“Do you remember where my father’s chest is? Had it been moved to France? I can’t seem to remember seeing it there.”
“Mr. Deschamps, your father’s late valet, was in charge of sending Mr. Montague’s belongings. I’m sure he took care of that. Should I look into it?
“He was quite old, Mr. Deschamps, and could have forgotten to do it,” Benny said thoughtfully.
“Highly unlikely. Still sharp as a tack he was,” Harry said defensively.
I waved my hand. “No matter, really.”
Perhaps it was a sign to leave this whole business in the past and move forward. However, there was one more thing I could refresh my memory on. “Do you remember Susan the cook?” I asked.
“I certainly do.”
“Did we let her go or did she leave of her own accord?”
“Mr. Montague, your father, decided to let her go after we found out that there had been some rather valuable pictures missing from the house.”
“How come I don’t remember that?” I asked, looking through my glass.
“Your father, sir, did not want to make it public and it was decided to deal with the matter privately, even though, I must say, there was a considerable sum of money involved. In the end she had to go and take her son with her,” Harry said and finished his wine.
I looked at Harry. “Little J?”
“Right. He was a nice boy, but with a bit of a temper.”
“What happened to Susan?”
“They moved to the States and, if I’m not mistaken, she passed away a few years ago.”
“Do you know what happened to Little J?”
“I heard that he’d made quite a fortune across the pond,” Benny said.
Harry stood up. “I heard that as well. Benny, could you take these plates away and start on that coffee?”
How come I’d never heard that?
Benny took our plates and went to the house to make coffee.
“Dessert, sir?” Harry asked me.
“Absolutely. One thing though. How did they know it was Susan?”
“Oh, we found the frame from one of the missing pictures in one of the pantries, sir,” he said and started to cut the cake that had come from the local bakery.
I put my glass down. “In the pantry? How did you know it was her?”
“She used it more than others, I suppose.”
“That’s an odd place to hide something valuable, don’t you think?”
“It is, sir.” Harry gave me a plate with a piece of cake. “She was lucky she wasn’t arrested, if I may say so,” Harry said. “It was very generous of your father to let her go without pressing charges.”