“You know very well why.” Lady Groper almost spat out the words. “Because I assumed that creature would be in residence. How would you feel, knowing that he flaunted that floozie in public, having her to live with him at the villa? He blamed me—claimed that it was my fault because I refused to come to the Riviera with him every winter.” She looked up, as if asking for sympathy. “But I hate living abroad. I hate the lifestyle and the constant parties and the gambling and the—carrying-on, if you know what I mean. It’s all quite alien to what I stand for. Give me a good old British winter with hunting any day.”

“So why did you come this time, Lady Groper?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

She frowned at me. “Again it’s none of your business.”

“But the police might suspect that you came over here with the express purpose of catching your husband with his mistress,” I said. “And being the French police, they would go on to surmise that you lost control and hit him with the nearest object.”

She shot me a fleeting look of horror. “Surely no one would ever think such a thing. That’s ridiculous. I have known about his mistresses for years and turned a blind eye, because that’s what good wives do.” She sat even straighter and folded her hands in her lap. “If you must know, I had a small spot of business to attend to with my husband. When it was concluded, I decided to visit an old friend who has a villa in the hills. I was planning to return home by tonight’s train, only to hear the news about Toby.” She stood up abruptly. “I’ve taken too much of your time. I’d better go to the villa and check whether there are any possessions of mine there—or presents that I gave Toby. I rather suspect he gave that floozie some of my jewels, but I don’t suppose she keeps them at the villa.”

“Mademoiselle Olga had left him,” Chanel said.

“She had? When?”

“Only a day or so ago. She stormed out in a rage.”

Lady Groper beamed. “There you are, then. You have your killer. She was known to be a dramatic, violent sort of person. She came back to kill him. Presumably the police are looking for her?”

“I expect they’ll eventually get around to it,” Vera said.

Lady Groper started toward the front door, then turned back. “I wonder if I could ask a favor—if one of you would come with me to the villa. I don’t want to compromise myself in any way—you understand. I’d prefer to have a witness present.”

“I presume you will inherit the property, won’t you? So the possessions in it are legally yours,” Mummy said.