‘She has a big house.’
‘She has more than a big house,’ chipped in the driver. ‘His mother has a bloody great mansion. She’s titled and everything.’
‘Titled? A mansion?’ I knew little about the English class system but I was sure that all sounded very upper class.
‘We’ll get to that later,’ said Marcel. ‘Once we’re in England, I’ll be allowed to tell you, but not while we’re still out here in the field.’
‘I suppose I will have to get used to calling you by something other than Marcel.’
‘Don’t worry about that now. We’ve got to get out of here first, and that could take a few days, or even weeks.’ He squeezed me into his chest. ‘Try to rest. We’ve got a long drive ahead.’
I snuggled into his body, suddenly feeling exhausted as the events of the past hour caught up with me. As we sped through the streets of Paris, I thought of Alphonse and what he’d done for me, for Marcel. I could never repay him, but I would be eternally grateful for his last act of love for me.
Chapter 35
Darcie
‘Oh God, the dress. Do you think that’s what they were looking for?’ Darcie flopped down on the sofa, among her belongings.
Matt knelt down in front of her. ‘Where is the dress, Darcie?’
‘Oh, don’t worry, that’s safe,’ she said. ‘I left it in the secure luggage store of the hotel next door. I don’t know why, but I felt uneasy about leaving it in the apartment.’
‘You left it in a locker?’
‘It’s fine. I did it the other day before we left for Brittany. Don’t worry, I have the key.’ She smiled at Matt. ‘I thought it was a good idea.’ The words died on her lips along with the smile. ‘It was a good idea, wasn’t it?’ She grabbed his arm.
‘I think it was a damn good idea in light of this. A genius move, in fact,’ said Matt. ‘Maybe we should go check it’s still there as soon as we’ve reported this.’
‘Do you think someone was after the dress?’ asked Darcie, looking around the apartment. ‘I didn’t leave anything valuable here so as far as I can see, nothing’s been taken.’
‘If the property is well known as an Airbnb, it could be targeted,’ said Matt. ‘Similarly, if someone is after the dress then it would have to be someone who knew you had it here in Paris.’
‘And who would know that? Padgett,’ said Darcie answering her own question. ‘Oh God, you don’t think he’s tried to steal it because I refused to the agreement this morning.’
‘We need to make sure the dress is still there.’
‘But what if I’m being followed? I might be taking them straight to it.’ Darcie was pacing the room.
‘I’ll come with you. Whoever it is will have to get past me first.’
‘I don’t want you getting hurt,’ said Darcie.
‘Likewise,’ said Matt.
‘We should do it now, before whoever it is has time to think of their next move,’ said Darcie, grabbing her bag.
‘We need to report it too,’ said Matt.
Darcie waited while Matt made the call. It was several minutes before he got off the phone. ‘We’ve been given a case number. As nothing’s been stolen and there’s no sign of forced entry, they’re not too bothered about coming out. It’s not top of their priority list. They said we could go down to the station and provide a statement.’
‘Seems a waste of time,’ said Darcie. ‘We’ve got better things to do.’
They left Darcie’s apartment and went next door to the hotel and retrieved the bag with the dress in it.
‘We should put it somewhere safer,’ said Matt.
‘Like where?’
