He placed very small menus before them, not the dinner menus but ones listing appetizers and numerous drinks.

It was up to their waiter to hand over the larger-than-life dinner menus and take their order for drinks. Jury looked around. “This place is spectacular in its very lack of pretense.” The staggering prices he thought were justified from sampling the ambience and the friendly service before he’d sampled the food. “Don’t even think about it,” he said, nodding toward the menu, when he saw her eyes widen. “Just order what you want and dig in.”

Her bell-like laugh came again. It was as if she’d brought the candy shop with her.

They both ordered the same thing—fillet of beef and accompanying side dishes, whose names were too difficult for him to bother sorting out so he let her do it.

“How long have you been working at Manon’s, Gabrielle?”

“Friends call me Gaby. I started about nine or ten months after she opened it, so it’s been about eleven years.”

“You probably knew her better than anyone. God knows, better than Scotland Yard, as we didn’t know her at all. That’s why your help is so important. You understand.”

She nodded, sadly, watching the waiter pour their wine.

“That is, we do know she had at one time been involved with Gerald Summerston.”

“Yes.”

Jury had been pretty sure this trip wasn’t a waste of time. Now he was even more sure.

“Did you know him?”

“Yes. He came to the shop often. That’s how she met him. He loved chocolate.”

“Did you like him?”

“No.”

The abruptness of the answer startled him. He said nothing, only waited until she looked up at him.

“He was not a good man.” She paused. “He had a wife.” She regarded him as if expecting a challenge. “You think perhaps in France we … ah … blink at such behavior.”

“No, I don’t think that. What sort of life was he offering her?”

The waiter was setting their plates before them, pouring more wine, softly treading off.

“I feel life was not what he was offering at all. Even though he told her he would divorce his wife and marry her.”

“He was lying?”