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Chase shrugged as he buttoned up his crisp white shirt.“Manager’s assistant, maybe? Or one of the receptionists? Why?”

“Max and Dooley seem to think she could be very important to my investigation. They want to set up a meeting with this Marion in Barney’s office.”

Chase grinned.“Your cats never cease to amaze me, babe. They keep digging up clues and coming up with witnesses, don’t they?”

“Yeah, they sure do,” she agreed, though she wasn’t sure how useful they’d prove to be this time around. Like her, they had no access to their usual network of informants. Oh, well, as far as she was concerned, they could sit this one out and enjoy some time off from sleuthing and detectingfor a change.

“Max! Dooley!” she said. “We’re leaving!”

Her two cats came tripping into the room and watched her with a sad sort of expression on their furry faces.“Leaving so soon?” asked Dooley.

“Where are you going?” asked Max.

“I told you guys. I’m off to visit Agatha. Find out if there’s anything she didn’t tell us last night.”

“Can we come?” asked Max anxiously.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said. “Agatha is in police custody, and I don’t think they’d appreciate it when I bring two cats along with me for the interview. It’s a miracle Inspector Giblet is allowing me to talk to her in the first place, seeing as I’m not a lawyer.”

“But… when you talk to suspects in Hampton Cove, Uncle Alec always lets us join you.”

She smiled.“Yes, but Uncle Alec isn’t here right now, is he? This is a different place, Max. And this Daniel Giblet isn’t as nice and easygoing as my uncle.”

“Or as susceptible to breaking his own rules,” Chase grunted. He checked his watch. “We better get a move on. I don’t want to be late for the first day of my conference.”

She carefully closed the balcony window—you never knew if that cat burglar would become active during the daytime as well—said goodbye to Max and Dooley, and then they were off.

CHAPTER 14

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Odelia hadn’t known what to expect from the circumstances in which Inspector Giblet would put his prisoner, but when the cab dropped her off at the precinct, she found that Agatha seemed to be treated in a reasonable fashion, and hadn’t been starved to death, tortured or kept in isolation.

She talked to the woman in an office provided by Giblet himself, but had to accept that one of his officers kept a close eye on them throughout the interview.

“How are they treating you?” she asked anxiously, for Agatha looked on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Her eyes, red-rimmed and fluttery, kept darting glances to the window, her skin seemed almost translucent and her hair had a few strands of gray she hadn’t seen there last night. She seemed to have aged considerably in the short time since her arrest.

“Okay, I guess,” said Agatha quietly. “I’m seeing a lawyer this afternoon, one that Oscar has arranged for me, so that’s good.”

“You have to prove that the knife wasn’t yours,” Odelia insisted. “Do you have someone in the States who can find the original knife and have it sent here? That way you can prove that the knife that was used to murder Astra couldn’t possibly be yours.”

Agatha shrugged. She gave a particularly listless expression, Odelia thought. As if all the fight had gone out of her overnight.“What good will that do? They’ll simply say I had two knives, or I had someone in the States go out and buy a similar knife and produce it as evidence.” She sighed deeply. “No, they’re convinced I did this, Odelia. And nothing I say will make a difference.”

“But you have to—”

Suddenly Agatha leaned forward and fixed Odelia with an anxious look.“There’s one thing you can do for me. Something very, very important.”

“Of course. Anything.” She’d already told Agatha that she’d agreed to take the case in hand and try and prove her innocence, but the woman had merely nodded, not impressed.

“Can you give a message to Tucker?”

“Your son?”

Agatha nodded emphatically.“Tell him…” She hesitated. “Tell him to take the next flight home. Don’t stick around. Get on the first plane out of Paris. Leave today.”

“I’m not sure he’ll listen to me. Why don’t you tell him yourself?”

“They won’t let me talk to anyone. Only you and my lawyer.”

“Have you considered that he might want to stick around? He’s bound to be worried about you, Agatha. Instead of him flying home alone, you have to fight and prove your innocence any way you can. Get out of here. Fly home together.”

Suddenly tears filled the woman’s eyes and she squeezed them shut, causing them to spill over and streak down her pale cheeks. “I just wish… I could hold him in my arms, you know. One last time, before…”

“Hey, hey!” said Odelia, clasping a comforting hand on Agatha’s arm. But then the police officer behind her cleared her throat and she quickly released her grip. “You hang in there, you hear? We’re going to get you out of here, all right? It might take a little time, but you didn’t do this, and you’re going to get out of here soon.”