Free The Only Problem by Muriel Spark

warrant?’ said Harvey.
    ‘You
will be free to contact a lawyer as soon as you have answered our questions. I
presume you have a lawyer in Paris? He will explain the law to you.
    ‘I
have, of course, a French lawyer,’ Harvey said. ‘But I don’t need him at the
moment. Waste of money.
    Just
then a thought struck him: Oh, God, will they shoot Ruth in mistake for Effie?
    ‘My
sister-in-law, Ruth Jansen, is, as you say, very like her sister. She’s caring
for the baby of nine months. Be very careful not to confuse them should you
come to a confrontation. She has the baby there in the château.’
    ‘We
have the baby.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘We are
taking care of the baby.’
    ‘Where
is she?’
    The
sandy-faced policeman spoke up. He had a perfectly human smile: ‘I believe she
is taking the air in the courtyard. Come and see out of the window.’
    Down in
the courtyard among the police cars and motor-bicycles, a large policeman in
uniform, but without his hat, whom Harvey recognised as one of those who had
escorted him from the museum, was holding Clara in his arms, wrapped up in her
woollies; he was jogging her up and down while a young policewoman was talking
to her. Another, younger policeman, in civilian clothes, was also attempting to
curry favour with her. Clara had her chubby arms round the large man’s neck,
enjoying the attention, fraternising with the police all round.
    ‘Is she
getting her feeds?’ said Harvey. ‘I believe she has some special regular feeds
that have to be —’
    ‘Mine
Jansen is seeing to all that, don’t worry. Let’s proceed.’
    ‘I want
to know where Ruth Jansen is,’ said Harvey.
    ‘She’s
downstairs, answering some questions. The sooner we proceed with the job the
sooner you will be able to join her. Why did you explain your baby clothes to
your brother-in-law Edward Jansen in the words, ‘“The police won’t shoot if
there’s a baby in the house”?’
    ‘Did I
say that?’ said Harvey.
    ‘Mme
Jansen has admitted it,’ said the inspector. Admitted it. What had Edward told
Ruth, what was Ruth telling them downstairs? But ‘admitted’ was not the same as
‘volunteered’ the information.
    ‘You
probably suggested the phrase to her,’ said Harvey. The old police trick: Is it
true that he said ‘The police won’t shoot …’?
    ‘Did
you or did you not say those words last April when M. Jansen came to see you?’
    ‘If I
did it was a joke.’ ‘Surrealism? ‘‘Yes, call it that. ‘‘You are a man of means?’
‘Oh, yes.
    ‘Somebody
is financing the FLE,’ said the inspector.
    ‘But I
am not financing it.’
    ‘Why do
you live in that shack?’
    ‘It
doesn’t matter to me where I work. I’ve told you. All I want is peace of mind.
I’m studious.’
    ‘Scholarly,’
said the inspector dreamily.
    ‘No,
studious. I can afford to study and speculate without achieving results.’
    The
inspector raised his shoulders and exchanged a glance with the sandy-haired
policeman. Then he said, ‘Studious, scholarly … Why did you buy the
château?’
    ‘It was
convenient for me to do so. Mine Jansen thought it desirable for her to have a
home for herself and the baby.’
    ‘It isn’t
your child.’
    It was
Harvey’s turn to shrug. ‘It’s my wife’s child. It makes no difference to me who
the father is.’
    ‘The
resemblance between your wife and her sister might be very convenient,’ said
the inspector.
    ‘I find
them quite distinct. The resemblance is superficial. What do you mean — “convenient”?’
Harvey, not quite knowing what the man was getting at, assumed he was implying
that an exchange of lovers would be easy for him, the two sisters being, as it
were, interchangeable. ‘They are very different,’ said Harvey.
    ‘It
would be convenient,’ said the inspector, ‘for two women who resemble each
other to be involved in the same criminal organisation. I am just
hypothesising, you understand. A question of one being able to provide an