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‘I’ at,’ said Christina

‘I think you know only too hat I’ at, Mrs Faulkner But let me spell it out for you Quite si had been stolen, ait until now to inform the police?’

‘I aiting for the right opportunity’

‘And that opportunity didn’t arise for seven years?’ said Booth Watson, sounding incredulous

Christina hesitated, allowing Booth Watson to thrust the knife in deeper

‘I would suggest, Mrs Faulkner, that the opportunity you were actually waiting for, was to steal your husband’s entire art collection while he was safely on the other side of the world?’

‘But I didn’t plan’ She hesitated, giving Booth Watson the opportunity to twist the knife

‘I think you’d been planning this outrageous piece of grand larceny for some considerable tiive yourself a better chance of getting aith it’

A babble of whispered conversations broke out in the court, but Booth Watson waited patiently for silence to return, before he slowly extracted the knife

‘Did you, Mrs Faulkner, while your husband was in Melbourne, have all the artworks at his home in Monte Carlo packed up and taken to the port, where they were placed in the hold of your husband’s yacht?’

‘But half of them would have been mine in any case,’ protested Christina

‘I’ your husband for divorce,’ said Booth Watson, ‘as my learned friend so subtly reminded us, but in this country, Mrs Faulkner, it is traditional to let the courts decide what portion of a man’s wealth should be allocated to his wife Clearly you weren’t willing to wait’

‘But it was only about a third of the collection’

‘Quite possibly, but after the yacht had set sail from Monte Carlo for Southampton with one-third of your husband’s art collection on board, what did you do next?’

Christina bowed her head once again William frowned