Daisy Darker(88)

Because they couldn’t see me.

They behaved as though I wasn’t there.

But maybe I was always here. Maybe I never left.

‘It turned out everyone knew what really happened that Halloween, except me,’ said Nana. ‘Even my son, your father. They all kept quiet to protect your sisters, the Darker family reputation and their future inheritance. Which is why none of them deserved a penny of it. I am not foolish or blind. I knew that my family were selfish and unkind. But they took you away from me, then they lied about what happened, and I could never forgive them, or Conor, for what they did. You were always my favourite, my darling girl. You inspired me to write my own stories, you gave me something to live for, and you made me want to be a better person. They had to pay for what they did to you.’

The kettle boils and it sounds like a scream.

Nana glances up at the chalk poem on the kitchen wall.

Daisy Darker’s family were as dark as dark can be.

When one of them died, all of them lied, and pretended not to see.

Daisy Darker’s nana was the oldest but least wise.

The woman’s will made them all feel ill, which was why she had to die.

Daisy Darker’s father lived life dancing to his own tune.

His self-centred ways, and the pianos he played, danced him to his doom.

Daisy Darker’s mother was an actress with the coldest heart.

She didn’t love all her children, and deserved to lose her part.

Daisy Darker’s sister Rose was the eldest of the three.

She was clever and quiet and beautiful, but destined to die lonely.

Daisy Darker’s sister Lily was the vainest of the lot.

She was a selfish, spoilt, entitled witch, one who deserved to get shot.

Daisy Darker’s niece was a precocious little child.

Like all abandoned ducklings, she would not fare well in the wild.

Daisy Darker’s secret story was one someone sadly had to tell.

But her broken heart was just the start of what will be her last farewell.

Daisy Darker’s family wasted far too many years lying.

They spent their final hours together learning lessons before dying.

‘Did you like Trixie’s poem?’ Nana asks, but I don’t answer. ‘She wrote more – one about each of you – but was too shy to share them all. When I told Trixie my plan, she agreed to help me. The two of you have a lot in common, and she loves you, just as much as I do. I wanted, no, needed to make things right for you and for her before it was too late. While I still could. I killed Frank. He was a terrible son and a dreadful father. Being the only one in the family who ever touched whisky made him surprisingly easy to poison. As soon as your dad locked himself away in the music room, I revealed that I wasn’t dead after all. I told him the whole thing with me on the kitchen floor was nothing more than a Halloween prank. We had a bit of a laugh about it, I encouraged him to drink even more of the whisky, then I had the piano play a pretty tune while he died choking on his own blood.’ Nana looks down at the floor as though avoiding eye contact, even though I know she can’t see the way I am staring at her. She wipes away a tear, and I’m relieved that telling this story is making her feel as sad as I do hearing it. ‘Frank was too heavy for me to move by myself, so Trixie helped me drag his body into the cupboard. Nancy was busy ransacking my studio at the time – I think she was worried I might have written about her in a new book – and you were all upstairs, looking for Trixie.

‘I was worried about people suspecting Trixie – she’s always been a little too clever for her own good – so the additional red herrings seemed necessary. She stole Lily’s diabetic kit, took what she needed, then left it in Nancy’s bedroom for someone else to find. She sneaked out of the lounge while you were all watching old home movies and joined me in the cupboard under the stairs, locking herself inside with a spare key. Injecting herself with insulin was her own idea after Rose mentioned it at dinner, but I would never have let anything bad happen to her. We had a spare shot of glucagon in case none of you found her in time.’

Trixie puts a cup of tea down on the table in front of Nana.

‘The rest was easy,’ Nana says, taking a sip. ‘Nancy was busy looking for her missing granddaughter when I called her out into the garden. When I told her the whole thing was an elaborate Halloween joke, she got very upset. So I suggested a cup of tea – that was almost always her answer to everything. It was poisoned using plants that she grew herself here at Seaglass. She died a little later than she should have, but punctuality was never Nancy’s strong point.

‘Everyone else died on time, and they were found once an hour, just like we planned. That part was one of Trixie’s ideas. She was full of them, after reading so many murder mysteries. Lily killed herself by spraying her neck with perfume, which we had replaced with a deadlier poison than the one she preferred. Conor took an unfortunate topple down the stairs, then suffocated on his newspaper article. Trixie shot Rose with her own gun. I had no idea she would bring one this weekend. That changed our plans and we improvised—’

‘Rose did nothing wrong, she was a good person,’ I interrupt. ‘She helped animals and I don’t understand how or why—’

‘Did Daisy say something?’ Nana asks Trixie, who is frowning at me.

Trixie nods. ‘She thinks Aunty Rose didn’t deserve to die. Rose shot ponies on the way here. Rose only liked to help people and animals if helping them was easy. Rose only ever did good things to make herself feel less bad. Rose let Lily and Conor throw you over a cliff. She witnessed something truly terrible and did nothing to stop it. Then lied about it. That makes her just as bad as the rest of them.’