The Perfume Collector(61)

And weather that in England would have been blustery and punctuated with freezing rain showers was refreshingly breezy and fresh. The wind pushed the clouds across the sky at enormous speed but the sun remained high and warm. Before long Grace found herself back on the narrow winding little side street near the embankment – Rue Christine.

In front of her, on the corner, was Andre Valmont’s abandoned shop.

It was as if she couldn’t keep away from it; her curiosity was too strong. And now that she’d spoken with Monsieur Androski, it was even stronger.

From across the street, she watched as a workman finished nailing new boards across the windows and door of the corner shop; repairing the damage she and Monsieur Tissot had done. Head down, Grace walked on, past the front door, around to the back, looking to see if there might be a private entrance. And she found one, a discreet, faded red door in an alleyway behind the building.

Grace looked up. There was a light on in the second-floor window.

Perhaps Monsieur Tissot was right; maybe the old woman did live in the flat above the shop.

Gathering her courage, Grace knocked on the red door. Sure enough, a dog sprang to life upstairs, yapping excitedly, its toenails clicking against the floorboards as it scurried between the feet of its owner down the steps.

‘Oui?’ a voice called through the locked door.

Grace took a deep breath. ‘Madame, I’d like to speak to you if I may. I’m Grace Munroe, the woman . . . the woman who was in your shop.’

She waited, listening.

Silence.

Minutes passed with no movement on either side.

Finally, Grace heard a bolt slide across and the door eased open a crack.

The old woman eyed her suspiciously. ‘I should phone the police. You have no right to be here.’

Grace proceeded delicately. ‘I’m truly sorry that we gave you a fright. It was wrong to break in like that. My lawyer and I believed that the shop was abandoned. We had no idea you were living above.’

‘Fine,’ she dismissed her, waving her away. ‘Consider yourself absolved.’

She was beginning to close the door when Grace took the card out of her coat pocket and offered it to her. ‘I found this on the floor of the shop. When you surprised us, I accidentally put it into my pocket. Does it by any chance belong to you?’

The old woman stared at it before taking it, turning it over slowly in her hand. ‘What do you and that lawyer have to do with Eva d’Orsey?’ she asked.

‘I’m her heir.’

‘Her heir?’ She looked surprised.

‘Yes.’

She opened her mouth to say something, then stopped. ‘Did you read this?’ she asked, after a moment, holding up the card.

Grace nodded. ‘Yes, I did.’

She handed it back to Grace. ‘I don’t care what happens to it now.’

Again, she began to shut the door but Grace held it open with her hand. ‘Pardon me, but are you by any chance Madame Zed? The famous perfumer, Madame Zed?’

‘How do you know that name?’

‘Are you she?’

‘What business is it of yours? Why do you want to know?’

‘Well, the thing is,’ Grace explained quickly, struck yet again by the absurdity of her situation, ‘I’d like to ask you some questions, if I may. You see, I never met Eva d’Orsey. She’s a complete stranger to me and I know nothing about her.’

Madame Zed paused, taking this in. ‘You’re English, aren’t you?’

‘Yes, madame.’

‘And when were you born?’

‘I’m sorry?’

‘How old are you?’ she pressed.

‘I was born on 30 May 1928. Why?’

‘In London?’

‘No, in Oxfordshire. Or rather, just outside.’ The woman was looking at her as if she expected more. ‘My parents died when I was young. After that, I was brought up by my uncle who is Professor of Medieval Literature at Balliol.’

‘An English girl,’ Madame repeated.

‘Yes.’

‘And how did you find me? Who told you to come here?’

‘No one. I saw it a newspaper, in Eva d’Orsey’s apartment. She’d circled something, with this address.’

‘A notification . . . of repossession,’ Madame deduced. ‘I’m surprised she noticed. Well, then,’ she stepped back, opened the door wider. ‘Yes, I think perhaps you’d better come inside.’



Madame Zed’s apartment was in stark contrast to the decadent aesthetics of the shop downstairs. The high narrow windows were simply shuttered against walls of soft bluey-grey. The furniture was sparse, arranged on a bare wooden floor and in the angular geometric art deco style. A large collection of cubist paintings, interspersed with old master portraits and landscapes, crowded the walls. In one corner, an antique harpsichord dominated, its keys worn and yellowed. Piles of sheet music were stacked high underneath it.