“I did not think you would care to stay here after your friend kill herself.”
“I heard you the first time, Esteban. I’m sure if your customers have to die on the premises, you’d much rather have a Monte Carlo suicide than a murder. It wouldn’t scare half so many suckers away. But we happen to know that Mrs Verity wasn’t the sort to be worried about being blackjacked out of a few hundreds, or even thousands, in this kind of clip joint.”
There was no reaction in the dark lizard eyes.
“You hint at something, maybe?”
“I hint at nothing, maybe. I’m still asking questions. And one thing I’ve been wondering is, who did she come here with?”
Esteban repeated, without inflection, “Who she come here with?”
“She wouldn’t have come here alone,” said Patricia. “She didn’t come with her husband, because he’s still in Tokyo. So — who?”
“A little while ago, madame, you tell me she come here to meet you.”
“Tonight, perhaps,” Simon admitted patiently. “But this wasn’t her first visit. The Admiral of the watch seemed to know her quite well. So who did she usually come with?”
Esteban shrugged.