Yes. Yes, she had. More than once she’d snuck away from a hotel on location and driven half the night to spend an hour or two with Annie, before driving back again for the following morning’s early call.

‘I don’t suppose you saw anything … unusual, out there, did you?’ There was a delicate line here. How to ask about a murder without actually letting on that there had been a murder.

‘Like what?’ Juliette asked. ‘I mean, it was dark, and Oliver and I … well, we were kind of busy.’

I bet you were. ‘Oh, I don’t know. Just still trying to figure out where someone might have hidden that blasted magnifying glass, I suppose. And there was so much coming and going at the dinner, I wondered if someone might have slipped out to hand it to an accomplice.’

Juliette shook her head. ‘Well, if they did, I didn’t see them. Sorry. Although …’ She frowned.

‘Although?’ Caro prompted.

‘I went up to get changed before I went out to meet Oliver – I mean, I wasn’t going out in the outfit I had to wear for the dinner, right? Anyway, when I was up there, I saw Ashok letting himself out of the China Room. And I thought that was weird because I was sure Posy was staying there?’

‘She is,’ Caro said, thoughtfully. And if Ashok had slipped out when Posy had and seen her arguing with Anton, like he’d told them on the panel, he’d have known that Posy wasn’t in her room to catch him snooping.

Interesting.

Another volunteer approached, clutching a sheet of paper and with a questioning look about them. Juliette turned towards them, and Caro took the opportunity to back away.

‘I’ll leave you to it.’ She headed back to Rosalind and Posy, still thinking.

‘Well?’ Rosalind asked.

‘You were right; she was meeting her boyfriend.’ Caro frowned. ‘Although we should probably try to speak to him to confirm that.’

‘Confirm that she wasn’t in the room when the murder was committed?’ Posy asked.

‘It’s what Dahlia would do,’ Caro insisted, stubbornly. ‘Rosalind, perhaps you can do that?’

‘Why does she need an alibi anyway?’ Rosalind said, crossly. ‘She’s a child, Caro.’

‘She’s nineteen. That’s an adult,’ Caro counted. ‘And everyone needs an alibi. Right, Posy?’

Posy looked between them, considering her response. ‘I was nineteen when I discovered that my parents had embezzled all the money I’d ever earned, and lost it all. I was nineteen when I walked away with nothing and, well, went off the rails. So, yes, nineteen is old enough to be an adult – if that means being alone in the world and making bad decisions. But I’m guessing that Juliette’s nineteen looks different to mine.’

The pain in her voice caught at Caro’s throat, robbing her of an answer.