‘Awesome,’ Ellis said, then after clearing his throat he carried on. ‘Unravelling the provenance of an interesting piece of art is the very best part of my job. And there are ten paintings in Larry’s email, so if they are all genuine … then we need to hurry up and find Connie’s next of kin, however far removed, and break the good news, because the Guggenheim – and George Clooney – are bound to be interested for sure.’

‘Good news?’

‘That’s right. The collection could be worth a considerable amount of money if sold to the right buyer. Of course, I’ll need to establish authenticity and ownership of title.’

‘Title?’

‘Yes, we need to be sure the paintings were Connie’s … that they are her possessions to be inherited, and weren’t stolen or acquired by some other criminal activity.’

‘Oh, I’m sure that isn’t the case,’ Grace quickly intervened, ‘Connie doesn’t strike me as being that kind of person; her diary is so open and honest, and well … it’s very romantic. Romantic people aren’t usually criminals, are they?’ Ellis smiled at her, as if amused by her rationale. ‘And we know now that she had a daughter, Lara. I wonder what happened to her?’

‘I guess we have to assume that she died,’ Ellis said, ‘and that’s why the Bona Vacantia department got involved. Although, strictly speaking, everything in the unit belongs to the storage company now – it’s in the Ts and Cs of the contract in the event of non-payment – but I’m sure Larry wouldn’t want to deny someone their rightful inheritance, if it turns out that there is a long-lost living relative somewhere.’

‘Which, unfortunately, is looking unlikely.’ Grace sighed. Betty’s friend, Maggie, had managed to find out that Connie did indeed die intestate and with no living relatives that anyone was aware of. And adverts had been placed in newspapers but nobody had come forward, not even to contribute to the cost of the funeral. That had been paid for by the state and then recouped from the proceeds of the sale of Connie’s home. The balance of which, some £750,000, was sitting in a government bank account somewhere, waiting to be claimed. Apparently, the funds would be paid out, with interest added, if they were successfully claimed by a relative within twelve years.

‘But not impossible!’ Ellis said. ‘We know that Connie lived in Italy for a while so there could be family members there who she didn’t keep in touch with when she came back to London. If the paintings are genuine, then there are other ways to search for relatives. We have specialist law firms back home that hunt for heirs, especially if there is a large inheritance at stake. And £750,000 is a lot of money! I’m sure you have the same here in the UK.’