Rosalind sank into the visitor’s chair opposite the desk. ‘You’d been in contact with Clementine before Marcus spoke to you about the convention. In fact, she was probably one of the reasons you agreed to hold it here, wasn’t she?’

‘Rosalind, I—I don’t know what you think you know.’ He raked his hands through his hair again, until he looked more unhinged than unkempt. ‘But I had nothing to do with her death. And the fact that you think I might have done …’ He looked pained, shaking his head at her. As if she were the one in the wrong.

‘Clementine was Letty’s granddaughter, by blood. And you knew that.’

Hugh froze, his hand halfway to his head, his eyes bulging as he stared at her. ‘How did you find out?’

Rosalind gave an enigmatic Dahlia shrug she thought Caro would be proud of. ‘Better question. Why didn’t you tell me?’

Hugh collapsed back into his desk chair. ‘I didn’t … I hoped it wouldn’t be true. That she’d be another gold digger trying to cash in on some tenuous connection to Letty.’

‘But she wasn’t.’

‘No.’ He looked down at his hands. ‘I thought the DNA test would put her off. But … it was conclusive. Or as conclusive as these things can be, I suppose. She is – was – a Davenport.’

‘But you were avoiding her, weren’t you? Stalling, trying to get the movie money before she could claim anything. Did you have an offshore account set up? Somewhere to hide it where the courts couldn’t touch it?’

‘I was going to do the right thing!’ Hugh protested, but it sounded weak to her ears. She’d heard too many promises from this man over the years to believe them now. ‘I … she was family, whether I liked it or not. She was a true Davenport. Not just Letty’s granddaughter. My father’s, too. She was my niece.’

‘And now she’s dead.’ Rosalind sat back and crossed her legs. ‘You can see why DCI Larch might find that a little suspicious.’

Hugh’s head jerked up as he stared at her. ‘You can’t tell him. You wouldn’t tell him. Would you?’

Would she? She wasn’t sure. ‘It doesn’t matter. Her DNA will be on record – if they search her house, or your emails, I’m sure they’ll find it. Besides, I’m not the only one who knows.’

‘The other two. The Dahlias.’ He spat the name, and she flinched. ‘You’ve been thick as thieves with them since you got here. Maybe I’d have told you what was going on if you weren’t so preoccupied with your new friends.’