Lawrence and his entourage followed the sweaty butler into Du Barry's single-family villa.
The servants in the residence seemed to have been summoned long ago. It was probably the housekeeper who summoned them here after discovering Lawrence's carriage.
A dozen maids and maids were waiting at the entrance, looking warily and uneasily at Lawrence and Grosso, who were following the butler.
Behind them you can even see sticks and hatchets hidden in a hurry.
It seems that if Lawrence insisted on forcing his way in, these people would not hesitate to break into a violent conflict with Lawrence and his party.
These people would rather draw swords on a royal envoy than let Lawrence go inside to investigate. This is a very strange thing in itself.
In other words, these servants have put the protection of the secrets in this mansion on equal footing with their own lives.
"This bastard Du Barry... seems to be hiding some terrible secrets."
Lawrence glanced at the servants with strange expressions and thought to himself.
After noticing this series of strange phenomena, Lawrence could not help but become more interested, and was convinced that he would not return empty-handed today.
"Please come in, gentlemen..."
The butler smiled stiffly and greeted everyone to enter, and then scolded the servants:
"What are you lazy idiots doing here? Go back to your posts!"
The servants immediately dispersed, and the butler continued to lead Lawrence and his party into the living room.
There is nothing special in the living room. The decoration style is Rococo style with golden color as the main color. This is also the favorite style of those nouveau riche who made their fortune in industry and commerce. They may think that being in a splendid place can make up for their shortcomings.
Those disadvantages in class.
The walls are covered with second-rate landscape oil paintings and portraits from the last century. Although the artistic value is limited, the owner here has made a gilt frame for all the oil paintings, in order to show his appreciation for art.
His taste is still to show off his wealth.
However, the sofa chairs here are quite soft and hard, and there is no discomfort after sitting on them.
"Gentlemen, don't worry, I'll bring you hot tea and desserts right now."
The butler said to Lawrence diligently, and then left.
"Wait a minute." Lawrence called out to the butler directly, beckoned him to come closer, and said in a deep voice:
"We are not here as guests. Tea and snacks will be waived. I have some questions to ask you."
The housekeeper walked to Lawrence cautiously, nodded with erratic eyes and said:
"Yes...of course I will fully cooperate with you."
"Very well, does Jean Du Barry usually live here?" Lawrence asked.
"Yes, Monsieur Du Barry should only have this property." The butler quickly replied:
"But he often stays overnight at his properties, you know, those casinos, bathhouses, etc..."
Lawrence nodded slightly. If Du Barry really only had this residence, he would probably leave some important items and information here instead of in those shops.
After all, those industries were more unsafe with so many people, and he would never have expected that he could be searched at home under the protection of the Duke of Richelieu.
….
So Lawrence twirled his fingers and asked casually:
"When you were outside the door just now, were you deliberately trying to prevent us from coming in?"
"I...how dare I obstruct your investigation."
The housekeeper wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, a hint of subtle cunning flashed across his face, and said with a bitter smile:
"It's just that many of Monsieur Du Barry's properties and personal documents are in this house, so I have to be cautious. I hope you can understand my difficulty."
"Oh?" Lawrence raised his eyebrows at the butler in surprise. Unexpectedly, he took the initiative to mention Du Barry's private documents.
In Lawrence's expectation, the butler should do his best
It was better to bury Du Barry’s secret, so he frowned and ordered:
"You said Du Barry's property and personal documents are here? We need this evidence for our investigation."
"Of course, of course, I'll get it for you right now."
The butler nodded and bowed quickly, then trotted out of the living room with Lawrence's acquiescence, and called a few servants to go up to the large study room on the second floor.
Seeing that the butler agreed to Lawrence's request without any hesitation, Grosso also said a little strangely:
"I didn't expect it to go well. I thought I was going to force a confession out of this little old man."
Lawrence nodded, but said nothing, just lowered his head in thought.
He also felt that the change in the butler's attitude was too strange. He had just summoned all the servants to fight against him, but now he was willing to hand over Du Barry's secret.
Although Lawrence also threatened the butler and asked him to assist him, Lawrence did not feel that his words could make him betray everything about Du Barry to him so actively.
...
Lawrence and the others waited in the living room for a long time before they saw the butler commanding six tall valets to carry a silver-white safe downstairs.
The safe was half the size of a table. Even carrying it a short distance made the valets so tired that they placed the safe in the living room while breathing heavily.
"call..."
The housekeeper put his hands on the safe and said with a flattering smile:
"Monsieur Bonaparte, if Monsieur Du Barry has anything important, he will definitely put it in this box. Even I don't know what is in it. I only know that Monsieur Du Barry's important real estate title deeds, gold, silver and jewelry,
All the documents and letters should be in there."
Grosso stood up and walked around the safe, then reached out and patted it like a watermelon, making a dull sound.
"Hiss...it's really strong. This is not an iron box, it's just a big iron block."
Grosso said with surprise and excitement that it would certainly not be something simple that could be tightly guarded by such a box.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Lawrence glanced at the safe, and there were layers of light-colored patterns on it, which seemed to be well-made.
In particular, there is someone's initials engraved below the keyhole. It is not Du Barry's. If nothing else, it should be the name of the locksmith.
This also shows that the locksmith is very confident in the lock and will use his reputation to guarantee its safety.
Lawrence looked at the keyhole above and asked:
….
"Where is the key? We only need what's inside as evidence."
"I'm very sorry, Your Excellency Bonaparte..." The housekeeper sighed, shook his head regretfully and said:
"Of course a servant like me doesn't have the key to the safe. You have to ask Monsignor Du Barry yourself about this."
"Yes, I understand."
Lawrence looked at the butler's facial expression carefully, nodded slightly at this reasonable reason, and then ordered to his bodyguard:
"Come here, please put this box on the carriage first."
"Hey, Lawrence." Grosso suddenly frowned and said to Lawrence in Italian:
"Dubaly didn't mention last night that he had any keys, and he didn't have any on him either."
"I know." Lawrence nodded slightly, glanced sideways at the butler and said:
"But it's not with this person. Even if it was there before, he must have disposed of it yesterday. If you throw such a gadget into the Seine, no one will find it."
"So I guess the key can't be found."
Grosso frowned and looked at the thick safe, sighed and said:
"The locks on this box are built-in, so it will take a lot of effort to open them."
"It doesn't matter, there must be a locksmith in Paris who can open this box."
Lawrence said nonchalantly.
Even if he really couldn't find a suitable craftsman, Lawrence would have to move the box to the Tuileries Palace, where there is a master locksmith.
"Your Excellency Bonaparte, I will send someone to help you move out."
Seeing Lawrence accept the box, the housekeeper said with joy, and quickly personally called a few servants to carry the safe out of the door.
To be continued...