‘I heard him tell one of the uniformed officers that this was officially an “unexplained death”,’ Posy said.

‘Isn’t that the truth.’ Rosalind looked up at Larch and Hugh. Men talking about men things, despite Hugh probably not having the first idea of what the hell had been going on at Aldermere that weekend.

At least, she hoped he didn’t. Because, if he did …

‘We need to befriend the detective,’ she said, quietly, aware that Posy and Caro were watching her, like she was some timid animal they’d coaxed in from the wild. Had she still been screaming when Posy found her? Possibly.

Caro nodded, then winced at the movement. ‘Good plan. Dahlia always got on side with the detectives working the case.’

‘Yes, but that was mostly Johnnie, wasn’t it?’ Posy said. She was watching the door, Rosalind realised, waiting for anyone else to arrive. The police hadn’t exactly been quiet, but then, Aldermere was a big place. Those on the second floor might not have been disturbed.

‘It was also fictional.’ Rosalind suspected that didn’t make much difference to either of them, but it felt like something that should be highlighted. ‘We need to get in with DCI Larch because otherwise nobody is going to tell us a damn thing.’

‘Do we … I mean …’ Posy swallowed, and started again. ‘We could leave it to the professionals. Now they’re here. Tell them what we’ve found out and let them handle it.’

‘No.’ The word came out louder than Rosalind intended, and Hugh and the DCI looked at her in surprise.

Rosalind lowered her gaze and waited for them to forget about her again.

‘We can’t stop now,’ she said, after a moment. ‘Whoever attacked Caro knows we’re onto them, and the police aren’t going to solve this fast enough to keep us out of danger.’

‘But we’re not onto them,’ Posy whispered back. ‘Are we? We thought it was Clementine, hiding out in the Gate House.’

‘We’re closer than the police are, even if they believe everything we tell them,’ Caro said. ‘But we could ask them for protection. Go home and hide out, make it clear we’re not a threat.’

They wouldn’t, though, Rosalind knew. They were in too deep to walk away now.

‘There’s the blackmail photos to think about,’ Rosalind said. ‘If Clementine and Marcus were behind those, then who has them now? Finding their killer – or killers – might be our best chance of keeping the photos from seeing the light of day.’

She didn’t mention her other reason for continuing their investigation. She didn’t want to plant the idea in their heads. But if Hugh was involved, somehow … she needed to know first.

‘We’ve got another day here,’ she said. ‘If we can’t find the killer before we leave Aldermere, we’ll give up and hide. But we’ll stay one more day. Agreed?’