eb93c43e214c621f9157c05b4b6a6878

“And a cat burglar,” said Chase. “Let’s not forget about the cat burglar.”

“Who at first you thought was the killer, if I understand your story correctly,” said Gran, who was helping herself to a large helping of potato salad.

“Actually it was the hotel manager who thought the cat burglar was also the killer,” said Odelia.

“And what did you think?” asked her dad, as he set a plate of burger patties on the table.

“Well, I have to confess I didn’t have a clue. All I knew was that Agatha couldn’t have done it, but I had to prove it to the French police. Who was convinced that she was the killer.”

“But at the end of the day it was actually Max who figured it out?” said Uncle Alec’s girlfriend Charlene as she took a sip from her lemonade.

“Yeah, it was Max who figured it out,” said Odelia, giving me a little wave.

“As usual,” said Harriet next to me.

“How did you figure it out, Max?” asked Brutus.

“Well, I think it was a concatenation of circumstances, actually,” I said. I’d eaten my fill, and I was quite content now just to lie there and expound on my theories.

“You mean you had a hunch,” said Brutus, arching a critical eyebrow.

“Yeah, something like that,” I confessed. “You see, we knew the case revolved around the knife that was used to murder Astra. Only the knife couldn’t possibly be Agatha’s. I mean, why would she kill Astra with her own knife—a knife that could have easily been recognized as belonging to her? That didn’t make sense.”

“So where did that knife come from?” asked Harriet.

“The knife was actually bought by Amalia Pulpweed in a little shop in Paris. You see, every time Amalia traveled abroad, she had gotten into the habit of visiting all these quaint antique shops and picking up rare gems for her collection. So when she was in this small shop one day, about a week before shooting was scheduled to commence, she caught sight of this particular knife. Which looked exactly like the knife Agatha had once received as a present during a shoot.”

“And she remembered that knife?” asked Harriet.

“Yes, she did. Because she’d been the one who bought the knife in Morocco that time. Amalia always had a penchant for antiques and other rare gems, even back then, and so that time when they were all in Morocco was no different.”

“Or this time in Paris,” Harriet supplied.

“So that’s when she got the idea to frame Agatha for Astra’s murder.”

“But why murder Astra?” asked Brutus. “Just because she didn’t like her?”

“Oh, no. It went much deeper than that. Astra had been blackmailing Amalia, Natalie and Penney for years, and Amalia was finally fed up. In fact the blackmailing business was the reason Astra was in Paris: she enjoyed rubbing it in the others’ faces every time she received another one of their payments.”

“But what did Astra know that she could use against her former costars?”

“Diamond smuggle,” I said. “Amalia, Natalie and Penney were ambassadors for UNICEF, and as such spent a great deal of time traveling back and forth between Africa, the States and Europe. And each time they were over there, they brought back with them a nice stash of rare blood diamonds, whichthey then handed over to Oscar, who had a network of dealers in Europe, though mainly in Paris, that he could sell to. And that’s how the four of them funded their lavish lifestyle.”

“And Astra wasn’t part of this diamond smuggling ring?”

“No, she wasn’t. But she knew about it. She must have found out at some point. Or maybe they offered her to join in, but she refused. And so I’m guessing they paid her a small stipend to keep her quiet, and then when she left the show, the amounts she was demanding in exchange for her silencekept on growing in proportion to her financial needs.”

“And so Amalia decided this had to stop.”

“Yes, she did. The show was going to get launched again, and a lot of money was coming their way, and she refused to hand over a big chunk of it to Astra, whom she had always disliked.”

“But I thought they said they loved her?” said Dooley.

“They lied,” I said dryly. “They never got on very well, and the feeling was entirely mutual. Which is why she dropped out of the show when she did.”

“But why frame Agatha? Did Amalia hate her, too?” asked Harriet.

“I think she framed her just because she could, not because she disliked her. If the knife could be traced back to Agatha, and Amalia thought it would, and she could lure Agatha to Astra’s room, the police would have no other option but to arrest her and charge her with murder.”

“But what if Agatha had been able to produce the original knife?”

“She couldn’t. Curtis lost that knife a long time ago, and he’d confessed as much to Amalia, begging her not to tell his mom. So that knife was long gone.” I was thoughtful for a moment. “Maybe initially Amalia had decided to look for a similar knife to the one Agatha had been gifted, only when she found it in that little shop, she hit upon an even better idea: getting away with murder.”