‘So let me get this straight,’ Posy said, rolling her eyes good-naturedly at the audience. ‘Over the course of yesterday, you saw a ghostly face at Lettice Davenport’s study window from the Murder Spiral, a fight between two people dressed as Detective Inspector Johnnie Swain, our scriptwriter trying to bribe a conference organiser to get her phone back, and a small bear stealing jam from the preserves stand.’

‘Yes,’ Kit said, firmly. ‘Well, some of those things, anyway. It’s hard to remember because I’m hungry. Is it lunchtime yet?’

The audience laughed. By the door to the marquee, the volunteer in the waistcoat was tapping her watch. They were nearly out of time; Caro had better start wrapping things up.

‘Yes it is,’ Caro said. ‘So we’d better finish there. Thank you all for helping us demonstrate a few key investigative points that I think Dahlia would be proud of! Firstly, that you never know which snippet of information will unravel the whole mystery. Secondly, that opportunity means nothing without – what else, everyone?’

‘Motive and means!’ the audience bellowed back, sending Posy a few surprised steps backwards.

Caro beamed. ‘Exactly! And thirdly …’ She gave the suspect panel a wicked smile. ‘Everyone has a little secret or two to hide – even if it’s just a contraband kindle. Thank you for joining us here today!’ she added, over the laughs of the audience. ‘We’ve been the Three Dahlias!’

‘You make us sound like a circus act,’ Rosalind grumbled, as Caro grabbed both her and Posy’s hands and dragged them into a bow for the cheering crowd.

‘Just giving the fans what they want,’ Caro muttered, through her teeth, before realising what she had said.

Just giving the fans what they want. That was one of Marcus’s sayings. He always claimed everything he did was all for the fans.

But had one of those fans killed him?

Chapter Sixteen

‘You realise that this is illegal,’ Johnnie said, mildly.

The window lock finally gave way under her efforts, and she pushed it open wide enough to fit through. ‘I like to think of it as a creative interpretation of the law,’ she replied.

‘Let’s hope the courts see it the same way,’ Johnnie muttered, following her through the open window.

Dahlia Lively in The Devil & the Deep Blue Sea

By Lettice Davenport, 1940

The rest of the convention seemed to be carrying on to plan, despite the loss of its two main organisers. Caro grinned as she spotted Juliette – now dressed in a classic skirt suit and with a silk square tied around her neck – holding a clipboard and talking to some of the volunteers.

Caro motioned to Rosalind and Posy to wait for her, then approached Juliette, catching her eye but waiting until she’d finished instructing the volunteers to speak.

‘Everything going smoothly, then?’ she asked, as the volunteers left to carry out Juliette’s orders.