That one, Liza had to admit, had got away from her. “I don’t know. Had to be staff, because only staff would know about the arsenic flypaper or have access to the kitchens. That one really could have been Mary—”

Mary looked indignant. “Well, it bloody wasn’t.”

“And you don’t think it was me?” spat Sir Richard. “Trying to cover up my aunt’s murder by making it look like the work of a serial killer?”

He wasn’t getting away with that. “No, I think the first three deaths did that job for you. But as it happens, I don’t think either of you killed the colonel. If he was poisoned, then the poison was probably in his food, and so it was probably put there by the person who prepared it. Which means you.” She turned apologetically to Emmeline White. “But I don’t know why.”

“Because I didn’t do it,” she protested, although Liza couldn’t help seeing less outrage in her than she had in the other two. Of course, that was a mistake as well—people reacted to accusations differently, and hundreds of people had been wrongly hanged down the years because juries made faulty assumptions about how innocent people behaved. And that was what made this so much less fun in real life, wasn’t it? There were actual people’s futures on the line if you fucked it up.

Either way, this was getting out of control. Liza hadn’t quite expected everybody to just break down and confess instantly, but she’d hoped there’d at least be less bickering. It was all feeling less triumphant and more … dirty. There was just no getting around the fact that six people were dead, nothing was bringing them back, and she didn’t have half as many answers as she thought she should.

“Maybe you didn’t,” she said. “But—there’s just something in my head about—didn’t the colonel say something you really objected to? And … believe me, I’m not claiming that’s evidence. I’m very aware it’s not evidence.” She turned back to DCI McManus. “That just leaves the reverend. And I’m afraid that was Ruby. She’s the one that Mr B—the professor—was following in the first place. She knew the reverend used to work for him and was worried he was coming to take her out. I don’t know what happened; I was too busy nearly being murdered myself. But I’m willing to bet she just panicked.”