Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
“We’ll have to invite her over for lunch one day,” Mrs Patel said, pressing on the accelerator and flying through the junction as the lights were turning red. “The poor woman. As though her life wasn’t bad enough with a sick husband, she gets conned out of all that income too.”
“He conned us as well,” Mr Patel said indignantly. “I don’t know why I didn’t see it. My judgement clearly isn’t what I thought it was.” He glanced into the back at Lily. “My wife always said there was something fishy about him. She can read people much better than I can.”
“That’s true,” Mrs Patel agreed proudly. “I knew he was up to something.”
“I’m just glad it’s all coming out,” Lily said. “Mrs Silverton seemed as though she needed a break.”
Mrs Patel nodded vigorously. “It’s good that he’s dead.”
“That’s not really what I meant,” Lily said, squirming in her seat.
“Let’s not pretend otherwise,” Mrs Patel went on. “It’s good when people get what they deserve. Especially as it’s not always the case.”
“You have to wonder about Mr Latham,” Mr Patel mused in the passenger seat. “What kind of life did he have that he’d do something like that? We should think ourselves lucky we had better parents.”
“I’m not listening to that,” Mrs Patel said. “Plenty of people have it hard in life, not all of them turn to crime. People always have a choice.”
In the back, Lily tried to scrutinise Mrs Patel’s features in the rearview mirror. She’d had Caroline in her sights as being the one who killed Mr Latham, but she had to wonder at Mrs Patel’s cold sentiments.
Since she’d already suspected Mr Latham was up to no good, perhaps she’d taken matters into her own hands.
But any of the residents could have uncovered Mr Latham’s secret. Maybe one of them had confronted him about it. If he’d died because of a confrontation which went wrong, did she even want to know? What would she do with that information?
She shook her head. No. If someone killed him, even by accident, she’d report it and let the courts decide the best course of action. That was the right thing to do. It would also save the culprit a lifetime of guilt – though if it was Mrs Patel, she wasn’t convinced that was an issue.
For about the tenth time since she’d got back in the car, she checked her phone. She hadn’t wanted to bother Flynn until she heard from him, but she was getting worried now.
Hastily, she fired off a message asking if he was okay and if it was safe to come home.
When she hadn’t heard from him by the time they arrived back, she went along with Mrs Patel’s plan to hold a meeting with the other residents to fill everyone in on what they’d found out about Mr Latham and their unlawful tenancy agreements.
Lily pondered whether to sneak into Flynn’s place and see what was going on.
He must have finished his call by now. In the end, she decided against it.
Maybe the call had started later, and he was still talking to his boss. She didn’t want to disturb him.
She told Mr Patel she’d fill Flynn in on everything later when Mrs Patel directed him to round up the other residents.
Mrs Patel went to put the kettle on, and Lily followed her. She was loitering in the kitchen, getting under her feet when Gigi walked in.
“What’s all this about, Mrs Patel?” She had Pixie in her arms and looked slightly perkier than yesterday, but not much. Her eyes were puffy, and her skin was pale.
“We’ve found out something about Mr Latham, and we thought it would be easier to tell everyone together.”
“What do you mean?” She held Pixie tighter. “What sort of thing?”
Lily scrutinised her features. Why did she look so nervous?
“You’ll find out soon enough,” Mrs Patel said, setting a milk jug and sugar bowl on a tray.
“I have a job, you know?” Gigi complained. “Just because I work from home doesn’t mean I can drop everything whenever I feel like it.”
“You’re going to want to hear this.” Mrs Patel patted her arm. “Now go and get a good spot in the living room. There won’t be enough seats for everyone.”
“Can I help?” Lily asked as Gigi left the kitchen.
“You can take the cups and saucers through,” Mrs Patel instructed, tipping her head to the table. “That would be very helpful, thank you.”
Lily did as instructed. She made two trips and had just set the last of the cups on the coffee table when Mr Patel arrived back.
Aiden followed him, yawning and looking as though he’d been dragged out of bed.
Liam had a similar look, though it was hard to know whether it was actual tiredness or a perpetual look of teenage exasperation.
“Could someone explain what is going on?” Caroline said, taking a seat on the couch beside Gigi. “Why do we need a secret meeting?”
“It’s not a secret,” Mrs Patel said. “If I wanted to keep a secret, I’d hardly invite you all over for tea to discuss it, would I?”
“You know what I mean,” Caroline tsked.
Mrs Patel set the tea tray down. “I’ve no idea what you mean.”
“Mr Patel wouldn’t tell us what it was about!” Caroline said. “That’s why it seemed secretive.”
“It’s not something we want to talk about in the hallway.” Mrs Patel poured a cup of tea and passed it to Gigi.
“What isn’t?” Aiden asked. He’d taken up position on the floor beside the coffee table with his jogging bottom clad legs stretched out in front of him.
“We have some news about Mr Latham,” Mrs Patel said, an edge of excitement to her words.
Caroline’s gaze fixed on Lily. “Is this because of your poking around?” she asked, her tone accusing.
Mrs Patel passed Caroline a cup of tea. “It certainly is. Lily has been fantastic. She’s like a proper investigator.”
“Surely if there’s investigating to do, it should be the police doing it.” Caroline folded her arms across her chest. “We probably shouldn’t blindly believe anything she’s come up with.”
Mrs Patel set the teapot down heavily. “Mr Latham didn’t own the building.”
Given the confusion in Caroline’s features, Lily assumed that hadn’t been the revelation she’d been expecting. Everyone in the room looked shocked, and there were frequent interruptions while Mrs Patel explained everything.
Aiden wore a sly smirk for the duration of the exchange.
“That’s settled it for me,” he said eventually. “He got what was coming to him. Karma did its job perfectly.”
“It wasn’t karma,” Lily said, her voice quiet but firm.
Until then she hadn’t been certain how to raise the questions surrounding his death, but it hit her then exactly the approach to take. It would involve a lie, but that was the least of her worries.
“Mr Latham’s death wasn’t an accident,” she said, capturing the full attention of everyone in the room. “The postmortem revealed someone killed him.”
“No!” Mrs Patel’s eyes widened, but there was a gleam of excitement in them. “Who?”
“The police don’t know yet,” Lily said. “They’re opening an investigation. I’m sure they’ll get to the bottom of it.”
Her eyes darted around the room, registering reactions.
She may have been lying about the police investigating, but one way or another the truth was going to come out.