He ruffled the hair on the back of his neck. “Yeah, not bad. I saw Chief Debruyne. You were right, it had nothing to do with Alexis Clément.”

“So what did he want?”

“He wanted to talk to me about my father.”

“About what, exactly?”

“I’ll explain, but first, you need to read this.” He set the thick file he had brought in front of me. “Talking to Debruyne made me think about something: What if the death of my father was somehow connected to the murder of Alexis Clément?”

“You’ve lost me.”

Maxime explained. “I think my father was murdered by the same person who’s been sending the anonymous messages.”

“This morning you said that Francis died during a burglary that went wrong.”

“I know, but I didn’t give you all the details, and after what I found out at the police station, I’ve got my doubts.”

He nodded for me to open the dossier.

“Read that and then we’ll talk. I’m going to make myself a coffee. Want one?”

I nodded. Maxime got up and went over to a recess that housed an espresso machine and some cups and saucers.

I immersed myself in the dossier, which comprised press cuttings about the wave of burglaries on the Côte d’Azur in late 2016 and early 2017. There had been about fifty incidents, all in the swanky neighborhoods of Alpes-Maritimes, from Saint-Paul de Vence to Mougins by way of mansions in Cannes and the countryside inland from Nice. The modus operandi was always the same: Four or five guys in balaclavas would burst into the house, spray the family with tear gas, tie them up, and lock them in a room. The gang was armed, violent, and dangerous. They were primarily interested in cash and jewelry. On several occasions they had not hesitated to rough up their victims to get PIN codes for credit cards or the combination to a safe.

The whole area had lived in fear of these home invasions, which had resulted in two deaths, a cleaning woman who died of a heart attack when the gang burst in, and Francis Biancardini. In Aurelia Park alone, the gated community where Maxime’s father had lived, there had been three burglaries. It seemed almost inconceivable; Aurelia Park was one of the most heavily guarded estates on the Côte.