The Ambassador's Boots
Partners in CrimeThis flow traces a baffling luggage substitution into the discovery that diplomatic baggage was being used to move cocaine and stolen harbor plans.
increasing
Bearing strength in each event
decreasing
An Unexplained Exchange

An Unexplained Exchange
Two Similar Bags
Randolph Wilmott reports that his kitbag was confused with one attributed to Senator Westerham. The supposed mistake is corrected quickly, and nothing appears missing.
A Puzzle of Boots
The bag chiefly contained boots, an oddly unpromising target for spies. Tommy and Tuppence wonder why anyone would arrange such a complicated exchange.
A Passenger's Faint

A Passenger's Faint
An Interrupted Scene
Richards recalls Eileen O'Hara fainting outside Wilmott's cabin while he fetched a doctor. The timing offered an opportunity for someone to enter the cabin unnoticed.
Suspicion Redirected
The apparently incidental memory leads Tommy to advertise for information. The case's solution depends on asking why the bag mattered to someone else.
The Boot Paper

The Boot Paper
A Witness Comes Forward
Cicely March says she saw a woman cut open a boot lining and hide a folded paper. She recovered it, then later discovered a concealed design when water revealed the tracing.
The Missing Plan
Tommy assumes that the diagram concerns harbor defenses. The paper connects the apparently trivial boots to a serious theft and an organized criminal network.
The Attack at the Office

The Attack at the Office
An Armed Intruder
A foreign-looking man threatens Tommy and tries to remove Cicely. Albert's lasso brings the attacker down, though the shot nearly strikes Tommy.
A Planted Rescue
Tommy notices that Cicely is disturbed by the supposed rescue in a way that does not fit her role. He pretends to believe her story while arranging police support.
The Cocaine Operation

The Cocaine Operation
The Real Target
The suspicious woman is Cicely March in disguise, working with the attacker to protect the smuggling route. Diplomatic baggage offered a way around customs scrutiny.
Hidden Stock Revealed
Tommy searches the beauty shop's bath-salt tins and finds cocaine beneath the harmless crystals. The operation is exposed, and the harbor plan serves as a decoy to misdirect him.
Randolph Wilmott's consultation
During Tommy's interview with the valet
Two days after Tommy's advertisement
During Cicely's visit
At the beauty shop in Bond Street