“He could have had a heart attack,” the first gendarme said.

“The water around him appeared to be pink, indicating that he had been bleeding,” Vera said.

“He could have slipped on the wet cement and hit his head,” commented the gendarme who had just entered. His colleague turned to him. “I think you should stay by the body until the inspector arrives. We should not allow it to be tampered with in any way.”

“Who could tamper with it?” the other gendarme demanded. “It is in a swimming pool halfway down a cliff, cut off from the world.”

“There are also buzzards and seagulls,” the first gendarme said. “They will be attracted to this kind of corpse.”

The other gendarme, who looked as if he was fresh out of training school, turned decidedly green. “I will stay with the body,” he said and retreated again. The first gendarme turned to us. “It is interesting that you suspect a murder, however. Perhaps you know more about this matter than you are revealing to us. You English know much about the various intrigues that go on when you come to the Riviera.”

“I assure you we know nothing about Sir Toby Groper,” Vera said. “Only what we have overheard from our own terrace.”

“And what did you overhear?”

“Today, as I told you, we were in Nice all day, so we heard nothing. We were actually at police headquarters in Nice, if you need an alibi for us,” Coco said.

“And what were you doing at police headquarters?”

“A valuable necklace was stolen from us last night. We were attempting to aid the police in its recovery.”

This cheered the young gendarme no end. “Ah—a robbery took place last night. And today a man is found dead in his swimming pool. Perhaps a second robbery was planned and Sir Toby surprised the thieves, who hit him over the head and threw him into his pool.”

“The robbery took place at the casino on the pier,” Vera said.

“Ah.” The young gendarme looked around as if he were unsure what to do next. His gaze fell on Johnson. “This young man—is he the only servant in the house?”

The question was translated for Johnson. Coco in turn translated the answer for the policeman. “He says there is a cook, Marie, but that it is her half day off to visit her family. There is also a local woman who comes in every day to clean, but only in the mornings, and there are two gardeners and a chauffeur.”

“And where are these people now?”