Following the meeting I found myself requiring a visit to the site bathroom. Upon returning to the meeting room, Peter, instead of having made ready to depart the site, as expected, was examining Marie’s thong closely. He had it laid flat on the tabletop and was assiduously running his middle finger over it.

“Having fun?” I asked him.

“This is a curious garment, young master,” he said.

“How so?”

“Well I’ve held it up to the light and weighed the material for age and use. I’ve re-examined the area of special interest and tested the elasticity of the waistband and gusset,” he said, lifting it to the light again and peering through it.

“And what findings have you made?”

“I’m completely thrown, to be quite honest. A garment such as this should show a lot of wear and tear, tear being the operative word, Tony. This doesn’t have even as much as a thread out of place.”

“Maybe last night was the first time she wore it,” I offered.

“Hmm. Possibly. But there’s a recently aired smell from the piece, especially the small triangle to the rear. That piece actually smells new. The new thong smell, if you will, is present in spades.”

“The new thong smell. Is that a thing?” I asked, a grin trying to break through attempt at an inscrutable façade.

“Very much so. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that this is not the thong you removed from that woman’s arse last night, Tony.”

“Are you accusing someone of something, Peter?”

“Not at all, Tony, but I feel that further investigation is required. Maybe we should visit Marie’s restaurant and interview her in more depth, to see if her alibi is secure.”

“But we don’t have the time for that, Peter.”

“You may not have, but there’s a conundrum here and I don’t like conundrums, or should that be conundra? I think it’s more important that we investigate further and with some urgency, there’s such a lot at stake.”

“Calling it a conundrum is a bit of a stretch, Peter.”

“Unlike the perfectly preserved elasticity of this garment, Young Master. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d say it had never even been worn.”

“Ok. Sherlock, this is none of my doing,” I began.

Peter looked at me, an expectant smile on his face. “That is not, actually, the one I, as you so crudely stated, took off Marie’s arse last night.”

“I’m not shocked by any stretch, Tony,” he said.

“I let it slip to her about the bet and she wheedled the whole story out of me. She took particular aversion, umbrage even, to your insinuation that north side girls buy their lingerie in Dunnes or Penneys, so she handed me this outside the site on her way to work, as you witnessed yourself.”

“I see. Well a couple of issues arise out of that statement. Firstly, what is sold in Dunnes and Penneys is not lingerie, Tony. Secondly, what, in fact, was she wearing?”

“A pink satin G String.”

“I fucking knew it! I was actually doubting my abilities there for a moment. Let’s go,” he indicated the door.

He took two steps towards it, stopped and picked the black thong up off the table.

“Spoils of war,” he said with a grin.

We left the site in our separate vehicles. My plan was to travel out to the car hire office and collect the rental that had been arranged for me because I didn’t want that to be left until the last minute. I’d have to return the van to the office first so I followed Peter back to work. I recalled that I’d left my phone charging in the van while the meeting was taking place so I fished it out of the glove box and switched it on at the next red light. It almost blew up with texts immediately and it rang almost straight away. It was Cadden, I hit the button.

“Hi Mr. Cadden, how are you?” I said airily.

“Oh, not too bad, I suppose, Tony.”

“What can I do for you?”

“You haven’t had your phone with you this morning?” he said, sounding a bit miffed.

“No, I didn’t take it into the meeting, it was a bit flat so I left it in the van to charge.”

“That’s grand, then. I was keen to speak with you before you got too far into your day.”

“What do you need, sir?” I asked him.

“I take it you haven’t read your emails yet?”