Daisy Darker

by Alice Feeney

Rose – who has never had a child-friendly filter – stares at our niece. ‘Well, my first choice would be insulin, injected between the toes, where people are unlikely to look. I have plenty of it at the practice and it’s simple enough to explain missing batches away – things get lost or broken all the time. It would be almost too easy and I doubt I’d get caught.’ Trixie stares at her. We all do. ‘I’d poison them with plants,’ says Nancy. ‘A bit of spotted hemlock or deadly nightshade. Morphine or cyanide if I was feeling fancy and had the time, both of which are derived from flowers and trees. It’s easy enough to find at least one deadly plant in most gardens, if you know what to look for. And it takes less than a second to slip a little something into someone’s drink.’ Dad shakes his head. I sometimes think there is nothing my parents wouldn’t disagree on. ‘I’d have thought a good sharp blow to the skull would be a simpler way to do someone in,’ he says. ‘Or push them down the stairs,’ Lily suggests with a wicked smile. ‘Or over a cliff,’ I add.