Excerpt from the police statement of Enzo Woods
(…)
EW: I gave my mother a way to contact the Counterfeiter because there were rumours that a very important woman from a very important French family required our kind of service.
I didn’t know if it was her or not. I also didn’t know what Antonia Hawtrey-Moore could want from us.
But look, at that time, we had so much work that we divided the hours of attending to new requests.
I gave my mother Garros’ working hours. If by any chance she ended up calling him, I didn’t want to know anything about it. And I didn’t want to know why, either.
JA: Didn’t Garros tell you?
EW: He never talked to me about his customers.
JA: Come on… He knew Antonia Hawtrey-Moore was your mother.
EW: He knew, but he didn’t tell me that she had hired him.
Company policy. Garros, Smith-Jorison, and I…
we take on jobs under the same name, we do favours for each other, but we never give out details.
We never reveal who our client is, not even to one of us.
That’s how it worked out. That’s how we stayed friends. Work is work. Business is business.
JA: How did you find out your mother had hired you?
EW: I think what you really want to ask me is how I knew she was alive, officer.
(The officer checks his notes.)
JA: Just answer, please.
EW: Good.
(He smiles.)
EW: I was never sure. It was a hunch.
JA: And…?
EW: I thought she had hired Garros, faked her death, and fled the country.
JA: All… on a hunch?
EW: Word has gotten around that my mother left me nothing as an inheritance. It’s a lie.
JA: We know, she left you a ring. You can’t disinherit a firstborn, according to French law.
EW: No, I’m not talking about the ring. She left me a note.
JA: We have no record of such a thing, Mr. Dubois.
EW: Of course not. It was only for me. I found it two days after her supposed death. Then I knew.
JA: Where do you have it? Could we see it?
(Laurent Dubois Jr. gestures to his lawyer. He brings him a folder, from which he takes out a white envelope. Laurent Dubois leaves it on the table.)
EW: There it is.
(Officer Alonso opens the envelope. He takes out a white sheet, A5 size, like the palm of a hand, and looks at the detainee.)
JA: Is that all? Are you kidding me?
(Laurent Dubois Jr. looks at the man, stopping at his shiny head. He lets out a laugh.)
EW: I wouldn’t think of that, officer. That’s the note my mother left me.
(The envelope bears Laurent Dubois Jr.’s name, accompanied by “Enzo” in quotation marks. Inside, Antonia Hawtrey-Moore’s note reads: “Good luck, Malin.”
Note1: Malin, in French, means little devil.
The note is accompanied by Antonia Hawtrey-Moore’s official signature.
Note2: Verified for authenticity.)
JA: What did it mean? Did you know?
(The agent turns it over, looking for any sign that the note contains hidden text.
Note3: No invisible ink or other apparent markings were found on the sheet.)
EW: It means… that my mother really likes games. Maybe I got hung up on the meaning. Maybe she didn’t want to tell me anything with the note, just that she would always have the Club if she needed it.
JA: But…?
EW: I felt there was something more. I dug into Julian’s affairs and… there she was. Vera Rodríguez Malin, someone I knew too well. Someone with a second surname.
(He pauses.)
Even though mum didn’t want anyone to find her… I knew what she had done. I knew I had to solve this last game. That’s why I acted the way I did, Officer.
JA: If you sensed that your mother had run away and didn’t want anyone, including you, Enzo, to find her… why did you do it?
EW: That’s what everyone wants to know, isn’t it?
(Laughs.)
EW: Get in line, Alonso.