Chapter 43

After my sudden, glorious discovery of a clue, it’s almost immediately proved worthless. There’s no way to use the knowledge about the missing paintings, and nothing else in the police report is useful.

At least the spaghetti is delicious. JP may be a slob in the housekeeping department, but he’s a damn fine cook.

Things thaw out a bit as the wine begins to flow. There’s some reminiscing about the past, some jokes, even a little bit of speculation on how we can find Epicurus.

Throughout, Dominique is pissy and refuses to speak. Which is A-OK by me.

As the meal is wrapping up, JP gets a phone call. He talks in French a little, but mostly he just listens. When he hangs up, he looks the most depressed I’ve seen him since Grant walked in this morning and dragooned him into helping us.

“Who was that?” Grant asks.

“Mon ami de la police. ”

“Why the long face? Did he not have any info?”

“Au contraire. He had a great deal to tell me.”

According to the mole, the police were tipped off last nigh