Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ten minutes later, they were settled with drinks, and biscuits that Clara had produced from her shopping bag. Lily glanced toward the stairs.
“Did you go through my things?” she asked Roy.
“I had a bit of a rummage,” he said, grimacing. “I thought I might find the number for your boyfriend, but all I could find was Richard Harper’s number, so I called him. If you hadn’t shown up soon, I’d have called the police.”
“Did you tell anyone about the message I left you, about the note?”
He shook his head. “It seemed better to keep it to myself for the time being.”
“Good call,” Clara said, easing a chocolate digestive from the packet. “We should keep it between us.”
“I agree,” Lily said.
“What about reporting it to the police?” Roy muttered.
“The note was in my pocket, so there’s no proof.”
“If Clara tells the police the truth about someone pushing her down the steps, they’ll reopen the case.
They’ll put detectives on it and they can figure it out instead of you two putting yourselves in more danger.
” He glared at Clara. “I assume you were pushed that night – like you originally told me?”
“Yes.” She shrugged. “Personally, I wouldn’t trust the police to get answers. They didn’t manage it after the fire. No offence.”
“None taken,” Roy said. “You’re right that there wasn’t enough done, but we had no evidence. We also didn’t have all the information.”
“I don’t want to involve the police,” Lily said firmly. “As soon as the culprit hears I’m working with the police, they’ll hide. I want them to think they’re still in control. Let them come after me again – except this time I’ll be ready.”
“Or maybe you’ll get yourself killed,” Roy said, shaking his head.
Lily ignored the remark. “Whoever killed my parents is clearly still around. They know I’m here in Malporth. Presumably, it’s someone I’ve spoken to. We need to figure out the top suspects and go from there.”
“Who do you think it might be?” Clara asked.
Lily cocked her head. “We know it’s not the Grahams since they were away when you had your fall.
That leaves three other families. Going on vibes, I’d definitely have Charles Bramford on the list. I haven’t met Martin Weston yet, but him sleeping through the melee on the night of the fire seems odd.
” She inhaled a breath. “Bert seemed harmless, but I guess we shouldn’t rule him out. ”
“And the women?” Roy asked. “Samantha Morton?”
“I guess I just hope it wasn’t her. She was Mum’s friend. And I like her. But we should keep an open mind.”
“Did you say Marcie Smith pulled you out of the river?” Roy asked. When Lily nodded, he frowned deeply. “Don’t you think it’s odd that she showed up right after someone pushed your grandmother down those steps, and again when you were in trouble.”
“I hadn’t even thought about it.” Lily squeezed the bridge of her nose. “But yes, that is a strange coincidence.”
“She didn’t just show up after my fall,” Clara said. “She went looking for me because I said I was going for a walk and didn’t come back. It’s not as though she randomly stumbled upon me.”
“Even so,” Roy said.
Clara glared at him. “You can’t think she had anything to do with those incidents.”
“I was making an observation, that was all.”
Lily also struggled to believe Marcie wished her any ill will. Not after the way she’d taken care of her.
“There’s someone else we should probably discuss,” Lily said eventually. “Especially on the basis of keeping an open mind…” Her stomach tightened. “What about Johnny Weston?”
“What about him?” Roy asked slowly. “He was a kid at the time of the fire. You’re not seriously thinking it could have been him?”
“You said yourself he looked traumatised that night.”
He raised his palms. “Because he was a twelve-year-old who’d just seen things no kid should have to see. I’d be more concerned if he hadn’t looked horrified.”
“What if he didn’t mean to hurt anyone?” Lily mused.
“He would have known my parents had gone out for the evening. And he told me he’d spent a lot of time eavesdropping on conversations about the property developers.
He’d heard arguments about it. Maybe he took it upon himself to help move the sale along. ”
“I really don’t think it was a kid who pushed me down the steps,” Clara said.
Lily released a sigh, considering every possibility. “What if that was someone else? Someone who knew what he’d done and was trying to protect him from the truth coming out.”
“It sounds far-fetched,” Roy said.
Maybe, but Lily latched onto the idea. “Nancy told me that Johnny’s weird. She seems to think he doesn’t go out much.”
“He’s not weird,” Roy said. “Reserved and thoughtful, yes. But not weird. And I’d hazard a guess and say he’s so reserved because he’s lived his life in his sister’s shadow. In that family, everything revolves around Nancy. Always did. No-one ever had time for Johnny.”
“Isn’t that exactly the sort of environment that would lead a kid to deviant behaviour?” Lily asked in earnest.
Roy rubbed his temples. “I don’t know.”
“I don’t want it to be Johnny,” Lily said. “But I also can’t rule him out. I need to speak to him again. If it was him and he’s been carrying that guilt for all these years, maybe it’d be a relief for him to finally tell the truth.”
“If he lured you out to the jetty at night,” Roy said, “it seems as though he’s trying very hard to not let the truth come out.”
“That might still be the person who covered for him. His mum, maybe.” Lily remembered Flynn’s neighbour Caroline and the lengths she went to in the name of protecting her son.
“When I saw Johnny the other day, it seemed as though he wanted to talk about the fire. I was asking Nancy questions, and he came in and voluntarily told me what he remembered.”
“I think he’s worth talking to,” Clara said.
“I need a decent night’s sleep,” Lily said. “But tomorrow I’ll be back to asking questions.”
If it riled up the culprit enough for them to try to silence her again, so be it.
Roy left to check that the jetty was secure before going home to his daughter.
With him gone, the atmosphere in the house shifted.
Lily kept being hit by the realisation that she was actually sitting in a room with her maternal grandmother.
They had two decades’ worth of catching up to do, and it felt suddenly exhausting.
“There’s something I don’t understand,” Lily said hesitantly. “How did you convince everyone around here you were dead when you were living half an hour away? It’s amazing you never bumped into any of them.”
“I wasn’t living in Falmouth.” Clara brushed a stray thread from her sleeve.
“When I left the rehab clinic, I went looking for you and Derek. For a little while I thought I’d come and find you, and settle wherever you were.
But it took time to track you down. By then, I was staying with my brother in Cardiff. ”
“You stayed there?” Lily asked.
“Yes. Both my brothers live in Cardiff. It’s where I was born and grew up.”
Lily’s eyes bulged. “I’m part Welsh?”
“Yes,” Clara said, amusement shining in her eyes.
“I never knew that.”
“Eventually I decided it would be safer for you and Derek if I kept away. Staying close to my brothers and their families felt like the next best option.”
“I have more family?” Lily asked, tears pricking the back of her eyes.
“Yes. Two great uncles and lots of distant cousins. Maybe one day we can introduce you.”
Blinking back tears, Lily nodded. “When did you move back to Falmouth?”
“Not that long ago. I’d been back to visit a few times over the years. Three years ago when I was there, I bumped into an old friend and we got chatting. He stayed in contact, and we visited each other a few times, then I moved back.”
Lily smiled widely. “You’ve got a boyfriend?”
“Yes. Graham. He’s very sweet. It felt like fate meeting him again. He was married back when I knew him, but he’d divorced and we hit it off. I’d been wanting to move back to Cornwall, but with no connections to anyone, it felt like a wrench.”
“Do you live with Graham?”
“No. We decided to take things slowly. Maybe we’ll move in together at some point.” She shook her head. “Tell me about yourself, though. I want to know everything.”
Lily started by telling her about Flynn, but Clara soon steered the conversation to questions about her upbringing with Derek. Presumably she meant well, but Lily quickly felt defensive.
Too tired for deep conversations, she used the excuse of needing to call Flynn before he left for work, and disappeared upstairs.
Flopping onto the bed, she messaged him instead, simply telling him she loved him.
The phone rang almost immediately.
“Are you okay?” Flynn asked, a hint of panic in his voice.
Lily smiled. “Can’t I just message and tell you I love you?”
“Yes, of course.” She could almost hear him relax. “So everything’s fine?”
“Yeah. What did you think, that I’d got myself into some dodgy situation and was sending you my last words?”
His silence said a lot.
“You don’t have to worry about me,” she said, her gaze following a daddy longlegs that crept along the wall.
“I’ll try not to. How is everything? What’s it like with your gran?”
“It’s awkward,” she said with a sigh. “I just got annoyed with her and came upstairs.”
“Sounds like a standard family relationship already.”
“Maybe,” Lily said. “It just all feels uncomfortable at the moment.”
“Why did you get annoyed?”
Lily briefly closed her eyes. “She was asking about my life with Derek and she seemed pretty judgemental – as though she didn’t approve of the way he raised me.”
“Did she say that?”
“No, she didn’t say much, but that was the vibe I got.
And when I talked about how we lived, with all the moving around, it does sound pretty unstable, but he did his best for me.
” Emotions swelled in her chest. “He was the one who was actually there for me. Clara hid away and let me believe she was dead. She could have done things differently too.”
“Did you say that?”
“No, because it’s mean and unfair. She did what she thought was best for me, the same as Derek did.” She brushed tears away. “I’m just tired and frustrated.”
“That’s understandable,” he said softly.
Lily sniffed loudly. “Please don’t say you’re sorry you can’t be here,” she said, managing a smile. “You’ve apologised enough.”
“Okay. I miss you, though.”
“I miss you too.” Her smile widened. “I can’t wait until we’re back on Scilly. That’s what I’m looking forward to – me doling out ice cream to a queue of customers and you wandering in for a quick chat while you’re working.”
“I think you’ll have to wait until spring before you have a queue at the ice cream shop.”
“Don’t ruin my daydream! I can’t wait to go jogging with you again too. That was something I missed when you were away. I tried going with Kit but it wasn’t the same.”
“You went jogging with Kit?” he asked loudly.
She beamed into the phone. “Why are you making it sound as though I cheated on you?”
“Because you did!” His tone was all mirth and she could imagine the teasing in his eyes. “You can’t just go jogging with some other guy.”
She grimaced. “I didn’t know that was a thing, but it explains why Seren’s been giving me the cold shoulder.”
“Haven’t you heard from her recently?” Flynn asked, suddenly serious.
“I was joking. We’ve exchanged a few messages, but I’m looking forward to catching up with her properly when I get back.” She released a breath. “There’s a lot I’m looking forward to.”
“Me too.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “It won’t be long. What are your plans for this evening?”
“I suppose I need to have dinner with my grandmother. Then I’m having an early night.”
“And tomorrow?” he asked cautiously.
She hesitated, but there was no point in keeping things from him. “Back to investigating. I want to talk to the guy who lived next door to us. Nancy’s older brother. He’s high on my suspect list.”
“Wasn’t he a kid at the time of the fire?”
“More like a teenager. I wonder whether he started the fire thinking my parents were out. And then someone tried to cover for him. That’s my best theory at the moment.”
Flynn stayed quiet.
“I want to speak to his dad, too. I need to figure out how to track him down since he doesn’t live in Malporth anymore.”
“Okay,” Flynn said dubiously.
“Would it have been better if I hadn’t mentioned all that?”
“No. I’d rather know what’s going on,” he said wearily. “Just be careful. I better get some more packing done before work.”
“Good idea. I should go back down and continue getting to know my grandmother.”
He told her he’d talk to her soon and ended the call. She hadn’t even set the phone aside when a message came through from him, telling her he loved her too.
Smiling, she dragged herself off the bed and moved to the window. In the fading daylight, the surface of the river was still and perfectly serene. It was hard to imagine it had almost washed her away the previous evening. Her hand went to the bump on her head, poking it to test for pain.
Not too bad.
She’d already taken a step away from the window when her focus was drawn to a jogger on the pavement. His dark hair and slim build were familiar, and when he tilted his head slightly, Lily got a good look at his features.
Johnny Weston.
Maybe she didn’t need to wait until the following day to question him.
Tiredness forgotten, she changed into her jogging gear and was halfway down the stairs when she called out to Clara.
“I’m going for a jog! Won’t be long.”
“You’re doing what?” Clara asked, stepping out of the kitchen.
“I’m going for a run. I need to burn off some energy.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Neither of us should go out alone.”
Lily headed for the door, aware of the fact that Johnny’s lead was increasing. “I’ll be fine. It’s still light out and I’m a fast runner.” She smiled cheekily. “No one will be able to catch me.”
“Lily!” Clara chastised as she reached for the door handle. “I really don’t think it’s a good idea. Surely a jog isn’t that urgent.”
It was tempting to admit to seeing Johnny Weston, but that probably wouldn’t put Clara at ease.
“I’m used to being alone,” she said instead. “Please don’t stifle me.”
A pang of guilt hit her at the hurt in Clara’s eyes, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it.
“I have my phone,” she said, stepping outside. “I won’t be long.”