“But the way Jacques ran his business, it was always different. He was only interested in money. He didn’t care if people got hurt, or if it did any damage. That’s why his company grew bigger than Dad’s, over the years. They had massive arguments about it. About what the right way to do it was. About what Arthur would have wanted. But that’s why Jacques wanted to take over so much. Jacques could make more money buying another company, but he wanted to prove his was the right way, that Dad was wrong.”
I really don’t care about this. But one thing does interest me. “What’s going to happen? With your uncle’s company buying your dads, since he did it all illegally?”
Lily takes a while to answer. “I’m not sure. Dad’s in meetings with lawyers trying to figure it out. They think it depends if Jacques is found guilty or not. If he is, they’ll try and reverse it. But it’s hellish complicated. Whatever happens, the lawyers are going to get most of it.”
“He will be.” I say.
“What?”
“He will be found guilty. That’s what Agent West says.”
“Oh. I hope so.” Lily takes another sip. “Do you hate me?”
I can feel her looking at me, but I can’t bring myself to look back. In the end I force myself to.
“No.”
“But you’re angry? Or upset? That I got back with James? After you…” She doesn’t finish the sentence, even though I don’t answer.
“You have to see it from my perspective. I thought you’d destroyed my family’s company. I thought you’d betrayed me.” She reaches across the table, her head is tilted to one side and her hair is hanging down on one side like a curtain. “And James and I… We’d been together so long, it just felt natural. I believed him.”
“And you didn’t believe me?”
“You weren’t there, Billy. You weren’t there to give your side. Maybe if you’d… If you hadn’t disappeared?”
“If I’d let the police arrest me? And get put in jail for a murder I didn’t commit? Would you have believed me then?”
I notice a few of the other students in the café are looking around watching us, and I lower my voice.
“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.”
Then her lips part, and she smiles. The lips that I kissed, not so very long ago.
“Look, I don’t wanna… I don’t want to lose you as a friend Billy. And maybe, if we take things slow… maybe…” She lets her voice fade out. “Maybe it doesn’t have to be over?”
I don’t want it to happen, but I feel my heart start beating faster. This is what a part of me wanted, so bad, while another part said it wouldn’t ever happen, shouldn’t ever happen. But then I think back to my apartment. It’s been going so much better with them, since I got back. I think about Linda Reynolds, whose notes I’ve been using to catch up, and who introduced me to some of the other students on my course. And then I think about Lily, and her amazing house, and that dinner at the yacht club, and her brother and his posh girlfriend. They’re different worlds.
I sigh.
“If you want it to, that is.”
She gives me more of a smile now. But instead of answering her I get up.
“I have to go. I have a class, then I have to write three months’ worth of essays.”
“Sure.” Lily’s smile fades away. She glances at my untouched coffee, unopened bottle of water, but doesn’t say anything about them.
“Goodbye Lily,” I say, and I turn around and walk away.
I only get to the door, before my cellphone rings. I pull it out and glance at the screen, but then I wait until I’m outside before answering it.
“Hi Sarah,” I say. I get that feeling again, my heart beating faster, only it’s different this time. It’s less fear, less feeling like I’m about to be found out any moment. That this shouldn’t be happening, it’s more like a feeling of something that fits.
“I just wanted to say I’m looking forward to seeing you, tonight,” Sarah says, and I glance at Lily, through the window. She’s still sitting there, watching me through the glass.
“Yeah,” I say. “So am I.”
And with that, I walk away.
Thank you!
Thank you for reading, and as ever, I really hope you enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. I’m a little surprised at how Billy is growing up, and I’m curious to see how he ends up, and what he ends up doing with himself. However, I am going to take a short break before writing any more books in the Rockpools series, and focus instead on a rather different series.
You can find out more about that by signing up to my mailing list if you’re not already on it. You’ll also get a free copy of my novella Killing Kind, more details over the page.
A huge thanks to my Beta Readers who helped to clean up the manuscript for this book, and remove my messy errors. Any that remain are all mine.
If you’re new to my other (non Rockpools) books, there follows a short summary of my previous novels.
Thanks again for reading, and if you liked this, please do consider leaving a review (you can do so from the link below)
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Gregg
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KILLING KIND
When a six-year-old child picks up a mysterious letter left on a park bench, she discovers a confession from a man who claims to have spent his entire life committing murder after murder after murder.
It’s almost certainly the ravings of a fantasist, but DI Beth Jordan is the undervalued detective sent in to make sure. Yet when she’s able to connect the few actual details in the text to real-life cases, Jordan has the opportunity to solve crimes that have baffled her colleagues
