I perched on the edge of the sofa while Miss Cassatt went out of the room and I heard her calling in French for the maid. Then the double doors at the far end of the room started to open. A face peered around the door. I jumped up, giving a little cry. Then they were running toward me, arms open.

“Molly, you have found us at last,” Gus said. “Thank God.”

Chapter 23

Twenty-three

It was all too much for me. I turned on them—the anger, fear, and frustration all boiling over at once. “Just what did you think you were doing, leaving me all alone and not telling me where you had gone?” I demanded. “Was that your idea of a game, because it wasn’t mine. I’ve been worried sick. I’ve been traipsing all over Paris looking for you. I thought something terrible might have happened to you.” And to my intense shame and embarrassment I burst into tears.

They sat me down, one of them on either side, and tried to comfort me while I sobbed.

“Molly, dearest,” Gus said. “Listen, do. We were so sorry to put you through such torment. We knew you’d be worried, but we couldn’t think how else to contact you. The postcards were Mary’s idea. I’m so glad you were smart enough to figure them out. We thought the child looked like Liam.”

“What do you mean—how to contact me? Why not leave a note for me if you were planning to be staying somewhere else? You had told me you’d meet me at the station—what was I to think?”

“I know, dear Molly,” Sid said. “We have agonized about what to do about you, but you see it is no game. It’s all too real and too horrible. No one can know where I am. The police are certainly looking for me. I am wanted for murder.”

I gulped back tears and looked up at her white and strained face. “For murder? You?”

She nodded.

“Reynold Bryce?” I stammered out the words. “Did you kill Reynold Bryce?”

“Of course she didn’t,” Gus said, “But she must be the prime suspect in the eyes of the police.”

“Why?” I asked.

We broke off as the maid came in with a tray of coffee and little cakes on it. I glanced at Gus.

“It’s all right. Celeste is completely loyal to Miss Cassatt, and she has been absolutely wonderful,” Gus said as Celeste poured coffee for us. “And she speaks no English, which is useful.”

All the same I waited until Celeste had disappeared again before I repeated my question. “Why do the police think you killed Reynold Bryce?”