Holding her breath, Darcie slid the iron back and forth across the paper. ‘I don’t think anything’s happening.’
‘Keep doing it.’
The paper began to turn a yellowy-brown colour. Then, to Darcie’s amazement and delight, the outlines of block capital letters began to form. ‘It’s working! Matt, it’s working!’
A few minutes later, Darcie was looking at a whole page of writing. It was all in French and the handwriting was old-fashioned, but it was clearly names and a sentence or two underneath.
‘I can’t believe it,’ said Matt. ‘This is amazing.’
‘What does it say? Can you understand any of it?’ asked Darcie, as Matt studied the writing.
‘It’s mostly names with dates and times. Something here about troop movements. Something else about when … Göring … yes, definitely Göring is going to be at a meeting.’ Matt paused to look up at Darcie. ‘This is gold. Priceless.’
‘Is there anything there about Padgett?’
Matt took another careful look at the paper. ‘I can’t see the name Padgett but like we said, if it’s his maternal grandmother, then it would be a different name.’
‘Are there any female names there.’ She gripped his arm. ‘Wait, that woman who came to England. The one who pushed Nathalie under the train. What was her name?’
‘Damn, what did Odile say? Boch … Bochette. That’s it.’ He leaned over the page again, scanning the writing. ‘Here! There’s something here.’
Matt’s usual laid-back attitude had been replaced by a sense of excitement.
‘What does it say?’
‘Bochette. Collaborator. Spy,’ translated Matt.
‘Nothing else?’
‘I’m not sure. There’s something else.’ Matt studied the page for what seemed at eternity. ‘It says:Bochette, gold ring ruby stone, statue of angel, gold five-bar gate bracelet. From Kranz. Payment.’
Darcie frowned as she computed the information. ‘Kranz was paying Bochette for information. Jewellery being the currency.’
‘Yeah and I bet that jewellery was stolen from Jewish people,’ concluded Matt.
‘And do you remember Padgett saying he was leaving the House of Chanel next year to go into politics?’ said Darcie. ‘Well, he wouldn’t want any of this getting out, would he? Imagine the damage that would do to his political aspirations if it was even rumoured he knew the origins of the jewellery and had made no attempt to hand them back.’
‘That would look pretty bad for him,’ agreed Matt.
‘We need to set up a meeting with Padgett,’ said Darcie, thinking out loud as she arranged her thoughts into something of a plan.
The following morning they were once again inside the offices of the House of Chanel, with Christophe Padgett sat one side of the table and his two lawyers next to him.
‘I’m going to assume you’ve asked for this meeting as you’ve finally come to your senses,’ said Padgett. He leaned back in his chair, unfastening his jacket button.
‘We’ve just been to see Odile Grandis,’ said Darcie. She watched Padgett closely for any reaction. The only tell was a fast blink of his eyes.
‘You’ll have to enlighten me. What has this to do with the sketchbook?’
‘Odile Grandis remembers you coming to see her several years ago, enquiring about the sketchbook,’ Darcie continued.
‘It’s not something I recall,’ said Padgett. ‘Now can we get back to business? I’m very busy.’
‘It seems the sketchbook is proving very popular,’ said Darcie. She smiled sweetly at Padgett. ‘The apartment I’m staying in was broken into.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’
‘I was followed by the same two men who broke into the apartment. They were looking for the sketchbook too.’ Darcie paused and met Padgett’s steely gaze. ‘Odile Grandis tells me there were secrets in the sketchbook, which would explain why everyone is so interested in it. Anyway, to cut a long story short, Matt and I have discovered those secrets. The names, the codes, the information.’
