“Hello,” said a voice on the telephone shortly after he had reached his hotel. “Inspector Lucas speaking. We’ve traced Galmet’s bank account to the branch of the Credit Lyonnais nearest to the place where he was living. He seems to have deposited about ten thousand francs a week, except for a dozen or so deposits of as much as 50,000. The deposits have been spread out over the last twenty years... Hello... Are you there?”
“Yes, go on.”
“But in the last three months his weekly deposits were considerably larger than usual. 350,000 francs last week; 150,000 the week before; 100,000 the week before that. And in the two preceding months around 50,000 francs every week...”
“Well, well — that adds up to quite a pile!”
“Yes, and the way he accumulated it is quite irregular. His net assets after the last twenty years are some 3,000,000 francs, because of course he had also made withdrawals. Then he added about 1,500,000 francs in the last three months alone. And that’s not the whole story. An individual has just come to us and said that he’s a real estate agent. About ten days ago Justin Galmet went to his office on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin and told him that he was looking for a little house in the country, preferably on the Loire River. They had got to the point of negotiating for the purchase of a house worth between two and three million francs, in the vicinity of Cléry. In fact the deed was to be drawn up next week.”
“Did Galmet go to look the place over?”
“Yes, last Tuesday. He went in a taxi, which must have set him back quite a bit of money, in the company of a pretty young woman, who obviously looked upon this as her future home.”
“And you’re holding out on her name in order to give me a surprise...”
“How did you guess it?”
“Never mind, out with it! Gaby?...”
“You’re very close. But it’s someone even more unexpected. And I know it for certain. While you were walking off with your parcel a short time ago, I waited at the exployees’ exit with my real estate agent. He identified her without any trouble, especially since he had spotted from a distance her mustard-color coat...”
“Well then...”
“Alice! The girl from the jewelry department. Look here, Doctor, I don’t want to hurt your feelings or disappoint you. But, contrary to what I told you earlier in the day, I’m beginning to believe that this case is up our alley after all. Do you follow what I mean? It looks like the simple matter of a policeman turned thief... Hello... Why don’t you say something? Have I rubbed you the wrong way?”
“Me?”
“Then, for heaven’s sake, say something! I’m still at my office. Will you come have a drink with me before going to bed?”
“No, thanks.”
“Sure you’re not angry?”
“Sure!”
Now Lucas was the one who had nothing to say. Warm-hearted fellow that he was, he couldn’t bear to offend the Little Doctor.
“You’ll beat me to it another time,” the Inspector went on. “Meanwhile, do you want to have some fun? I’ve summoned this girl, Alice, to my office for tomorrow morning. I don’t know whether we’ll have to get tough with her, but it may prove an interesting session.”
“Good night.”
“Will you come tomorrow morning?”
“Perhaps. Good night. Right now I’m terribly sleepy.”
And this was quite true, for as usual, when he was called in on an investigation, the Little Doctor had tucked away more drinks than were good for him.
It was by sheer chance that the Little Doctor boarded the same subway car as Alice. It was the rush hour and the car was so crowded that he could study her unobserved.
“I wonder what a girl like her was thinking about when she tried to lie her way out of trouble and then suddenly finds herself called up before the police,” he said to himself.
Alice’s thoughts couldn’t have been any too gay. Unlike the lively Gaby, she had a somewhat melancholy disposition. She was just as pretty as the next girl, but she was the kind who takes life seriously. This morning her eyes were red, and since she did take things so hard it must have been because she had cried a good part of the night. Her make-up was carelessly smudged and her hair in some disorder. She lived in a furnished room, near the Rue Lamarck, and the Little Doctor wondered whether she had even bothered to stop somewhere for a roll and a cup of coffee on the way.
“But I’m not going to worry my head about her,” he mumbled to himself as he left the subway at the Pont-Neuf station.
It was a magnificent day, with the sunlight bubbling like champagne as it dispelled the haze rising up from the Seine. Alice walked quickly, without turning around. She hesitated for a moment before Police Headquarters, and then finally walked by the officer on guard and up the dusty steps. When the Little Doctor saw her again, it was through the windows of the waiting-room. He went straight to Inspector Lucas’s office.
“Look here,” he said. “You said something about getting tough... Don’t be too hard on the girl. She seems to be in a bad state already.”
“Show her in,” Lucas said gruffly to one of his subordinates.
The Inspector was in a very good humor. Spring was pouring through his windows and he was wearing an unusually bright polka-dot tie. If he was trying to be brutal, it was with a twinkle in his eye.
“Sit down, Mademoiselle. I must tell you from the start that this is a very serious matter. You may be in real trouble.”
At once her eyes filled with tears, and she dabbed at them with a soggy handkerchief.
“Yesterday, you didn’t tell us all you know. And you also gave false testimony, which falls under Article... under some article of the law.”
“But I thought...”
“What did you think?”
“I thought no one would ever find out about our... relationship. I’ve been so upset by all that has happened...”
“How long had you known Justin Galmet?”
“For about three weeks.”
“And you became his mistress so quickly?”
“Oh, no, sir! I can swear on the heads of my little brothers...”
“Whose heads did you say?”
“The heads of my little brothers. I’m all alone in the world with the two of them. One of them is at school and the other in an orphanage...”
“But I fail to see the connection between them and Justin Galmet.”
“I’ll explain. If it had been for myself alone, I’d never have paid any attention to him. He was too old for me and not my kind...”
“Excuse me. Let’s begin at the beginning... You first met him in the store?”
“Yes, in my own department. As I told you before, he came every day to buy a snap-hook for his watch-chain. He was very proper, or else I’d never have listened to him. I’m not sure now, but then he seemed to me a perfectly respectable person... On the third or fourth day he said timidly, ‘Mademoiselle, are your affections engaged?’ I told him that the responsibility of my two little brothers would probably never allow me to marry.”
The Little Doctor noticed, that the Inspector had fallen into a kindly manner and barely raised his voice to ask:
“So the third or fourth time you saw him, this total stranger was making propositions, is that it?”
“That’s hard to say... He wasn’t like the rest. He was very gentle and he told me that he’d always been very much alone.”
“Did he tell you all this while you were showing him snap-hooks?”
“No, he asked me to have lunch with him at a little place on the Chaussée d’Antin. He told me that his life was about to take a new turn, that he was going to inherit some money...”
The Little Doctor and the Inspector exchanged looks. Justin Galmet seemed to have had inheritances on the brain. Hadn’t he said the same thing when he left the police force?