“What is going on here?” a voice demanded in French, and to my horror Inspector Lafite stood behind me. “What are all these people doing at the scene of a possible crime?” His gaze swept the room, taking us all in. It fastened on me as I tried to withdraw my hand from the table. To my horror the lid had sagged shut and my hand was stuck. I stood there, giving the inspector an inane smile, hoping he wouldn’t notice that one of my hands was stuck in a table full of valuable objects.

“We are staying in the next villa,” Coco said, successfully diverting the inspector’s attention from me to her. “Sir Toby’s young manservant arrived on our doorstep in great distress, so naturally we came with him as interpreters, as he speaks no French.”

“And we did not want to see him bullied or intimidated by the French police,” Vera added. It was clear she had taken a strong dislike to the little inspector.

“These boys are gendarmes—country policemen,” the inspector said. “We town police are of the civility the most great. We do not bully,” Lafite said.

Vera grunted but said nothing. While this exchange had been going on, I lifted the lid and pulled my hand free, unfortunately without the snuffbox in it. The lid closed with a rather loud clack. The inspector spun around. “Sorry, I bumped into the table,” I said.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at me. “You are the young lady from whom the jewels were taken last night.”

“That is correct,” I said. “I am staying at the villa next door with these ladies.”

“Hmmm,” he said, his mind clearly trying to work out an involvement in a robbery and then a suspicious death. “Please do not leave until I have questioned you. Now, where is this body?”

“Still in the swimming pool, sir,” the young gendarme said, obviously in awe of Lafite. “I left my colleague to guard it. Nothing has been moved nor the body deranged.”

The inspector gave a curt nod and strode out to the terrace. We followed at a safe distance, although I wasn’t sure that I wanted to see the body at close range. As we neared the pool, I could see it still lying on the top step, half submerged.

“Good God, he looks like a pink hippopotamus,” Mummy’s clear voice rang out, echoing back from the cliffs around us. “How utterly revolting. I think I’ve seen enough. I’ll be back at the villa, making cocktails.” And she departed.

Inspector Lafite squatted down beside it, then looked up at us.