Page 37 of Wanting Daisy Dead

Dan

Well, that was awkward.

After Georgie’s little speech, there was this horrible, thick silence.

I was waiting for Lauren to challenge Georgie’s claim that she’d stolen Daisy’s book; in fact I was willing her to.

But she said nothing, and I was pretty unimpressed – if Lauren really did do that, then perhaps Georgie isn’t so bonkers after all.

I mean, stealing a dead person’s work, taking the credit and making a fortune – who does that?

When Lauren realised that she’d been discovered, her face kind of broke up into fragments and she stood there clutching her injured hand, her face still wet with tears.

We were all so stunned that no one made any attempt to comfort her – not even Maddie – and then it seemed to dawn on Lauren that she was on her own, and she ran from the room covered in blood and tears.

Maddie is now on the floor mopping up the milk, and the blood from Lauren’s cut, along with the shards of glass, while Alex and I sit with Georgie at the table.

We’re just silently watching her, waiting for what happens next.

Finally, she speaks. ‘I told you I caught her in Daisy’s room just after she went missing,’ she says triumphantly, sitting behind her laptop, her arms tightly folded. Like the cat that got the cream.

‘Just because she used some of Daisy’s writing as her own doesn’t mean she killed her,’ I try vainly.

Georgie ignores this, but I know she heard me because I see her jaw twitch. She is the most stubborn person I know, and if she’s decided Lauren did it, she’ll make events fit her narrative. She’s right even when she’s wrong, my wife.

‘I think you may be taking this and running with it. You can’t accuse anyone of murder without proof.’

She whips round so she can yell properly into my face. ‘First of all, Dan, don’t fucking speak to me.’

‘What?’

I can feel her fury thrumming through the table. It’s that quiet rage that has a slow burn, but can take one’s head off once it gathers momentum.

‘I don’t want to hear another word out of you , Dan, because you’re biased!’ she shrieks in my face.

She knows, she knows ! She’s found out that I’ve been sleeping with Lauren. Fuck. I barely hear what she says next as I try to think up excuses.

‘And for your information , she didn’t use some of Daisy’s writing, she lifted the lot! She stole Daisy’s novel! Even you can’t spin this to make her innocent.’

‘I’m not trying ... I’m thinking of you. I don’t want you winding yourself up and—’

‘Winding myself up? Yes, I am! She’s a thief, and the worst kind. She’s lied and cheated all her adult life. She’s lived off Daisy’s talent. How can anyone defend her?’

‘I wasn’t . . . I’m not . . .’

Georgie turns to Alex. ‘Daisy was so good. The work may have needed a little editing, but it’s not like Lauren even added her own voice, or altered it in any way.

It’s about the daughter of a single parent, born into poverty in Thatcher’s Britain, where everyone was striving, and she and her mum couldn’t afford electricity.

It’s so well told, the writing comes from the heart and is so descriptive – you’d have to have lived through it to write about it. It’s the book that Daisy wrote!’

She’s now showing Alex the original, which she has on her laptop.

‘I kept this and transferred it to every new laptop. I don’t know why, I’m no writer – I can’t even spell.

But I was compelled to keep it – I wonder if Daisy made me do it?

I wish I knew about publishing. I would have offered it to an agent on Daisy’s behalf.

She could have had success posthumously. ’

‘That’s what Lauren should have done,’ Alex says.

‘Exactly, there’s no excuse for it – she could have offered it in Daisy’s name. But she didn’t, and it’s too late now. The newspapers will bloody love this!’

‘Poor Daisy.’ Maddie wanders over, clutching a cloth covered in blood.

She looks so sad. ‘I only started the book yesterday, and it was weird, but the voice was familiar. I actually thought I could hear Daisy in some of the words and expressions. It spooked me a bit, to be honest. The story too – about a girl who lives with her mother, the way she negotiated all the difficulties of being young and in love with an older man ... I assumed Daisy had told Lauren all these things throughout their friendship. I guessed Lauren had been inspired by Daisy ... but never this.’

Ping!

‘Oh God,’ Alex groans. ‘That ping reminds me, this is a communal area, so everything that’s happened this morning will have been recorded.’

‘Yes it will, and the world will soon know all about Lauren Pemberton,’ Georgie says smugly.

I lean on the counter for support, and Alex increases the volume on his phone so we can all hear.

Then Lauren walks back in, and she looks a mess, covered in blood and milk, her hair everywhere and her eyes swollen from crying.

She’s been drawn in by her phone – we’re all like lemmings heading in the same direction when we hear the ping.

She’s now leaning in the doorway looking defeated, and I feel sorry for her, but it’s embarrassing, and no one acknowledges her entrance.

What can you say? Fortunately, we don’t have to make conversation, as Tammy’s voice soon starts up.

‘Welcome back, guys. Well, it’s been a fascinating couple of days ... So let’s look at where we’re at: five suspects – but only one killer.’

I can feel us all weighing each other up. It’s very subtle, but we are all trying not to look guilty. Which probably makes us look more guilty. The tension is tight as a rubber band as we wait in silence for the next voice note.

‘So, what have we discovered so far about all you housemates wanting Daisy dead? We know that Georgie wrote the letter pretending to be Daisy, telling Louisa Montgomery that she and her husband were having an affair. We’ve seen this weekend that Georgie has anger issues, and there have been comments that she was also pretty free and easy with a sharp kitchen knife around Daisy.

Into this mix of anger and sharp utensils, Georgie felt her relationship with Dan was threatened by Daisy.

Another ingredient to add to this heady cocktail is sexual jealousy, a common motive for murder and a good reason for wanting Daisy dead.

‘And what about Baby Spice – Maddie? She’s a sweetie – but she has her secrets too.

She was close with Daisy – until Lauren came along, and their friendship drifted.

With Lauren as her best friend, Daisy made Maddie feel excluded and insignificant.

They even mocked her openly sometimes, which hurt Maddie deeply.

But Maddie is kind, and was always there for her friend, cared about her friend, and begged Daisy not to go to David the night she died.

If Daisy had only listened ... So did Maddie feel unheard, and unseen, and had she had enough of feeling like the lesser person in this friendship?

Did she want revenge on the mean girl? Was this her motive for murder, and her reason for wanting Daisy dead?

And then there’s the small matter of Maddie’s chosen career . ..

‘Now to Daisy’s best friend, Lauren – the ambitious wannabe novelist who’d stop at nothing to achieve her dreams. She’d hitched her wagon to Daisy’s star, but all it did was leave Lauren in the dust. Despite being Daisy’s best friend, Lauren was jealous of her, and constantly complained about Daisy’s high marks and accolades for her work.

She would never acknowledge that Daisy was cleverer, more talented than she was, and attributed her achievements to favouritism because she was in a relationship with her lecturer.

But today, Georgie has revealed that Lauren downloaded Daisy’s unpublished novel and passed it off as her own!

It’s earned millions and a life of luxury for Lauren, who never told a soul that this was her deceased friend’s writing and not hers.

To gain so much from someone else’s work – that’s a pretty strong motive for murder, and Lauren had a good reason for wanting Daisy dead.

‘Alex ... He sold drugs to fellow students to pay his way through university, and by his own admission he sometimes pushed those drugs a little harder than he should. And, as a result, a few years later he ended up in prison. Our recordings reveal that Alex loaned Daisy a lot of money when she got into debt in the first year of uni. He discussed this outside with another guest, where he thought he wouldn’t be recorded, but our inside mics picked it up.

There’s also some very interesting, if a little grainy, CCTV footage of Alex and Daisy walking through Exeter together on the day she went missing.

At the time, Alex told police that they bumped into each other in the town and went for pizza.

What did they discuss during Daisy’s last dinner?

Did Daisy ask Alex for more money? Did Alex ask Daisy to pay back all the money he’d been giving her – and did Daisy refuse?

Did he feel used, taken for a ride? Is money a motive for murder?

Definitely, and a very good reason for wanting Daisy dead.

‘Then there’s Dan, the ladies’ man – according to our source, he has used and abused women all his life, and it seems like Daisy was one of them.

She apparently told her mother he harassed her in the house, and he could be quite forceful, even when she said no.

He cheated on Georgie with, among others, Daisy, and when Daisy was pregnant there was some question as to who the father was.

How did Dan feel about this? Daisy’s mother said Dan wasn’t happy about Daisy getting back with David.

Did Dan feel used and jealous? He wasn’t used to being rejected; he was the one who used and rejected.

Sex could easily be Dan’s motive for murder, and his reason for wanting Daisy dead.

‘So, now we’d like you all to think long and hard about everything you know or have learned about your fellow guests this weekend.

And if you have the slightest inkling, or know something we don’t, please let us know – and you can do that by sending us a voice note before this evening.

State who you think killed Daisy and why.

You don’t have to do this, but let me explain.

Firstly, you haven’t exactly stayed in touch in the last twenty years, so you can say what you feel – you’re unlikely to see these people ever again.

Secondly, you might be fighting to prove your own innocence, so don’t hold back, because, trust me, your old housemates won’t. ’