I said, “I’m trying to build up a mental image, ma’am. You said something about archeology.”

“Did I? Why don’t you look in his library?”

After dinner, Nazari and I helped clean up the table. Then we did the dishes together while Simone excused herself to prepare a room for us. Nazari rinsed and scrubbed, and I dried and set the plates and cooking equipment in a drying rack.

Nazari said, “So what do you think the perpetrators are thinking right now?”

“I figure the person who called the cleaner’s phone is wondering where the cleaners are because they didn’t call in. They must have had some kind of a system. Like they were supposed to call in or message when the job was done.”

“But the cleaners did their job. The Woodcutter and his people are gone. Wiped off the planet in a way.”

“Correct. They did their job, but they weren’t clear and away yet. I got to them in the final phase so I doubt they called it in.”

“Calling it in at that stage would be presumptuous.”

“You call it in when it’s done, not while you’re cleaning it up.”

“Ok, I get that. It makes sense.”

“Which is why the client, perpetrator or whatever you want to call them, is asking the question but not yet panicking. Maybe they’ve done a drive-by of Le Foxy Kebab. Found nothing. I figure they’ll wait until tomorrow before getting worried. At most they’re pissed off.”

“But not anxious.”

“I wouldn’t think so. Not yet, but soon.”

“At which point they’ll call in someone else.”

“That’s a good possibility.”

She yawned. It was late.

The new bedroom was next door to my old one. The room was bigger. It had two single beds pushed together with a double bed sheet over the twin mattresses. We didn’t mind. Nazari was wearing her cop uniform. The French care about their tailoring. Which was one reason why peeling off her uniform was so enjoyable. I did it carefully, and took my time. It started off with me sitting on the edge of the bed and admiring her. She stood confidently, watching me watching her. Maybe she liked what she saw. Then she came close enough for me to reach out and connect.

Each little section of her uniform that I unbuttoned and peeled away revealed new and wonderful territories to explore. And each time I peeled away the blue cotton, the remaining uniform hugged her body even closer and more perfectly than it had before. The other reason it was so enjoyable would be Nazari herself, who played the role for keeps and might have arrested me if I had stopped for too long.