24It was too late for lunch and too early for dinner, which was precisely why Molly had asked Simon Valette to meet her at Chez Papa at five. She wanted a degree of privacy, along with a location where he might be more likely to speak freely than he would at home. And it never hurt to talk over drinks.
“So how’s the case going?” Nico asked her as he wiped down the bar.
“Eh,” said Molly, not wanting to oversell her theory even to herself.
“I’ll give you my unasked-for two cents. Something’s a little funny when a guy like Simon Valette quits his job in Paris and moves to a place like Castillac.”
“What exactly does ‘a little funny’ mean?”
“It means it needs explaining. I haven’t gotten to know the dude, but he went to the École Nationale d’Administration, right? A guy like that, ENA grad
