Sometime later, he said, ‘I must go back to the hotel soon and make some plans. I don’t like you being here by yourself. I’ll wait till Annette comes home, but then I’ll have to go.’

At that moment there came a pounding on the door. Rupert got to his feet and, telling Hélène to stay out of sight, went to the front door. He unlocked and opened it to find not Simon Barnier, as he’d half expected, but a young man he’d never seen before.

‘Who’re you?’ demanded the young man.

‘I might ask the same of you,’ replied Rupert, not moving an inch. Suddenly he heard Hélène’s voice.

‘Jeannot! Is that you?’

The young man pushed his way past Rupert, who had turned at Hélène’s words.

‘Yeah. Everything all right, is it? Who’s this bloke?’

‘Everything’s fine, Jeannot. Come in!’

‘He already has,’ Rupert said drily as he closed and locked the door behind the unexpected visitor and followed him into the apartment.

‘Who’s this then?’ Jeannot jerked his head at Rupert.

‘He’s the man I’m going to marry,’ Hélène replied with glowing eyes.

‘Not that Simon bloke what’s been looking for you?’

‘No, not him. This is Rupert Chalfont. He’s English.’

‘Oh, him.’ Jeannot looked across at Rupert. ‘Wasn’t you the one what gave her the old heave-ho? Pierre said he was English.’

‘Jeannot, why are you here?’ Hélène said quickly to deflect any further comments about Rupert.

‘I’m here,’ he told her, ‘because my lad telled me that he thought Annette was followed home last night. Silly sod should have telled me straight away yesterday an’ I’d’ve come round then, but no, he didn’t tell me till just now, did he? So here I am to find out what’s going on.’

‘I’m afraid it was my man Parker who followed Annette yesterday,’ Rupert said. ‘I was trying to find Hélène.’

‘And now you found her, what you going to do about it? She’s supposed to be safe here and not have visitors. That Simon bloke is a nasty bit of work, so I been keeping an eye, know what I mean? I hope you wasn’t followed!’

‘No,’ Rupert said, but even as he said it he wondered. When Parker had told him of Annette’s address he had come straight here. Had he been followed? He didn’t think so – he had seen no one.

‘Simon Barnier knows I’m in Paris,’ he admitted, ‘so we have to be extra careful until I can take Hélène to a place he’ll never find her. I’ve had an idea, but I’ll need to set it up.’

‘What’s this idea then?’ demanded Jeannot, and realising that he might need Jeannot’s help to carry it through, Rupert told him.

Chapter 50

Rupert left Hélène in the apartment in Jeannot’s safe-keeping and made his way back to the hotel, where Parker awaited him.

‘I’m going out again,’ Rupert told him. ‘I need you to watch my back. I can’t risk being followed. We’ll leave by the rear entrance and you can watch to see if I’ve picked up a tail.’