off the top of his head what we’re dealing with, especially now that we know, from Mother, that Hans Frank was involved.”
His iPhone chirped. He looked at the screen and said, “Philippe.” He listened a few seconds and then said, “I’ll be right down.”
“Philippe will be downstairs in a couple of minutes. I’ll go meet him so we can survey my place. If nothing’s out of line I’ll come back here at once and we can go check the bank box. Is that OK with both of you?”
“That’s a good plan,” Margaux told him. “It will give me a chance to learn a little more about Jen and her father.”
“Well, my dear,” Margaux said after Eddie had left through the service door. “We’ll have some time together before Charles Edward comes back. Let’s learn a little more about each other. Nothing in this world is ever as simple as it seems on the surface.
“For instance, have you and Charles Edward kept up with each other since your dalliance in Sarasota? For that matter, is dalliance still a word in America?”
Jen’s face reddened but she looked Margaux in the eyes without flinching. “Not once. If he’d come back I would have left with him, and things might have been different. I still don’t know anything about his life since then, and he doesn’t seem anxious to tell me about it.”
“No, I don’t imagine he is. He was ashamed of the way he acted, because he was engaged to Lauren at the time. He swore he would never do anything like that again, and as far as I know he hasn’t. But I do know you enchanted him and it tortured him to think he’d made the wrong choice.”
“Please tell me what happened to his wife.”
“You need to know, because it still affects Charles Edward. Our family had a terrible year in 2001. I lost Artie and Charles Edward lost both Lauren and their son. It isn’t something I ever want to live through again.”
“Eddie had a son?”
“His name was Sam, and he was born the year after they moved back to Paris, so he was nine years old. They lived across the river in the 16th, in a lovely old apartment they had renovated.
“That was the year Artie died. He normally went to Rennes once a month to talk to the managers of a commercial property we own there. He would go over on the train in the evening, rent a car and stay in the hotel next door to the shopping center, then meet with the property manager the next morning and take an early-afternoon train back to Paris.
“One day in the spring the manager called me to say Artie hadn’t arrived for their meeting. Artie was never late, so this worried me a lot. He didn’t have a portable telephone then. He said he didn’t need one in Paris, and at that time there wasn’t widespread coverage in the smaller cities, much less the country. So I called Philippe and he asked the Rennes police if they knew anything.
“They found Artie’s body in the rental car in a grove of trees. The gasoline had caught fire…” Margaux stopped and Jen stepped closer to put her arm around her shoulders. “I’m very sorry you had to tell me that,” she said.
“Philippe had to go to Rennes to identify the body,” Margaux said. “I’ve always appreciated that he did that.”
Jen said, “That was in the spring. Then Lauren and Sam died the same year?”
“Just a couple of months after 9/11, so the year was pretty bad already. Charles Edward was in Rennes on the same inspection tour Artie used to make. He came back in the afternoon and called Lauren but there was no answer and he figured she was out shopping.
“But earlier Philippe had called me to say Lauren and Sam’s bodies had been found in their apartment. They’d been murdered quite brutally, and the apartment was set on fire.”
Jen stood back, horrified. “That’s absolutely terrible. Poor Eddie.”
“He did not take it well. Philippe and I went together to his office to deliver the news. He knew it was something bad when we came through the door together,
His iPhone chirped. He looked at the screen and said, “Philippe.” He listened a few seconds and then said, “I’ll be right down.”
“Philippe will be downstairs in a couple of minutes. I’ll go meet him so we can survey my place. If nothing’s out of line I’ll come back here at once and we can go check the bank box. Is that OK with both of you?”
“That’s a good plan,” Margaux told him. “It will give me a chance to learn a little more about Jen and her father.”
“Well, my dear,” Margaux said after Eddie had left through the service door. “We’ll have some time together before Charles Edward comes back. Let’s learn a little more about each other. Nothing in this world is ever as simple as it seems on the surface.
“For instance, have you and Charles Edward kept up with each other since your dalliance in Sarasota? For that matter, is dalliance still a word in America?”
Jen’s face reddened but she looked Margaux in the eyes without flinching. “Not once. If he’d come back I would have left with him, and things might have been different. I still don’t know anything about his life since then, and he doesn’t seem anxious to tell me about it.”
“No, I don’t imagine he is. He was ashamed of the way he acted, because he was engaged to Lauren at the time. He swore he would never do anything like that again, and as far as I know he hasn’t. But I do know you enchanted him and it tortured him to think he’d made the wrong choice.”
“Please tell me what happened to his wife.”
“You need to know, because it still affects Charles Edward. Our family had a terrible year in 2001. I lost Artie and Charles Edward lost both Lauren and their son. It isn’t something I ever want to live through again.”
“Eddie had a son?”
“His name was Sam, and he was born the year after they moved back to Paris, so he was nine years old. They lived across the river in the 16th, in a lovely old apartment they had renovated.
“That was the year Artie died. He normally went to Rennes once a month to talk to the managers of a commercial property we own there. He would go over on the train in the evening, rent a car and stay in the hotel next door to the shopping center, then meet with the property manager the next morning and take an early-afternoon train back to Paris.
“One day in the spring the manager called me to say Artie hadn’t arrived for their meeting. Artie was never late, so this worried me a lot. He didn’t have a portable telephone then. He said he didn’t need one in Paris, and at that time there wasn’t widespread coverage in the smaller cities, much less the country. So I called Philippe and he asked the Rennes police if they knew anything.
“They found Artie’s body in the rental car in a grove of trees. The gasoline had caught fire…” Margaux stopped and Jen stepped closer to put her arm around her shoulders. “I’m very sorry you had to tell me that,” she said.
“Philippe had to go to Rennes to identify the body,” Margaux said. “I’ve always appreciated that he did that.”
Jen said, “That was in the spring. Then Lauren and Sam died the same year?”
“Just a couple of months after 9/11, so the year was pretty bad already. Charles Edward was in Rennes on the same inspection tour Artie used to make. He came back in the afternoon and called Lauren but there was no answer and he figured she was out shopping.
“But earlier Philippe had called me to say Lauren and Sam’s bodies had been found in their apartment. They’d been murdered quite brutally, and the apartment was set on fire.”
Jen stood back, horrified. “That’s absolutely terrible. Poor Eddie.”
“He did not take it well. Philippe and I went together to his office to deliver the news. He knew it was something bad when we came through the door together,
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