Hardy came to the security company, and Henry excitedly told Hardy what happened.

Gray took Victor to Gironde. Debrandt Hill was originally the curator of the Museum in Saint-Palais, a small town in Gironde. His family was also in Saint-Palais, so the group came here.

A direct investigation would certainly arouse suspicion, so they forged some documents, saying that they were from the investigation committee, looking for someone to find out the situation, and instructing the person they were looking for to keep it confidential and not to tell outsiders that someone had approached them to find out the situation.

That's it.

They collected a lot of information in two days.

Debrand Hill was indeed very famous in the local area, especially for collecting art for the Germans. He was hated by everyone. When Victor learned about the situation, many people gnashed their teeth and cursed Hill.

"He led the Germans to search house by house, like a mad dog raised by the Germans, not only in nearby cities, but also in Bordeaux. Many wineries fell into his hands, and all the art works of those families were looted by him."

"You must catch him, strangle him or shoot him." A Frenchman whose property had been looted said through gritted teeth.

After the liberation of France, a large-scale hunt for French traitors who had helped the Germans began, and many were shot directly. It is only 1947 and this work is still in progress. Perhaps because of the complete occupation, France's handling of French traitors far exceeds that of other countries.

"Is there anyone else in the Hill family?" Victor asked.

"Hill has no children. He is a playboy who has had countless women but never married. However, he has a nephew who was ostracized by the locals because of his uncle's affairs. He has left Saint-Palais and gone to Bordeaux. I heard that he works in a winery there."

Gray and Victor thought about it and decided that they should investigate Hill's nephew, just in case there was any contact between the two parties.

They came to Bordeaux to investigate the situation of Hill's nephew Luer, who is now a winemaker in a winery. They found that in recent years, Luer had no correspondence, telegrams or economic exchanges with the outside world.

The winery where Luer is located is called Château Rouge. Although it is in Bordeaux, it is far less famous than other big wineries. It is at most a third-class winery, very inconspicuous, and can produce tens of thousands of bottles of red wine and champagne every year.

Nothing was found on Hill's nephew. When Victor thought the investigation clues were about to be interrupted, Gray discovered something: the current owner of the Red Leaf Winery is an American.

The two continued to investigate and found out.

During the war,

All these wineries in the Bordeaux area were occupied by the Germans, and the red wine was shipped to the front line to meet the needs of officers and soldiers. The situation of the Red Leaf Winery was similar. The original owner here was a Jew, and the entire family was killed.

In the later stages of the war, many wineries were deserted, overgrown with weeds, and their cellars were empty.

After the war, the French government checked these wineries, returned those with owners, and auctioned those without owners. The funds raised were used for national reconstruction and production recovery.

After World War II, both France and Britain were exhausted, so even a little money would be helpful.

At the auction, an American lawyer who came from afar raised his hand and bought the Red Leaf Winery. There were people competing with him for the property, but the lawyer was very determined and finally won the winery after forcing all other competitors to withdraw.

When registering, the American lawyer said that he was commissioned by a company to purchase the wine. That company opened a winery in Napa Valley, California, so Red Leaf Winery was registered under that company's name.

So far, things are going pretty normal.

However, when Red Leaf Winery was recruiting managers and workers, the lawyer not only placed a recruitment advertisement in the newspaper, but also contacted Hill's nephew Lue and asked him if he was willing to come to the winery to be a winemaker, and was willing to offer him a high salary.

Lue is indeed a brewer with certain abilities, but he is far from being discovered as an outstanding talent.

There is something fishy going on here.

After that, everything was fine with Lue. He didn't contact anyone from the United States and just worked normally, but this still caught the attention of Gray and Victor.

Who called him Hill's nephew?

Gray told Henry the news, and Henry immediately sent someone to investigate the situation of the winery in Napa Valley.

The owner of the winery was Jack Goodwin.

The winery is called Spade A Winery, and it mainly produces champagne.

Coincidentally, Jack Goodwin arrived in the United States in 1944, claiming to be a French refugee, and obtained American citizenship. Within a few months, he bought a winery in Napa Valley and renamed it Spade Ace Winery.

Just over a year later, when France liquidated the winery's assets and put them up for auction, this man promptly sent a lawyer to purchase them, and his target was clear: Château Hongye.

At that time, Hongye Winery was like an abandoned manor. It had been abandoned for more than two years and there was not a drop of wine in the wine cellar. However, he was determined to buy it.

Henry felt very suspicious and thought there must be something wrong.

He drove to the Napa Valley area in San Francisco overnight and entered the winery disguised as wine merchants. Because the quantity required was large, he had to negotiate with the owner. Jack Goodwin came out to receive them.

Henry confirmed Jack Goodwin's identity at first sight. Victor had a photo of Hill. Although it was taken seven or eight years ago, he could still tell at a glance that this man was Debrand Hill.

"Where's that Hill?" Hardy asked.

"It's still in his winery. We didn't touch him. I sent someone to keep an eye on him. I'll come back and ask you what to do next." Henry said.

Hardy thought for a moment and whispered a few words to Henry, who nodded continuously.

The next afternoon,

Jack Goodwin contacted someone to play bridge and drove out of the winery. On the road, his car was stopped and a group of people kidnapped him. Goodwin was already in his sixties and could not struggle to get free. He was put on a hood and taken away. When the hood was removed, he was already in a dark room.

Click~!

The headlights shone on Goodwin's face, so bright that he kept dodging.

"What's your name?" asked a masked man on the opposite side.

"My name is Jack Goodwin," the old man said tremblingly.

"Haha, I'm afraid this is not your real name, right? Mr. Debrand Hill?" the masked man said with a sneer.

Hill shuddered, and fear flashed in his eyes.

"No, no, my name is not Hill, my name is Goodwin, Jack Goodwin." Hill shouted cunningly.

The masked man took out a photo and held it in front of Hill. It was a very ordinary four-inch black-and-white photo, but it shocked Hill's heart. He recognized it at a glance. It was a photo of himself when he was the director of a museum.

"Does this photo look familiar to you?" the masked man asked.

Hill was so scared that his face was covered with sweat.

"I, no, I don't know this person," Hill denied.

"Haha, you still don't admit it. I know what you are afraid of. Have you read the report? France is now hunting for French traitors, Hill? During the German occupation, you helped the Germans loot antiques and artworks. Now you are a very high-ranking fugitive of the French government. If I hand you over to the French government, how do you think they will deal with you?" said the masked man with a sneer.

Hill's chest was heaving. He knew what would happen if he was sent back to France. With what he had done, he would probably be tortured to death. Hanging or shooting would be a mercy to him.

"No, no, no, I'm not Hill." Hill was still making his final struggle.

The masked man approached Hill and said with a smile, "Do you know who we are?"

"Who?"

"We are not from the French government. The French's affairs have nothing to do with us. We are a group of robbers. What we want is money."

"You understand, I want money?"

Hill's eyes, which had been dead, gradually regained their spirits, and he said hurriedly, "If you want money, I can give it to you."

"How much do you think you are worth?" the masked man asked.

Hill hesitated. He felt sorry for saying too much and would lose his life if he said too little. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "I'm willing to pay 50,000 US dollars."

The masked man shook his head and sneered twice.

"Not enough. Not enough at all."

"We've investigated. After you came to the United States, you spent more than 130,000 to buy a winery. This money was earned by selling your jewelry. I believe you must have brought a lot of good things when you came to the United States from France, Hill. If you want to live, hand over all of these." said the masked man.

Hill's heart ached.

But he knew that since these people were able to track him down, their power was unimaginable and they would never let him go easily.

If you want to save your life, you must lose your wealth.

"I have a safe at the Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco, which contains my jewelry. The key is in the drawer of my winery office. You can take me back to the winery and I will get the key for you," said Hill.

"Haha, that's not necessary. We will get the key ourselves. You just need to tell us the password." The masked man said lightly.

Hill closed his eyes in pain.

"The password is xxxxxx."

A few hours later.

A suitcase was placed in front of Hardy. Hardy opened the suitcase and found a number of jewelry boxes inside. He opened one of them and found a beautiful diamond necklace with an emerald pendant hanging below.

Open other jewelry boxes.

Gemstone brooch.

Ceylon sapphire earrings.

diamond necklace.

Although Hardy doesn't know much about jewelry, he recognizes the logos on the jewelry, such as Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron, Louis Vuitton, and Paris Saint-Germain. Just by looking at the styles and brands of these jewelry, he can tell that they are worth a lot of money.

In addition, there are some unprocessed gemstones, large Colombian emeralds, rubies, diamonds, opals, etc.

Hardy picked up a ruby, which was as big as the tip of his thumb. He knew it must be very valuable. Hardy guessed that the value of this batch of jewelry might be no less than two or three million US dollars.

Henry smiled and said, "I just asked Hill where he got these jewels. He said that when he was collecting antique artworks, he would also come across such jewels. He was very attracted by those oil paintings, but unfortunately they were too big for him to hide. These jewels were small in size, so he would hide one or two whenever he had the chance, and he finally collected these by accumulating them little by little."

"When he fled to the United States, he only brought this box with him. He sold a brooch to a jewelry company and earned more than $10,000. He paid for someone to handle the naturalization procedures and changed his name to Jack Goodwin."

“Later, I sold some jewelry and used the money to buy wineries in Napa Valley and Bordeaux.”

Hardy put the jewelry down, closed the box and said to Henry, "Continue to interrogate him. The big head we want is still behind."