Chapter 212 Case File 3: The Mysterious Dinner Party at Rose Villa (16)
"In the hands of the right person, the fragments in that notebook may contain important clues that can unlock the secrets of the previous royal family... Five hundred thousand gold coins, we think this price is not too expensive." Baroness Chandler said, biting her lower lip and glancing at Madame Butterfly.
"It was Madame Butterfly who offered to buy the notebook?" Winston glanced at Madame Butterfly, who waved her hands repeatedly. "Of course not! I did ask the Baron for the price, but that was this morning, and he offered 500,000 gold coins straight away. That's too expensive! Honestly, there's no way I'd come up with such a large sum of money without first being sure of the important contents of that notebook!"
After Madame Butterfly finished speaking, she seemed to sense something was amiss. She quickly rebutted, "Of course, I do have the money. It's just that the notebook might contain only trivial matters, or perhaps I've heard these clues from others... If I can't confirm that the notebook contains unique information, I naturally won't be taken advantage of. Therefore, I originally planned to arrange for Baron Chandler to stay until the end. If I had already obtained enough information before then, I wouldn't have to spend this money in vain."
Andrei, who was listening in, said: "..." How could the wealthy Madame Butterfly be so frugal? No wonder she could get along so well with Little Bone!
Baroness Chand also confirmed: "Yes, the person who met with Camus should not be Madame Butterfly, because I know that Madame Butterfly rejected our offer in the morning and said she would think about it again. But this person in the afternoon showed a very strong willingness to buy. Camus even wanted to try to raise the price."
"Did he succeed?" Vivian asked.
"Yes," Baroness Chandler said, pulling out a few sheets of paper from her small bag. Winston glanced at them and immediately recognized the familiar pattern. "...These are the bonds issued by His Majesty the King?"
"You have a keen eye," Baroness Chand smiled. "Kamo got back six bearer bonds, each worth 100,000 gold coins. From what I've heard, the deal was a complete success."
"Wait, what time did Camus complete the transaction?" Winston raised his eyebrows.
"He returned to our room at half past three and handed me the bonds," the Baroness said. "Kamo seemed very happy. He just said everything went smoothly. The people he dealt with were very generous. Now we have the money to pay off all our debts and even have some left over to start a new business!"
"Did Baron Chandler say who bought the notes?"
"No, the other party doesn't seem to want to reveal his identity," said Baroness Chand. "Kamo didn't tell me either. He only said that one of the conditions for the other party to agree to pay such a high price was that Kamo keep the transaction and the other party's identity confidential."
"What happened next? Where did Baron Chand go?"
"He was so happy that he said he wanted to take a walk in the back garden, smoke a cigar he had treasured for many years, and have a glass of wine. I have the habit of taking a nap at noon, so I stayed in the room to rest." Baroness Chandler covered her face and sobbed. "That was the last time I saw him."
"So..." historian Duskus van Gently concluded, "Baron Chandler sold the notebook, then was attacked while walking in the back garden...? Was it the buyer who did it? Or did Baron Chandler encounter another mishap in the back garden?"
"Perhaps someone knew Baron Chandler sold the notebook for a large sum of money and wanted to steal it?" Former jester Pete smiled and glanced at Victor von Neumann. "This afternoon, I saw Baron Neumann's son and Baron Chandler having a little... uh, dispute in the back garden."
Everyone's eyes were focused on Victor. The somewhat gloomy young man fidgeted and twisted his body under the gazes. "I did bump into someone this afternoon while I was looking at the view in the back garden, but it wasn't a big deal, and I didn't know Baron Chandler. There was a fat guy who bumped into me and didn't apologize, so I pushed him and cursed at him a few times. Then I went east and he went west, and we went our separate ways."
‘When did this happen?’ asked Winston.
"How would I know?" Victor asked unhappily, but Peter grinned and said, "It's three forty-five. I checked my pocket watch."
"And then," Winston looked at Victor, "where did you go?"
"I felt a bit depressed, so I asked the servant for a horse and went to the meadow behind the mountain to ride horses." Victor looked around and pointed at a male servant: "He has been following me!"
The servant leaned forward slightly and saluted. "Yes, it is true. The young master didn't come back until six o'clock."
"And what about Mr. Kasmanda?"
"Oh, I love telling jokes, and I also love reading them. I'm more fascinated by the interactions between people than by the monotonous, unchanging scenery," Pete said with a smile. "So, I didn't go anywhere this afternoon. I just stayed at the viewing platform in the back garden, watching the people coming and going."
Winston sat up straight and gave the former court jester his full attention. "So, you saw the man who was to meet Lord Chandler after three o'clock?"
Peter thought for a moment. "Perhaps, but the back garden is connected to the back mountain. It's very large, and there are places that my eyes can't see. Anyway, let me start from the beginning."
He cleared his throat and said, "At noon, I had lunch at the rattan table on the balcony of my room. My balcony is above the back garden and the view is very beautiful, making it a good choice for lunch.
"For lunch, I had a bowl of delicious beef rib noodles. I was very full and sleepy, so I leaned on the rattan chair and slept until 2:30.
"I was awakened by the sound of an argument. A man and a woman were arguing under my balcony. I was so drowsy I couldn't hear anything. I only knew their voices were heated and emotional, as if they had a huge disagreement.
"I sat down in a rattan chair to calm myself down. When I regained consciousness, the two men seemed to have parted ways. I didn't see them, and I didn't know who they were. But I was curious, so I leaned out of the balcony to take a look.
"I didn't see anyone, but I noticed there was a viewing platform in the back garden with a pretty good view, so I was vaguely tempted and decided to take a walk there and sit for a while."
He nodded to Mrs. Samantha next door and said, "I had just arrived there when I saw Mrs. Samantha. She was also taking an afternoon walk, so I invited her to sit with me for a while and chat."
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