Outside the marquee, a long queue was snaking around the formal gardens waiting to get in. Caro could only glimpse the start of it from the stage, through the open flap door, but the chatter and excitement that floated in on the breeze told her this was going to be one of the highlights of the convention.

Marcus would be so mad he was missing it, if he were still alive to care.

‘And are the VIP delegates going to be okay with this?’ Posy ran a finger along the length of the table, looking thoughtfully across at the other one with its five chairs.

‘They’ll love it! Each of us asking questions about where they were yesterday, what they saw, that sort of thing.’

‘Investigating Marcus’s death for entertainment? Isn’t that a little bit crass?’ Rosalind didn’t add ‘even for you’, but Caro could hear it in her voice. Rosalind always had thought she was better than Caro, because her Dahlia made it to the silver screen, while Caro’s was only on the telly. But millions more people worldwide associated Caro with Dahlia, thanks to syndication deals, so who had the last laugh?

‘Of course we won’t be investigating Marcus’s death,’ Caro said, with exaggerated patience. ‘Apart from anything else, we don’t have any proof he was murdered, yet. But we do all know that a magnifying glass was stolen yesterday, don’t we? We can question everyone about their movements legitimately on that–’

‘Without revealing where it is right now,’ Posy interjected. She looked nervous, so Caro nodded and acknowledged the point.

‘Without revealing that. Because what we’re really interested in is who knew Marcus before this weekend, who spent time with him here at Aldermere – and who had a reason to want to kill him. We haven’t been paying enough attention to our suspects so far this weekend, ladies.’

‘Because we didn’t know they were suspects,’ Rosalind muttered.

Caro ignored her. ‘It’s time for us to up our Dahlia game.’

Rosalind and Posy exchanged a long look. ‘It could work,’ Posy said, eventually. ‘If the VIPs go along with it.’

The tent flap that served as the back door for volunteers and speakers opened, and Caro grinned as Kit ducked through it, a fedora hat at a rakish angle over his dark hair.

‘Oh, they’ll go along with it. I’ve invited reinforcements to make sure of that.’ She waved Kit towards the stage.

‘You summon and I obey!’ Kit sketched an elaborate bow. ‘Now, where do you want me and why? Juliette wasn’t exactly clear when she fetched me.’

‘Just take a seat over there,’ Caro told him. ‘You’re going to be playing suspect, rather than detective, today.’

Kit shrugged. ‘Sounds fun. Bring it on!’

Chapter Fifteen