The Last Daughter

by Nicola Cornick

  The door of the laundry cupboard next to Serena’s room stood open, the light illuminating the neatly stacked piles of sheets and towels that surrounded an old-style water tank at the back. Remembering the groaning plumbing, Serena wasn’t remotely surprised to see an ancient cistern or hear it hissing softly. In contrast to the fusty smell of the pub itself, the linen smelled of windy days and fresh air, but even in the dim light, Serena could see that the floor of the cupboard was dirty with cobwebs and thick with dust…

  A gleam of something blue caught her eye in the far corner of the cupboard. It was a vivid spark of colour amongst the cobwebs, catching the light from the bare bulb overhead. Serena paused with her room key in her hand. She took a step closer, bending down to pick it up.

  It was a bead. She rubbed the dirt from it and it rolled into her palm, glowing as deep blue as the sea. Serena recognised it at once. That glorious colour was unmistakable. It was one of the beads from Caitlin’s bracelet.

  A whisper of suspicion crept into her mind. She found herself down on her hands and knees in the dust, searching to see if she could find any more. There was one, trapped between two old floorboards, and beyond it in the darkest and most hidden corner of the cupboard Serena could see something else, a battered corner of what looked like a knapsack with, incongruously, a teddy bear stuffed in the top…

  All the air left Serena’s lungs in a rush. She felt dizzy and put out a hand to steady herself against one of the shelves. Caitlin’s knapsack, the beads from her blue bracelet, the teddy all hidden away here in a place that no one would ever find them…

  Leo, she thought. Leo had worked at the pub. She was sure that Caitlin had been planning to run away with him. But the police had said that Leo had an alibi for that night. He had been working behind the bar…

  ‘What are you doing?’ It was Eve’s voice, sharp and accusatory from behind her. Serena jumped violently.

  ‘Oh, I…’ She felt guilty, as though she had been caught trespassing. She scrambled to her feet.

  Eve was standing at the top of the stairs, one hand resting lightly on the newel post. Her gaze, very dark and bright, moved to the beads Serena was still holding in the palm of her hand. There was a very long moment when time seemed to swing in the balance. Serena closed her fingers protectively over the beads but it was too late. The shock of realisation hit her and a second later, Eve spoke again.

  ‘You know, don’t you?’ she said.

  ‘Yes,’ Serena said. Her mouth felt dry. Images were flickering through her mind like old black-and-white newsreel film: the same scene she had remembered the previous night, the same scene she had told the police, except that this time the woman with Caitlin’s knapsack in her hand had a face. This time it was Eve.

  ‘I saw you,’ she said. ‘That night in the ruins when you killed Caitlin. I saw a woman with her and I know it was you.’

  Eve looked at her. There was no expression on her face at all. ‘I didn’t realise you had been there that night,’ she said. Her mouth flattened into a thin line. ‘That sodding knapsack,’ she said. ‘I didn’t dare get rid of it. I thought the police would be looking for it and that they’d find out I was involved somehow.’

  The blood was pounding in Serena’s ears. ‘Why did you kill her?’ she said. ‘Why did you kill Caitlin?’ She thought she was shouting but the words came out as a whisper.

  Eve’s gaze narrowed. ‘I didn’t mean to,’ she said. ‘We were arguing and it got out of hand.’ She gave a tiny, hopeless shrug. ‘I shook her. I don’t really remember, but… I think I must have put my hands around her throat.’

  ‘You broke her neck,’ Serena said, remembering what Inspector Litton had told her.

  Eve shrugged again. There was a hardness in her eyes. ‘Like I said, I didn’t mean to. It was an accident. I only wanted her to give me the lodestar.’

  Serena felt as though her throat was blocked. She swallowed hard. ‘You knew about that?’

  ‘Of course I did.’ Eve looked contemptuous. My family has lived here for centuries. I know all the old stories. We had a copy of that book, the one your Grandpa owned.’ Her voice changed, turned soft. ‘I even saw the lodestar once, in the manor, when Mrs Warren held an open day one year. It was in a glass case on a shelf in the study. I recognised it at once from the picture in the book. And I thought about it for years, thinking what it could do for us if only we could possess it. So I asked your sister to steal it for me.’

  ‘Caitlin wouldn’t do that,’ Serena said. She felt a chill seeping through her skin, through her blood.

  Eve’s face twisted. ‘You think? She was keen enough when I said I’d report her to the police otherwise. She was always hanging around in here, panting after Leo, putting my licence at risk with underage drinking. When I caught them in bed together sky high on cannabis, I gave her an ultimatum. Said I’d give her and Leo the money to run off together if she’d steal the lodestar for me. I told her to hand it over that night and I’d make sure he was waiting for her in the car, ready to go. The silly little fool believed me too.’

  Serena felt nauseous. She’d known Caitlin was no saint, known she could be thoughtless and frivolous, but this wasn’t the sister she recognised. Eve’s description of her sounded so sordid. Perhaps Caitlin had got into drugs when she had got involved with Leo, but she’d also been naïve and lovestruck. Serena could finally see that this had been Caitlin’s tragedy – her sophistication had been brittle. She had no experience, only hopes and dreams.

  And Eve, Serena thought, was another one who had resented Caitlin’s bright spirit and the butterfly nature that had seen her flit happily from one thing to another, rarely settling, carelessly kind, never intending to hurt anyone. Perhaps Eve had loved Leo too, with his dazzling surfer good looks and his swagger. They had worked together; perhaps they had had a closer relationship before Caitlin had appeared on the scene, radiant in all her youth. She thought about asking Eve whether she and Leo had been lovers and decided it didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was that Caitlin was dead, that Eve had killed her.

  ‘So Caitlin thought she and Leo were running off on a big adventure,’ Serena said. She was clenching her fist so tightly that the bead was digging into her palm. ‘She must have been so excited and happy. What went wrong?’

  Eve blinked as though it was an effort to remember. ‘Caitlin realised it was all a trick,’ she said simply. ‘When we met up that night in the ruins of the Old Hall she guessed I hadn’t said anything to Leo and she refused to give me the lodestar.’

  ‘So you quarrelled and then you killed her,’ Serena said.

  ‘I didn’t mean to hurt her,’ Eve repeated. ‘I only wanted the lodestar. But I grabbed her neck and she fell and then…’ She frowned. ‘Well, the next thing I knew, she’d gone. Vanished! If you were watching, you’ll know what I mean. You would have seen it too! It was bright, like lightning, or something.’ She shook her head. ‘I’d never seen anything like it.’

  ‘That was the lodestar,’ Serena said. ‘I thought you said you’d read the stories about it? You knew it was supposed to possess magical powers. Wasn’t that why you wanted it?’

  Eve pulled a face. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I didn’t believe in that sort of paranormal crap.’ She put her hands on her hips. ‘I wanted it to sell. I’ve been night-hawking for years around here and other historical sites. I’ve uncovered masses of old coins and buckles and small finds but never anything really valuable. Then I remembered the lodestar. Do you know how much antiquities are worth on the black market?’ She cocked her head at Serena. ‘A piece like that, almost a thousand years old, would fetch millions.’

  ‘So where is the lodestar now?’ Serena said. She looked around. The paint was peeling from the wall of the corridor. The old water tank churned softly. The brightness of the day made the pub look like what it was, sad and neglected, and the light falling on Eve’s face illuminated her too – her jealousy, her cruelty and her cupidity.

  ‘You neve
r had it, did you?’ Serena said suddenly. ‘You never got your hands on the lodestar. When Caitlin refused to give it to you, you tried to take it from her by force but it cheated you.’

  Eve’s eyes flared with a sudden fury. ‘Of course I never had it,’ she spat. ‘Do you think I’d be hanging around in a dump like this if I’d had the choice? Caitlin was holding it and I tried to snatch it from her when she fell but it slipped through my fingers. The next thing I knew, Caitlin was gone and the lodestar was gone too. It was unreal. I was terrified. So I was just grabbed the bag and ran.’ She took a step towards Serena. ‘All that trouble, all for nothing,’ she said. ‘And now there’s you. What am I going to do about you?’ She snatched up a knife from the service trolley and took another step closer.

  The breath seemed to stop in Serena’s throat. ‘Don’t be stupid,’ she said. ‘It’s too late. Too many people know—’ But still Eve came closer, forcing her away from the stairs, trapping her against the wall with a flick of the wicked silver blade.

  ‘Just take the lodestar and go.’ Polly’s voice cut across them, making Serena jump almost out of her skin. Her aunt was standing on the half-landing at the curve of the stair and she had clearly been out. She was wearing the faux-fur coat and her cheeks were pink with fresh air, her blonde hair mussed by the wind.

  Eve spun around, the knife in her hand, as Polly came steadily up the final flight of steps and stopped on the landing in front of them. Serena saw that in Polly’s outstretched hand was a misshapen arrowhead. It looked like the picture in the lodestar book, like the compass Serena had seen all those years before in her grandfather’s study. Polly was holding it out towards Eve. Her gaze was focussed entirely on Eve, concentrated and fierce.

  ‘You’ve taken one of my nieces.’ Polly’s voice faltered slightly on the words and then strengthened again. ‘You’re not hurting Serena. I won’t let you. This was what you wanted—’ She extended her hand with the arrowhead flat on the palm. ‘Take it and we’ll all pretend none of this happened.’

  Eve stood frozen to the top step. Her eyes were huge, fixed on the lodestar. ‘You’re giving it to me?’

  ‘It’s cursed,’ Polly said. ‘It’s dangerous. I just want it gone. Take it.’ She gave a little nod. ‘Take it,’ she said again.

  Eve darted forward as though she could not help herself and snatched the lodestar from Polly’s hand. There was a moment when it felt to Serena as though everything was suspended on the edge of darkness; time seemed to stop and then to fold in on itself.

  Serena knew what would happen next. Instinctively she threw up an arm to protect her face. The flash was blinding. She was knocked to the floor amidst tumbling piles of sheets and towels, dazzled, lost. She lay there, winded, then reached out desperately and her hand closed around Polly’s and she clung on tightly for she did not know how long.

  ‘Are you all right, hon?’ When Serena opened her eyes, her aunt was sitting on the floor next to her, somehow looking as immaculate as she usually did. ‘That was a bit of a shock,’ she said mildly.

  Serena started to laugh shakily but it turned into tears instead, and Polly reached out for her and held her as though she was a child. ‘Hush,’ she said. ‘It’s OK now.’ She rested her chin on the top of Serena’s head. ‘It’s over. She’s gone.’

  Serena nodded. She knew that Eve had gone for good.

  ‘Did Eve take the lodestar with her?’ she asked. She eased back into sitting and pushed the hair from her face. Somewhere down the corridor the fire alarm was ringing. Soon, she knew, people would arrive and there would be lots of questions.

  ‘No,’ Polly said. ‘I have it safe.’ She opened her hand. Sitting on her palm was the black arrowhead. She looked up and met Serena’s eyes. ‘The stone makes its own choices,’ she said.

  ‘You sound like Grandpa,’ Serena said. ‘Did you know about the lodestar all the time?’

  Polly smiled at her but it was a smile edged with sadness. ‘I knew about the stone,’ she said, ‘but I never knew it was connected to Caitlin’s disappearance. Not until I heard you and Eve talking just now.’

  She rubbed her eyes, suddenly looking very tired. ‘I’d never heard it referred to by that name. To me it was always Lady Lovell’s arrow. Mum told me the story when I was a child: Anne Lovell, wife of Francis Lovell, had the arrow as a talisman. I don’t know where it originally came from, but Lady Lovell protected the lodestar and it protected her in return. When the time came, Mum said, Lady Lovell gave the lodestar up to save the life of a child she loved.’ Polly’s eyes were suddenly bright with tears. ‘Cute story, right? But I knew that little arrow wasn’t to be messed with.’ Her tone was dry. ‘No matter it sounded like a fairy tale, the power was real enough. I always sensed that somehow, even when I was a child.’

  ‘Grandpa knew it was powerful too,’ Serena said. ‘He told me so. Yet he kept it in the study where anyone could have seen it.’

  ‘Hidden in plain sight,’ Polly agreed. ‘I think he thought there was no one alive who would recognise it for what it was. But Eve did – and she persuaded Caitlin to take it.’

  ‘I assumed that when Caitlin vanished, she took the stone with her,’ Serena said, ‘but it turns out I was wrong.’

  Polly nodded. ‘Like I said, the lodestar makes its own choices. It belongs here at Minster Lovell.’

  ‘But if that’s the case,’ Serena said, ‘how did you come to have it, Aunt Pol?’

  Polly was silent for a moment, looking at the arrow. ‘I found it,’ she said. ‘I found it in the ruins of the Old Hall the last time I came home. I thought it must have got lost – dropped or thrown away when Dad moved out of the manor, you know – and so I just picked it up and tucked it away in my pocket for old times’ sake. But it didn’t feel right to take it away from Minster Lovell for some reason so I popped it onto the sundial in the walled garden at the manor and forgot about it.’ She rubbed her fingers thoughtfully over it and it seemed to Serena that for a moment the lodestar quivered in her palm. ‘Then this afternoon a weird thing happened,’ Polly said. ‘I was so tired when I came up to my room but for some reason I couldn’t rest. I thought it was jet lag and that I might feel better for some fresh air, so I went out…’ She paused. ‘I felt so strongly that I had to go to the manor. And then when I got there, I just knew I had to go to the walled garden and find Lady Lovell’s arrow. But the gate was locked because they were renovating it and I couldn’t get in.’

  Serena was remembering the girl in the green coat, the ghost she had seen on the manor stairs who had led her to the doorway into the garden. Leading her to the lodestar…

  ‘I didn’t know what to do,’ Polly was saying. ‘I was in a sort of panic by now because I knew somehow that it was really important that I get that arrow and bring it back to you. And then someone came.’ She smiled. ‘A girl your age. She had red hair and she was very pregnant. I sort of recognised her – I think she used to be a friend of yours when you were young? Anyway, she had the arrowhead in her hand. All she said was: “I found this. You must take it to Serena now,” and handed it to me. I didn’t know what was going on but it seemed to make sense, so I did.’

  ‘That would be Lizzie,’ Serena said. Her throat closed and she blinked back the tears. ‘She’s fey that way.’

  ‘Well, thank God she is,’ Polly said with feeling.

  Outside there was the wail of sirens and the flicker of flashing blue lights. A door crashed open. Someone shouted. Serena recognised Jack’s voice, heard the pounding of his footsteps on the stairs. She scrambled up and held out a hand to Polly, who got to her feet a little stiffly, smoothing her skirts down.

  ‘It’s a shame the police didn’t make it before Eve ran away,’ Polly said quietly. ‘They’ll never find her now.’

  ‘No,’ Serena said. ‘They never will.’

  Then Jack burst onto the landing and hauled her unceremoniously into his arms. She was quite happy to stay there. She could hear his heart thudding hard against her ear an
d his arms were tight about her. ‘Thank God,’ he said, against her hair. ‘When Lizzie said she’d given you the lodestar, I was afraid I’d lose you.’

  ‘Lizzie’s amazing,’ Serena said a little shakily. ‘Between them, she and Aunt Pol saved the day.’

  There were more people on the landing now – it seemed as though there were hundreds of them: various police officers, Stuart from the café, some of the villagers and Ross, the barman. Serena drew away from Jack and saw Polly looking at them with a twinkle in her eye.

  ‘And there I was thinking you’d told me everything that was going on, hon,’ she said. She held out a hand to Jack. ‘Hi, I’m Polly, Serena’s aunt.’

  Jack looked very slightly disconcerted. ‘Hi. I’m Jack Lovell.’ He glanced at Serena. ‘Sorry, I—’

  ‘It’s OK,’ Polly said, smiling widely. ‘I understand. And it’s good to meet you, Jack Lovell. Now’ – she looked around – ‘let’s get out of here.’

  ‘The others will be here in a minute, Grandpa,’ Serena said, ‘but I wanted to talk to you on my own first.’ She settled Dick’s chair under the big oak tree in the gardens of the manor and wrapped a bright tartan rug over his knee. The house was closed today but the formal gardens had been opened specially for them, as had the walled garden, which was still under restoration.

  It was a fortnight after Eve had disappeared and spring was most certainly in the air now, air that felt softer and gentler than when Serena had arrived back at Minster Lovell. Wild primroses peeped through the grass and wrens scurried about their nest-building in the hedges. She had spent the previous two weeks tying up the loose ends of the investigation into Caitlin’s death and Eve’s disappearance with the police. Inspector Litton, with a confession witnessed by Polly and the evidence of the rucksack, had accepted Eve’s guilt despite the anomaly of dating of the burial. There was an international warrant out for Eve’s arrest, although Serena suspected that Eve might be in a place it could not reach.