Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
It wasn’t Flynn’s voice. And it wasn’t only in Lily’s head. A woman screamed at her. With her head submerged, it was muffled but definitely there.
“Don’t you dare let go!” the woman called harshly.
A tug on Lily’s jacket hauled her above the water line. The knowledge that someone was there made her relax so much that her fingers automatically began uncoiling from the rope.
“Do not let go,” the woman shouted. “I haven’t got you.”
Lily’s fingers flexed again, and she felt a burst of pain in her palm where the rope had taken the skin away.
“Hang on,” the woman said frantically. “If anything happens to you, she’ll kill me. Possibly literally. I can’t pull you out alone. You need to help me.”
With the air back in her lungs, Lily’s thoughts cleared and Marcie came into focus, lying on her belly on the jetty and dangling over the edge to reach Lily.
“Pull yourself up,” she urged.
On a surge of adrenalin, Lily raised her arm and tried to get hold of the edge of the jetty. Her fingers were slightly numb, and the wet wood was difficult to grasp.
“I can’t,” she spluttered.
“You can,” Marcie said, pulling harder on Lily’s jacket to lift her higher in the water. “Grab the ring,” she said, then shifted Lily’s hand until she felt cool metal. A hoop for tying up the boats.
Gripping it tightly, she felt a little more hope at the idea of pulling herself up. She just needed to catch her breath.
“On three,” Marcie said, not waiting for Lily to be ready. “One, two, three!” She yanked on Lily’s jacket, and Lily pulled on the ring.
With her upper body on the jetty, Lily was all out of energy. Marcie grabbed the waistband of her jeans and heaved her the rest of the way.
“What the hell happened?” Marcie demanded, apparently not overly concerned that Lily was face down on the slick wood and feeling as though she could drift off into oblivion. “Why were you out on the jetty? And who moved the rope and signs?”
“What signs?” Lily mumbled out of the corner of her mouth.
“The ones warning about the rotted wood. This part of the jetty has been cordoned off for a month. It’s dangerous.”
“There was nothing here,” Lily murmured, lifting her head. “I was supposed to meet someone.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.” She summoned enough strength to sit up and coughed violently.
“Are you okay?” Marcie asked, her words a little softer.
“Think so.” Lily met her gaze. “Thanks to you.”
Impatiently, Marcie put her hands under Lily’s armpits, dragging her to her feet. “We need to get off this deathtrap of a jetty and get you warm and dry.”
“That sounds nice,” Lily said, through chattering teeth.
“You need to be careful here. Stick to the edge of the jetty and off the broken boards.”
Nodding, Lily let Marcie lead her. Her shivering intensified, and by the time they reached solid ground at the marina car park, her entire body trembled violently.
“Come on,” Marcie said. “If you die of hypothermia, I’m going to be in a lot of trouble.”
“With who?” Lily asked and wasn’t sure if the lack of an answer was because Marcie didn’t want to say, or if the question had come out too quietly for her to hear.
“There’s no one around,” Marcie muttered as they crossed the road. “Who were you supposed to meet?”
“They left me a note,” Lily explained weakly, her boots squelching and her sodden clothes clinging to her skin. “There was no name. It just said to meet them at the boat at the end of the jetty. I think someone wants me gone.”
“They almost got their way,” Marcie said, taking Lily’s elbow and supporting her up the steps. She tried the door handle of the cottage then asked Lily for the key.
Her hands were too cold to check her soaked pockets, but she pointed and was surprised when Marcie retrieved the key.
“I thought it would have been washed away,” she said while Marcie unlocked the door. Lily patted her pocket, searching for her phone. She couldn’t feel it, but even if it hadn’t been taken by the river, it would hardly be any use.
“Inside!” Marcie instructed sternly, then locked the door behind them while Lily stood shivering in the hallway.
When Marcie turned to her, sympathy seeped into her features.
“Come on,” she said, ushering Lily up the stairs and into the bathroom.
Lily didn’t protest when Marcie began peeling off her wet clothes. Her trembling fingers weren’t much use.
“Get yourself in the shower,” she said, when Lily was down to her underwear. She turned the shower on, adjusted the temperature, then looked back at Lily. “Don’t lock the bathroom door. I’d like to be able to get in here if you collapse.”
With a nod, Lily stepped under the spray.
The warm water gradually eased her shivering. As her mind cleared enough to register what had happened, tears trailed down her cheeks.
What on earth had possessed her to walk along the jetty in the dark? Clearly the note had been a trap, and one which she should have seen.
The idea of getting information about her parents’ deaths was just too tempting.
She didn’t hear Marcie come back into the bathroom, but when Lily stepped out of the shower, her pyjamas were laid out beside a towel on the edge of the bathtub.
She dried herself and put them on, then went to the bedroom to dry her hair. Feeling as though she’d never be properly warm again, she put a hoodie on over her pyjamas and padded downstairs to find Marcie chewing on her thumbnail in the kitchen.
“How are you doing?” she asked, straightening up as Lily walked in.
“Cold, but I’m all right.”
“I made tea.” She tipped her head to the two steaming mugs beside the kettle.
“I could do with a plaster,” Lily told her, lifting her hand to show the scrapes on her palm. “The rope cut me up a bit.”
“Thank god the rope was there,” Marcie said, shaking her head. “Go and sit in the living room. I’ll see if I can find a first aid kit and bring your tea through.”
“Thank you,” Lily said, then did as she was told. On the couch she snuggled under the blanket and listened to Marcie moving around the house.
When she joined Lily, she disinfected and bandaged her hand with surprising tenderness. Then she tucked the blanket around her and passed the mug of tea.
“That should warm you up,” she said, taking a seat in the armchair.
“I’m not sure what just happened,” Lily said after a few sips of tea. “How did you find me?”
“I was coming over to talk to you, and spotted you down at the jetty. Something felt off, so I walked down there in time to see you fall.”
“There was a note through the door earlier,” Lily explained again.
Marcie scoffed. “Telling you to meet on the jetty in the dark? You didn’t think that might not be the best idea?”
“It crossed my mind,” Lily said. “But the note said they knew what really happened to my parents. Part of me knew not to go, but another part of me was too curious not to.” Tears stung the back of her eyes. “Thank you for saving me.”
“I’m just glad I spotted you.” She sighed, then opened her mouth to say something before clamping her jaw shut again.
“You said she’d kill you if anything happened to me,” Lily said, her heart squeezing with emotion. “What did you mean? Who would kill you?”
She sighed resignedly. “Your grandmother.”
Lily squeezed her eyes closed. “I don’t understand,” she mumbled.
Marcie fixed her gaze on her hands in her lap. “I’ll already be in trouble with her. I was supposed to tell her straightaway if anyone ever came into the shop asking about the Christmas cards.”
“She’s alive?” Lily asked, through the lump in her throat.
“Yes.”
“And you know where she is? You can contact her?”
“Yes.”
“You said she was a lunatic.”
“It’s the safest way around here. Pretending to be against Clara keeps her safe.”
“From the person who tried to kill her?”
She didn’t seem surprised. “Yes. Presumably the same person who tried to have you washed away with the river.”
“I need to find my grandmother,” Lily said desperately. “You said you were supposed to tell her about anyone asking about the Christmas cards. Does that mean that you didn’t?”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because if she knew you were here, nothing would stop her from coming back.” Her shoulders drooped slightly. “But it’s not safe for her here. I didn’t want her to come back after all this time. Plus, I wanted to check you were who you said you were. And find out why you were here.”
Lily straightened her spine, causing the blanket to fall away. “I’m here because I found out my grandmother might not be dead, like I thought she was. And because it was becoming increasingly clear that my parents’ deaths weren’t an accident. I need to find out the truth.”
“That’s likely to get you killed,” Marcie said flatly. “It almost got Clara killed.”
“She’s really alive?” Lily asked again.
Marcie nodded.
“What happened to her? All anyone round here could tell me was that she was in hospital and a rehab clinic, and that she went crazy. After that, everyone seemed to think she died.”
“I started that rumour.” She paused and sipped her tea. “She was in a clinic for a few months after her accident. Her recovery was slow.”
“She lives independently now?” Lily asked.
“Yes.” She smiled as though the notion of her not being independent was amusing.
“Clara’s fit as a fiddle. She just thought it would be better if people around here thought of her as physically and emotionally scarred.
Not a threat,” she added pointedly. “It was her who suggested I told people she’d died.
I wasn’t comfortable with it, but after a while if anyone mentioned her I’d casually say I thought she’d passed away.
I said I’d heard someone say so, but was vague about how I’d heard it or if it was true. People believed it easily enough.”
Lily stared at Marcie. “I need to get in contact with her.”
“I can give you her address. It’s about half an hour from here. Just outside Falmouth.” She glanced around the room. “I can stay here with you tonight. Tomorrow morning, you should pack up and leave.”
“I want to meet my grandmother,” Lily said, hardly able to believe that could actually happen. “But I’m not leaving here for good. I’ll be back to find my parents’ killer.”
Marcie shook her head. “I’ll let you argue that one out with Clara.”
Lily sank back into the couch, not quite able to fathom that her grandmother was alive, and that she would actually meet her the following day. Tiredness washed over her, and she closed her eyes.
“You should go to bed,” Marcie said. “You look exhausted.”
Lily nodded. “I can’t imagine I’ll be able to sleep, but I think I will go up.”
“I’ll sleep in the spare room.” Marcie took a sip of her tea. “You shouldn’t be alone.”
After opening her mouth to insist she was fine, Lily thought better of it. “Thank you,” she said instead.
Only once she’d crawled into bed did she remember her promise to keep Flynn updated. Without her phone, that was a little difficult. She had her laptop, though. Pulling it onto her knees, she sent an email to say she’d lost her phone but was fine, and would try to buy a new phone tomorrow.
Then she relaxed back into the pillows, hoping to fall straight into a deep sleep. Predictably, her mind wouldn’t shut off, and she replayed the evening obsessively. The panic she’d felt at being plunged into the murky water kept her muscles too tight to sleep.
Every noise in the house made her twitchy, and she was certain she’d have got no sleep at all if it weren’t for the knowledge that she wasn’t alone in the house.
Marcie had plucked her out of that cold water and seemed determined to keep her safe.
Lily could sleep soundly with her there. That’s what she told herself.
Finally, she drifted off in the darkest hour of the night.