“This is not a lot of money to them. I tried to reach out to Laila initially—when Pierre didn’t acknowledge that he’d sought the trade. I mean, we’ve had a regular correspondence for years. We usually visit each other every other summer, although I’d been lax in writing back earlier this year, what with the cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy. No energy.”

“Did Laila respond?”

“No.”

“A regular correspondence.” Audrey read from her notes, thinking aloud. “Do you think you wrote her after this March call—saying you were annoyed?”

“I might have. I can check my email. We often complained to each other about our workaholic husbands.”

“Thank you very much Mrs. Rothman. This could be a significant breakthrough.” Audrey’s tone was measured, but inside, hope was billowing. “I will pull the records from that month and see if we missed something. Are you sure it was March, twelve years ago?”

“Positive.”

“But can we ask your husband now if he remembers this?”

“I’d prefer you to see if you can find any records. John doesn’t want me involved. I wanted to talk to you specifically, but we didn’t tell him I was going to talk to you. If you find the records and then ask him, as if you discovered them unprompted, then he need never know that I mentioned this to you. So please let me know first if you find anything. Without the records, I’m not sure it does much, does it?”

“I asked Pierre in his deposition if he’d ever before called John on his cellphone to make a trade, and he said no.”

Mrs. Rothman harrumphed and shook her head. “We can’t trust anything he says now.”

“Do you mind if I leave you now to call my Hen contact to check that month? You can make your call.”

“I didn’t have to make a call,” Mrs. Rothman said. “I just wanted to talk to you in private. Genevieve agreed with me. It was a bit of a covert operation. Sometimes you have to work around men’s egos.” The three women smiled at each other. This is the feeling of camaraderie that I want with Colette.

“Okay, then you don’t mind if I make the call here?”

“I’d be delighted.”

Audrey called her Hen contact and asked her for the records related to March twelve years ago and to double-check that all the records had been provided. It turned out that some paper records were in offsite storage and had never been scanned. Audrey asked for them all to be sent to her.

“Can you let Genevieve know what you find?” Mrs. Rothman asked.

“Yes, I’ll call Genevieve as soon as I review the documents.”

“And thank you for the society articles,” Mrs. Rothman said. “Something is up. Laila accompanies Pierre everywhere, and she loves those events.”

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Two