“He is busy at work, like most men. He thought it would be a perfect chance for me to travel when I had friends in Paris.”

“Your husband, what profession does he have?”

Oh, dear. I suspected this might be coming and didn’t really see a way to avoid it. “He is a police captain in New York,” I said. At least that might allay suspicions about me, but I now ran the risk that he would contact New York for verification. And the last thing I wanted was for Daniel to hear that I was somehow mixed up in a murder investigation.

Chapter 26

Twenty-six

“Thank heavens he has gone,” Mary said as she returned to the salon, having escorted the inspector to the door. “Such a lot of questions. I began to think he had been tipped off that our friends were hiding out here.”

“I know. It was most uncomfortable, knowing that they were upstairs, within his reach. And he is obviously suspicious of me.”

“You met him before, I understand?”

“I went to Mr. Bryce’s house, knowing that he had been in recent contact with Sid and Gus and hoping he might know where they had gone. I arrived to find the police stationed outside and Bryce dead. In order to gain entrance I said I was a friend of his family with a message for him. I got the feeling he thought the message I had come to deliver was in some way significant and that I was hiding the truth from him.”

“Ah, so no wonder he was interested when I claimed you were also a dear friend of my family at home,” she laughed. “What a mess, Molly.” She broke off and extended a hand to me. “I may call you Molly, may I not? Since we are now almost related?”

“Please do,” I said. “And I can’t thank you enough for taking us in.”

“The little one looks as if he’s ready to sleep,” she said, looking fondly at Liam who was snuggled against me, sucking his thumb. “I can finally have Celeste show you to the room I have prepared for you. Or do you want to let him meet his anxious aunts first?”

I glanced down at Liam. “I think we should make the most of a sleepy child and put him down,” I said. “Sid and Gus will have ample time to spoil him later.”