“That was smart of you, Molly,” Sid said. “And what did he say?”

“He said he never attended a synagogue and wanted nothing to do with his religion. He said he was stuck with his race, but his real religion was art.”

“That’s a lot of help,” Gus said. “Still we now have a real lead to follow, don’t we? If Molly can track down the model we might be getting close to the truth.”

“Isn’t that a little dangerous?” Mary asked. “I mean, if she did kill Reynold, or she was in cahoots with who did it, you’re running an awful risk, Molly. Some of these models—well, they aren’t the best sort of girls. They can also work as prostitutes by night, you know. She could be involved with a criminal type who came there to rob Reynold, or blackmail him.…”

“She’s right, Molly.”

“Don’t worry. I said I was going to ask Maxim Noah about her. He’ll know what sort of girl she is. And I expect the police must have checked her out by now. If she has criminal connections they’ll have taken her in.” I took the cup of coffee that Gus had poured for me. “I wish I could find an excuse to go and talk to Inspector Henri. I’m dying to find out how far along they are with their investigation.”

“The French police don’t take kindly to interference,” Mary said.

“Neither do the New York police,” I said. “My husband will never share details of any crime he’s working on with me.”

“That’s because you’d run straight out and try to solve it before him,” Sid said, with a grin.

“Contrary to popular belief I do not go around looking for trouble,” I said. “Trouble just seems to come and find me.”

“Do be careful, Molly,” Gus said. “Maybe it would be a good idea to ask the police how they are getting along, and if they are making good progress, then you can stop taking these risks.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve several things planned that won’t involve risk,” I said. “If I go and find Maxim this afternoon and get the model’s name from him, I can find out more about her. And then I’m going to talk to the housekeeper in the morning, when she’s cleaning up Mr. Bryce’s apartment. I want to hear what she’s got to say about the model, and whether she was in the studio when the housekeeper left to go shopping. I’d also like her opinion on your cousin, Gus.”

“On Willie? What’s he got to do with this?”

“Nothing, I hope. But he fell out of favor with Mr. Bryce recently and I just wondered… well, what sort of relationship he had had with him, and whether…” I stumbled, not knowing how to put this without offending.