Daisy Darker(66)

Something is different when I step into the kitchen, and it takes me a moment to realize what. The muddy footprints have been mopped up. It’s a strange thing for Lily to have done; she’s the untidiest person I’ve ever met, and I’m not convinced she’d know what end of a mop to use if I gave her one. Maybe she is just trying to protect Trixie from everything that has happened tonight, in whatever way that she can. I can hear them quietly talking in the lounge.

Rose appears in the kitchen doorway behind me. She is holding my mother’s feet and Conor is carrying Nancy beneath her arms. They are soaked to the skin, and I feel as though I am not doing enough to help. I step aside as they struggle past me, heading for the cupboard beneath the stairs. We all try not to look at Dad and Nana’s bodies as they carefully lower Nancy beside them. When Conor’s hand accidentally grazes Rose’s fingers, she pulls away as though he has burned her.

‘Rose, I . . . I just want to say that I’m so very sorry.’

‘For what?’

‘All of it,’ Conor says, and she frowns at him. ‘I just mean that I know what it’s like to lose a parent, and it’s okay to be . . . upset.’

‘This is not the same as what happened in your family,’ she replies, and Conor looks like he’s been slapped in the face.

We never knew for sure whether Conor’s dad started drinking again because he thought my parents were getting back together. The tree that fell on my dad’s car during the great storm of 1987 did more damage than anyone first thought. Dad ended up staying at Seaglass for a couple of months while he recovered, which meant Mr Kennedy stayed away. Nancy spoke to him on the phone, but the next time we all saw him, he was very different from the man we thought we knew. He arrived uninvited and unexpected at Seaglass one day, demanding to see Conor. We all heard what he said.

‘This is not your family. I am your family, and I don’t want you coming here anymore.’

I was too young to understand that he was drunk. We found out afterwards that he had lost his gardening job with the National Trust. It wasn’t long before Conor started regularly running away from home again, and turning up at Seaglass at odd times. But he was almost eighteen by then, and better able to defend himself. Nancy ended her relationship with Mr Kennedy, and I think that everything that happened afterwards broke what was left of her heart. A few months later, Conor left home for good, and none of us ever saw his father again.

‘Are those your boots?’ Rose asks, looking at the front door.

Conor and I both follow her stare and see the pair of large muddy men’s boots in the hallway. I’m sure they weren’t there before.

He shakes his head. ‘No.’





Thirty-four



31 October 3:45 a.m.

less than three hours until low tide

‘Someone clearly left them here deliberately,’ says Conor. ‘These boots are not mine.’

‘Someone mopped the kitchen floor too,’ says Rose.

Conor frowns. ‘What?’

‘There were muddy footprints in the kitchen, before we all went outside and found Nancy in the garden. Now the floor is clean,’ Rose replies.

‘I thought Lily might have done it,’ I say.

‘It would have been easy enough for Lily to come back inside, send Trixie into the lounge to watch TV, then clean up the mess while we were still out there,’ Rose agrees.

‘But . . . why would she?’ Conor says. ‘Have you ever known Lily to clean or tidy anything before?’ Rose shakes her head. Conor takes a step closer and lowers his voice. ‘Maybe you’re right. Maybe there is someone else here. But what if there isn’t?’

‘You can’t possibly think that Lily is behind all of this?’ Rose whispers.

‘I don’t know what to think anymore,’ Conor replies. ‘It’s only fifteen minutes until the top of the hour. I say we keep a close eye on Lily until then. I think she’s been acting strangely all night.’

‘I think you’re wrong, but okay. I need to get dry first though,’ Rose says.

Conor stares at her wet clothes, then at his own. ‘You sure you’ll be okay alone?’ She gives him a look involving one raised eyebrow. ‘Fine. Shall we meet here in five minutes?’

We all go our separate ways, and something feels wrong as Rose disappears inside Nana’s little library where she slept last night. I wouldn’t want to be alone right now. But I suppose she does have a gun, and Rose has always been very good at taking care of herself.

Conor and I head towards the stairs, and the wooden punch clock by the front door catches my eye on the way. The cards in the cubbyholes next to it remind me of old-fashioned paper library cards. They are not just for visiting family and friends, there are some other names written on them too. Nana made everyone punch in and out . . . it was one of her many quirks. It was also something that used to annoy Conor’s father, along with all the other things that he got so upset about. I spot a card with another familiar name. It’s sticking out and at an angle. According to the time and date stamped on it, Nana’s agent was here at Seaglass yesterday. Just a few hours before I arrived. There is no stamp for when he left, but maybe he just forgot to punch out.

Upstairs, Conor grabs some dry clothes from his bag, then disappears down the hall, presumably to change in the bathroom. Seeing him in my bedroom is still a surreal experience, and I’m relieved to have a couple of minutes to myself. I try and fail to gather my thoughts, but I’m scared of what might happen next. I don’t say a word when Conor returns and starts packing his things as though getting ready to leave. He forgets his laptop though, and I see that it is still open on the desk in the corner of the room. The word Boo that I typed last night seems in poor taste now, even if today is Halloween.