‘I think I’ve got it,’ said Summer with no hint of tiredness in her voice. ‘Here...’
If you have discovered my message then I can assume two things: that you are female, because no man would wade through the private fripperies of my youth, and that you are clever, to have found the journals. That alone makes you more worthy of uncovering the Soames diamonds than my husband.
He has always coveted them. And though society deems him worthy of my hand in marriage, I do not deem him worthy of them. They are the only part of the estate entailed to the female line and I will keep it that way.
Benoit Chalendar, a familiar name if you have read my journals, has the map to the secret passageways—the only copy.
‘Chalendar? Why does that name ring a bell?’ Skye asked, turning already to her laptop to put his name into the search bar.
‘He’s the guy Catherine’s father commissioned to redesign the house after the fire.’
‘What fire?’
‘It was pretty bad—it burned down a large part of the original estate that dated back to the sixteen-hundreds. I think it happened just before the journals start. His name came up a few entries into the first journal,’ Summer said, before returning to the message.
He is the first part of your journey, as he was the first part of mine. We loved—
Star squealed, ‘I knew it!’
Yet it was as naïve as spring, though I would not have refused it for the world. He has promised to keep the map safe for you, no matter how long it takes.
Good luck, my child. I can almost see you as Laura would have been, brave, loving, intelligent—for you will need all those qualities and more.
Skye hit enter on her laptop, expecting to see the screen filled with pictures of a man from the eighteenth century, which was why she only took in a chiselled jawline, piercing blue eyes and effortlessly styled sandy blond hair. From this century.
‘Ooh, nice.’
‘Star,’ Skye scolded, hating the way that her cheeks stung from a blush caused by exactly the same thought. ‘This can’t be right, though. He’s...he’s clearly...’
‘Hot?’ Summer teased.
‘Yeah, but look... This says he’s the acting CEO of Chalendar Enterprises. Now, I mean. Not then,’ Skye replied, trying to regain control of her senses.
‘He must be a relative.’
‘He could be anyone,’ Skye said, exasperated. ‘It’s been over one hundred and fifty years since Catherine wrote these journals. What are the chances that he—or whoever Benoit’s descendants are—still have this map? And what does Catherine mean, “the first part”?’
‘I don’t know. It’s going to take me some time to go through all these and write out any more messages,’ Summer explained.
‘Is that a Victoria’s Secret model?’ Star said, peering over Skye’s shoulder, looking at the various headlines proclaiming this Benoit as Europe’s most notorious playboy. ‘Well, I know her—she’s an Oscar-winning actress,’ Star said, pointing to another one of his reported love interests. Well...not love, just ‘interests.’
Skye turned back to his bio—the company name rang a bell in her head and then she remembered. ‘Chalendar Enterprises—they make high-end building materials. I think Rob’s mentioned them a couple of times,’ she said, speaking of her boss, once again thankful for the construction firm owner’s understanding as he’d let her take this time away from the office. Then again, as her sister had said, she hadn’t actually taken a holiday since...since...had it really been five years?
‘Is there a phone number for him?’ Star asked.
‘What—we’re just going to call him and ask if he knows anything about a map?’ Skye demanded.
‘No phone number,’ Summer said, looking up from her own laptop.
‘Twitter?’
‘You want to tweet him?’ Skye asked, incredulous. ‘What emoji would you use for map and diamonds?’
‘There’s a number for his office in Paris,’ Summer said, reaching for the phone.
‘Summer! We need to talk about how we’re going to—’
Summer held up her hand, cutting Skye off. ‘Hi, yes. I’d like to speak to Benoit Chalendar, please... Oh. Of course. But it’s very important that I... Ah. Well, I have urgent contracts that need his signature.’