‘I went to take a photo of them on my phone before I remembered I didn’t have it,’ Posy admitted. ‘So theft seemed like the next best option.’

Caro had to admit to being mildly impressed. ‘Works for me. Let’s have a look.’

Posy pulled the sheets of paper from her voluminous handbag and laid them out on the table. Caro had no idea what else she was stashing in that thing, but it seemed larger than was strictly necessary for day-to-day life. Dahlia would never have carried something so unwieldly. But then, all Dahlia needed was her lipstick, her cigarettes, and someone to pay for the cocktails.

Caro frowned as they studied the seating plans, Rosalind leaning across the mahogany from her position at the top of the table. Caro had known, of course, that they’d moved around a lot last night, but she hadn’t realised how comprehensively the seating plans had been thought through.

‘No wonder it took Isobel so long to redo the seating plan,’ she murmured.

‘Nobody sat in the same seat twice, or next to the same combination of two people more than once,’ Posy added, peering over her shoulder. ‘Like in the book.’

‘So, what exactly are you expecting us to do now?’ Rosalind asked.

‘We …’ Caro paused. What would Dahlia do? ‘We recreate the crime!’

‘Are you planning on actually poisoning one of us?’ Rosalind’s dry, laconic voice made her skin prickle. ‘Because I’d like to opt out of that activity, if so.’

Caro ignored her. ‘We try to remember everything that happened last night, in order – who said what, who left when – by taking our places for each course.’

‘I suspect this is going to make me hungry,’ Rosalind said, sounding bored, but she did heave herself out of her chair and check the seating plan for her first location.

Posy, however, was clutching the book and biting her lip. ‘Do you have unhelpful objections too?’ Caro asked.

‘No! No, I think it’s a good idea.’ Was that surprise in her voice? ‘I just …’ She reached into her bag and pulled out the script she’d found in Clementine’s room, as well as a tatty paperback copy of The Lady Detective. ‘I was thinking that we might want to compare the events of last night to the book – and to how it happens in the script, too. I mean, if someone was recreating the murder from the story, everything should be the same, right?’

Damn. Why hadn’t she thought of that? Sidekicks weren’t supposed to have useful flashes of inspiration, were they?

Except Posy and Rosalind weren’t sidekicks. They were all Dahlias here.

‘Right. Good plan. Positions, please ladies. Posy, you check against the book, Rosalind, the script. I’ll direct.’

‘Naturally,’ Rosalind muttered. Caro continued to ignore her.