Page 124 of The Life Daisy Devlin Designed
“What about the other stuff, Kenny? The electrics? The peanut butter that Kayley found in the guest wing? Was that Niamh?”
“I don’t know.” Kenny sounded gruff. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you who Niamh was, but none of the lads knew either. She didn’t want everyone thinking she was only there because of me. In her defence, she’s still grieving for her mam.”
His voice cracked, and Daisy felt a pang of pity for both of them.
“Don’t worry about it, Kenny, honestly. People can do strange things when they’re grieving.”Or hurt.
Kenny cleared his throat, louder this time. “I’ll make sure whatever she took gets back to Kayley. I can just hide them around the house, and Kayley can blame the feckin’ poltergeist.”
“I’ll leave it with you, Kenny. Look, I’m going to courier Kayley’s moonstone pendent to you. I don’t care what you have to do. Just make sure that she finds it at Granary House!”
“Gotcha. And obviously I’ll hire back Alec for the next job.” He paused. “I’ll understand if you don’t want Niamh working for you, though.”
Daisy thought quickly. “I’ll give her one more chance, Kenny. Have a chat with her and sort it out. I don’t want her not to work.Um, do you mind me asking you something, though?”
“Go on, yeah.”
“Did Niamh know about Alec?”
“Yeah, she did.” Kenny sighed. “I thought I was protecting her. Look, she’s not proud of what she did, Daisy, she’s really sorry.”
She’d half suspected that Niamh had found some way of blaming Alec. Kenny had unknowingly given Niamh a scapegoat, and she’d used it! There was a beeping noise on her phone.
“Kenny, I have to go, but tell Niamh she’s on a warning. If she ever pulls a stunt like that again, I won’t let her work on any of my projects.”
“I hear you, Daisy. She won’t.”
Kenny hung up, and Daisy swiped to answer the next call.
“Daisy Devlin, hello?”
“Hello?”
She almost dropped the phone. “Kayley?” She’d found out, she thought. Matt had obviously told her! He’d had time since the other night to think about everything Niamh had said, and he’d joined the dots. Oh God, now Kayley could sue the company into the ground and there’d be nothing she could do!
“... figured I never gotta chance to thank you properly,” Kayley was saying.
Daisy snapped to attention. She wasthankingher? Maybe she wasn’t about to sue her.
“You still there?” Kayley sounded a bit impatient.
“Sorry, still here,” Daisy said. “You were thanking me?”
“For rescuing me.” Kayley spoke firmly. “I figured I had to thank Matty for the live-stream. You did a great job on that, by the way. I mean, it was a bit shaky but that wasn’t your fault, with the storm and all.”
“Right, no, you’re welcome.”
“Anyways,” Kayley continued, “I wanna repay you.”
“Repay me?” Daisy echoed.
Kayley sighed. “I’m not crass enough to offer you money, obviously.”
“Obviously. And,um, I’d never accept money, Kayley,” Daisy said smoothly.
“That’s what I thought.” Kayley sounded like she was getting into her stride. “But, as you know, I’ve a huge social-media following, and I’d be more than happy to endorse your little company!”
Daisy was flummoxed for a moment. “Oh, right.”
