Chapter TwentyMargherita Dumas sat opposite Alexander Renaud at one of the best tables in the restaurant. Located on Grand Place in Brussels, the Maison du Cygne was one of her favourite haunts, and served some of the best food in the city. It had been a month since the fire had destroyed the Clinique Sobel, and the fire brigade inquiry into the cause had finally concluded that the fire had started accidentally, when a burner in one of the laboratories had been inadvertently left on, close to a window that had been left open for ventilation. A gust of wind had probably blown the burner over, and the flame had ignited certain flammable chemicals in a nearby Petri dish which had formed part of an earlier experiment in the lab. It had perhaps resulted from a case of sloppy technical procedure
