I don’t suppose they ever realized you were British. You say the woman spoke to you in French, so the odds are that you answered her in the same language.’ Miranda nodded. ‘I expect so. I spoke more German and French than English in those days.’ ‘Then that’s the answer. You were a stray child and they needed a child. But your chief attraction was undoubtedly the fact that you were clutching a large doll. What better way to smuggle out a lot of stolen valuables than for a child to carry them inside a toy?’ ‘But the Dutch diamonds?’ said Miranda. ‘No one knows what they did with those, or even if they knew anything about them. They may not have done. The stuff they got away with was a sufficiently spectacular haul! Well, there you are. Some of that is guesswork, but there’s quite a bit of evidence to support it, and it all adds up. Do you mind if I smoke?’ Simon drew out a flat gold cigarette case and offered it to Miranda, who shook her head. He lit a cigarette himself and flicked the spent match out of the open window.
