The Turn of the Key

by Ruth Ware

Ammunition. So that was what this was about. Rhiannon had been digging around online for any little indiscretion she could use as leverage. Only she had stumbled on something much, much bigger.

It was deliberate self-sabotage, I knew that really, in my heart of hearts, as I filled the glass for the third time.

He said nothing, just rolled over and murmured something indistinct that might have been, “ ’Night, Lynn.”

It was a purple flower, lying on the countertop. For a minute I couldn’t work out why it looked familiar, nor why my gaze had snagged on it. And then I realized—it was the same as the flower I had found the other morning in the kitchen and put into the coffee cup to revive.

Aconitum napellus (monkshood), I read, the feeling of sickness growing inside me with every line. One of the most toxic flowers native to the UK. Aconitine is a potent heart and nerve toxin, and any part of the plant, including stems, leaves, petals, or roots, can be deadly. Most deaths result from ingesting A. napellus, but gardeners are advised to use extreme caution in handling cuttings, as even skin contact can cause symptoms.

all of it was aimed at one thing. Making my mother notice me. Making her care.

There was something here, something different from the generalized world-hating hostility I had felt emanating from Rhiannon up until now. This was pointed, vicious, personal, and Rhiannon’s voice shook with

You know that the reason I would never sleep with Bill Elincourt was because he was my father too.

That, more than anything that came after, was the moment the key turned in the lock. That was when they knew.

I know what I think happened. I have had a long time to put pieces together—the open window, the footsteps in the attic, the father who loved his daughter so much that it

killed her, and the father who walked away from his children again and again and again.

wanted you to know that. I said, I did not like that girl, and I made no secret of it, but she would not have hurt wee Maddie, and you are barking up the wrong tree, young man.