Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lily spent almost the entire drive back filling Flynn in on her meeting with Richard, and then rehashing every detail and emotion.
“He didn’t start the fire,” she said finally. “I’m sure of it. He was clearly troubled by the whole thing.”
“And it couldn’t have been someone who worked for him?”
“It’s a possibility, except it sounds as though he was working on it pretty much solo. And I really think he’d have said if he suspected anyone.”
“What now?” Flynn asked.
She lifted her shoulders, then dropped them.
“The property developers weren’t the only ones losing out because my parents didn’t want to sell.
I’m wondering about the neighbours who wanted to sell.
They must have been frustrated with my parents not wanting to.
The deal would only have gone through if all the residents agreed to sell. ”
“Didn’t Mr Harper say it was a tight-knit community? They don’t sound like the sort of people who’d commit murder to get their way. And I’d imagine your parents weren’t the only ones who were sceptical about the deal.”
“Yeah,” she mused, pressing her head into the seat back. “And wouldn’t my gran and uncle have considered that too? From what Maria told me, they only suspected the property developer.”
“Maybe if you mention the neighbours to Maria, it might jog her memory.”
“Maybe.” She closed her eyes when they stopped at traffic lights, then flicked them open when Flynn gave her leg a sympathetic squeeze.
“It makes me wonder…” She paused and swallowed hard.
“Maybe I should go back. There are all these people who knew me when I was a kid, and who knew my parents. I’ve never really thought about the fact that my parents would have had friends.
Or that I did. Which seems crazy now.” She whipped her head to Flynn. “Why did that never occur to me?”
He didn’t answer. There wasn’t a lot he could say.
“You could try to track them down,” he suggested.
“Some of them might still live there,” she said, as the idea occurred to her.
“It probably wouldn’t be too difficult to find out. You could ask Mr Harper for the names.”
“I could. I’m not sure I want to.”
“Mull it over and see how you feel later.”
“Yeah.” She reached over and squeezed his hand. “Thanks.”
He cast her a sidelong glance and a bashful smile. Then his eyes darted to his phone, which vibrated in the centre console.
“Jeff,” Lily said, picking up the phone for him and reading the name on the screen. “PC Hill?”
“Yeah.” Flynn took the phone and rejected the call. “I’ll call him back later.”
“Do you speak to him a lot?”
“Now and again.”
Lily smiled, happy that the two of them were still in touch. “Oh! I totally forgot to ask – what did PC Jones say?”
“Only that the coroner’s report will rule Mr Latham’s death as accidental. And that so far they haven’t tracked down the next of kin.”
“Did you mention he might not actually own the building?”
“Yeah. I suggested I might dig around and he was fine with that.”
“That’s good. Will you be able to find contact details for the Silvertons?”
“There should be details listed in the Land Registry. At least an address for service. Didn’t you see anything?”
Lily pursed her lips. “No. But I was pretty shocked to find out that Mr Latham didn’t own the building, so I didn’t look too closely. What’s an address for service?”
“Just a contact address. Doesn’t need to be their home address; it could be a solicitor. A lot of people would put their home address, though.”
“I’ll have to look again. If it’s a local address, do you feel like going on a little mission this afternoon?”
He shifted his hand on the steering wheel to look at his watch. “I need to get on a work call in half an hour, but after that we could check it out.”
“What’s the work call about? Aren’t you supposed to have some time off now?”
A muscle in his jaw twitched, and he kept his gaze firmly fixed on the road. “The sergeant messaged me while you were talking to Richard. He said he needs to talk to me.”
“You just worked two extra days,” Lily said. “You’d think they could leave you alone on your day off. What’s so important that he has to bother you today?”
“I don’t know.” There was a bite to Flynn’s words. “I’ll talk to him later and find out, but you know I don’t work a nine-to-five job.”
A stoney silence fell. She was actually annoyed with his sergeant, not with Flynn, but apparently he’d thought her annoyance was directed at him.
“Do you know how long it will take?” she said eventually.
He shook his head, and his pinched expression made it clear he didn’t want to discuss the subject any further.
Thankfully, they were only a few minutes from home, so she didn’t have to endure the uncomfortable atmosphere in the car for long.
But then, fairly predictably, it followed them into the flat.
In silence they removed their shoes and coats and were still in the hallway when Flynn spoke.
“I can just go to the station,” he said. “It’s probably easier to speak to the sergeant in person.”
“What? Why?”
“Because it’ll be annoying for you to listen to me yapping away in the next room, and it might take a while. Then I’ll get stressed knowing you’re waiting for me to get off the phone.”
Lily stared at him, wondering if that made more sense to him than it did to her.
“It’s fine.” He pushed his feet back into his trainers. “I’ll just go into work and then you have the place to yourself.”
Lily’s eyebrows lifted. “But you’ll also waste a load of time in the car. And I don’t care about you being on the phone.”
“Yeah, well, you might not but––” He stopped abruptly, clamping his lips together as he plucked his coat from the hook.
“But what?” she asked cautiously.
“There’s just a confidentiality issue, that’s all.”
“You don’t want me listening in?”
“Can we please not make a big deal of this?”
She nodded slowly. “I can go out,” she said. “And you can take the call in private. If you’d said to start with that you wanted privacy, it would have been a lot easier.”
“I don’t want to kick you out of the flat.”
She fought her emotions, not sure what was going on and why he was in such a bad mood. “You’re not kicking me out of the flat. I wanted to buy a couple of new pairs of jeans, anyway. I’ll head out and do my shopping while you make your call. Message me when you’re finished, okay?”
“Okay,” he muttered, and she could feel his gaze on her while she put her shoes and coat on again. She was all set to leave when Flynn’s phone rang.
“Is it the sergeant?” Lily asked hesitantly.
He gave a small shake of his head when his eyes landed on his phone screen. “PC Hill.”
“Again? What does he want?”
“How would I know?” His eyes were still on his phone, and his tone was clipped. After jabbing at the screen, he returned the phone to his pocket.
Lily should probably leave before she wound him up even further, but curiosity got the better of her once again. “Are you ignoring him? He’s called you twice in an hour. It might be important.”
“It’s not.” He rubbed the back of his hand across his forehead, and his tone was softer when he spoke again. “Enjoy your shopping.”
Lily almost left without another word, but paused at the door and turned back. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“Fine,” he said through gritted teeth. “I’ll message you when I’ve finished the call.”
She pressed the handle, then stopped. Opened her mouth and closed it. Her brain screamed at her to leave, while her heart tugged her towards Flynn.
“I don’t know what’s going on with you,” she said, her voice brittle as she turned back.
“You snapped at me yesterday and you snapped at me today. Yesterday I probably deserved it, but you don’t usually lose your temper so I’m not sure what’s going on and whether it’s because you’re stressed with work, or if it’s me. Am I just annoying you?”
Again, he rubbed at his head, then dragged a hand through his hair.
“Everything’s fine,” he said eventually.
Blinking back tears, she nodded curtly.
“I’m glad everything is fine for you,” she murmured as she pressed at the door handle.