He said: "Wait a minute, Claud. You win. I'll give you Lady Valerie."
It was the only thing he could have said that the detective would even have heard. It stopped Teal a yard from him, with the handcuffs held out.
"Where is she?"
Simon gazed at him with a sad wistful smile.
"It's been a good long scrap and a lot of fun, hasn't it, Claud?" he said. "But I suppose you were bound to come out on top in the end… Oh well, let's make a clean sheet of it while we're at it. Hoppy was getting excited about nothing. Lady Valerie hasn't got away. I took her away myself, only I didn't have time to tell him. She's here in this apartment now, only about half-a-dozen yards away from you."
Teal gawped at him.
"Here?"
"Yes. You didn't think of that, did you? Well, you'll find her perfectly safe and sound, without even a speck of powder brushed off her nose."
"Where?"
"Come through the bedroom and I'll show you."