"The concern is the International level on which he deals." Jack had arrived at Griff's beach house for a late Monday morning brunch. The subject was the man caught breaking into the coach's cottage, an often under suspicion dealer in stolen antiquities, based in New York. "He is suspected of dealing in stolen manuscripts, not just by the US but also by French and British authorities. His name has come up in many cases, but making charges stick has been difficult."

They were sitting in the beach house kitchen. In the center of the table was a cheese souffle just out of the oven. Surprisingly -- Caydance did not make soufles very often -- it had emerged perfectly. There was also a loaf of French Country Bread, a bowl of honeydew melon wedges, and bacon, which Griff never seemed to get enough of and was therefore in charge of cooking.

"The good news is that we caught him in the act of breaking in, and he was armed with a beretta, but he does not have a California concealed weapons permit. Thanks to the skeleton key, with which we observed him opening the door, his story -- that he is interested in the architecture of detached cottages and could not resist seeing what the inside looked like -- will not hold."