Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Liam was lingering at the top of the stairs when Lily said goodbye to Mrs Patel and moved back to the flat.
She spotted him out of the corner of her eye, but didn’t properly look his way.
Slowly, she moved inside, wanting to see what he was up to without being obvious.
Apparently, he was waiting for the hallway to be clear.
He was probably just heading out and didn’t want to have to encounter anyone on the way.
At the other side of the door, Lily peered through the peephole, waiting for him to pass on the way to the front door.
She heard his footsteps on the stairs, but nothing after that.
No matter which way she angled her gaze, she couldn’t spot him in the hallway.
He was out there, though. She was sure of it.
Pressing an ear to the door didn’t help, and after a couple of minutes she tired of waiting and opened the door again.
At Gigi’s door, Liam visibly tensed. “Everything okay?” Lily asked.
“Yep.” He shifted his weight. “Fine.”
“Gigi’s not feeling well,” Lily said. “If she’s not answering, it’s probably because she’s asleep.” Or more likely because Liam hadn’t actually knocked. At least not that Lily had heard.
“Right, thanks. I’ll come back later.”
It was on the tip of Lily’s tongue to ask what he wanted Gigi for. That would be pretty forward, though.
Sod it.
“Why are you looking for Gigi?”
He shoved his hands into his pockets and shifted his weight. “I just… umm…” If he had any sense he’d tell Lily to mind her own business. “I need to earn some money so I was going to ask if she needed someone to walk the dog sometimes. Or if she had any other jobs for me.”
Despite being certain it was a lie, Lily had to commend his quick thinking. That was actually pretty believable.
“Good idea,” she said.
Liam started towards the stairs, then turned back. “I’m sorry about my mum.”
“What?”
He came closer, lowered his voice. “She’s been stressed since Mr Latham died.
Which is pretty weird considering how much she used to complain about him.
But I guess she’s worrying about the cleaning job, or the rent going up, or something.
Usually, she’s not so annoying. I told her you were only looking for your AirPods, but she was all weird about you being in Jeremy’s flat. ”
“It’s fine,” Lily said. “I shouldn’t really have been in there.”
“No, but I hope she didn’t get you into trouble.”
Lily opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but he was walking away. Presumably he was just referring to his mum having a go at her.
Back in the flat, she was confronted by the papers all over the floor. The sight was pretty startling now. She’d have to move it all before Flynn got home and questioned her sanity. He wouldn’t be home for ages, though.
The lid of the marker made a popping sound when she eased it off.
Mr and Mrs Silverton, she wrote in big letters. Previous owners.
She left that piece of paper on the table since she was running out of floor space.
What she wanted to know was when Mr Latham had taken over the building. She’d hazard a guess and say it was right around the time the old tenants were evicted over the asbestos.
And she’d go out on a limb and say Mr Latham got the building for a steal.
She was all set to search the internet to see if she could find out when he’d purchased the building, but her phone rang. Perfect timing. Maybe Flynn would know how to get the information.
“Hey,” she said brightly. “You have the best timing.”
“I’m busy,” he said, his tone unusually impatient. “But I need to tell you something quickly.”
“What?” she asked, all her enthusiasm doused by the sinking feeling in her stomach.
“I just got a call from PC Jones.”
“He called you?”
“Yeah. Apparently you’d mentioned you were my girlfriend, so he tracked me down as a courtesy.” He let out a loud sigh. “He had a call from Caroline to let him know that she still has a key for Mr Latham’s flat, and also to express her concern that you’d been snooping around in there.”
Lily swore quietly.
“I didn’t know what to say. I made up an excuse about you returning the plate, but to be honest it’s kind of embarrassing.”
“Yes.” She swore again. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to involve you.”
“I said I’d talk to you and find out for definite why you were in there.”
“When I asked to borrow the key, I told Liam I thought I’d left my AirPods in there and I wanted to nip in and look for them.”
“Okay,” he said wearily. “I’ll call him back and tell him that. Hopefully, he’ll believe that’s all it was.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “You won’t believe everything I’ve found out, though. I’m starting to think that Mr Latham was a really dodgy guy…”
“Lily,” he said, cutting her off. “Have you left the flat today?”
Her eyes went to the scattered papers.
“I went to the shop,” she said.
“Maybe you should go out and do something. Get some fresh air at least.”
She opened her mouth to protest, then thought better of it. Clearly, he was stressed, and she was part of the reason for it.
“Yeah,” she said. “I will. Good idea.”
“I’ll talk to you later,” he said, and the line went dead.
Okay, he was very stressed. He was usually so calm and patient, so it always rattled her when he was short with her.
She checked her watch. Four o’clock. Maybe going out was actually a good idea. She could go for a walk before it went dark, then come back and cook something for dinner. Having a meal ready for Flynn when he got home might be a way to get back in his good books.
She grabbed her coat and her boots and set off. She’d have a wander and find a shop to get some supplies for dinner. Maybe she wouldn’t walk for too long though, given how cold it was.
Sticking her hands in her pockets to retrieve her gloves, something jabbed her finger.
Muttering her annoyance, she removed the gloves, then put her hand back into the pocket for whatever had attacked her.
She stopped dead on the pavement.
In the middle of her palm were two screws.
And she’d swear they were the ones which had once held Mr Latham’s bookcase in place.