want to know. I’m just hungry and grumpy, but I promise I’ll be better company when I’ve got food in me.”
“You usually are,” she teased. “But let’s talk about something else. Was your mum okay about you postponing?”
He nodded. “I only exchanged messages with her. She was disappointed not to get to meet you, but it’s fine. She’s desperate to come to Scilly, anyway.”
“Scilly?” Lily frowned as she tried to puzzle that one out. “Is she planning a trip?”
“Oh. I don’t know. Maybe. She wants to, but there’s no definite plan.”
“I only get you for a few days when you visit. I don’t know if I want to spend the entire time playing tour guide for your mum.” She cringed. “Sorry. That didn’t come out right.” Actually, it had come out exactly right, but it should probably have remained a thought.
“Yeah.” He rubbed his brow. “I think she’s hoping I’ll be back there soon. She’s always very optimistic.”
That made more sense. “Any news on that?” she asked hesitantly.
The way he chose that moment to take a sip of his drink gave the impression he was stalling to answer. “Nothing new,” he said eventually. “I keep asking. It’ll happen at some point.”
“Yeah.”
Flynn leaned on the table. “Tell me what you found out about Mr Latham.”
“No.” She attempted a smile. “You don’t want to hear it.”
“I do! I love a bit of gossip. Hit me with it.”
She suspected he was only trying to change the subject, and was also indulging her because he knew that’s what she really wanted to talk about.
“It’s not as though you have anything else to talk about,” he teased. “Whenever someone around you dies, it’s all you can focus on.”
She laughed loudly. “How often do people die around me?”
“Far too often!” His eyes sparkled with joy. “Come on… tell me what you found.”
She only held out for a couple of seconds. “Fine. I think Mr Latham has been stalking Gigi. It’s actually really creepy.”
“Wait… who’s Gigi?”
“Dog lady.”
“Okay, carry on.”
“There’s a photo of her in his flat. When I asked Gigi about it, she played it down, saying they’d been out for dinner once and she thought he might have had a crush on her.
But I just spoke to Aiden who said Gigi once came in here late at night because she thought Mr Latham was following her when she was walking the dog.
He also thinks he hung around the hallway waiting for opportunities to talk to her. ”
Flynn lifted an eyebrow. “That’s creepy.”
“I wonder why Gigi didn’t mention that to me.”
“Maybe because Mr Latham is dead, and she didn’t want to be disrespectful.”
“I don’t think that’s it.”
“No, you think it’s because she killed him and doesn’t want to let anyone know she had a motive.”
Lily chuckled. “When that turns out to be the case, you’re going to feel terrible for teasing me.”
“Well, that’s true.” His smile dissolved. “Do you remember the names of the officers on the scene this morning?”
“PC Jones.” She leaned on the table. “Why?”
“If you really think you’re onto something, I could make some calls, check to see if anything has been flagged as suspicious.”
Lily nodded. “That would be good. I really think they’re treating it as an accident.”
“Seems like it. They wouldn’t have moved the body so quickly otherwise, and they’d have involved CID.”
“There definitely weren’t any detectives around.”
Flynn’s lips pulled into a smile. “Apart from you.”
“Yeah. Apart from me.”
As promised, the food was divine. Good enough that Lily no longer felt bad for making Flynn leave the flat after a long day.
She was also pleased to find that Flynn’s mood shifted once he was fed – just as he’d predicted.
His energy levels lifted too, and he seemed much more relaxed by the time they wandered back home.
The air was damp with a fine mist of rain, only visible beneath the glow of the streetlights or illuminated in the headlights of passing cars.
Oddly, it was the rush of warmth when they stepped inside Flynn’s building that made Lily shiver in a dramatic, full body shudder.
Flynn grinned at her, but Lily’s attention was snagged by the people in the hallway.
Mr Patel was near the letter boxes again, though creeping discreetly away from them. Beside him was the kid from upstairs. Liam.
“We’ll stick to the usual schedule then,” Liam said loudly. “If that works for you?”
“Yes. Lovely,” Mr Patel said. “Perfect.” His eyes wandered to Lily and Flynn, and his over-the-top look of surprise was fairly comical. “Oh, hello. Been out for a walk?”
“Dinner,” Lily said, walking past them.
“Lovely.” Mr Patel nodded incessantly. “Liam and I were just discussing a tutoring timetable. I’m helping him out with maths.”
“Nice,” Lily muttered while Flynn moved to his door.
“He’s a great teacher,” Liam chimed. “Makes it interesting somehow.” He slapped Mr Patel on the shoulder and wished him goodnight before striding towards the stairs.
“My wife is sleeping,” Mr Patel said, his smile fixed. “That’s why we were talking out here.”
“Okay.” Lily’s eyes drifted to the letter boxes.
Flynn cleared his throat, and she moved to the door and slipped inside with him.
“What was going on there?” she wondered aloud, as soon as the door was closed. “What are they up to?”
“At a guess,” Flynn said while peeling his coat off. “I’d say they were discussing tutoring sessions.” He caught her eye and smiled mischievously. “A wild theory, I know.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “That was a lie. They made that up on the spot.”
“What do you think they were discussing then?”
“I don’t think they were out there for conversation. I think they were trying to get into Mr Latham’s letter box.”
“You think Mr Patel has roped Liam into that scheme?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly do you think he’s trying so desperately to get in there for?”
“No idea.” She toed her shoes off. “And what’s Liam got to do with it?
” Sighing, she relaxed into Flynn’s chest when he wrapped his arms around her waist. Only for a second, then she whipped her head up to look at him.
“Did I tell you that Liam seemed to know Mr Latham was dead before anyone told him? He arrived back when they were wheeling out the body. He took one look at the body bag and asked his mum if it was Mr Latham.”
Flynn shrugged. “He could probably tell from the size it was a man. Maybe he just guessed.”
“Possibly. Loitering in the hall with Mr Patel is odd, though.”
Flynn pulled her closer. “Mr Patel does tutor him. Caroline told me about it recently. Apparently Mrs Patel wanted her husband to be useful in the community while he’s not working. She knew Liam’s grades weren’t brilliant and volunteered for Mr Patel to help.”
“Oh,” Lily said defeatedly. “They still seemed shifty to me.” At a sound in the hallway, she pulled away from Flynn and went to the peephole. She sucked in a surprised breath.
“What’s wrong?” Flynn asked.
“It’s Mrs Patel!” Lily whispered excitedly. “She wasn’t sleeping at all. She’s just getting home!”
“Seriously?”
Nodding, Lily turned to face him. “Mr Patel was lying.”