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“But you don’t know whether or not she knows anything. She was only supposed to witness his signature. That doesn’t mean she was supposed to read the whole thing. She may know absolutely nothing.” Rowena refilled both their glasses.
“But that’s the point, Rowena. There are several pieces to this puzzle. Are you dense? We need to know. Did she witness his signature? Did she know what she was signing? Does she know where it is? Three simple questions. That’s all he has to ask her.” Arthur took a big pull of his drink. “She shouldn’t have any objections to answering them.”
“I suppose you’re right. They are simple questions.” She took a swig of her drink. “So, do you think he’ll make contact with her tomorrow?”
“He’d better. Or you will be making a lot of phone calls to people who bought the furniture.”
“Me? Why me?” Rowena protested.
“Because you are in this as much as I am,” Arthur huffed.
* * *
The following morning, Rowena knew she had a lot of paperwork ahead of her. She went through all the pages in the file Amber had provided, matching the material there with the data in the Excel computer file. She didn’t want to take either at face value. Begrudgingly, she painstakingly crossed off the names on paper if they were in the computer. If not, she would add them to the Excel data file. It was tedious work and wreaked havoc on her manicure. Her long nails kept getting caught between the keys, causing her to curse every few minutes. She had been working on the task for hours, but it was the only way to consolidate and organize the information. She also cursed Amber because much of the information had not been entered into the computer file as it should have been, creating more work for Rowena. She understood why Arthur didn’t want anyone from his office getting involved. There were already too many loose ends. They didn’t need curious eyes producing problems should they decide to do some sleuthing on their own. The Millstone estate was too visible. They couldn’t take any chances.
Rowena highlighted the columns and sorted the data by state. There were three major antique dealers who had bought several pieces each, but she didn’t know if any of the items had been sold to consumers. How could she find out quickly? And what excuse would she use? “Hey, did you happen to find a will that would blow our lifestyle?” Nah. She got up and poured herself some brandy. Then it came to her. She could say, “My husband has been very depressed over his father’s death. Everything happened so quickly, and a few items from the estate were mistakenly sold.” OK.
That sounded good. Now the big question was would she have to go to each dealer and check every piece on her own? That could be problematic. Some of the furniture might have to be broken apart.Buy back everything?That was an option. But Arthur would have to come up with a lot of money to do it that way. And then where would they put the pieces? They’d have to find a storage unit. If Arthur was in as dire straits as she thought, she might have to sell some of her jewelry. Scratch that. If they were going to lose everything, she was at least going to get out with her diamonds and gold. She figured she could raise well over $300,000 on her own. But only if it was necessary to get away. And if it came to that, then screw Arthur. If it came to that, he was on his own.
Rowena culled the lists. There was one dealer outside Boston, one in New York, another in Kentucky, who collectively had purchased the largest number of pieces. Then there were a few smaller dealers in New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, and Pennsylvania. It could take weeks, perhaps months, to track everything down. She picked up the phone and called Arthur’s office.
When he answered, without even acknowledging her, he said, “I hope you have a solution.”
“And hello to you, too, darling.” Rowena gave the phone an annoyed look. “I have an idea, but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Arthur growled.
Rowena ignored his tone. “There are too many pieces scattered over seven states. I can’t see how we could go to each place and try to scrutinize everything without drawing suspicion. We can’t very well go into a shop with crowbars and start tearing the furniture apart. Because that’s what it’s going to take. Crowbars. We inspected every piece before the sale and could not find a thing. Which means we will have to dismantle each and every piece. And that means you and I, Arthur. We can’t trust anyone else.”
“Aren’t you the astute one?” Arthur continued to bully her.
“Listen, Arthur. I’ve been working on this all morning. We need to contact all the dealers and buy everything back, put it in a large storage unit, and take every piece apart.”
Silence. She could hear the clinking of a glass. Arthur was probably pouring himself a drink. “Arthur. Did you hear me?”
“Yes, dear. Buy it all back. Put it in storage. Pry each piece apart.” His voice was unusually calm.
“Well? What do you think?” Rowena was getting impatient.
“Do it. Let’s just get this over with.”
“Really? You want me to go ahead?” Rowena wasn’t sure if Arthur was of sound mind and wanted to be absolutely sure she had heard what she had heard.
“Yes. Do it! I’m still waiting to hear from Thompson. If he doesn’t make contact with that woman today, I am going to have someone else take care of it.”
“OK, Arthur. Just be careful.” Rowena actually sounded like she cared. Well, sort of. But only to the extent that it would affect her if the plan went horribly wrong.
Arthur hung up without saying another word. In point of fact, they could have everything sent back to the estate. There surely was enough room in one of the outer buildings, but that would draw attention. No. It had to be off the property. She checked for nearby facilities and found a storage facility with enough space several miles away. Close enough to be convenient, far enough for no one to notice. They had to be careful.
Rowena made a list of the dealers she would contact first. Arthur didn’t mention how they would pay for any of it, so she assumed it would be covered by Millstone Enterprises. And that is what she would tell the dealers. Let everyone fight for payment later. Right now, that was not her concern and quite likely never would be. Paying people, that is. Getting the furniture was the only thing she cared about. With that in mind, she began making phone calls.
The first dealer, in Kentucky, would be open later that day. The second one was in New York. She made the plea thather husband was very depressed over losing his father and regretted selling everything in haste, and would it be possible to purchase them back?She actually got some sympathy from her little boo-hoo story. Fortunately, it had only been a matter of weeks since the dealer had actually received the pieces, so the pieces were still in the original crates. They hadn’t begun to process them, so returning them shouldn’t be an issue. One down. To expedite the transfer, Rowena planned to rent a truck or two to pick up the items. She tried to make the transaction and shipping as seamless as possible. They would have enough to deal with once all the furniture was in the storage unit.
The next call she made was to the dealer in Kentucky. If she could reach the others quickly, she could do one big sweep and have the furniture back in less than a week. She would also give the truck drivers a cash incentive. It occurred to her to give the dealers a cash incentive also. After another dozen phone calls, she had secured almost every piece.
The financial inducement made the dealers quite amenable. The transactions were swift. She was rather pleased with her display of business savvy. There was only one piece that had found its way to a consumer, the Louis XVI sideboard. She thought she could probably persuade the new owners to sell it back to her, but the dealer wasn’t keen on giving Rowena the buyer’s personal information. She’d deal with that later. Besides, she had personally checked that particular item before the estate sale. She was certain the will was not hidden there. Of course, Arthur would have a conniption fit, but he would have to give her credit. She had done a remarkable job. At least for the moment, Arthur should be in a better frame of mind.
Chapter Fourteen
