The room was long, the length familiar. She was directly above the library. Overhead was a beautifully carved and painted ceiling. Beneath her feet was an elaborate parquet floor scattered with large Oriental rugs. She put a fist to her eyes and took a deep breath. Her mind was a whirl. An unproductive whirl. She had to stop thinking about him. About them. Her chest hurt and her heart ached. Literally ached.
There were five windows overlooking the lake. She picked the nearest and studied the view from it. The glass was partially coated with ice, and she used that to concentrate on the storm and its aftermath until that train of thought led to here … and to her discovery. If she hadn’t been trapped for two days with Carnet would he have told her about his affair with her husband or would she have continued in ignorance?
Despite the ice, moonlight streamed in and Agnes studied the outlines of the furnishings around her. A myriad of chairs and tables. She registered that they were completely draped in white cloth. It occurred to her that this was the condition of most of the rooms she had wandered through on this highest level of the chateau. Little used, but always ready for the family in case they needed another sitting room, or writing room or whatever room. Hidden knowledge, she thought, hardly knowing if she meant what was beneath the dust cloths or what had happened between her husband and her former boss. She rubbed her cheeks and looked for a mirror, certain her face was red and swollen.
Nearby a piece of cloth was draped over what looked like a large mirror. She pulled the fabric off with a hard yank. It slipped to the floor and she sighed. Not a mirror but an enormous oil painting of a seventeenth-century Vallotton in hunting garb. She tried another one, then another, not caring that someone would have to replace the covers. When all of the paintings were laid bare she paused. Still no mirror. She started on the tables. Obsessed now. Flinging cloth cover after cover to the floor. Abandoning the heaps of fabric as soon as they fell.
She uncovered tables laden with precious objects, chairs with deep silk cushions, and sofas with heavy tassels that brushed the floor. Sets of tapestried chairs. Two leather-covered writing desks and a half dozen delicate tables that held porcelain figurines and ivory carvings and every imaginable curiosity.
Finally there was nothing left to expose. She looked down the length of the space. She was focused. The light was dim, but it was enough. She clicked on her flashlight and aimed it across the surface of the nearest table, leaning down to survey the polished wood at eye level. Then she glanced at the other tables and opened the nearest glass-fronted cabinet. She angled down to study the shelves. It was very faint, but despite the cloth covers there was a microscopic coating of dust. More important, under the focus of a beam of light there were barely discernible places with no dust. Neat circles and precise oblongs. Each the mark of a missing object.
She stood and corrected herself. Not necessarily missing, but not here. Moved? Taken to another room? Carried to a place where the pieces could be observed and appreciated? She retraced her path through the adjacent rooms. Each was filled with furniture similarly covered in dust cloths. Working quickly but more carefully now, she pulled the covers away and shone her light on the surfaces, looking for the telltale spots of absolute cleanliness. She counted thirty places before she stopped and considered her discovery.
She had noticed that the Vallottons liked to group their collections: five porcelain shepherdesses, twelve pocket watches under glass, a trio of alabaster vases. From what she could tell about the missing objects, they were unrelated in type. Usually one of a group was missing. Since groups or collections would have been removed together for display elsewhere it was unlikely the individual pieces were taken to another location in the chateau. And the thin film of dust. The staff seemed thorough. If the housekeeper or a maid removed an object they would dust the surface of the table at the same time.