Chapter 3
Chapter Three
The knot in Lily’s chest was there the moment she woke up and lingered while she packed up her belongings and checked out of the hotel. It stayed with her when she drank a coffee in a drab cafe and while she picked up the rental car.
On the drive to Malporth, her apprehension intensified.
Her internet sleuthing the previous evening indicated that the family Lily had been staying with on the night her parents died still lived in the same house. As far as she could tell, two other houses on Riverview Close were also occupied by the same people.
That meant there were people she could question about her parents and the night they died. And those people might remember her.
The knot in her chest tightened as she drove along the winding road that would bring her to Malporth. Occasionally, she caught a glimpse of the Truro River through the trees on her right. The overcast day gave the scenery a somewhat eerie tinge.
Her heart rate increased as she slowed the car near Marcie’s Gifts & Cafe. That was where her grandmother’s Christmas cards had been bought and was first on Lily’s list of places to visit once she’d checked into her accommodation.
A church with an impressive spire loomed opposite the gift shop on Riverview Road, and the pub came into view after another hundred metres.
Beyond that, houses emerged, built at a slight elevation and all with steep steps from the road up to the front doors.
Slowing, Lily peered out, looking for her destination – Kingfisher Cottage.
The instructions simply told her to look for a row of three whitewashed terraced cottages with colourful doors and window frames.
She spotted them easily and pulled into the double carport, which was tucked below the houses.
Stepping out of the car, she crossed the quiet road and gazed out over the broad stretch of water where the Tresillian River met the Truro River before continuing toward the sea.
It was wider than she remembered from her previous visit.
The murky brown water seemed almost still at first glance, but a tree branch drifting past at a fair pace showed there was a strong current beneath the surface.
On the opposite bank, an abundance of trees braced against the wind.
Several small boats were tied up at the modest marina, and the soft clink of rigging against masts made Lily think of the harbour on St Mary’s. A gull squawked in the distance while the faint smell of salt and mud filled Lily’s nostrils.
A gust blew her hair around her face, and she dragged wayward strands from the corner of her mouth.
Forcing herself into action, she returned to the car and plucked her small suitcase from the back seat.
Following the check-in directions, she ascended the steps beside the carport to the row of cottages.
Halfway up, she caught sight of a woman standing on the doorstep of the cottage on the left, quietly watching her.
“Hello,” she called, tilting her head and causing her neat blonde bob to fall around her face. “Are you Lily?”
“Yes.” She lugged her case up the final steps and set it on the flagstone path to shake the woman’s hand.
“Vanessa Penrose,” she said primly. “Welcome to Malporth.”
“Thanks.”
“Did you find it easily?”
“Yes.” Lily smiled benignly. “Just followed the sat nav.”
She tugged on the sleeve of her chunky-knit cardigan. “You don’t know the area, then?”
“Not well,” Lily murmured, averting her gaze. “No.”
Vanessa nodded slowly, then picked up Lily’s case as though it weighed nothing at all. “Let’s get you settled in.”
“I can take that,” Lily said, but her host was already striding away.
“I’m in Primrose Cottage,” Vanessa said, pointing over her shoulder at the house she’d come from with the yellow door and window frames. “You can always knock if you need anything.”
“Thanks,” Lily muttered as they passed the middle cottage where the wood was painted green.
At the next cottage, Vanessa produced a key for the bright blue door. While she opened up, Lily stopped to look at the river as rays of sunshine emerged to glitter on the surface of the water.
“It’s a fantastic view,” she remarked. “It must be incredible on a clear day.”
“It is,” Vanessa said.
“Lovely place to live.” Lily opened her mouth to tell Vanessa about her sea view on Scilly, then thought better of it. Maybe she should be careful about how much of her life she revealed.
“Come on in,” Vanessa said, stepping inside and holding the door. “I think you’ll find everything you need.”
She strode into the living room at the front of the house. The furnishings were mostly white and wood, but with the odd splash of colour around – a bright blue throw blanket was draped over the back of the couch, and a blue lampshade occupied the small table by the window.
Apparently, Vanessa had leaned fully into the blue and white colour scheme. She showed Lily along the hall and passed the stairs to the kitchen at the back.
By the window, Lily’s heart rate increased as she looked out.
Somewhere out there was her childhood home.
Part of the reason Lily chose that accommodation was that it backed onto her old house.
Above the high hedge she could just make out the chimney stack and the top of the roof.
The upstairs rooms might give a better view of it.
“My number is here, in case you need something and I’m not at home,” Vanessa said, drawing Lily’s attention. She pointed to a business card on the table. “I’ll be working quite a bit in the next few days, but don’t hesitate to get in touch if there’s anything you need.”
“What do you do?” Lily asked for the sake of conversation.
“I’m a hairdresser.”
“You must be busy with the cottages to look after too.”
“I don’t get many rentals at this time of year.” Her shoulders slumped slightly. “But yes, I’m often on the go. No rest for the wicked, as they say.” Straightening up, she set the door key on the table. Her lips twisted uncertainly. “You said you don’t know the area?”
“Not very well,” Lily repeated. “I know Truro.”
“I don’t get many last-minute bookings. Are you here for a holiday?”
Lily opened her mouth and closed it again, trying to figure out a suitable response.
Saying she was there to hunt down her long-lost grandmother, who she’d spent the last twenty years believing was dead, would sound slightly bizarre.
And then there was her mission to figure out if someone had murdered her parents.
That would make the atmosphere pretty uncomfortable.
“I have some family nearby,” she said eventually. “I’ll be visiting them and exploring the area.”
Vanessa’s smile was more of a grimace. “Larkin isn’t a common name,” she said quietly. “There used to be a family in Malporth with that name.”
Lily’s gaze went to the window again.
“It was me,” she said awkwardly. “I lived here with my parents when I was a kid.”
“I thought so.” Sympathy shone in her eyes. “When I saw your name on the booking request, I wondered. Lily Larkin can’t be a common name.”
“You know what happened then?” Lily asked.
She nodded solemnly. “Everyone in the village knows what happened. Even newcomers. It’s not the sort of thing that gets forgotten.”
“Did you live here back then?”
She chewed her bottom lip. “Yes.”
“Did you know my parents?”
She nodded again. “I used to cut your mum’s hair.” She smiled fondly. “I’d only just finished training to be a hairdresser, and I was always looking for practice subjects. Your mum would let me try out different styles on her.”
Lily’s throat clogged. Not used to hearing stories about her parents, it felt overwhelming.
“I liked Julia a lot,” Vanessa added. “Christopher too. Lovely people. The fire was such an awful tragedy. It shook the entire community.”
“Are there many other people in the village now who knew my parents?”
“Yes. Quite a few. Samantha Weston still lives in the house next to yours, and Charles and Serena are opposite.” She rolled her eyes.
“When they’re here, anyway. They always seem to be jet setting – it’s hard to keep track.
Jackie Graham is still there too – your neighbour on the other side.
Just her and her boys now. Her husband left a long time ago.
I’m not sure how well they knew your parents.
They only moved in shortly before the fire. ”
Lily knew the names from both her internet sleuthing and the documents she’d received from Richard Harper.
“Amazing that so many of the neighbours still live here.”
“It’s a special corner of the world,” Vanessa said. “People rarely want to leave.”
“Did you grow up here?”
“No. Over in Newquay. My grandparents lived here, and I inherited the cottages from them right after I finished my hairdresser training.”
“Do you have a salon?” Lily asked amiably.
“No. Mobile hairdressing suits me better. Easier to juggle holiday rentals that way. I make my own schedule. It’s easier than being tied to a salon.”
“Makes sense,” Lily said. “It sounds like a nice life.”
“I can’t complain. Did you say you were visiting family in the area?”
“I have some people to look up,” Lily said vaguely.
Vanessa stared at her, waiting for Lily to say more.
“Sorry,” she said when the silence became uncomfortable.
“I just didn’t realise there was more family in the area.
I only ever heard about your uncle and your gran.
” Again, her eyes swam with sympathy. “I was sorry to hear about your grandmother passing.”
Air rushed from Lily’s lungs, and she turned away from Vanessa, making a show of checking out her accommodation.
“I should probably get unpacked,” she said.
“Of course. I’ll leave you to settle in. Enjoy your stay,” Vanessa added on her way out. “And get in touch if you need anything.”
At the sound of the front door closing, Lily released a breath and clutched the back of a chair. She’d spent twenty years believing her grandmother was dead, so it shouldn’t really hit her so hard to have someone else mention it.
In the last couple of days, she’d let herself believe Clara was alive. Maybe it would be wise to keep an open mind, but since there was no trace of a death certificate, she couldn’t give up hope yet.
After a couple of deep breaths, she set out to explore the simple but cosy cottage.
It wasn’t a huge surprise to find the blue and white colour scheme throughout.
Even the dishes in the kitchen cupboards were blue, and the blue air freshener in the bathroom matched the tiles, shower curtain, and bath mat.
If you didn’t like blue, you were out of luck. Even if you did, the amount of it could probably put you off it.
In the front bedroom, Lily stood by the window, watching a small motorboat rumble into the marina. She took a seat on the bed and instinctively pulled out the papers from Richard Harper.
Among them were purchase offers, residents’ meeting minutes and maps of the proposed development. She also had a bunch of newspaper clippings and the brief inquest summary Flynn had printed for her before she left London.
Her eyes went to the names of her old neighbours listed at the top of the minutes for the first residents’ meeting, held just weeks before her parents died.
Along with her parents’ names, there were four other family names. It seemed that three families still lived there.
Would they remember Lily? And how would they react to her return?
Setting the papers aside, she took the Christmas cards from her backpack. After choosing a couple of them, she put the rest with the other papers.
She was probably going to look like a complete weirdo going to the shop and asking if they knew how she could contact the person who’d bought them.
It was worth a shot.