Page 98 of The Life Daisy Devlin Designed
“‘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 stayingin 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.
