Alibi In High Heels

'The cordless?' he clarified.

'Yes.'

'And this was the only thing you touched, oui?'

'Yes.'

He leaned in, his eyes intent on mine. 'Then why are your prints all over the wine glass in Miss Girardi's foyer?'

Shit.

'I forgot. I touched that, too.'

'You seem to do a lot of forgetting.'

'Look, I knocked it over when we found the body and I cleaned up the pieces of broken glass.'

He raised an eyebrow. 'You see a dead woman, yet before you call the police, you stop to do a little housekeeping?'

'No. Yes. I, I don't know. I wasn't thinking clearly. I was panicked.'

'Because you had just killed a woman?'

'Because I'd just found a dead woman.'

'Hmmmm.' He narrowed his eyes at me, pursing his lips in a way that made his mustache dance. 'Where were you this afternoon?'

'At Donata's office. Dana was with me the whole time,' I said quickly. 'I have an alibi.'

'This time,' he added, skeptically.

I didn't say anything, crossing my arms over my chest.

'What were you doing at Donata's office?' he asked.

'Looking for her. She wasn't there, so I got her home address and we came here. Look, you can ask Donata's assistant, Debbie.'

'She is being questioned now.'

Wow, he was quick.

'Good,' I said, defiantly.

'We also have a team going though Donata's office. Care to know what they have found so far?'

I froze. Uh oh. He looked a little too pleased with himself.

Only, he didn't wait for me to answer. 'Your fingerprints. All over the file cabinets in Mademoiselle Girardi's private office.' He did a little smirk. 'I supposed you forgot to mention that, too?'

I bit my lip. Shit.

'Look, I didn't take anything. I… I was just looking.'

'For?'

'Evidence.'

'Of?'

'Her involvement in the jewel heists.'

'Find any?'

'Well, not exactly. But, did you know that Donata used to be a man? She was a male model in the seventies and someone found out and they sent her some pictures of her as a him and I think they were blackmailing her into sending Gisella on all the good jobs where she could get her hands on the jewelry. Or her partner could. Like the Corbett Winston account, because Angelica said that Donata wouldn't even let her go on a go-see, so I'm pretty sure that Donata was involved and that's why she got killed. Not by me.'

Moreau blinked at me. His mustache twitched.

But he didn't get a chance to answer as the door opened again and Beak Nose said something to Moreau in Italian. Moreau answered back, then shot a pointed look at me before disappearing through the door.

I thunked my head down on the table. Could life get any worse?

I'm not sure how long I sat like that, but by the time the door opened again, my forehead made a little suction sound when I lifted it up.

Beak Nose stood in the doorway again. 'Okay,' he said in broken English. 'You can go now.'

'I can go?' I asked.

He nodded, holding the door open for me.

I stepped out, wondering what had changed. Two minutes ago Moreau had seemed ready to read me my rights. Now I was free to go.

And then I saw what had changed.

Ramirez.

He looked tired, his eyes bloodshot, his posture tilting slightly forward. A generous dusting of five o'clock shadow covered his jaw, making his cheeks look hollow, like he hadn't slept. My heart clenched in my chest and all I wanted to do was give him a hug.

Beside him stood Moreau, the two of them deep in conversation.

As if he could feel me watching him, Ramirez suddenly straightened his spine, spinning around, his gaze traveling my way. Our eyes locked for a full two seconds.

Then he turned away.

He muttered a brief something to Moreau, before walking past the gate and through the dinky reception area.

'Wait!' I called.

Moreau looked up, as did several of the other officers, all eyes turning my way.

But not Ramirez. In an instant, he was out the door and gone.

I felt my heart sink, my stomach doing a hollow, empty thing that had nothing to do with the fact I hadn't eaten. And everything to do with the fact that I wasn't sure how many more times Ramirez would walk away from me before he stopped coming back.

I felt tears well behind my eyes, but bravely sniffed them back, instead hobbling over to where Moreau stood waiting for me.

'You are free to go,' he said, slowly. Then added, 'For now.'

I nodded, still staring at the doorway Ramirez had disappeared through.

'And Dana?'

'Your friend is waiting for you downstairs. I have a car ready to take you both back to the airport.'

I nodded again.

'I expect you will inform me if you feel the urge to travel out of France again?' he asked. Though I could tell that wasn't exactly a question.

I nodded meekly, all the fight having drained out of me the second I'd seen Ramirez.

'Good.' Moreau singled to Beak Nose, who led me down a flight of stairs to where Dana was waiting for me at the bottom.

She gave me a fierce hug. 'I hope I did the right thing calling Ramirez?' she asked.

I nodded. Even as tears welled behind my eyes at the sound of his name.

We both piled into the waiting blue and white, riding to the airport in silence. Needless to say, there were no kisses on the cheek from Beak Nose as he saw us onto our flight.

I tried to sleep on the brief plane ride back to Paris, but it was nearly impossible. Images of Ramirez, Moreau, Felix, and Donata all mixed together, making my head hurt so badly, I begged the flight attendant for an aspirin.

By the time we'd landed and caught a cab back to the Plaza Athenee, I was beat. I crawled into bed, fully clothed and collapsed, just as the sun was coming up.

* * *

I wasn't sure how long I slept, but the sounds of room service carts woke me several hours later. I rolled over, looking at the clock. It was past noon. I felt like I'd been asleep for days. I stripped off my clothes, hopped in the shower and attempted to wash the previous day's events off of me while trying to keep Wonder Boot dry. The hot water helped, and I was feeling almost human again by the time I stepped into a clean denim skirt, white tank, and cropped black collarless jacket. An much as I would have liked to don my red heel again, Doctor Ponytail had been