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“She didn’t see it coming,” said the manager, shaking his head mournfully. “Just like I didn’t see this coming. Such a nice lady. And such an amazing actress. At least she enjoyed one final drink of the bubbly before she passed.” He gestured to a bottle of Veuve Clicquot on the nightstand, along with a half-filled flute.

“Any idea when she ordered that, do you know?” asked Chase.

“Three o’clock,” said the manager, “on the dot.”

“So she was alive at three o’clock?”

“Yes,monsieur. I can confirm that she was alive at three o’clock. I brought this up myself, always enjoying the opportunity to meet my very favorite actress.”

“So you saw her?”

“I did more than see her,” said the manager sadly. “I received a kiss on the cheek for my trouble. When I wished her a good night I did not know I’d never look into those beautiful eyes again. The most beautiful eyes in all the world.”

“Astra Jacobs was the best thing aboutHearts& Roses,” said Odelia. “And now she’ll never make a comeback, even she wanted to.” She sniffled as she got up.

“Too bad that ass of a police inspector arrested Mrs. Kinetic,” said Barnabas after a respectful pause. “This isn’t going to look good for the Fritz-Parlton, when the guests start murdering one another.”

“I don’t think she did it, though,” said Odelia. “I think she’s being framed.”

“Framed!” the manager cried, wringing his hands. “Madame, what do you mean?”

“She means that someone else killed Astra and is making it look as if Agatha did it,” Chase explained.

“Mais non!” said the manager, chewing on this. Then his mustachioed face cleared. “Mais oui! I, Barnabas Sheffield, have solved this heinous crime!”

“You have?” asked Chase.

“Naturellement! It is the cat burglar! I knew one of these days something like this would happen. I can see it all now. The burglar arrives, scaling the walls and securing his entrance through the balcony window like he does. The room is dark, he thinksMadame Jacobs fast asleep, or even absent from the room for a Hollywood party, so he enters, he looks around, and as he goes through the unfortunate victim’s jewelry, she wakes up, she catches him, and it is a big struggle! He stares certain doom in the face, so he grabs the knife andstabs!” As he was explaining this, he danced on his feet like a fencer, parrying and riposting.

“So what do you make of the fact that Agatha Kinetic recognized the knife as her own?” asked Odelia.

The manager waved this away.“Nonsense. Just a superficial resemblance. She told us herself she left her knife at home! No, this is a different knife. This is the knife of the cat burglar! And now he has tasted blood, he is going to strike again! And again!” He suddenly turned to Odelia, his hands folded in a pleading gesture. “You have to catch this man, Mrs. Kingsley. I will double the reward.”

“But…”

“Triple it! Thirty thousand Euros if you catch this cat burglar—this cat… killer!”

“I don’t know,” said Odelia with an incredulous laugh. “I’m just a tourist, Mr. Sheffield.”

“Barney, please—all my friends call me Barney.”

“I don’t know… Barney.” She gave her husband a quick look.

The latter stood shaking his head, but when his wife now glanced in his direction, I could tell that he knew which way the wind was blowing.“I have my conference,” he reminded her. “And I didn’t travel three thousand miles to tell them I’m dropping out because of some mysterious death at my hotel. Besides, what’s your uncle going to think?”

Odelia’s uncle is Chief of Police of our small town, and he was the one who had delegated Chase to represent his police department at this conference.

“No, but that’s fine,” said Odelia. “You do your conference, and I’ll dig around here. Maybe talk to a couple of people and try to find out what happened.”

“But—”

“Chase, please. Think of Agatha. Being locked up in a French prison.”

“French prisons are not so nice,” said Barney. “Mrs. Kinetic won’t like them.”

Chase dragged his hands through his hair, but finally relented.“Okay, fine. But you have to promise me to be extra-careful, all right? Super, super careful.”

“I will,” said Odelia. “I’m always careful.”

“Except that time when she was almost killed,” said Dooley. “Or was it two times? Or three?”

Good thing Chase couldn’t understand what Dooley was saying, or he would definitely have put his foot down. Two feet, even.

Then again, thirty thousand Euros does buy a lot of diapers.

CHAPTER 11

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The people at the door were getting restless, and a lady, holding up her phone like a battering ram, forced her way into the room, eager to see the celebrity victim. Chase was right: they needed a police presence ASAP, or soon the entire hotel would be in there, satisfying their taste for the sensational and the ghoulish.