Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
After sleeping for eleven hours straight, Flynn still woke up feeling groggy.
Packing and working had exhausted him. The previous day had been spent creating piles of things to go to the charity shop and stuff to be left for his mum to store for him.
He’d loaded that into his car, which she’d pick up at the weekend.
She had to work, so couldn’t come sooner. Which meant he wasn’t sure when he’d see her next. He’d arranged for Mr Patel to give her the car key since he’d either be in Truro with Lily or back on Scilly. He didn’t know which.
He was on his way to the kitchen when his phone rang, and he backtracked to the bedroom to get it.
“Good morning,” he said, smiling at the thought of telling Lily he was all packed and ready to join her.
“Hi,” she said cheerfully. “Did you enjoy your leaving drinks?”
“Yes. It was only a few of us. We went for a curry and had a couple of beers. Nothing wild. Most of us were coming off a stint of night shifts, so no one was up for a big session.”
“Was it sad to say goodbye?”
“A bit. I reckon a couple of them will come and visit. We’ll keep in touch.” He wandered into the kitchen. “How was your evening?”
“Really good,” she said with feeling. “My old neighbours are lovely.”
“Any closer to finding out more about the fire?”
“No. I’m stumped. I have more people I want to speak to, though. Someone knows something, and I’ll just keep bothering people until I find something. And if that doesn’t work…”
Flynn leaned against the counter, waiting for her to go on. “What?” he asked finally.
“Nothing. Just something Clara said, but it was a crazy idea.”
“What kind of crazy idea?”
“Long story,” she said, and he could almost see her grimacing. He’d bet it wasn’t a long story at all – she just realised he wouldn’t approve of whatever it was. “Anyway, how’s the packing going?”
“Great,” he said, looking around the empty kitchen. “In fact––”
“Hang on a sec.” Her voice turned muffled as though she were speaking to someone else. Flynn couldn’t make it out. “I’m really sorry I have to go,” she said a moment later. “My gran has just seen Bert out walking the dog. We’re going to take the opportunity to speak to him.”
“Okay. Wait a minute, though…”
“We’ll be careful, I promise. I’ll talk to you later. Love you.”
“I love you too, but…” She’d already hung up and was no doubt dashing out of the door on another of her missions. He stared at the phone in his hand. “I’m on my way,” he said aloud. “I’ll see you later.”
Maybe the surprise approach would be fun anyway. He took a deep breath. All he needed now was to pick up the hire car and drive for six hours, then he’d be with Lily and could put an end to his worrying.
Clara already had her shoes and coat on and was waiting for Lily when she dashed down the stairs.
“I saw him walking up from the marina,” she said in a rush. “I think it’s him anyway. He had a little dog.”
“Well spotted,” Lily said, shoving her feet into her trainers and grabbing her coat from the rack. “It’s always easier to accidentally bump into someone than to approach them purposefully.”
“That’s what I thought,” Clara said, pulling the door closed behind them. “We can say we’re out for a walk and ask if he wants to go together.” She waited until they were down on the road to speak again. “Did I interrupt a call? I could hear you talking.”
“Yeah. It was Flynn.”
“Is he missing you?”
“I hope so.” She smiled at the thought of him. “He’s finished his night shifts now, so he can catch up on sleep and concentrate on the move.”
“When will he be back on the Scillies?”
“He starts work in just over a week. I’m not sure if he’s booked a flight yet. He wanted to come here and help me, but I put him off the idea. It’d be too much of a rush for him to sort out his flat.”
“He’s worrying about you then?”
Lily nodded. “I’d say I cause him a fair bit of stress with my investigations.”
“How long have you been looking into the fire?” Clara asked, then pointed to the man and dog ahead of them on the riverside path.
“Not long,” Lily said as they increased their speed. “But there have been other incidents. Like last week I was staying with Flynn, and his landlord died. I thought it seemed suspicious, so I looked into it. I can’t seem to help myself.”
“He died?” Clara asked.
Lily nodded. “I found him.”
“Oh, my goodness. What happened?”
“It’s a long story, but recently things like that seem to happen around me.” She smiled. “So Flynn is pretty used to me investigating and putting myself in dubious situations.”
“And he’s okay with it?”
“He’s my boyfriend, not my keeper.” She softened her tone. “He’s supportive and doesn’t try to rein me in. I love that about him.”
“I hope I’ll get to meet him one day.”
“You will,” Lily said. “I need to meet Graham, too.”
She felt an overwhelming sense of sadness. Not too long from now she’d have to say goodbye to Clara. The thought didn’t sit well with her.
Better to concentrate on the task at hand. As they gained ground on Bert, Lily called out to him. He and Pip stopped in unison and turned to look back.
“Clara Cotton!” His smile lit up his face. “Is that really you?”
“It is,” she said, returning his smile. “You’re looking well.”
“You too,” he said, taking both her hands as he kissed her cheek. “This is a wonderful surprise. I’ve been thinking about you both since Lily visited me.” His eyes twinkled. “It’s wonderful to see you. How have you been, Clara?”
“Pretty well, thank you. And yourself?”
“I’ve been plodding along. Or bobbing along, I should say, since I live on a boat.”
“Lily told me about it,” Clara said.
“Shall we walk with you for a bit?” Lily asked while she bent to stroke the little dog.
“That’d be lovely.” Bert offered Clara his arm. “What an unexpected treat. Tell me what you’ve been doing since we last saw each other.”
“That could take a while.” Clara gave him a broad overview, telling him where she’d lived and the work she’d done – ending with her move back to Cornwall.
As the sun peeked out from behind swaths of white clouds, they paused at a bench on a curve of the riverbank.
“How does it feel to be back in Malporth after all these years?” Bert asked as the dog sat at his feet.
Lily exchanged a look with Clara. This was their chance to steer the conversation.
“It’s been interesting,” Clara said. “Wonderful to reconnect with Lily, but it’s not easy being back here.”
“Of course,” Bert muttered.
“It’s brought up some difficult memories for me,” Clara went on. “Lily doesn’t remember much about living here so I’ve been trying to help her with that. She’s curious about the night of the fire too…”
“Not just that night,” Lily interrupted. “But the whole situation with the property developers.”
Bert sucked in a breath. “You thought they might have something to do with the fire,” he said to Clara. “I remember that. The police cleared them, though, as I recall.”
“It was ruled accidental,” Lily said. “But Clara didn’t believe it, and I don’t either.”
“I’m sorry,” Bert muttered. “It must be an awful torment.”
“It is,” Lily agreed. “Can you help? Do you remember anything from that time that might help?”
“I’m not sure I do. Mary and I discussed it at the time. The property developers seemed like a decent company – not some greedy corporation.”
“And the neighbours?” Lily asked. “People were upset with my parents for not wanting to sell. Do you think anyone would have done something extreme?”
Sadly, he shook his head. “The neighbours didn’t always see eye to eye, but at the heart of it, we were a lovely little community. People looked out for each other. I genuinely don’t believe that the thought of a financial windfall would have driven anyone to do something so drastic.”
Lily swallowed hard. “I heard you were having financial problems at the time?”
“Did you?” He smiled sweetly. “That’s about as far from the truth as you could get.”
“So you weren’t interested in selling?”
“We were very interested, but not because of the money.” He scratched his jaw. “Mary was an only child, and her parents were wealthy. She inherited a lot of money. We never had money worries, but we did worry about our living arrangements.”
“Go on,” Lily prompted when he trailed off and stared out across the river.
“The house was too big for us once the children had moved out. Mary had back problems and osteoporosis. We knew she wouldn’t be able to manage in the house for much longer. With all the stairs, it wasn’t practical.”
“You wanted to move into the care home the developers were planning on building?” Clara asked.
“Yes. It would have been the perfect solution for us. We’d get to live the rest of our lives in Malporth.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t to be.”
“Why did you move onto a boat?” Lily asked. “I thought that was all you could afford.”
He chuckled. “I chose to live there. It wasn’t a necessity. After Mary died, I didn’t want to be in the house any more, but I didn’t want to go far either. I’d lived on a boat when I was a young man, and I thought it would be a nice final adventure in my later years.”
“That’s nice,” Lily said quietly, while feeling as though they were only getting further from figuring out the truth behind the fire. No one she spoke to gave any sign of guilt.
“Did you hear anything strange on Saturday evening?” she asked.
“How do you mean?”
“Someone lured me onto the jetty and I almost drowned,” she told him flatly. “I wondered if you’d heard anything, or seen anything strange that night.”
“The night of the storm,” he said, disbelief and concern shining in his eyes. “I stayed with my son since the weather looked bad. What on earth happened?”
“Someone asked to meet me at the end of the jetty.”
“The boards are rotten and several of them are missing,” he said quickly. “I keep calling the council to get them to fix it.”
“I fell through,” Lily told him.
“The water moves fast. Especially in a storm.”
Lily sighed. “I know.”
“Someone wanted to stop her asking questions,” Clara said. “They did a similar thing to me once.”
“Your fall?” he asked in horror.
“Not just a fall,” Clara told him.
His gaze darted between Clara and Lily. “What do the police say? What are they doing?”
“We haven’t spoken to them,” Lily said. “There’s no proof. I was hoping to find something concrete to give them.”
“It’s their job to find proof,” he argued.
“That’s what we pay taxes for. Call them and insist that they look into it.
And if there’s anything I can do to help, let me know.
Ask me all the questions you want – I’ve got nothing to hide, but maybe I could help you uncover some kind of clue.
” He scratched his head, messing up his wiry hair.
“If we think of any questions, we’ll get back to you,” Lily said, standing. “It was good talking to you.”
“I only hope you get to the bottom of it,” he said. “I’m going to think on all this. Maybe there’s a clue locked in my noggin somewhere.” He tapped his temple.
Clara squeezed his hand and thanked him before they wandered back the way they’d come – leaving Bert staring pensively across the river.
“I think he might be right,” Lily muttered dejectedly. “We should speak to the police.”
“It does seem as though the more questions we ask, the more puzzled I get. I can’t imagine Bert hurting anyone. He’s a sweetie – exactly how I remember him.”
Lily blew out a breath. “Maybe the police could help,” she said.
Or maybe Clara’s idea of setting a trap was the only way they’d get to the bottom of everything. She decided not to voice that thought.
“Let’s go back and get something to eat,” Clara said. “We can call Roy and ask for his advice about talking to the police.”
They walked the rest of the way back in silence. Lily’s mind churned, searching for some clue they’d missed. She only realised they were back in the village when Clara stopped abruptly at the foot of the stone steps between the houses.
“Don’t think about it,” Lily said, taking her grandmother’s arm and coaxing her along.
“I don’t remember much about it really,” Clara said. “Makes me feel queasy just looking at them though.”
“Me too and I’ve never fallen down them.”
Clara lifted her chin and scanned the houses. She shivered dramatically.
“I have the feeling we’re being watched,” she said quietly. “Probably just paranoia.”
Lily cast her eyes over the houses. Through the trees, the houses on Riverview Close were visible too. You could pretty much see the entire village from the road.
Which meant the entire village could see them.
The feeling of being watched took hold of Lily, too. She was certain that the idea of luring the culprit into a trap would be an effective strategy.