Folly Du Jour

He started to collect up his papers. As they reached the door he said: ‘Oh, I fixed a ten-minute interview for you with Mademoiselle Baker. Thought you’d make a better impression on her than I would. She wants to help, apparently. Tender-hearted girl – keeps a menagerie of fluffy animals in her dressing room backstage, I’m told. She was upset to hear some admirer had bled to death while she was singing her heart out a few metres away. See what you can do.

‘We may be getting closer to that headline,’ he added with a chuckle they left.

Chapter Eighteen

‘Some time to kill before our two o’clock tryst in the avenue Montaigne.’ Joe emerged with relief into the sunshine. ‘The theatre’s not all that far from my hotel . . . Why don’t I take you to lunch there first – Pollock assures me the cuisine is excellent. And I think we’ve earned it! But first – a short walk. What is it about this place –’ he stabbed a thumb backwards over his shoulder – ‘that makes me want to burst out and run ten miles in the fresh air?’

‘Fourier?’ grunted Bo

‘Let’s cross over into the Tuileries, cut through the gardens and make for the place Vendôme.’

‘Why would we want to do that?’

‘Off the place Vendôme, ru

He took Francine’s scrap of blue fabric from his inside pocket. ‘Well, you never know. This is from the House of Cresson, according to Mademoiselle Raissac. It’s a lead we ought to follow up. It may take us to the beauty who showed a clean pair of heels before the show ended. Think of it as Cinderella’s slipper, shall we?’

‘Not we, Sandilands. They would be instantly suspicious of two men arriving with a strange enquiry.’ He looked at Joe then tweaked the sample from his fingers. ‘I’ll deal with this. You can loiter outside, window shopping. I suggest the jeweller’s. That’s safe enough. You’re choosing a ring for your girlfriend.’

It took a considerable amount of confidence to put on a routine such as Bo

Bo

He was in there a very long time, Joe thought suspiciously. He saw Bo

‘Another success, Inspector?’ he asked. ‘How did you manage it?’

‘Two successes!’ Bo

They moved off out of the sight lines of the salon.

‘A charming girl greeted me . . . Delphine . . . I told her I was desperate. I wished to buy something special for my mother – for her birthday. And the trouble with rich spoiled old ladies . . . I was quite certain Mademoiselle Delphine would understand . . . was that they had everything. I had noted (sensitive son that I am!) on a recent visit to the theatre that she had been very taken with a certain evening cape being worn by a blonde young lady. I produced the swatch at this point. A dear friend of mine – the Comtesse de Beaufort – had advised me that such a garment might be found at the Maison Cresson.’

‘A moment, Bo

‘Of course. And I know the lady to be a devoted patron of this establishment – Cresson labels right down to her silk knickers! I arrested her husband two months ago for beating a manservant nearly to death. The Countess was duly grateful for the brute’s temporary removal from the family home. And the suggestion of intimacy with a valued customer impressed Delphine. She was very helpful. She identified your scrap – though claims the stuff they use to be of better quality. Twice the weight and a richer dye, apparently. She remembered the garment for a very particular reason. They had designed and sold no fewer than four as a job lot, a highly unusual procedure, and all in the same size and fabric. The capes had been commissioned by a certain customer with whom they do a good deal of business. To reproduce a copy for my mother, it would be only polite to seek permission, of course.’

‘Understandable. The thought of five examples of a designer piece out and about in Paris would horrify your Delphine. Suppose the ladies all chose to wear it at the same occasion? The reputation of the House for exclusivity would be ruined! Have you noticed, Bo

‘Exactly! So why on earth would they want so many cloaks? Not kitting out a nu

Bo

‘Shantung?’

‘Of course. Have you any idea of the cost? A month’s pay! But I thought I ought to underline the urgency. Birthday next Thursday, I said. It seemed to work!’

‘That – or the appeal in your spaniel’s eyes, liquid with filial affection?’ said Joe.

‘We have a saying – A good son makes a good husband. Perhaps that’s what Delphine was thinking? But whatever it was, it did the trick. She swayed over to the telephone and asked for a number. I memorized it.’

They settled at a café table outside on the terrace and ordered coffee.

‘The temptation,’ said Joe, ‘of course, is to nip straight inside and use their phone. See who answers . . . but . . .’

‘We could do that. I have ways of tricking identities out of people who answer their telephones. Ordinary, i