She looked tired. There was a greyness around her mouth and her eyes had sunk deeper into her head, but he saw the effect of his words. Her shoulders came down from under her ears and the half-smile she gave him reached her eyes.

‘I hope you’re right,’ she said, ‘Monsieur le Capitaine.’

‘To be sure of being safe, you could always do as the note instructs, you know. Return to Paris.’ He said it casually, as if it wouldn’t tear a hole in him.

‘No. But thanks for the suggestion.’

‘Did you speak to André about last night?’

‘Yes, I did. It seems he knows Gilles Bertin better than I thought. They worked together in Paris. Before.’ She didn’t say before what. There was no need.

‘You’re telling me that André worked with a Soviet Intelligence agent? And you’re not worried? Seriously?’

‘No. I’m sorry I can’t tell you more, Léon. But it was a required part of his job.’

‘His job.’ Léon shrugged, but it didn’t come across as carelessly as he intended. ‘Always his job. Eloïse, I know what he does because a couple of years ago he tried to recruit me into his nefarious world of espionage.’

Her dark eyes grew darker. ‘Did you accept?’

‘No. I declined.’

‘Why?’

‘My life as a police officer is plenty dangerous enough, thank you. Only this morning I had an argument with fat old Henri Laurent on his tractor.’

He wiped imaginary sweat off his brow with exaggerated relief and saw he’d made her smile. He picked up one of her eggs from the straw-filled basket and cradled it in his hand, so delicate, yet so strong. As pale as her Parisian skin. Its shell was as smooth as the lie he was about to tell her.

‘I’ve been going through the statements,’ he tapped one of the paper piles on his desk, ‘given by all the people who attended Goliath’s burial ceremony. Not one of them saw anything suspicious.’

‘Surely someone must have seen something.’

‘No.’ He moved on quickly. ‘The fire was started at the rear of the stables while everyone was watching the ceremony, their back to the stables.’

‘So any of them could have done it.’

‘True.’

‘A person who sets fire to horses should be shot.’

Léon was not going to argue with that. ‘I am looking into their political affiliations. It might narrow the field down. Checking if any have a history of anti-American or anti-nuclear activities.’

‘Can you do that?’

‘We have lists.’

‘I don’t know whether to be thankful or scared.’

‘Try impressed.’

That made her smile. She nodded. ‘I hope I’m not on your list.’

‘No, but your brother is.’

‘André?’ She frowned. ‘He’s not anti-American.’

‘No, not André.’

‘Isaac?’