“Thank heavens he didn’t,” Mary said. “I should have been so flustered if he’d wanted to go upstairs I couldn’t have invented a good reason for a bedroom that was clearly occupied. But we will have to be careful. Maybe we shouldn’t use this room unless the drapes are drawn. I’m going to ask Celeste to check whether anyone is watching this house.”

“In which case I wonder if I’ll be followed when I go out,” I said.

“Surely not. Now that he knows your husband is a fellow policeman,” Mary said. “He must think that your behavior is beyond reproach.”

Silently I thought that she didn’t know much about the police. I’d encountered several whose behavior left a lot to be desired.

Dinner was delicious. Mary might have retained her Pennsylvania accent but the cooking was pure French with even the vegetables covered in sauces delicate enough to make one weep. We drank wine and even managed to laugh a little.

“Tomorrow is Saturday,” Gus said. “Will you be going to Gertrude Stein’s, Mary?”

“Oh, I don’t think I’ll bother,” she replied. “I find these new young artists too tedious in their pretentious desire to be modern.”

“But you could take Molly with you,” Gus said. “You never know, she might learn something about Reynold Bryce.”

“That is a name never to be mentioned in the Stein household,” Mary said.

“Don’t be so sure.” I looked up from my coffee cup. “They may well enjoy discussing him now that he is dead. Carcasses often attract vultures, you know.”

The others laughed.

“That might be true,” Mary said. “I’m quite willing to go if you’d like to, Molly. The Steins’ salon is something to be experienced, at least once if you want to feel the pulse of the Parisian art world.”

“We certainly enjoyed it when we went,” Sid said. “I must say I’m beginning to develop cabin fever, however pleasant our surroundings are.”

“It’s not that,” Gus said. “It’s this terrible thing hanging over your head. We’re all waiting for doom to fall.”

There was an uncomfortable silence.

“I’ll go straight to work in the morning,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. “The first thing to do is to see if I can interview the housekeeper, and maybe find a way to get in and see the studio for myself.”

“But what do you hope to find there?” Gus asked.

“I’m not sure, and it’s possible that the police have already carried away any incriminating evidence, but it’s always good to start with the scene of the crime. At least, that was what Paddy Riley, my old mentor, used to say.”

“From what Inspector Henri said the housekeeper didn’t sound like a pleasant person,” Mary said.