There were interviews with the police and Detective Mercier made his appearance again, as well as other gendarmes. It was definitely arson. Gasoline had been poured around the kitchen, then the gas burners lit, until eventually it all exploded in flames. The kitchen was completely gutted and smoke had damaged every other part of the hotel. I didn’t know if the insurance would cover it, but because it was arson they were stalling my claim anyway, I guessed until it could be proven I was not the culprit. There were no clues, no witnesses, no evidence. I was already under suspicion for murdering my husband, and now I was a suspected arsonist. Who would believe me if I told them I thought Solis’s wife had set fire to my hotel because she wanted me out of there? Or that maybe Giselle Castille had done it, because she wanted Patrick? Or that Jeb Falcon had done it, acting on Laurent Solis’s instructions? After the first shock of the fire was over, Miss Nightingale dropped her bombshell and told me that she had seen Patrick.
