The Chocolatier's Wife (30 page)

Sh
e
sighed
,
an
d
kep
t
working
.
Sh
e
droppe
d
th
e
suga
r
ti
n
an
d
ben
t
dow
n
t
o
r
e
triev
e
it
,
please
d
t
o
se
e
th
e
li
d
ha
d
staye
d
on
.

“Firs
t
bi
t
o
f
luc
k
al
l
day,
”
sh
e
said
,
showin
g
him.

“So
,
you
r
interrogation
s
di
d
no
t
g
o
well?
”

Sh
e
shoo
k
he
r
head
.
“Wor
d
travel
s
fast
.
Ho
w
di
d
yo
u
know?
”

She
was
just
now
discovering
the
sugar
tin
lid
had
remained
on
because it
was
stuck
fast,
not
by
virtue
of
luck,
and
so
he
took
it
from
her
and
began working
the lid off.

She took
her tea pot and
rinsed it in
hot water.

“As
you
said, word
travels
fast. I’ve
made
it
a
point
to
keep
an
eye
on you,
not
for
any
bad
reason,
but
because
you
are
essentially
alone.”
He managed to get the lid off,
and
put the tin on
the counter.

“How
kind,”
she
said,
though
s
he
knew
he
was
more
concerned
with
the family
name
being
further
sullied
than
for
her
own
safety.
“Is
that
why
you have
come to visit?”

He
shrugged
it
away.
“I
am
quite
worried
about
William,
and
bethought that
you
might
like
to
help
me
sort
through
some
papers.
The
charges
against William have
been
applied
because
of
three
what
they
call
Undeniable Factors.” He
gently
pushed
her
aside
so
he
could
check
the
stove.
“First, the
chocolate
in
the
box
marked
with
his
logo.
Chocolate
is
not
impossible to
find,
but
no
one
else
boxes
it
and
sells
it.
It’s
us
u
ally
sold
to
the
public
as a
material for
drink
making,
not as a
product, do you unde
r
stand?”

She
nodded
and
poured
them
each
a
cup
of
tea
before
settling
herself at the kitchen table.

“So,
that
is
damning.”
Andrew
joined
her,
staring
pensively
at
the
cup’s contents.
“Then, there
are
no
witnesses
establishing
that
he
was,
indeed, home.
The
last
people
to
see
him
that
evening
were
his
family, and
they would,
of
course,
be
willing
to
lie
about
the
time. But
lastly.”
He
looked
at the
ceiling
beams.
“The
previous
owner
of
this
place
was
the
Bishop
himself. I
know
William bought
the
place
through
an
agent,
but
the
agent’s
name isn’t
in
the
paperwork,
which
it
should
be,
for
him
to
get
his
commi
s
sion.
It looks
like
William
brokered
the
deal
for
this
shop
directly
from
the
Bishop hi
m
self.”

“But
a
man
like
the
Bishop
would
never sully
himself
with
such
a thing.”

“True. Add
in
the
fact
that
there
is
no
reason for
him
to
have
owned
a shop
in
the
first place.
He
was
always
in
the
Service
of
Light,
he’d
never have
a
reason
to
own
a
building
on
this
street,
and
clergy
are
not
allowed to
take
part
in
secular
affairs,
such
as
selling
goods.
What
is
even
more disturbing
is
that
the
logged
price
that
William
paid
wa
s
abysmally
low.
Our
lawyer
says
it
looks
like
a
classic
deal
where
payment
from one
party
to another
is
expected
to
be
in
a
different
form, or
that
part
of
the
party
... William, in
this
case,
is
being
paid
off
or
bribed.
I
think
it
sounds
rather foolish,
but
Lavoussier is
chewing
on
that
angle
like
an
overeager
terrier. My
bet
is
that
the
agent
stole
the
money
and
re-wrote
the
paperwork to cover
it up.”

“How
can those
be
called
undeniable?
Any of
them
can be
considered deniable!”
she
said.
“All
right, perhaps
not
the
times
that
he
was
at
home, but
anyone
could
have
made
a
box
that
looked
roughly
like
the
ones
William uses.”
She
pointed to
a pile of
thin
wooden
boxes.
Several
sizes,
different colors.
They
all
had
the
locket
and
anchor
logo
burned
into
them.
“We
never actually
saw
the
box. Are
we
sure
it’s
one
of
his? And the
whole
supposed deal between the Bishop and
William
sounds like utter nonsense.”

He
raised
his
hands
as
if
defending
himself.
“You
are
asking
the
wrong man.
Or
the
wrong
brother,
at
least.
I
don’t
know.
And
when
I
asked
William about
it,
he
could
give
me
no
clues.
Just
that
he
went
through
an
agent named Terrence Derbyshore, who,
as far
as I
can
tell, doesn’t exist.”

She
sighed.
“William
kept
ledgers;
maybe
they
would
say
what
he
actually paid?
Would that be proof?”