eb93c43e214c621f9157c05b4b6a6878

Immediately the young man’s anger dissipated. “How is she?” he asked, swinging both legs to the floor and bending forward. “I called the precinct but they basically gave me the runaround. And then when I finally got someone on the phone who spoke English they said no one is allowed to see her.”

“They made an exception for me,” said Odelia. “She said to tell you she loves you and to take good care of yourself. She also wants you to fly home on the earliest available flight.”

Tucker seemed taken aback by this message from his mother.“Fly home? But I can’t. Not while she’s locked up. I have to be here for her. I can’t possibly go home now.”

“She was very adamant about it. I had the impression she’d feel much better when she knows you’re safe and sound in the States.”

“Look, I can’t go home now,” said the kid. “So I’m going to stick around, no matter what she says.” He gave Odelia an anxious look. “Has she confessed? Did she really do it? Kill Astra, I mean.”

“No, she hasn’t confessed. She says she got a message from Astra last night, to come to her room to talk about… certain things. And when she got there Astra was already dead.”

Tucker blew out a breath of relief and raked his floppy do with his fingers.“Thank God. For a moment there I didn’t know what to think. Dad told me Mom had been arrested for murder, so naturally I assumed the worst.”

“Didn’t your dad tell you she’s innocent?”

“No, he didn’t. Well, I mean, he has no clue what’s going on, as usual. Just that Astra is dead and Mom is in a French jail someplace. He doesn’t even seem to know where or how we’re going to get her out of there. The man is clueless.”

“Did you know about the affair your dad was having with Astra?”

Tucker grimaced.“No, I didn’t, though it doesn’t surprise me. Him and Astra had a thing going on years ago, so it just stands to reason they would get together again the moment they met. Astra has always had a lot of sex appeal, and Dad loves that kind of thing. He’s a sucker for a ‘sexy lady.’ Just can’t help himself.”

He’d made air quotes and Odelia asked, “You didn’t think Astra was sexy?”

He shrugged and took his cigarette from the plastic cup he was using as an ashtray and took a long drag.“Not particularly, no,” he said finally. “At least I couldn’t see the big attraction. Frankly I thought she was vulgar, but then Dad always had lousy taste.”

“He did marry your mom,” she reminded him.

“Yeah, well, that’s probably the one time in his life he did something sensible. Not that he would agree with me. He’s always taken Mom for granted, and he still does now.” He leaned in with a frown. “So if Mom didn’t kill Astra, then who did?”

“There seems to be a strong possibility that a burglar could be responsible,” said Odelia carefully.

“A burglar? You mean Astra was robbed?”

“The police will have that information, but if she was, they’re not sharing it with me, unfortunately. But there has been a cat burglar active at the hotel for the past two weeks, and he has made several victims, so it’s definitely a possibility.”

Tucker frowned as he mulled this over.“A cat burglar, huh? How about that?”

“The thing that’s puzzling is that Astra was killed with a knife that’s an exact copy of a knife belonging to your mom,” said Odelia as she took out her phone. She showed a crude drawing she’d made of the knife to Tucker, who nodded.

“Yeah, I think I’ve seen that. Mom got it as a present at a shoot or something.”

“So your mom claims the knife is still where she left it, but when I suggested she have it shipped over here so she can prove to the police that there are in fact two knives in circulation now, so the murder weapon couldn’t possibly have been hers, she didn’t seem to want to pursue that option. Any idea why that is?”

The young man frowned, drawing wrinkles in his smooth brow.“Yeah, that’s pretty odd. If this knife can prove her innocence, why doesn’t she want to have it shipped here?”

“It was my impression she seems to have resigned herself to being accused and convicted of this murder.”

“She’s being set up, that’s obvious,” said the kid. “If that knife was used as the murder weapon, whoever did this was trying to set her up.” He blinked at the cigarette smoke crinkling up into his eyes. “Are you sure it was Astra who sent her that message? Maybe someone was trying tolure her to that room to set her up?”

“That’s some great thinking,” Odelia murmured as she jotted down a note. “And one I hadn’t thought of, to be absolutely honest. Though I’m sure the police will have checked both your mom and Astra’s phones by now.”

“Look, if Mom was set up, and that knife seems to prove that she was, I can think of only one person who would do that to her.”

“Who?”

The kid shrugged.“Dad, of course.”

“You think your dad would set your mom up for murder?”

“Sure. I mean, if he was having an affair with Astra, and he wanted to get rid of mom without risking a costly divorce.”

“But why would your dad murder his mistress?”