“Not if he has an alibi. Where were you, Claude?” I asked in a hard voice. “Not with a woman?”
“No.” Claude flushed, and then went redder. “And not with a man, not in the way you are thinking. I was in La Guillotière. At a wine shop. The proprietor will no doubt remember me.”
Vernet had said that Claude was seen arguing with Gallo in La Guillotière, the town across the Rhône. “Were you that unruly?” I asked.
“Possibly,” Claude mumbled.
“Let me summarize,” I said. “Last night, you argued with Gallo, say around eight in the evening, in La Guillotière, where several people saw you. Gallo left you at the argument’s end, and you stayed in La Guillotière and met with someone you don’t wish to mention in a wine shop. You stayed there until you went home, probably drunker than when you arrived. You don’t wish to cause trouble to this other person, so you will not name him. Is that the gist?”
Claude nodded, his scowl now tinged with shame.
“Why did you not say so to Captain Vernet?” I demanded in exasperation. “Why did he have cause to arrest you at all, if you were out of the city entirely?”
“Because when he came to our home today, I would not say where I’d been. I have no reason to. I did not kill Signor Gallo.”
I supposed I was that illogical at twenty. I rose, not bothering to hide my irritation. “While you waste time here, a murderer has gotten away with killing a man, no matter how unliked that man was. It is not fair to Gallo, do you not think?”
Claude stared up at me in incomprehension. “Gallo was not welcome in Lyon. Many wanted him gone.”
“It would be helpful if you could follow that statement with the names of those who did want him out of Lyon. Perhaps one of them wanted it so much, he did not stop short of murdering him.”
Something like amusement flickered across Claude’s face. “Too many to mention, Captain. It would be a very long list.”
I regarded him with annoyance, but inwardly, I was relieved that Claude could prove he was elsewhere. The Deveres did not need such tragedy, and neither did Gabriella.
Keys rattled in the lock, our time at an end. The door opened, Vernet himself once again acting as turnkey.
I said my farewells to Claude without admonishing him further. He’d have to sit and stew for a while, but I hoped he’d soon admit the truth of what he’d been up to.
Madame Marais across the hall had quieted somewhat, her voice fading into an incoherent humming. Vernet led me back along the line of cells and storage rooms to the stairs.
“You need not repeat the conversation to me,” Vernet said as we ascended. “I heard every word. There is an open space in the in the corners of the cells, and I listened from the next one.”
I wasn’t certain how gentlemanly this was, but on the other hand, Vernet would have heard Claude explaining his innocence.
“You will release him?” I asked when we reached the ground floor.
“That remains to be seen.” Vernet led me to the open front door and paused there, clearly wishing me to leave. “We will check this wine shop in La Guillotière. It would be more helpful for Claude to name the friend he was with, but who knows? The friend might have slipped away and murdered Gallo, and Claude fears to implicate him.”
“If so, he would have to be a very good friend.”
“Young men have much loyalty to one another.” Vernet shrugged. “You must recall this from your army days. Good day to you, Captain. Thank you for your assistance.”
It was a dismissal. I bowed to him. “Anytime I can help.”
Vernet’s expression told me he wasn’t likely to ask for it again soon. He gave me a cordial nod and then gestured me out.
I settled my hat as I exited the building and trudged down the lane to the quay. The day had warmed, though a cool breeze wafted from the river.
I found Brewster at the entrance to the wide bridge over the Rhône, surrounded by four men, the populace of Lyon darting impatiently around them.
Brewster’s new companions were the Deveres—Fernand and Emile’s father, and the other two uncles, Julien and Giraud, who was Claude’s father.
Fernand regarded me with a face like thunder. “What the devil are you doing here?” he demanded. “I warned you not to interfere, Captain.”
Chapter 9
I faced the four men in both perplexity and growing uneasiness. Brewster had his hands balled, as though he had tried to stop the Deveres charging down the street to haul me, and possibly Claude, bodily from the gendarmerie.
