‘I explained that to Posy at the time. I was hoping to get my phone back.’ He gave her a sideways look. ‘And it was your friend who broke into the room looking for them. Perhaps you should be questioning her about what she was really doing there.’

‘I know what Posy was doing there,’ Caro said, calmly. ‘But I don’t know why you were seen leaving Posy’s room last night, or loitering outside it again today. Care to tell me?’

Ashok’s face stayed blank. Perhaps he’d had acting training, or something in his past had taught him how to school his emotions. Either way, he wasn’t giving anything away without a fight.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Ah, the classic ‘I have no defence’ defence. That never flew with Dahlia.

‘I think you do,’ she said, keeping her voice soft so Ashok needed to stay close to hear. ‘I think you came to Aldermere this weekend for a reason. I think you know all about the blackmail notes we received the first day, and that perhaps you were responsible for stealing the jeweller’s loupe and hiding it in Posy’s room, as well as the bottle of poison she found there this afternoon. Or that you at least know who was responsible. And I think you know that Marcus was murdered, and maybe even why. Maybe because you’re the one who murdered him.’

She watched his face carefully, so she saw the moment he decided to tell her the truth.

His grip on her arm was surprisingly strong as he yanked her off the main path and behind one of the stalls, where they were sheltered by bushes on two sides and the canvas of the stall on the other.

‘Look, I don’t know anything about the jeweller’s loupe, or the poison bottle. And I’m not even sure about the blackmail notes. But …’ Ashok dropped her arm and ran a hand through his hair, looking suddenly older. More worldly, perhaps. The whole weekend, he’d seemed to be a naive, excitable puppy, staring wide-eyed at all the wonders of Aldermere.

Now … now, his eyes looked more like the ones she saw in her own mirror. A little bit jaded.

‘But you do know something,’ she surmised. ‘About Marcus’s death? You think it was murder too, don’t you?’

‘I don’t … I’m not sure. The man had a heart condition. It could have been coincidence that he dropped when he did.’

‘But you don’t think it was,’ Caro guessed. ‘Why?’