"Anything else?"
"Not much. Ms. Caldwell seems to have a 'very private' personal life."
"Joe? What do you have for me? You had the more difficult job, digging into a past that even Tanya couldn't trace."
"I checked with five of Tanya's foster families. They described her as a normal child, no real problems."
"What about her parents?"
"Henry Caldwell, her father, was already a successful businessman when he married a wealthy Italian girl. After the death of his in-laws, Henry managed his wife's business, together with his own. It was a good combination. Henry owned an import-export company. His wife's family had investments in a maritime corporation, with an international fleet. Commercial ships-small for the Mediterranean, large for travel across the Atlantic." Joe paused, took a deep breath. "On this side of the Atlantic, there was a lot of cash. Some of that went into the Caldwell's trust fund, to be split in equal parts among the surviving children."
"And the investments made in Europe? What happened there?" Malcolm asked.
"It looks as if Henry Caldwell had a run of bad luck and financial difficulties in Europe. Two ships sank, problems came up with the insurance, things went sour. In the last trip, father, mother, and younger brother died in a plane crash in the mountains. Those between Spain and France."
Malcolm frowned. "Who took care of liquidating the assets?"
"A legal firm in Montreal which no longer exists." Joe shut his notebook with a snap. "That's about it."
"That's it? No names? What about the assets in Europe? Who was in charge of that?" Malcolm asked, his frown deepening.
"Well, it isn't easy digging out information spread out over different countries. Seventeen years have passed, you know, it didn't all happen yesterday. And foreign countries have different ways of operating. Some of them simply refused to supply any information." Joe waved his hand at Malcolm as if to brush aside any objections. "You can check with police headquarters, if you like. They went through the official channels and don't have much more than we have."
"That leaves us with a big void," Malcolm said. His frown appeared to be forever engraved on his face. "Who became responsible for Tanya after the judge who set up the trust fund died?"
Joe shrugged. "Ms. Caldwell didn't know and I couldn't find anything, either."
Paul filled three mugs with coffee and served Malcolm and Joe.