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“The problem is I don’t have much time,” she said. “The killer may have even left already. Barney is keeping an eye on the checkouts, and keeping track, but he can’t stop people from leaving. Only the police can, and they think they’ve got their killer in custody so they’re not going to move a finger now.”

“Yeah, too bad I can’t do anything. I talked to a couple of my colleagues, and they promised to look into the investigation. But even they have to be careful. They don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. And according to them this Daniel Giblet guy is generally considered a good detective.”

“He could be right, of course. Everything revolves around the murder weapon.”

“That knife.”

She nodded.“Pity we can’t get access to the forensics gathered in the case.” She gave him a hopeful look, but he immediately shook his head.

“No can do, I’m afraid, babe. I’d be way out of line if I tried to use my connections to get that kind of access to the case.”

“Couldn’t you at least ask them if any fingerprints were found on the knife? Or any DNA that points in Agatha’s direction? She claims that she left that knife at home. That the murder weapon couldn’t possibly be hers.”

“A gift, was it, this knife?”

“Yeah, a gift from the entire crew ofHearts& Roses. They were shooting in Morocco and Agatha had complained that she couldn’t get a decent knife to peel and cut her apples—she loves to eat her apple a day—and so partly as a joke, partly because they genuinely like her, they bought her this knife.”

“She went on all the shoots?”

“Not all of them. But Morocco was a special occasion. The first timeHearts& Roses was being shot abroad for a special extra-long episode, and so she joined the shoot and enjoyed a nice vacation out there.” She sighed. “Sounds like things between her and Oscar were still pretty rosy back then.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t seem to care very much that his wife is languishing in a French prison cell, does he?” said Chase.

“I think he cares, but he’s got a lot riding on this shoot. If things work out, they could be launched for another ten years. If not, this might be the end of a lot of careers.”

“But still. If you were arrested, accused of a crime you didn’t commit, I’d drop everything and try and get you off.”

“Unless you were convinced I was guilty,” said Odelia, quirking an eyebrow.

Chase glanced over.“You think Oscar knows something we don’t?”

“Could be. Either he knows that Agatha is guilty, or he killed Astra and is trying to make his wife take the fall. At least that’s what Tucker thinks.”

“Get rid of his mistress and his wife in one fell swoop.”

They both thought about this possibility for a moment, before moving on to other potential suspects.“Tucker himself is off the list,” said Odelia. “He was out with his friends all night and only arrived back at the hotel at six o’clock in the morning. But I haven’t ruled out Astra’s son Joonas and his Russian girlfriend Olga yet. Those video time codes can definitely be tampered with.I looked it up on the internet,” she admitted sheepishly. “Plus, Barney had one of his security people go over CCTV from the lobby, and they arrived back at the hotel at four-thirty. So they could still have snuck upstairs and murdered Astra.”

“So that would be Joonas…”

“Harri and Olga Leder. They want to launch a business and need money. Money Astra refused to give them.”

“Okay, and then there’s this other son?”

“Yeah, Ippo Murr. He and his dad provided each other with an alibi, which doesn’t mean much.”

“And why would they have killed Astra?”

“Ippo seemed pretty bitter about Astra not expressing much of an interest in him or his dad over the years. Only now she seemed genuinely interested in being in their lives.”

“Doesn’t sound like much of a motive, babe.”

“I know. Just trying to keep an open mind.”

“Besides, how would any of these people have gotten hold of that particular knife?”

“See? That’s what I mean. It always comes back to that knife. It’s driving me crazy.”

“Unless…”

“Unless what?” She gave him a hopeful look.

“Unless whoever killed Astra knew about that knife, and used one exactly like it to frame Agatha. In which case they weren’t targeting Astra so much as Agatha.”

“Yeah, but if they were targeting Agatha, why not kill her? Why go this elaborate route?”

“Good point,” he said slowly. Finally he heaved a deep sigh. “I see what you mean, babe. It’s a pretty tough case.”

“And then of course there’s that cat burglar.”

“Barney’s number-one choice.”

“But once again: how would a cat burglar get hold of Agatha’s knife?”

“Okay, so maybe we shouldn’t focus on this knife so much. I mean, this is probably just some ordinary knife, right? Plenty of them around.”

“No, this is a very particular knife. Made in Morocco.”

“So maybe it was Astra’s knife. She was in Morocco, too, right? So maybe she bought the same knife when they got Agatha hers.”

“Which is exactly why I need to know about fingerprints or DNA. If we could somehow prove it’s not Agatha’s, then Giblet doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”