Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
There was no way Lily was losing her grandmother. That was the only thought in her head as she jumped into the water. Then the shock of the cold momentarily chased all thoughts from her head. The calm surface had been utterly deceptive, and the current instantly had her in its grasp.
She kicked against it instinctively, then remembered her gran and let the river take her as she fought to keep her head above water and scanned for Clara. The sound of her own heartbeat rushed in her ears, but distantly someone called her name.
She tried to shout for her grandmother, but her mouth filled with water and she spluttered before clamping it shut. A tree branch floated by her, clawing at her arm while her waterlogged clothes seemed determined to drag her under.
Something in the water snagged her attention. It was there and then gone again. Kicking towards it, Lily groped below the surface, feeling for her gran.
When the shape emerged again, it was with a cough and a gasp. Definitely Clara.
“I’m coming,” Lily choked out, then reminded herself to keep her mouth closed.
As her grandmother slipped under the water again, Lily’s fingers found her and grasped to get hold of her.
The weight of her pulled Lily under, and she held her breath and kicked furiously.
When air hit her lungs again, she was face to face with her gran. Her eyes were wide with fear, and Lily couldn’t even speak to reassure her.
With her mouth firmly closed against the rushing water, she mentally screamed for her to kick. To keep kicking.
A dog barked incessantly, and hope sparked in Lily’s chest. It would be Pip at the marina. If they moved towards the noise, they could grab onto the jetty. She could shout for Bert to help them.
Unable to relay the plan, she kept a firm hold of Clara and kicked with all her might. The barking got louder and more insistent. Movement ahead got Lily’s attention. The little dog ran frantically up and down the jetty, and she focused on him and the person beside him.
“Help!” she screamed, then grabbed at the jetty post.
Bert was calling out to her, but she had no chance of getting a grip on the slick, slimy post.
With one hand clutching Clara’s arm, she reached out with the other, only to feel the next post brush the tips of her fingers. Her grandmother had slipped under the water, and Lily’s efforts to drag her up only pulled her under too.
Pip continued to bark. The sound got closer, and for an instant Lily thought he’d jumped in after them. When a tree branch scratched her face, she realised they were close to the riverbank. That’s where the dog was.
Barely able to keep hold of her gran, she put every ounce of energy into kicking towards the sound of Pip barking.
More branches hit her, and then she slammed against a solid mass that knocked the wind out of her. The fallen tree trunk lay half in and half out of the water. If Lily had enough strength, she could use it to pull them out of the water.
The best she could manage was to keep her gran above water, though she wasn’t even sure she was still breathing.
Pip was on the riverbank, moonlight reflecting off his eyes as he barked madly.
“Help!” Lily pleaded with him. “Keep barking.”
If she could just keep them above the waterline and wait for help, they’d be okay. But the water was a crushing weight pushing her against the tree while the current tugged her downwards.
She wasn’t even convinced Bert was strong enough to pull them to safety. How long would it take him to get help?
Too long.
Her teeth chattered, and a rush of hopelessness welled up in her.
A voice called her name.
Flynn.
That couldn’t be right.
Pip barked. Flynn shouted for her. Time stood still.
“I’ve got her!” he yelled. “Let go. I’ve got her.”
Her eyes met Flynn’s, but her mind couldn’t process it. Was she dreaming?
Clara slipped out of her grasp, and Lily could hear her coughing and spluttering as Flynn hauled her out of the water. A moment later, he was in front of Lily again.
“I’ve got you,” he said, his hand wrapping around her wrist and pulling her ungracefully onto the riverbank.
With all her energy spent, she collapsed face first onto the dirt.
“Lily!” Flynn shouted desperately while Pip continued barking.
“I’m okay,” she said, then coughed up a mouthful of river water. “Help my gran.”
The dog licked her face, and she closed her eyes and let him.
“Roy called an ambulance,” Flynn was saying. “The police are on the way too. Can you walk, or shall I come back for you?”
Blinking, Lily lifted her head to see Flynn scooping up her gran as though she weighed nothing at all.
“Where are you going?” she asked through chattering teeth.
“I want to get her up to the road to meet the ambulance.”
“Is she alive?” Lily asked, struggling to her feet.
“Yes. She’s breathing.” The gravity of his tone didn’t fill Lily with joy, nor did the way Clara’s body hung limp in his arms.
“I’m coming,” Lily said. “Take her. I’m following you.”
She stumbled after him towards the glow of the streetlights. Before she reached the road, sirens filled the air and blue lights pulsed around them.
“Let her be okay,” Lily muttered, her feet squelching as she followed Flynn, with Pip keeping close to her heel.
Ambulances and police cars lined the road ahead, and a uniformed officer ran up to her while Flynn strode towards the ambulance.
“I’m okay,” Lily said, but her knees buckled and she would have crashed to the ground if the officer hadn’t got a hand on her. Kneeling on the rough ground, she took a few deep breaths and reassured the officer that she was okay.
Bert appeared, muttering his relief and draping an arm around Lily’s shoulders. “You should never be without a dog,” she told him, then gathered her strength and staggered over to the ambulance.
She reached it in time to see Flynn easing Clara onto a stretcher and telling the paramedics that she’d lost consciousness for a minute or two.
“Is she okay?” Lily asked, pushing past Flynn to get to her.
Shivering, Clara reached for her with a trembling hand. “I’ll be fine. Thanks to you.”
Tears spilled down Lily’s cheeks as she hugged her. Gently, Flynn led Lily away to give the paramedics space to check over her grandmother. Someone wrapped a foil blanket around Lily, and she was vaguely aware of someone talking about her going in the ambulance too.
She shook her head.
“Where’s Vanessa?” she asked, eyes darting to Flynn and then taking in the chaos on the road. Police officers milled around and residents had come out to see what was going on.
Marcie hurried over to Clara’s side. “I heard all the commotion. Roy told me what happened. I can’t believe it.”
“Can you go to the hospital with her?” Lily asked impulsively. “Can you stay with her?”
“Yes. But don’t you need to go too?”
Lily shook her head. “I need to speak to the police…”
“Roy’s got Vanessa,” Flynn said. “Everything is okay. You need to go to the hospital with Clara. I’ll come after you.”
“No,” Lily argued at about the same time she spotted Roy chatting with a couple of officers beside a police car farther along the road. She set off in that direction. “I need to make sure they know what happened.” She glanced back at her gran. “I’ll come and see you later,” she promised.
Before she even reached the police car, a woman in jeans and a puffer jacket intercepted her.
“Lily?” she asked.
“Yes.” She looked at her questioningly.
“DS Sutton.” She thrust her hand out. “We were supposed to meet tomorrow morning.”
Limply, Lily shook her hand. “How did you get here so fast?”
“Roy sent me the photos of what you’d found. I rounded up some officers and came straight over. I’m sorry we didn’t get here sooner.”
Lily glanced frantically around. “Vanessa confessed to the fire. My gran recorded it, but I don’t know what happened to the phone. I think it went into the river.”
“Don’t worry,” DS Sutton said, resting a hand on her arm, then tipped her head towards the police car. “We’ve arrested Vanessa.”
“She’ll deny it,” Lily whispered, catching sight of Vanessa in the back of the police car. “What happens if she denies it all?”
DS Sutton shook her head. “Roy found the phone on the jetty. He thought it might be important, given your grandmother’s note, and then Ms Hargreave’s reaction to him finding it.”
“What note?” Lily asked.
Flynn held out a piece of paper. “Didn’t you see it?”
“No.” Tears filled her eyes at the thought that her grandmother had put herself in so much danger.
“There’s a recording of her admitting the fire then?” DS Sutton asked.
“Yes.”
“That makes sense. I thought she was quick to confess, but I assumed the guilt had been eating at her. She’s full of excuses, but they won’t do her much good.”
Relief flooded Lily. “It wasn’t only the fire. She attacked my grandmother, too. Not just tonight, but years ago. And there was another fire – in an ice cream shop on the Isles of Scilly. I was staying with the owner.”
“I’ll ask her about it all,” DS Sutton said. “I’m going back to the station to formally interview her.” She plucked a business card from her pocket. “Call me anytime. An officer will stay and take your statement if you’re up to it.”
Lily nodded eagerly. Whatever they needed from her to make sure Vanessa got what she deserved.
“You need to get warm and dry,” Flynn said as the detective walked away.
Blinking, Lily looked at him properly. “Where did you come from?”
He cocked his head. “I came to surprise you.”
“Oh.” She wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. Crying won out, and he wrapped his arms around her while she sobbed into his chest.
He held her tight and muttered comforting words into her hair.
“It’s all over,” he told her quietly. “It’s all over now.”