He guarded these moments jealously. His secretary knew how to intone at such periods, ‘The General is in a meeting; can he ring you back?’ and it was a brave subordinate who dared burst in on him in mid-cup.
Flavia was one such, but even she needed a good reason. She took the good reason in with her, and told him to sit down on the chair opposite, while she calmed Bottando’s ruffled feathers.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I know. But I thought you should hear this.’
Grumbling mightily, arms crossed in pique, Bottando bid farewell to his tea and meditation and leant back in his seat. ‘Oh, very well,’ he said crossly. ‘Get on with it.’
And Argyll told his story, slowly seeing that, however reluctantly, Bottando’s attention was being engaged by his tale. Eventually he came to a halt, and the General scratched his chin and reflected.
‘Two things,’ Flavia added before he could say anything. ‘Firstly, when you told me to play around with the computer earlier, I typed in this picture. Just for something to do. There’s no record of it being reported stolen.’
‘That doesn’t mean anything,’ Bottando said. ‘You know as well as I do how unreliable the computer is.’
‘Secondly, are there any French policemen wandering about the place?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘At least, not officially. And I’d be extremely upset if there were any here unofficially. It’s not done. Courtesy. And, to give him his due, it’s not Janet’s style.’
Jean Janet was Bottando’s alter ego in Paris, the head of the French Art Squad. A good man, and one with whom the Italians had enjoyed cordial relations for years. As Bottando said, it was not the man’s way of doing things. Besides, there was nothing to be gained by it.
‘I suppose I’d better check, though. But we should assume this man on the phone is an imposter. Now, tell me, Mr Argyll, did anybody apart from Muller know you had this painting?’
‘No,’ he said firmly. ‘I tried to tell Delorme …’
‘Who?’
‘Delorme. The man who supplied it in the first place.’
‘Ah.’ Bottando jotted down a little note. ‘Is he dubious in any way?’ he asked hopefully.
‘Certainly not,’ Argyll replied stoutly. ‘I mean, I don’t care for him much, but I hope I know my way about sufficiently to be able to tell who’s dishonest and who’s merely sharp.’
Bottando wasn’t so sure. He made a note to check out Delorme as well when he phoned Janet up.
‘Now,’ the General went on, ‘Flavia tells me that someone tried to steal this painting when you left Paris. Is that merely another one of her coincidences, do you think?’
He said it pleasantly enough, but it didn’t require a great deal of perception to detect the slightly acidic tone underneath. General Bottando was not pleased. And, Flavia thought, with good reason. Fabriano could make a real meal out of this, if he wanted. And he probably would, as well.
‘How should I know?’ Argyll said. ‘I assumed he was just a thief spotting an opportunity.’
‘Did you report this to the French police?’
‘No. There seemed little point and the train was about to leave.’
‘When you make your statement you’d better include these little details. Will you be able to give a description of this man?’
‘I think so, yes. I mean, he was pretty much standard issue. Average height, average weight, brown hair. Two arms and legs. The only sort of distinguishing feature was a small scar here.’
Argyll gestured to a spot above his left eyebrow, and Flavia’s heart sank again.
‘Oh, hell,’ she said again.
‘What?’
‘That sounds like the man seen trying to visit Muller yesterday.’
Bottando sighed. That’s what comes of trying to protect boyfriends. ‘So it seems we must at least entertain the possibility that you are going to receive a visit from a murderer. What time is he coming?’
‘Five, he said.’
‘In which case we should be there to meet him. And take no chances, either. If he’s a killer, he’s a nasty one. This picture is still at the auction house, you say?’
Argyll nodded.
‘It can’t stay there. Flavia, get Paolo to go down and get it. Put it in the strongroom downstairs until we decide what to do with it. Then get hold of Fabriano. A couple of armed men in the street, and another in the apartment should be enough. Discreet, eh? Make sure he understands that. When we’ve got hold of him, we can decide what to do next. Assuming he turns up, of course. Perhaps if we deliver a murderer we might skate over everything else.’
Such a simple scenario turned out to be too much to hope for. They waited an hour in the small apartment and received no visitors at all. Not even Fabriano, although to Flavia’s mind that was no bad thing. They had to make do with one of their own regular policemen who reluctantly admitted to knowing what end of a gun to point at a suspect; Fabriano was out on a case, so the Carabinieri said.
‘When is he coming back, then?’ she asked the man who answered. ‘This is important.’
He didn’t know. ‘Can you patch me through to his radio?’ she asked impatiently.
‘Patch you through?’ came the mocking response. ‘What do you think we are? The US Army? We’re lucky if we can get the things to work at all.’
‘Well, get a message to him, then. It’s urgent. He’s to come to my apartment as quickly as possible.’
‘You two getting back together again?’
‘Do you mind?’
‘Sorry. OK. I’ll see what I can do,’ said the voice from the other end. Somehow, he didn’t inspire confidence.
If this demonstration of planning skill was less than impressive, at least Bottando had managed to get through to Janet, who informed him that he had absolutely none of his people in Italy.
‘Taddeo,’ came the booming voice down the phone, ‘How could you think such a thing? Would I do something like that?’
‘Just checking,’ Bottando reassured him. ‘We must do things properly. Now, tell me about this painting. Is it stolen?’
Janet said that he didn’t know. He’d have to look it up. He’d ring back with the information as soon as possible.
‘And now we wait,’ said Bottando. He looked around the apartment. ‘Charming place you have here, Flavia.’
‘You mean it’s untidy and minuscule and bleak,’ Argyll said. ‘I quite agree. Personally I think that we should move.’
If he had hoped for support from Bottando, though, Argyll was disappointed. Not that the General didn’t agree, but the ringing of the doorbell prevented him from saying so. An expectant hush fell. Argyll turned pale, the uniformed policeman took out his gun and looked at it unhappily, Bottando went and hid in the bedroom. Unfair, in Argyll’s view. He’d been planning to hide in there himself.
‘OK, then,’ Flavia whispered. ‘Open the door.’
And gingerly, expecting to be attacked at any moment, Argyll edged towards it, unlocked it, and retreated