Curiosity Killed the Cat

4

'20,000 pounds,' Nathaniel mumbled. 'After all, she was a teacher—where could she get such money?' He eyed his brother, hardly understanding his satisfaction with the finds.

'You see—it made me think at first, but before I get to it, read the title of the transfer,' Simon replied mysteriously.

'"The last one,'" he read aloud and looked away.

'And the recipient of the money is—'

Nathaniel looked at the paper again.

'Mr Puret Cat,' he read. 'I have never heard such a silly name in my life. Well, it sounds French to me, though?'

Simon smiled and took the piece of paper from his brother, folding it and tucking it into the leather briefcase he had taken it from earlier.

'There is no such name like Purret—and the last name Cat is so rare that I don't think anyone in our country bears it,' Simon clarified. 'Nonetheless, this document would be pointless if it weren't for another item I found in a drawer of Mary Jones's night-stand,' he said, handing his brother a small book that looked like a notebook or diary.

Nathaniel opened it on the front page and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

'Mary kept records while she was still working as a teacher.'

'How do you know she was a teacher? I've never told you that.'

'Her daughter has—but we will talk about it in a minute,' Simon gazed at his brother with a gentle smile. 'I haven't read the whole thing, but upon initial review, the nickname Cat is repeated there—with a capital letter—so I know that she did not write about a cat as a pet, especially concerning conversations or meetings with him. So Mr Cat must be the same person in the bank statements. I wondered, however, for what Mrs Jones had been paying him. My findings show that she had paid him every six months for many years until it stopped last November. But, unfortunately, her notes are so mysterious that it is difficult to understand what they are about in the long run. But the last entry—which is not on the last page—which I discovered had been torn out by somebody—dates back to May of 1996.'

His brother looked at him and blinked a few times, still bewildered.

'Okay, but what exactly does that prove?'

'The date not so much—yet. But the entry itself does prove a lot.'

Nathaniel turned the pages to the last one and read the short note three times to be sure.

'Money?'

'One million pounds to be exact—that's what Mr Cat had stolen with his accomplice before she began to pay him, most likely for Mrs Jones.'

'It's impossible. Mary is not a criminal,' Nathaniel said quite loudly, putting the notebook aside.

'Maybe she's not—but back then, she could be a criminal mastermind from what I've got so far.

'Let's assume you're right. Who's this Purret guy?'

'I'm not entirely certain yet. However, I have some suspicions. But—for so many years, Mary Jones had been paying him to keep him quiet, or it was her way to pay him off in instalments of some sort. She might not have committed the crime herself, but, as you can see, she inspired somebody to do so,' he explained, though he wasn't entirely sure which version was more likely. 'Anyway, doing it through a bank is probably the stupidest of methods,' Simon added, leaning back comfortably. 'I also used the internet to search for any information about break-ins or massive thefts from that period, and it turns out that there was one break-in at around that time. A group of men broke into the Dursley's residence in the countryside. From what I have read, the family kept a large sum of money in their house, as they didn't trust banks. And yes, their surname, however, leads us to our dear Rupert.'