‘And then you set about murdering Marcus,’ Caro said. ‘Because he knew Clementine’s secret, too.’

Juliette nodded. ‘I figured, what was one more, now? And all those poisonous flowers were right there. Like they were waiting for me to use them. All it took was a bit of egg and sugar and it looked like the other ones on the saucers. Well, if you didn’t look too closely. And Marcus had been drinking all night, I knew he wouldn’t.’

‘You left the dinner that night early,’ Posy said. ‘You went and got the flower? How did you get it onto Marcus’s saucer?’

‘Easy,’ Juliette said, with a shrug. ‘The window was open. I slipped the flower onto the right saucer, then went to bed.’

And in one day, she’d killed two people. Posy shuddered at the casual way she admitted it. Like death, and life, and other people, were characters in a book to be manipulated any way she wanted.

‘And none of you even knew!’ Juliette eyes were bright with triumph. ‘Even the police thought it was a heart attack. I’d killed two people and nobody noticed.’

‘You wanted them to, though, didn’t you?’ Rosalind said, quietly. ‘That’s why you started leaving the dolls. To taunt us. To show us how much cleverer than us you were.’

‘I wanted to scare you,’ she said, baldly. ‘Marcus had been putting them in the dollhouse, that first day. So after he was gone, I carried on. You lot might think you’re detectives. But you’re not. You’re old, washed-up actresses who don’t know when to quit. I was right here, helping you, and you never realised. If it wasn’t for that storm washing the body free of the reeds, you’d never have known.’

‘I don’t know,’ Caro said, thoughtfully. ‘I think something else would have given you away. Something always does, in the books. And that’s what you were following, wasn’t it? The books? I mean, that whole “driving away pretending to be the victim” thing was right out of Death by Moonlight.’

‘That’s what this place is about, isn’t it?’ Juliette shot a contemptuous look at her grandfather. ‘Her books. Well, now you’re all living in one. Just like you wanted.’

Posy looked around her at the faces of the others, people she’d come to know over the last few days. Nobody looked like this was what they’d wanted.

‘You managed it all very cleverly,’ Rosalind said, again. ‘But there’s one thing I don’t quite get. Perhaps you can explain it for me.’

‘Perhaps.’ Juliette’s superior smile as she echoed the word suggested that it might be past the understanding of an old woman like Rosalind.

Posy hid a small smile. Over-confidence. That was what caught them, every time.