“Good morning. Maximilienne, isn’t it? We received a call as soon as the guard found it in the luggage. I was flown over at once.” He said this in an aggrieved tone, as if it was all rather tiresome and unfair.

It made Max feel a bit giddy to think that all those miles, all those Hungarian fields and Romanian forests and Bulgarian valleys, could be skipped over in a few hours on an aeroplane. All she could think of to say was “Hello”, which seemed to fall a bit short.

“So,” Le Goff said, with a saintly effort to take an interest, “we finally found a Phantom.”

Max could have cried with relief. “Yes!” she said, beaming.

“I wouldn’t look so pleased, Max,” said Le Goff, with a sigh. “It’s extremely serious. Take a seat, please.”

Max thought that this was rather joyless of him, but she sat down and worked at straightening her face. Then she remembered the questions she had to ask, and she didn’t have to work at it any more. “Do you know they got Sister Marguerite?” she asked. “Are you looking for her?”

Commandant Le Goff had a go at looking like a man who knows what’s going on, for about three seconds. Then he scratched his head, and said, “Do I know that who got who?”

“Ester and Klaus! They got my friend. The nun. She didn’t get on to the Bosfor.”

“Ah, yes. Your accomplice,” said Le Goff. “I was wondering where she’d got to. Yes, we’ll certainly be looking for her.”

Accomplice?

“Hang on,” said Max, “who do you think stole the diamond?”

“We were hoping,” replied Le Goff, “that you would tell us.”

“Ester Rosenkrantz!”

Commandant Le Goff frowned. “Don’t be difficult, Max.” He had the pained face of a man who had already dealt with Ester Rosenkrantz, and had absolutely no interest in dealing with her again unless it was entirely necessary. “Come on now. You’re only a child. You’ll be in much less trouble if you tell us what you know.”

“But why am I in trouble?”

At last Commandant Le Goff understood that they were not on the same page. He sighed.

“Look, Max, we know you were the smuggler. The guard searched your things last night.” He gestured to a table in the corner of the room. “And I am asking you, nicely, who you were working with. But you are testing my patience.”

Max looked at the table. Her brown case was there, opened up, and next to it was the bobble hat from Great-Aunt Elodie. Except that it wasn’t a bobble hat any more – the bobble had been unravelled, leaving a surprisingly small heap of wool. And on top of that heap sat a sparkling red stone, not more than two inches wide, with a white streak across the middle.