The Life Daisy Devlin Designed

CHAPTER 44

MyStarScope Taurus: Your trust is tested when someone you work with lets you down.

Fionn had barely said two words the whole morning, Daisy realised the following Monday. Usually, when it was just the two of them, he was happy to chat away. But this morning he seemed subdued. She wondered if anything had happened over the weekend.

Her own weekend had been good. She’d barely seen James, and Alma had tactfully kept out of the way too, giving Daisy and Rosie a bit of space and privacy to catch up.

Daisy had dropped Rosie to Freya’s house on Saturday morning. Afterwards, Rosie hadn’t mentioned Holly or Freya, and Daisy had known better than to ask. Her sister took patient confidentiality seriously, and it made no difference to her that she wasn’t being paid.

She had, however, been highly complimentary about her house redesign, which Daisy was taking as a major win. The two days, in fact, had been the most relaxed she’d spent with Rosie in ages.

They’d also gone onto Miriam’s website. Sure enough, there was the self-portrait, with a price tag of €800.

“I think the fumes from the white spirit have finally got to her,” Rosie had muttered. “Who does she think is going to pay that for a painting of herself in the nip?”

“It’s probably very reasonable for what it is,” Daisy had said. “It’s a big painting,” she’d added lamely, when Rosie had glared at her.

“We’re buying it!” Rosie had said.

Daisy had stared at her. “Why would we do that?”

Rosie had looked at Daisy as if she were a bit slow.

“We’ll buy it anonymously obviously. I’ll transfer the money to one of my girlfriends, and then I’ll arrange to pick it up from her house. We’re going to give it to Mum and Dad for their anniversary, Daisy! That way, it’ll have to stay with them, and she can’t sell it again!”

“Right.” Daisy wondered if Rosie could see the small problem with this plan. If their mother saw that her self-portrait had sold for a high price, it might encourage her to begin another one. But for the sake of peace, she’d said nothing.

Now she glanced over her schedule for the day, and then looked over at Fionn. “Everything okay?”

He pulled a face. “The landlord found out about our house guests.”

“The people on the air mattress?” Daisy winced.

“I think Crona told him. You know, the one who gave me the Bible?” He sighed. “Anyway, I hope she’s happy now – we’ve all been given a month’s notice.”

“Shit, Fionn, I’m sorry.” Daisy tried to think of something reassuring to say. “You’ll get somewhere else.”

They exchanged a look, and Daisy knew they were both thinking the same thing. Rental properties in Dublin were scarce and overpriced – he’d be lucky to get anywhere.“It’s grand, I’ll figure it out.” He shrugged. “ Um , about our social media.”

“What about it?”

“Granary House and Kayley Lynch are both trending on X.”

Daisy blinked. “We’re not mentioned, are we?”

Fionn bit his lip. “There’s a short piece in Spilt Tea. Should I read it?”

“Go ahead.”

“‘ American country singer Kayley Lynch claims a poltergeist is behind the disappearance of some of her possessions at the two-hundred-year old country house where she’s staying in Ireland. Kayley says she consulted with Irish supernatural expert, Sylvia Boylan, who believes that the poltergeist is responsible for loud banging, flickering lights and even unexplained smells in the house. Cork-based Boylan, who authored the book ‘Supernatural Phenomena in the Islands of Ireland and Great Britain’, says that ‘Poltergeists are generally peaceful, benign entities, and can be spurred into action by creative energies like Kayley’s.’ The singer, whose hits include ‘From My Heart’ – moved from Dublin’s five-star Shelbourne Hotel to the Georgian house in Wicklow a few weeks ago, to ‘escape the media’. Granary House was recently bought, having lain empty for two years. Its new owner is having the house upgraded by Dublin interior architect’s firm Discerning Designs’. ” Fionn looked up. “The rest of it is just about her tour.”

“Why didn’t she just say that there’s fairies at the bottom of the garden?” Daisy stuck a pencil into her hair. “I wish they’d leave our name out of it.”

Fionn flicked his fringe and looked a bit bemused. “Why? Any publicity is good, I think. A plug like that could be worth its weight in gold.”

Better not explain that she didn’t want the publicity because of the risk that James might see it. Fionn already knew far too much about her private life.

“Did Laura call?”

Fionn shook his head.

Laura’s behaviour was getting stranger by the day, Daisy thought. “How’s your final college project going?”

“Excellent.” Fionn beamed. “I’m redesigning an old shopping centre as a remote work hub. I’ve open-plan work spaces and quiet rooms, and communal leisure areas. There’s even a crèche.”

“Class! What’s the unifying theme?”

“The natural world. I’ve plants and trees growing everywhere inside the building, and an old delivery yard redesigned as a wildflower area.”

“Sounds amazing, Fionn.”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Pity I’ll never get to deliver it for real. I’d love to actually make the place useful again. It’s such an eyesore.”

Daisy smiled. “You’ll get your chance, just hang in there.” Her mobile rang. “Hi, Kenny.”

“Daisy? I wanted to give you the heads-up.” Kenny sounded grim. “Todd found a bracelet belonging to Kayley in Alec’s stuff, and I’ve had to fire him.”

“ Shit .” Daisy wondered quickly what the ramifications would be for the company. “What did Alec say?”

“He swore he didn’t touch it.” Kenny paused. “I don’t know what to believe now, Daisy. I was prepared to give him a chance, but the guy has form. I didn’t have a choice.”

“Unless Todd put it there himself,” Daisy said, remembering the conversation she’d overheard between Kayley and her manager. “I don’t think Todd likes Kayley staying in Granary House.”

“Even if he did, there’s nothing I can do. I can’t risk yer man looking too closely at Alec. Todd says Alec probably took those photos of the house after their party, and made it look like Kayley’s drinking again. Luckily, they’ve no evidence, so they can’t push that one any further.” He sighed heavily. “Anyway, he’s off my crew.”

After Kenny hung up, Daisy briefly buried her head in her hands. Shit, could things get any worse? Maybe she could talk to Tim and ask him to advise Kayley not to talk to the press at all! The last thing they needed was for Discerning Designs to be linked to something like this.

She jumped when her mobile rang again, willing it not to be Matt or Kenny with more bad news. But it was an unknown number.

“Hello?”

“Daisy? It’s Brian.”

She felt herself go cold. “What happened?”

“Laura had to go to the doctor this morning, and she was sent straight to the hospital.” Brian’s voice was tight. “They’ve kept her in.”

“What’s wrong? What hospital is she in?”

“I’m sure she’ll be in touch in the next couple of days, Daisy. I have to go.”

“But, Bri – ”

He had hung up.

Quickly, Daisy dialled Laura’s number, but the call went straight to voicemail.

Daisy could barely concentrate on anything for the rest of the day. She tried phoning Laura a few more times, and when she couldn’t reach her left a message to say she hoped she was all right, and asked her to message her as soon as she knew anything.

She also tried phoning Brian back. The first time his phone rang out, the second time it went straight to voicemail. Finally, she gave up pretending to work, and told Fionn to take the rest of the afternoon off, before closing early to go home.

She figured it might help to talk things over with James. No matter what was going on between them, he knew her well enough to understand how she’d feel about Laura.

She let herself in, slipped off her shoes, and walked into the kitchen, stopping dead at the scene in front of her. Alma was in James’ arms. Again! Only this time, she seemed to have buried her head under his arm. For a brief moment Daisy wondered whether she was actually sniffing his armpit.

“ Don’t tell me, you’re buying another app! ” The words tumbled out and Daisy realised how angry she sounded. Not angry enough, though. “ You know what, sorry to burst in! In fact, sorry I’m home early. If I’d known, I would have stayed away and let you get on with – whatever this is! ”

She was turning to go when Alma pulled out of James’ embrace.

“ I will go! I cannot take all this! ” She pushed past Daisy, grabbed her coat from the hall and left, banging the front door behind her.

Daisy watched her go, then turned back to glare at James. “ She can’t take it – the nerve of her! And the nerve of you! I don’t care what you said before! I don’t believe a word, James! There’s something going on and you haven’t been honest with me.” And I haven’t been honest with you, either.

“Let it go, Daisy!” James shook his head. “I have to go after her, excuse me.”

“ What? ” Daisy stared at him. “What are you talking about?”

His jaw tightened. “We’ll talk when I get back, okay?” Without another word, he stepped past her.

“ Maybe I won’t be here when you get back! ” Daisy yelled.

Moments later, she heard the front door slam again.

Daisy collapsed into the nearest chair and burst into tears. It struck her that all this time she’d only half-believed that there was something more between James and Alma, that if she and James really worked to make things better, they’d be okay.

But none of that seemed likely anymore.