So Romy had been in Tripoli when the video clip was taken, three days ago. Which also meant that the meeting between Segal and Nazim, which she’d secretly witnessed and caught on camera, had taken place there. Then Romy had returned home to Paris the following day, when she’d called Michel for the first time in weeks. If Ben told her mother that Romy’s last phone contact with her ex-boyfriend had been just that morning, not long before her death, it would make Michel look even more like a suspect in her eyes.

Ben replied, ‘Just gathering information, Madame Juneau. One more thing. Did Romy speak Arabic?’

She looked at him as though it were a strange question. ‘I don’t know. Maybe. She might have been learning it for her work. That’s not important, is it? All I care about is catching that filth. I thought the police were already hunting for him, instead of coming round here asking me more questions. I’ve been sitting here waiting for the phone to ring, telling me that they’ve got him. I hope he tries to run, so they shoot him in the legs before they drag him to prison. I want him to suffer for what he’s done.’

Ben could see she was becoming more and more agitated. He stood up and said, ‘Madame Juneau, I’ve troubled you enough. Again, please accept my condolences for your loss, and my apologies for disturbing you at this difficult time.’

‘Just find the animal who murdered my little girl,’ she said, and started crying again.

Ben touched her arm. ‘Make no mistake, that’s exactly what I’m going to do,’ he replied, and left.

Chapter 18

Ben drove fast away from Fontenay-sous-Bois, as relieved to have escaped from the pressure cooker of a mother’s grief as he was focused on what he had to do next.

His imperative now was to track down Michel Yassa before the police did. If there was any connection between Yassa and Nazim al-Kassar, the former’s arrest for Romy’s murder would be certain to drive his accomplice deep underground. Ben had no idea what that connection might be. There probably wasn’t any. But if there was, he would find it. And if there wasn’t, it still didn’t hurt to find out more. Why had Romy suddenly called him twice after weeks of no contact, the last time just minutes before she died? If the guy knew anything at all that could shed light on this thing, Ben wanted to know it too.