Lost in thought, it took him a moment to spot her, but when he did, his eyes lit up in a way that gave her a momentary respite from the stress of the morning.
“I was just coming to find you!”
She smiled lightly. “Do you know those people?”
He looked over his shoulder to where the group was rounding the corner. “I met them a couple of nights ago. Some artists on a retreat or something.”
“Where did you meet them?”
“They’re staying close to where we were called out to for the first break in. I questioned them to see if anyone had seen anything, but they couldn’t tell me anything.”
Lily’s brain whirred. Was it a coincidence that the group was close to one of the break-ins, and also in the vicinity when Lily had been robbed?
“Do you have any leads?” Lily asked as she ambled back towards the ice cream shop with him.
“No. The first break in was the only place where the culprit was actually seen, and the woman didn’t get a look at them. Couldn’t tell us anything about them, other than the direction they’d fled.”
“Where was this?” Lily asked.
“Some house on its own up past the airport.”
“So you don’t have anything to go on?”
“Not yet. We’ve increased security at the ferry and the airport – keeping an eye out for anyone suspicious and spot-checking people’s baggage.”
Lily nodded slowly as she drew her keys from her pocket. Maybe she should tell him about the theft of her backpack. She wanted to. A problem shared is a problem halved and all that. If it were jewellery and a bit of cash, she’d tell Flynn without a second thought.
How could she explain her fraudulent passport though? And so much cash.
It would look as though she were living some sort of life of crime. Maybe that’s what her childhood had been. Had her uncle been a criminal and dragged her along on whatever he’d been doing?
Blinking, she fought to focus on Flynn, and asked him to repeat what he’d said.
“I said I’m sorry we haven’t been able to get any time together. It’s going to be another busy day today, but do you want to do something if I finish at a reasonable time?” He shifted his weight. “You could stay at my place…”
“Sounds good,” she agreed with a smile.
He squeezed her hand before heading back the way he’d come.
Feeling oddly deceitful for not confiding in him, she let herself into the shop and locked the door behind her. With another hour before Jessica arrived and not a lot to occupy her in the shop before then, Lily headed back up to the flat.
Halfway up the stairs, something crunchedunderfoot.
Hesitantly, she plucked the pencil from the middle of the step and turned it to read the words on the side.
Rowe Art Residency: Isles of Scilly.
Lily’s heart beat faster. Apparently, it wasn’t a coincidence that the artists had been in the vicinity for both burglaries.
She gritted her teeth at the realisation that one of them had stolen her backpack.
Chapter Seven
A quick internetsearch gave Lily the location of the art retreat. The basic website displayed the artwork of Gideon Rowe along with information about the retreats he ran.
Too impatient to wait for Jessica to arrive, Lily sent her a brief message telling her she’d be on her own for the morning and to remember to bring her key as the front door would be locked.
A brisk twenty-minute walk brought her to the large modern house with huge windows, surrounded by sprawling fields. Wandering along the driveway, she had her sights set on the front door, but high-pitched laughter had her detouring around the side of the house.
