All Barbara Spence had to do was meet the courier at the airport and deliver him to the hotel. Murder, a handsome detective, and the theft of an ancient scroll from a French crime lord, sends ripples across the ocean, where she is swept up in the ki...
The frantic escape from the café through back alleys and side streets with their luggage had kept their adrenalin pumping, and after a taxi ride to the airport, the shock was wearing off. Instead of getting out at the airport, Keith asked the driver to take them to a bed and breakfast in the area, someplace the driver might know.
Conveniently, it was a place run by his sister-in-law, and they were welcomed warmly with his recommendation. Barbara explained they needed a place to stay for one night because of their flight departure time and the woman waved off the explanation, saying one night was still income.
"Should you call your policeman friend?" Barbara asked, searching through her bag for a clean top.
"I don't think contact with anyone here would be a good move right now." He watched her change and then decided it might be a good idea to change his appearance too – just in case.
"I'm scared, Keith. This is not the Riviera trip I envisioned."
"You and me both."
"Do you think it was that Jean Paul that shot him?"
"I'm not so sure. He could have picked Snelgrove up at any time if he knew where he was. Maybe the other party Snelgrove alluded to – Tewksbury, Frossard's buyer. This scroll thing seems to have stirred up a lot of dangerous people. Can it be that valuable to justify what's happened?"
"We never thought so, but then we only had a screen image of what the client initially received. It could be something quite unique."
"Should we look at it? I mean is it safe to open?"
"If we're careful. It has to be looked at some time."
"Well, we aren't going anywhere until tomorrow. Shall we?"
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The page lay before them, the wrapping open but not removed. Barbara stared in awe at the crumbling sheet with the cursive writing, her hand over her mouth.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
She clutched his arm. "I'm certainly no expert but I've seen enough old documents to believe this is rare . . . very rare, and the calligraphy . . ."
"How do you find out?"
"We use forensic paleographers for works like these. They have libraries of data about paper and ink and writing styles, which have all been documented, that they use for comparison. Plus there are all kinds of different tests they can perform."
"So is this a real find you think? How would anyone know?"
"Those comparisons I mentioned, they can often times find similar characters and from that, develop an alphabet or at least a few key words. They can test the ink and the paper – it's all very technical."
"How would Snelgrove know it was valuable though?"
"What do you think looking at it?"
"What do you mean, it looks old alright, and I don't know what the writing is?"
