There was a pause. Then Libby nodded. “I have the room next to Mark,” she said. She turned to look at him. “I heard your door open just after midnight. I heard you go into the corridor.”

“I went to the toilet,” Mark replied. His dark face had suddenly got darker. He didn’t like being accused.

“You went to the toilet in the corridor?” Tim asked.

“I went to the toilet which is across the corridor, opposite my room. I didn’t go anywhere near Janet.”

“What about the skull?” Brenda whispered. Eric scowled. He had forgotten about the dancing skull. “I know you say it’s a dream, Eric,” she went on. “But that’s typical of you. You never believed anything I said, even when we were at school. Well, believe me now . . .” She took a deep breath. “Maybe it wasn’t a ghost or a monster. Maybe it was someone in a mask. But they were there! I was awake. I jumped out of bed and went over to the window but by the time I got there, seconds later, they’d gone. Vanished into thin air . . .”

“It wasn’t a dream,” I said. “I saw it, too.”

“You?” Eric sneered at me.

I nodded.

“I didn’t see anything,” Tim said.

“You were asleep, Tim. But it was definitely there. It came out of nowhere . . . like a magic trick. A rabbit out of a hat!”

“You saw a rabbit, too?” Tim asked.

We all ignored him. “Any one of us could have climbed out onto the terrace,” Brenda said. “Any one of us could have killed Janet. And Rory. And Sylvie! How do we know that she wasn’t strangled or poisoned or something?”

“I think she was poisoned,” I said.

Everyone looked at me, so I told them about the candy wrapper and Sylvie’s love of chocolate. It was strange. Everyone in the room was years older than me but suddenly I was in control.

Not for long, though. Eric Draper, the ex–head boy, raised his hands. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he announced. “I don’t think we should jump to conclusions. Why would any of us sitting at this table want to kill Rory or Sylvie or Janet?”

“Mark used to go out with Sylvie,” Libby said. She was staring at him. “When she broke up with you, you told me you wanted to kill her.”

“That was ten years ago!” Mark protested. He jerked a finger at Libby. “Anyway, what about you? You nearly did kill Rory with that bicycle pump . . .”

“Yes. And what about you!” Tim pointed at Eric. “You say your name’s Eric, so why are you wearing a robe that belongs to Ed?”