Chapter 22
"It's a book nobody can read," Mrs. Caldwell said.
My face wrinkled with confusion. "What do you mean?”
"I thought Sumerian was the oldest known language," I said.
"That's where the controversy comes in. Some people believe this is evidence of a prior sophisticated civilization. A culture that was lost to time.”
I was intrigued.
"As legend has it, the book was copied by a monk from the original scrolls.
Unfortunately, the original scrolls were destroyed in a fire.
As you can imagine, this creates even more speculation about the authenticity of the book and the scrolls.
There's no way to confirm it. But for those who believe in its provenance, this is the only copy of an ancient language that has yet to be translated. Some believe the language is not of human origin. That it was a gift from… well, I feel silly even saying it, but extraterrestrials.”
"What did your husband believe?” I asked.
"Oh, he bought into the whole thing hook, line, and sinker. Which is kind of surprising, because Doug has always been pretty levelheaded. He picked the book up back in the early ’80s from a collector's wife.
Her husband had passed away, and she didn't know what she had.
I think Doug picked it up for $1,500 at the time.
Back then, that sounded crazy. It was all the money in the world.
We recently had the book appraised. I couldn't believe what it was worth.” She paused, looked around, then whispered, “$42 million.”
That hung there.
My jaw dropped, and my eyes rounded.
"$42 million?" I said for clarification.
Audrey nodded. "It would likely garner more at auction. The appraiser said we could probably get $50 to $60 million if a bidding war ensued.”
"Has anybody recently approached Douglas about purchasing the book?"
"Oh, Douglas gets offers all the time." Her brow knitted as she thought about it.
"There is this one gentleman who is pretty persistent. He’s been calling the last several months.
Made a pretty decent offer. He came in right around $47 million.
I told Douglas he should take it. Why not?
We could certainly put that money to good use.
The book is just sitting there. Of course, it's an investment," she said, rolling her eyes, having heard the phrase a million times from Douglas, I'm sure.
"Who knows? It could be worth $100 million in two years.
But I think about what $47 million would do in the stock market.
You wouldn't have to worry about someone breaking into the house to get it. "
"I think it's pretty obvious that whoever stole the book knew it was in the safe,” I said. “This wasn't a random incident."
"I agree. They absolutely knew what they were after. Too much of a coincidence. They knew exactly where the safe was."
"Who knew about the book?”
Mrs. Caldwell shrugged. "Well, I think everybody in the collector world knows that Douglas owns it.
I don't think that is a secret. Douglas likes to keep it around the house, and he will break it out at parties and show people.
We love to entertain, and it is his most prized possession.
He loves to talk about it to anybody who will listen.
I'm sure most people think he’s crazy. He has wild theories about the book and the secrets it contains.
You know how rumors start. There is a lot of speculation that the book contains the secrets to the Universe.
Others say it could bestow the owner with mystical powers, though I can tell you for a fact that's not the case.
" Mrs. Caldwell frowned. "Other people say the book is cursed.
Maybe they're right." Her face tightened, and the tears spilled again.
“Who else has access to the house? Maids, chefs, contractors?”
“We have a maid that comes once a week, and a chef that comes in once a week to do meal prep. Douglas and I got on a health kick recently, so we were trying to eat really clean, low-carb."
"What about groundskeepers?”
"The lawn guys come once a week, but they’re never in the house.”
"Anybody else?"
Mrs. Caldwell's face tightened as she thought for a moment.
"Well, I had a plumber in last week. The drain in my bathroom got stopped up. There was nothing in the P-trap, so we had a plumber come in and snake out the line.” She paused.
“Also, we've been having problems with one of the window sensors.
We had a tech out last week to fix it, but it's still giving me trouble.
We haven't been setting the alarm because of it.
It just goes off in the middle of the night for no reason.
They can't seem to figure out the problem. "
A theory brewed in my mind.
I asked, "Do you know how the assailants got into the house?”
"I don't know.”
"Was anyone else in the house at the time of the robbery?"
"No. My daughter lives in a condo at the Nautilus. She’s rarely here." She took a deep breath. “I called her. She’s on her way over now.”
“What’s her name?”
“Kenzie.”
"What about surveillance cameras? I saw you have a doorbell camera.”
Audrey nodded. "Yes, there's a camera at the courtyard gate, then one on the garage. It catches the driveway. There’s another camera inside the living room.
My father was living with us at the house and required constant care.
I had a camera on him at all times during the day in case he fell or if there was an issue with the caretaker. " She frowned. "He recently passed."
"I'm sorry for your loss," I said.
She gave a grim nod.
“I'll need the contact information for the plumber, the security tech, the lawn guys, the maid, and anybody else you can think of that may have had access to the house or been aware of the book.”
"Constance has been with us for 20 years. There's no way she's responsible for this,” she said, like the notion was absurd. “Plus, she looks nothing like the woman with the attackers tonight. That woman is fit and trim."
"When this kind of money is at stake, you never know what people are capable of," I said.
"True," she said with a frown.
"I need the name of the book collector who made the offer as well." I handed her a card. "When you feel up to it.”
She nodded. “Hendrick Van Der Valk. I believe he’s currently in town and staying at the Hyton for the convention.”
“Convention?”
“Yes, it’s a big deal in the book world.”
“Which window had the sensor problem?”
The sheriff had told me the assailants came in through a downstairs window in the spare bedroom.
Mrs. Caldwell confirmed that was the room.
A young woman burst into the ER. Her frazzled eyes scanned the room and found Audrey. She made a beeline for us.
I figured it had to be Kenzie.