Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Flynn’s morning was busy, but fairly run of the mill. He and his colleague spent some time de-escalating an altercation between a cyclist and a driver, responded to a report of shoplifting, and followed up on a persistent neighbour dispute which they’d been dealing with for weeks.
Around midday, they arrived back at the station for something to eat and probably an hour or two of writing up reports. At least if they didn’t get called straight back out again.
After chatting with Lily, he was about to start on his paperwork when he got a message that PC Chris Jones had been trying to get in touch with him regarding his landlord. That saved him the job of tracking him down. At the desk in the open plan office, he dialled the number PC Jones had left.
“Thanks for calling back,” PC Jones said once Flynn had introduced himself. “It’s a bit of an awkward one, and it isn’t an official enquiry as yet. I believe I met your girlfriend yesterday.”
“Lily,” Flynn said, his jaw tightening at the officer’s formal tone.
“Yeah. She was on the scene when your landlord was found.”
“That’s right,” Flynn said.
“I thought I’d run this by you first – I received a call this morning from your neighbour, Caroline Redman. She claims Lily was in your landlord’s flat this morning. Apparently, Caroline has a key which she’d forgotten to give us. It seems Lily borrowed it to get into the flat.”
Flynn leaned back in his chair, attempting to unclench his jaw. “Did Caroline mention why Lily wanted to get into the flat?”
“No. She was only concerned that people shouldn’t be in there. She was all worked up about it, worrying that she might be in trouble for having the spare key and for letting Lily use it.”
“Right.” Flynn massaged his forehead. “I’m on duty at the moment, but I’ll give Lily a call and see what’s going on.
I know she was panicking about having a plate that belonged to the landlord – he’d brought us biscuits on it.
She was wondering what to do with it. I told her not to worry about it, but you know how people can get about death. ”
“Yeah.” He huffed out a laugh. “It makes people act strangely in my experience.”
“Lily probably wanted to put the plate back, but I’ll check with her and see what’s going on. I’ll call you back in a bit, yeah?”
“I thought there’d be a simple explanation. Wanted to track you down before I went back to the flats, asking unnecessary questions.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” He sat up straighter, wanting to quiz PC Jones, but concerned he might clam up if Flynn asked too much. Especially since he knew Lily had been in the flat. “Is there any news on Mr Latham, by the way?” he asked casually. “Is there a coroner’s report yet?”
“Not yet. The paramedics on scene seemed to think it was all straightforward, though. Blow to the back of the head. Looks as though the bookcase came down on him and he tumbled back onto the coffee table.”
“Have you tracked down a next of kin?”
“Not yet. Any chance you could give us a clue there?”
“I’m afraid not. I didn’t know the guy well, and I never saw anyone coming to visit him.”
“Sounds as though he was a bit of a loner. The coroner’s office is doing the legwork on it for now. I’ll let you know if they turn anything up.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
Flynn set the phone down and flopped back in his chair.
He was still staring at the ceiling when one of his colleagues wandered over and leaned on the edge of the desk.
Ben had become a good friend in the five years they’d worked together, and Flynn was always happy when the two of them were paired up together for a shift.
“What’s up with you?” he asked without preamble.
Flynn shook his head. “Nothing.”
The hitch of his eyebrow showed he wasn’t fooled.
“I just had a call from the PC who’s dealing with my landlord’s death,” Flynn said, sitting upright.
“And?”
“Apparently Lily sneaked into the guy’s flat this morning,” Flynn told him quietly. “The neighbour reported it.”
“Why was she in his flat?”
“She thinks there’s something suspicious about his death.”
A smile pulled at Ben’s lips. “That’s her thing, right? Investigating?”
“Yep.” Flynn sighed. “Which usually isn’t an issue. It’s actually pretty cool, but it’s close to home this time.”
“What did this officer say when he called?”
“Not much. I made some excuse – said she was panicking about returning a plate and that’s probably why she went in there. He seemed to accept that.”
“It’ll be fine,” Ben said in his usual relaxed manner. “You don’t think someone really killed your landlord, do you? I thought you said a bookcase fell on him?”
“Lily’s suspicious. And she usually has good instincts for these things.
Although I think she’s also stressed at the moment.
” He didn’t want to get into the whole issue of her parents, but he definitely wondered whether that was bothering her more than she was letting on.
“I don’t know if she’s genuinely suspicious or if she’s diving into it to keep her mind occupied. ”
“It’d be funny if your girlfriend solved a murder while she’s visiting,” Ben said playfully.
“It wouldn’t even surprise me,” Flynn said, then dragged his hands through his hair. “My only concern is her ruffling feathers with any of our colleagues. I don’t need any black marks against me at the moment.”
“So that’s what’s really bothering you?” Ben asked, his tone serious. “You’re worried she’s going to muck up your chances of promotion?”
“I’m generally stressing about this promotion. I thought I’d have heard by now. I asked a few questions this morning, but couldn’t get any answers.”
“Okay, but maybe if you want Lily to stop trespassing in your dead landlord’s flat, tell her exactly what you’re worrying about. That’s assuming you still haven’t told her you’re on the verge of getting the sergeant’s job on the Scillies?”
Flynn didn’t even bother to answer, just ran a hand over his face. Ben knew him too well.
He was right that Flynn should tell Lily what was going on. It was exactly what his mum had said, too.
The problem was, he’d put it off for so long that it felt stupid to tell her now, when he should know for definite any day.