Lili glanced at the officer watching her and said to Ray, ‘Can we meet? I need to see Joseph.’
‘Of course, Lili. I have a spare cabin on the boat. Come back and stay as long as you like.’
‘You are too kind,’ Lili replied, although she wasn’t sure how much he would appreciate her visit when she told him what she’d discovered.
There was something else she wanted to say before her time was up. ‘Look, Hannah isn’t this sort of person. She just made a mistake. Do you think you can get the charges dropped?’ She had already guessed what his response would be.
‘I’m afraid that is out of my hands. Talk to Joseph. He has had his hip operation. He is due to be discharged. I would imagine Sarah is on her way to The Summerhouse with him as we speak.’
Lili noticed her suitcase and coat on the reception desk, ready for her to leave. ‘I might try to catch the next train to Suffolk today.’
‘That’s fine by me,’ said Ray. ‘I’ll look forward to seeing you.’
Lili had meant to ask about Nate, but she didn’t. What she asked before she got off the phone, because it was still bugging her, was, ‘Did you have something to do with my arrest? Do you know they escorted me from the plane?’
‘They arrested you at the airport?’ Ray said in surprise. ‘I assumed you’d returned to Hannah’s house.’
‘Yes, as soon as the aircraft landed. They made me feel like a terrorist. I know the orchid is worth a bit of money, Ray, but I still don’t understand all the commotion over a few antiques that were not worth all that much – pardon me for saying.’
‘Neither do I,’ Ray said slowly.
The officer walked over. ‘It’s time to leave.’
Lili nodded. ‘Right, I’ve got to go, Ray. I’ll let you know if I catch a train today.’ She rang off.
Lili was just picking up her suitcase and coat when the desk sergeant said, ‘We have a few questions.’
Lili frowned. ‘Questions? I thought I was free to go?’
‘Yes, you are, but it would help with our investigation if you cooperated.’
Lili shrugged. Although she was keen to leave, this might give her an opportunity to defend her friend. Hannah wasn’t a criminal. She hadn’t planned this. She’d just made a bad, spur-of-the-moment decision. At least, that was what Lili wanted to believe.
She left her belongings where they were and followed the police officer into a small room with a desk and three chairs. Lili took the single seat in front of two plain-clothes officers. She felt absurdly nervous, as though if she said the wrong thing, they might arrest her again.
Lili folded one hand on top of the other on her lap, wondering what they were going to ask. She anticipated there would be questions about her best friend.
The older of the two officers opened a file and slid a photograph along the table towards Lili. ‘Do you recognise this?’
Lili stared at the photo and nodded. ‘I think so.’ She looked up and caught the two officers exchange a glance. The older officer, about Ray’s age, took the photo back. ‘What can you tell me about it?’
‘Was that stolen too?’ Lili asked. That made sense – not that any of this regarding Hannah’s behaviour really made sense; she wasn’t a thief. But she had been upstairs to the flat in order to retrieve the box, so she must have seen the painting. Lili stared at the photo across the desk. ‘Was that stolen too?’ she asked again.
Lili shifted nervously in her seat when they didn’t answer her question. ‘Maisie, my best friend’s daughter, liked the painting. It was a shame it was hidden under a dust sheet, so I hung it on the wall in the flat above the shop. I didn’t steal it, if that’s what you’re implying.’ Although she guessed Hannah had.
‘We gather it didn’t come from the shop, though. We didn’t see it listed in the inventory,’ said the young officer in the seat next to his colleague.
Lili shook her head. ‘No.’ She didn’t want to get into trouble, but there was no good hiding the truth. ‘Look, I probably shouldn’t have …’ She was going to use the wordtaken, instead she said, ‘shifted it, but …’
Lili didn’t want to blame it on the dog, but she did. ‘It was Bella’s fault that curiosity got the better of me.’ It had also been Maisie’s fault, although Lili didn’t mention that she’d wanted another painting to go with the one they’d already found in the flat.
‘Bella?’
Lili turned to the younger officer who had spoken, his pen poised over a notepad. ‘Yes. Bella is Joseph’s guard dog, but she is a big softie at heart. Anyway, I was curious as to why Joseph had a guard dog. I thought it might be something to do with the basement—’ On one of her visits to the house to water Joseph’s plants, she’d nosed around the house, discovering the basement and another painting under a dust sheet. She shouldn’t have taken it back to the flat and hung it on the wall, but she did.
‘There’s a basement in the shop?’
Lili shook her head. ‘No, no. I’m talking about the basement in Joseph’s house.’ She knew what they were going to ask her: what was she doing at his house?