Malicious Intent: A British cosy mystery by Hannah Ellis

Author:Hannah Ellis [Ellis, Hannah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-12-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

Not overly thrilled by the idea of watching a bunch of teenagers run around a football pitch, Lily purposely arrived towards the end of the game. A few parents made up the sprinkling of spectators on the side-lines. Plus a gaggle of teenage girls, and then Jory and Jessica, standing away from everyone else. Lily walked straight over to the two of them.

“How’s the match?” she asked.

Jessica blinked as though coming out of a daydream. “I can’t even concentrate on it. I don’t know why I’m here. It feels wrong when we still don’t know where Rhys is.”

“Better than sitting alone in your bedroom,” Jory said, a protective hand resting in the centre of her back. “You’ll go crazy if you just sit around imagining what could have happened to him. He’s bound to reappear soon, anyway.”

Ignoring Jory’s reassurances, Jessica looked at Lily. “Rhys is really dedicated to the football team. I suppose I hoped he might be here, but watching them play without him makes it all real.” As tears filled her eyes, Jory slipped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. “I just want him to come home,” she sniffed. “All I can think about is how angry I was the last time I saw him. I want to take it all back.”

Lily opened her mouth to offer a few sympathetic words, but Jory beat her to it.

“You had every right to be angry,” he said, rubbing at her upper arm. “The pranks were getting out of hand and he and Max were being immature. Of course you had a go at him. He deserved it.”

“I wouldn’t break up with him, though, not really.”

Lily paid careful attention to Jory’s reaction to that statement. Could she detect a flash of disappointment in his eyes, or was she seeing what she wanted to see? Because from where she was standing, it seemed as though Jory was using his friend’s disappearance to get close to Jessica.

The thought was a little disturbing and Lily really hoped he was merely being a supportive friend to Jessica with no agenda. But then Jessica snuggled closer into Jory’s embrace and she could have sworn he sniffed her hair.

“Did someone score?” Jessica asked, eyes travelling to the other end of the pitch, where the players appeared to have halted play.

“Don’t think so,” Jory muttered.

Whatever had happened seemed to be an issue off the pitch rather than on it. The other spectators had merged into a huddle, some looking at their phones and some chatting animatedly. A couple of people walked on to the pitch, ignoring the frustrated voice of the referee.

With the players clearly distracted, the ref apparently took control in the only way he could and blew the whistle for full time.

“What’s going on?” Jessica whispered, drifting away from Jory.

From across the pitch, Max stepped away from his teammates. Grinning, he aimed a thumbs up in Jessica’s direction.

“It’s Rhys, isn’t it?” Jessica said breathlessly, despite being too far away to converse with Max.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.