Page 49 of Old Girls Behaving Badly

‘I heard about it, but it was before I came here. I don’t know the details and certainly not enough to get him convicted.’

‘And do you know where it is?’

‘No I don’t, sorry.’

‘Someone mentioned that Leonard likes to employ people that he feels he can manipulate. Is that something you’re aware of?’ I asked him, wincing a little at my words.

‘If you mean, am I under Leonard’s control because he has information about me and my past then, yeah. I did something I’m not proud of and when I found it impossible to get employment, Leonard stepped in. In a way he has helped me. He’s given me a good job doing something I love and paid me well, but it’s come at the price of me helping him while keeping my mouth shut. He’s hardly lifted me out of the world of crime. In fact, he’s kept me right in the thick of it.’

‘And now?’ I asked. ‘Why have you decided to talk about it now?’

I rolled and cut the pastry, copying what Harry had done and then passed the sheets over to him where he folded his prepared salmon inside.

‘Because I don’t want to be here any more. I don’t like Leonard and his dealings have got out of hand. He’s a kleptomaniac of the worst kind. He rarely sells pieces on any more. It’s all about the having of them. It’s not about money; it’s about ownership. The stakes are getting higher and I don’t want any more involvement. I’m handing in my notice after the wedding.’

I wondered at the idea Harry would be handing in his notice as if he was on some sort of official contract.

‘How are you involved exactly?’ I asked. ‘Do you steal the artwork?’

‘No, I’m just the delivery guy,’ he said. ‘Worse, I’m more like a getaway driver sometimes.’

‘Harry, can you tell me where the rest of these stolen things are? I assume it’s not only that crap in the attic and what we found in the secret space of the sitting room. I really need to find this painting of Dorothy’s.’

‘The attic, yes, some of that is stolen, small scale from people he knows in antiques. Pinched from house clearances and the like, not all crap if you have time for a closer look. Some he’s actually bought, to be fair, or taken in payment for his silence. Some is bigger stuff, the tapestry and a few ceramics around the house. That secret stash is all stolen.’

‘That tapestry,’ I said thoughtfully. ‘I really thought I’d seen it before somewhere. I may have been mistaken.’

‘You’re an expert?’

‘I used to work in the arts, a very long time ago.’

‘Ah, I didn’t think you were just a companion. You seemed to have an edge to you.’

I was about to ask him what he meant by that, but he’d continued talking.

‘He told me the tapestry was taken from a collection that was being moved from an exhibition back to its place in a stately home. It was many years ago, so many it seems that he feels he can display it freely. Stolen work, hanging in plain sight.’

‘Maybe I read about it; that’s why I remember it,’ I said. ‘You know, Dorothy said exactly that about hanging in plain sight. She thinks he’s so egotistical, he’ll have her painting somewhere clever.’

‘I doubt it will be somewhere clever, but it will be somewhere he can see it whenever he wants to. His bedroom perhaps? What is the painting of, anyway? How big is it?’

‘It’s a watercolour of a coastal scene, with a beach and headland in the background and a lighthouse. About so big,’ I said holding out my hands to give him a rough idea of its size, although I only had Dorothy’s word on how big it actually was. ‘I have looked in his bedroom, but couldn’t see it there.’

‘There are many other places on his land that he stores things. He has barns and sheds, the temple. He has that holiday home where I know for a fact he has a couple of very prominent pieces locked in the tower.’

Juliet had been very quiet up until this point and Harry suddenly turned to her.

‘What are you doing? Are you recording this conversation?’

He made a lunge towards her phone, but she pulled it back and stepped away.

‘It’s just for my own personal use,’ she shrieked.

‘Juliet, give me that phone,’ I said, holding out my hand and Juliet handed it over with a thunderous look. ‘I’ll make sure this is deleted, Harry. She’s just a bored kid at a family wedding.’

Juliet opened her mouth to say something, but I stopped her with one penetrating look. Then after a couple of swipes across the screen, I turned the phone around so Harry could see it was gone, then I handed the device back to Juliet, who looked at it in exasperation.

‘Nothing matters much now, anyway,’ he said, his voice as resigned as his position.