Our rooms were lovely, overlooking Central Park and the whole hotel felt fresh and clean as if it had been repainted just for us. What’s more, it was cool—which was welcome after the oppressing heat of the city. That evening Cy hired a horse-drawn cab and we went for a drive in Central Park where the breeze off the lake made it bearable to be outside. I found that I couldn’t help thinking about all those poor people lining up for bread or sitting out on their steps with looks of hopelessness on their faces. I had grown up shut away from the real world. Now I was becoming all too aware of what life was like for so many people. If ever I had money and a position, I’d try to do something about it, I decided.

We dined with Mr. Goldman, Stella and Juan, who were taking an aeroplane to Los Angeles in the morning. This gave me one last chance to help Darcy and play my part as a detective. I brought the missing jewels casually into the conversation with what I hoped was girlish enthusiasm.

“I wonder if those jewels will ever be found, don’t you?” I said. “In a way it was rather exciting to know there was a jewel thief on the ship.”

“Not if you were the one who had the jewels stolen,” Mummy said. “Then it would have been decidedly tiresome.”

“Oh God, yes. Dealing with insurance companies is a nightmare,” Stella added. “But what about that bracelet you lost last night. Was that stolen, do you think? Did you report it?”

I gave a little laugh. “Oh no. It was silly of me. I just mislaid it and found it again later in my cabin.”

I watched her face and didn’t detect even a flicker of wariness. Of course someone who could cross a ledge to reach a window would have nerves of steel, wouldn’t they? But as I looked at that flawless face with her long dark hair spilling over her shoulders I found the whole notion absurd. Surely she couldn’t be our gentleman burglar in spite of the coincidences? As a film star and Cy Goldman’s mistress, what could she possibly need with other women’s jewels?

“Well, I think I’ll make it an early night, if we’re to catch a plane in the morning,” Stella said as we finished our coffee. “We’ll see you in Hollywood then, Claire, darling.” She gave my mother a kiss a few inches from her cheek. “You should consider flying, like us. I don’t know why you’re taking the train. So tedious and dusty and full of horrid little people.”