“Shut up!”

Shoving the door with all her might, Diana managed to kick him, hard, in the groin. He staggered backwards, clutching at his center and moaning, his face red and spittle flying from his mouth.

Hardly able to believe she was nearly free, she started to climb out, but then she remembered the bag, lying in the passenger seat. She reached between the front seats and grabbed ahold of it. She’d just begun to slip out when he wrapped his hands around her ankles and started to try to slam the door on her, effectively closing her in. One hard shove, and she heard the door click closed behind her.

This is it. It’s over. I am done for.

Suddenly, a siren blared.

She looked over and let out a sigh of relief. Lieutenant Bayans was approaching in his squad car, with another one following. He pulled up directly behind Chevrolet’s car, effectively prohibiting his vehicle from moving.

Chevrolet mumbled a curse and punched the air. He murmured something to Diana that probably wasn’t anything nice and raked both hands through his hair. As he did, Bayans came around the squad car, hand on his firearm at his hip. “Now, what do we have here?”

Diana opened the bowling bag and reached inside. “He was going to steal this!”

But as she pawed around inside it, her stomach dropped lower and lower. The necklace wasn’t there. Instead, she pulled out his passport, a few items of clothing . . . and the Rolex.

Well, at least there was that.

Bayans took the watch in his hand. “Planning on going somewhere with this?”

Chevrolet merely scowled.

“So you were the one working with Claude Lachance?” Bayans asked. “What about Linville?”

Chevrolet shrugged. “Everyone wants the Madame Royale. He was a competitor of ours. It was Lachance’s idea—I put the necklace on some naïve tourist, and Claude was supposed to charm her and make off with it. Only he didn’t have it when we met. I accused him of holding out on me, went through his pockets looking for it, and found the watch. Then we got into a little shoving match, and I must’ve pushed too hard.” He shrugged. “What can I say? I never trusted the man. He was un idiot, anyway.”

“But the necklace?” Diana demanded. “Where is the necklace?”

He shrugged. “Like I said. He didn’t have it.”

Diana frowned. “That has to be a lie. Where is it?”

Chevrolet smiled at her frustration. “You are a very good actress. Detectives, if I were you, I’d be looking at the American. She is more cunning than all of us.”

Diana’s jaw dropped. After all this, to have suspicion swing back to her? She couldn’t take it. “What?”

Bayans motioned to the officers to take care of him, and as they came forward, bending him over the hood of his car and cuffing him, Chevrolet glared at Diana.

Un idiot, Diana thought. Like me. I was the one who fell for his tricks, hook, line, and sinker. At least he wasn’t an axe-murderer, or I might have never lived to tell this tale.